B.A. II year Elements of the Essay (Essay as a form of literature):

Elements of the Essay

Essay as a form of literature

Essay is one of the four forms of literature. It is considered literature because it has all the elements that the literature should have. Essay is a prose composition with moderate length that expresses ideas and feelings. Essays were originally developed by a French writer Montaigne in the sixteenth century. He used to write about his vision and ideas on the paper. He wrote many prose compositions which he called 'essais' that means 'to try'. Later the term 'essais' was modified and it was called essay in English. Therefore, essay originally means to try to write something on the paper.

Generally, there are two types of essays: literary essays and practical essays. Literary, essays are not written in the form of literature but the practical or scientific essays are not written with deep feelings and sensitivity. They give both ideas as well as pleasure. Some literary essays are written like stories, some are written like poems, and some are written like dramas. All of them are in the form of literature. Some people say that essays are not literature because they do not use literary language. Of course, not literature because they do not use literary language. But literary essays are literature. So, there is great difference between literary essays and non-literary essays, literary language and non-literary language. Literary essays are like literature full of imagination and feelings but non-literary essays are practical essays like scientific researches, factual writings. They are systematically organized, factually detailed, closely reasoned and plainly written. It means that they use formal and direct language. But literary essays use literary language. Here, literary language means symbolic, metaphorical, connotative and twisted language. They make us emotional and aroused to persuade on their ideas. Although the main aim of the essay is to persuade us but they also make us excited. For example, George Orwell wrote an essay 'Shooting an Elephant'. It is about the bad effect of imperialism. It shows an important idea that imperialism is bad not only for the natives but also for the imperialists themselves. This idea is given in an exciting way. So, this essay is written in the form of literature. It not only gives idea but it also gives us pleasure like other forms of literature.

In the same way, Virginia Woolf's essay 'The Death of the Moth' gives us very important idea that life is equally important for all whether they are small insects like a moth of they are human beings. All of them struggle a lot to save their lives. The essayist gives the example of a moth how it struggles and how important its life is for it. Therefore, this essay gives these ideas very sympathetically arousing deep feelings. Both of these essays are written in the form of literature. Some essays are written in the form of a story but some in the form of poem and still others in the form of drama. So, there are four types of essays: argumentative essays, narrative essays, poetic essays and dramatic essays. Anyway, all of them are in the form of literature. The pleasure in these essays is similar to the pleasure we get in the drama or poem. So, these essays are also the forms of literature. 

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