Essay
Essays are not only written by students. People who are considered experts in a particular topic often write essays to show a new viewpoint on something. For example, lecturers at universities often write essays to explain a different idea about a topic. The essay is a form of literary non-fiction in which a writer expresses an opinion on something, or makes an argument, in a creative form. Essays:
- use Any method an author uses to add meaning or interest to a text, such as metaphors, similes or alliteration.
- are usually written using formal language and specialist vocabulary that those people interested in the subject would understand
- develop a line of argument
- have a clear structure that introduces their idea, develops their viewpoint using different points to support them, and concludes with a summary of the essay
Example
This extract is the beginning of an essay by George Orwell, the novelist, who was also a famous essay writer. This essay is called Politics and the English Language. It was published in 1946, in a literary magazine. It criticises the ugliness of written English in the ‘modern’ age.
Most people who bother with the matter at all would admit that the English language is in a bad way, but it is generally assumed that we cannot by conscious action do anything about it. Our civilization is decadent and our language – so the argument runs – must inevitably share in the general collapse. It follows that any struggle against the abuse of language is a sentimental archaism, like preferring candles to electric light or hansom cabs to aeroplanes. Underneath this lies the half-conscious belief that language is a natural growth and not an instrument which we shape for our own purposes.
Now, it is clear that the decline of a language must ultimately have political and economic causes: it is not due simply to the bad influence of this or that individual writer. But an effect can become a cause, reinforcing the original cause and producing the same effect in an intensified form, and so on indefinitely. A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks. It is rather the same thing that is happening to the English language. It becomes ugly and inaccurate because our thoughts are foolish, but the slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible.
Politics and the English Language, George Orwell
Analysis
In this extract you can see:
- Orwell uses first person plural pronouns – ‘our’ – to engage the reader.
- He uses literary devices such as A comparison using 'like' or 'as' to create a vivid image, eg as big as a whale; float like a butterfly, sting like a bee., and A comparison made without using 'like' or 'as', eg 'sea of troubles' and 'drowning in debt'., like the idea that language ‘is a natural growth.’
- The vocabulary is complex and Words which have more than one syllable..
- Sentences are long, and complex. This creates a challenge for the reader.
- He uses lots of impersonal constructions (‘it is clear’; ‘it follows’), to give a sense of logic to the argument. Note that he avoids using ‘I’ and that the tone is formal to add a sophisticated style to the piece of writing.