2. THE ESSAY
As a separate form of English literature the essay dates from the close of the 16th century.
The name appears to have become common on the publication of Montaigne's "Essays", a
literary form created by this French writer. The essay is a literary composition of moderate
length on philosophical, social, aesthetic or literary subjects. It never goes deep into the
subject, but merely touches upon the surface. Personality in the treatment of theme and
naturalness of expression are two of the most obvious characteristics of the essay.
An essау is rather a series of personal and witty comments than a finished argument or a
conclusive examination of any matter. This literary genre has definite linguistic traits which
shape it as a variety of publicistic style. Here is a part of an essay by Ben Jonson which
illustrates this style in its most typical and original form as it was at the end of the 16th
century:
"Language most shows a man; speak, that I may see thee. It springs out of the most retired
and inmost parts of us, and is the image of the parent of it, the mind. No glass renders a
man's form or likeness so true, as his speech. Nay, it is likened .to a man; and as we consider
feature and composition in a man, so words in language; in the greatness, aptness, sound,
structure, and harmony of it. Some men are tall and big, so some language is high and great.
Then the words are chosen, the sound ample, the composition full, the absolution plenteous,
and poured out, all grace, sinewy and strong. Some are little and dwarfs; so of speech, it is
humble and low; the words are poor and flat; the members are periods thin and weak,
without knitting or number. The middle are of just stature. There the language is plain and
pleasing: even without stopping, round without swelling; all well turned, composed,
eloquent, and accurate. The vicious language is vast and gaping; swelling and irregular;
when it contends, high, full of rock, mountain and pointedness; as it affects to be low it is
abject and creeps, full of bogs and holes."
The essay was very popular in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the 17th century essays were
written on topics connected with morals and ethics, while those of the 18th century focused
attention on political and philosophical problems.
The 18th century was the great age of essay writing. It was then the principal literary form,
and discoursed on the important subjects of the day, often-criticizing the shortcomings of
the* political and social system in England. "Encyclopedia Britannica" states that the essay
became a dominant force in English literature of the 18th century. The following statement
of an 18th century essayist is of some interest as it describes the character of the essay: "We
writers of essays or (as they are termed) periodical papers"... This statement shows that
periodical papers at that time contained only essays.
In the 19th century the essay as a literary term gradually changed into what we now call the
journalistic article or feature article which
covers all kinds of subjects from politics, philosophy or aesthetics to travel, sport and
fashions. Feature articles are generally published in newspapers, especially weeklies and
Sunday editions. They are often written by one and the same writer or journalist, who has
cultivated his own individual style.
The most characteristic language features of the essay, however, remain
1) brevity of expression, reaching in good writers a degree of epigrammaticalness,
2) the use of the first person singular, which justifies a personal approach to the
problems treated,
3) a rather expanded use of connectives, which facilitate the process of grasping the
correlation of ideas,
4) the abundant use of emotive words,
5) the use of similes and sustained metaphors as one of the media for the cognitive
process. It is in the interrelation of these constituents that the real secret of the essay
substyle consists.
Some essays, depending on the writer's individuality, are written in a highly emotional
manner resembling the style of emotive prose, others resemble scientific prose, and the terms
review, memoir or treatise are more applicable to certain more exhaustive studies. l
The essay on moral and philosophical topics in modern times has not been so popular,
perhaps because a deeper scientific analysis and interpretation of facts is required. The essay
in our days is often biographical; persons, facts and events are taken from life. These essays
differ from those of previous centuries — their vocabulary is simpler and so is their logical
structure and argumentation. But they still retain all the leading features of the publicistic
style.
In comparison with oratorical style, the essay aims at a more lasting, hence, at a slower
effect. Epigrams, paradoxes and aphorisms are comparatively rare in oratory, as they require
the concentrated attention of the listener. In the essay they are commoner, for the reader has
opportunity to make a careful and detailed study both of the content of the utterance and its
form.
The close resemblance in structure between the essay and the oration has more than once
been emphasized by linguists. The main difference between them is very well summarized
by H. Robbins and R. Oliver in their work "Developing Ideas into Essays and Speeches."
"...an essay is distinguished from a speech primarily by the fact that the essay seeks a lasting,
the speech an immediate effect. The essay must have a" depth of> meaning which will repay
the closest analysis and frequent rereading ... the basic requirement of a good speech is that it
carry immediately into the mind of its hearer precisely the point which- the speaker wishes to
make."2
Therefore writers say that"... the speaker is allowed much more leeway in sentence structure
than the writer."^
In summing up the characteristics of the essay it will not come amiss to give the following
epigrammatic definition:
"The Essay is not a treatise. It is not Euclid, it is flash-light. It is not proof, it is
representation. It is a chat; the key-note to the essay is its personality."