The Mind Creative
A note on essays from the editor
There are various definitions of the essay, much of which can
be found on countless literary or academic websites. I
particularly like the following definition from the MerriamWebster dictionary: ‘An Essay is an analytic or interpretative
literary composition usually dealing with its subject from a
limited or personal point of view’
The origins of the word ‘essay’ can be traced back to the French
word essayer which, in turn, is derived from exagium or, more
accurately, exagere - a Latin word which means "to weigh" or
"to sift". Michel de Montaigne is widely believed to be the father
of the essay since he was the one to introduce a style of writing
that used a very personal voice. This was in the 16th century and
his style of writing used a conversational approach which was
very different from the extremely formal writing style of the day.
Montaigne first used the word ‘essay’ and the writing style in
the two-volume publication Essais (1580-1588).
Essays can be categorised into different types. My personal
choice are the types defined by a website called Access To
English which lists four essential types of essays:
(1) The expository essay is a writer’s explanation of a short
theme, idea or issue
(2) The persuasive essay is the type of essay where you try
to convince the reader to adopt your position on an issue or
point of view
(3) The analytical essay in which the writer analyses,
examines and interprets such things as an event, book, poem,
play or other works
(4) The argumentative essay is the type of essay where the
writer
proves the authenticity of an opinion, theory or
hypothesis about an issue. It is very similar to the persuasive
essay except that in this case the writer argues for his or her
personal opinion as opposed to others
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