English Literature - Essay - Types of Essay

UNIT –II: Prose – Origin & Development of the Essay Kinds

The Influence of the Bible on English Prose:

            William Tyndale was the first person to translate the Bible i., the New Testament into English language in the 16^th century. Besides following Erasmus’s Latin version of the New Testament and Luther’s German version, he worked directly from the Hebrew and the Greek.  There is a vigour and homeliness about his style.  Miles Coversale’s “The Great Bible” developed a sensible year for English prose rhythm and a gift for felicitous phrasing.  “The Great Bible” was revised under the leadership of the Archbishop Parker in 1568 and called as the “Bishop’s Bible”. On this text, the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611) was based.  In 1549, under the leadership of Thomas Crammer, the Prayer Book was prepared. It brought solemnity, beauty and sublimity to the English Prose.  Any how, The Bible has brought rhythmic vitality and sonority to the English Prose.

Essay:

            The word “Essay” has been used for almost anything that is not fiction or poetry or drama.  Different people defined “essay” in different ways.  The shorter Oxford English Dictionary says it is “A short composition on any particular subject.” The term “Essay” which means ‘trying out’ was coined by the French writer Michel de Montaigne. His work Essais (1580) is the first modern example of the form. Francis Bacon’s Essays (1597) began the tradition of essays in English. Other important English essayists include Addison, Stele, Charles Lamb, Hazlitt, Emerson, D.H. Lawrence, and Virginia woolf.

Chief characteristics of the Essay:

            Certain features which are common in almost all the essays are as follows:

(1)    Length of the Essay: A literary essay will be brief, short or of moderate length.

(2)    Subject matter: There are no restrictions w.r.to the subject matter. It may be historical or scientific or political or any other one.  As the essay will be brief, the essayist writes only those aspects of the subject matter, which are most significant and leaves out the rest.

(3)    Personal in nature: the essay is personal in nature.  The essay expresses the personal likes and dislikes, prejudices and Predictions of the essayist.

(4)    Informal and Unsystematic: There is no logical or formal development of thought in an essay.  Various points or arguments may not be in a systematic order.  But, the modern essay tends to be more and more elaborate, systematic and perfect in form. 

(5)    Attractive and charming: A good essay should be attractive.  It must have some sense of humour.  It must be charming so that it may be easily retained in the mind.

(6)    A prose Composition: An essay is meant to teach the hearts of ordinary people.  An essay is very easy for any one to follow because it will be in prose.

Types of Essays:

(i). The Aphoristic Essay:

            Aphorism is a statement of some general principle, expressed memorably by condensing much wisdom into few words. Aphorisms often take the form of a definition. An essay written with aphorisms is called an ‘Aphoristic essay’.  This form of essay is different from the personal essay. Bacon is the originator of the essay in England.  His essays are aphoristic essays.  His writings do not describe or portray the man himself.  He gives an objective or impersonal turn.  His main concern is to give “counsels, civil and moral” to his readers.  These counsels are conveyed in short, crisp sentences that read like aphorisms.

Examples of Bacon’s Aphorisms:

-      Reading maketh a Full Man; Conference a Ready Man; and writing an Exact Man.

-      Studies serve for Delight, for Ornament and for ability.

-      Some books are to be tasted; Others to be Swallowed; and some Few to be Chewed and Digested.

(ii) Essay of Character:

            In the earlier part of the 17^th century the Essay took the form of character sketches.  Character became a favourite form of description and satire.  Writers like Hall, Overbury, Earle used to give pen-pictures of the various types of men and women – Ex. The Hypocrine, The Milk Maid, The Affectate, Traveler and so on. Such type of essays where the character and its characteristics occupy the central theme are called Essays of character.

(iii) The Critical Essay:

            During the Restoration period Dryden introduced a new variety called the Critical Essay.  The themes of his essays were of literary criticism.  They can be called essays in criticism. The merits and the demerits of a literary work will be thoroughly discussed in the essay.  Two of the best known are The Essay of Dramatic Poesy and The Preface to his Fables.

(iv) The Periodical and Social Essay:

            With the rise of Journalism at the beginning of the 18^th century, the essay began to appear in periodicals. They derived abundant material from the manners and lapses of the people of the society.  Richard Steele and Joseph Addison were the acknowledged masters of the form.  Steele started the Tatler ( a periodical, magazine) in 1709 with a clear objective of recommending a general simplicity in dress, discourse and behaviour.  His intention was to expose the false acts of life, of pulling off the disguises of cunning, vanity and affectation.  In 1711  Steele, in association with Addison started the Spectator (a periodical, magazine). Most of the essays were employed to serve a social purpose.  The Periodical essay was adopted for literary criticism and the delineation of character.  We have many periodical essays written by Dr. Johnson and Jonathan Swift.

(v) The Reviews:

            In course of time, the periodical essays gave scope and place for critical essays which are also called as Reviews.  They have no concern with social and personal topics.  For the Reviews, the main context is criticism, as they possess many literary features.  The best known of the early Reviews was the Edinburgh and the Quarterly Review. Great men of letters like Southey, Scott, Hazlitt, Macaulay used to write reviews.  Now also, we find many reviews in the daily news papers like The Hindu giving the details of books of literary value.

(vi) The Personal Essay:

            A few great writers used the essay to reveal and exploit their own personality.  Montaigne is the person whose name has to be mentioned as a writer of this kind.  Charles Lamb’s “Essays of Elia” is a book consisting of many personal essays.  These essays are a delightful blend of autobiography, erudition, fancy, humour and sentiment.   E.V. Lucas, Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, Thackeray, De Quincy, etc., are all the exponents of the personal essay.  Charles Lamb is considered to be the prince of personal essayists.