history of essays

• Humanities ›
• English Grammar ›

The Essay: History and Definition

Attempts at Defining Slippery Literary Form

• An Introduction to Punctuation
• Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia
• M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester
• B.A., English, State University of New York

"One damned thing after another" is how Aldous Huxley described the essay: "a literary device for saying almost everything about almost anything."

As definitions go, Huxley's is no more or less exact than Francis Bacon's "dispersed meditations," Samuel Johnson's "loose sally of the mind" or Edward Hoagland's "greased pig."

Since Montaigne adopted the term "essay" in the 16th century to describe his "attempts" at self-portrayal in prose , this slippery form has resisted any sort of precise, universal definition. But that won't an attempt to define the term in this brief article.

In the broadest sense, the term "essay" can refer to just about any short piece of nonfiction  -- an editorial, feature story, critical study, even an excerpt from a book. However, literary definitions of a genre are usually a bit fussier.

One way to start is to draw a distinction between articles , which are read primarily for the information they contain, and essays, in which the pleasure of reading takes precedence over the information in the text . Although handy, this loose division points chiefly to kinds of reading rather than to kinds of texts. So here are some other ways that the essay might be defined.

Standard definitions often stress the loose structure or apparent shapelessness of the essay. Johnson, for example, called the essay "an irregular, indigested piece, not a regular and orderly performance."

True, the writings of several well-known essayists ( William Hazlitt and Ralph Waldo Emerson , for instance, after the fashion of Montaigne) can be recognized by the casual nature of their explorations -- or "ramblings." But that's not to say that anything goes. Each of these essayists follows certain organizing principles of his own.

Oddly enough, critics haven't paid much attention to the principles of design actually employed by successful essayists. These principles are rarely formal patterns of organization , that is, the "modes of exposition" found in many composition textbooks. Instead, they might be described as patterns of thought -- progressions of a mind working out an idea.

Unfortunately, the customary divisions of the essay into opposing types --  formal and informal, impersonal and familiar  -- are also troublesome. Consider this suspiciously neat dividing line drawn by Michele Richman:

Post-Montaigne, the essay split into two distinct modalities: One remained informal, personal, intimate, relaxed, conversational and often humorous; the other, dogmatic, impersonal, systematic and expository .

The terms used here to qualify the term "essay" are convenient as a kind of critical shorthand, but they're imprecise at best and potentially contradictory. Informal can describe either the shape or the tone of the work -- or both. Personal refers to the stance of the essayist, conversational to the language of the piece, and expository to its content and aim. When the writings of particular essayists are studied carefully, Richman's "distinct modalities" grow increasingly vague.

But as fuzzy as these terms might be, the qualities of shape and personality, form and voice, are clearly integral to an understanding of the essay as an artful literary kind. 

Many of the terms used to characterize the essay -- personal, familiar, intimate, subjective, friendly, conversational -- represent efforts to identify the genre's most powerful organizing force: the rhetorical voice or projected character (or persona ) of the essayist.

In his study of Charles Lamb , Fred Randel observes that the "principal declared allegiance" of the essay is to "the experience of the essayistic voice." Similarly, British author Virginia Woolf has described this textual quality of personality or voice as "the essayist's most proper but most dangerous and delicate tool."

Similarly, at the beginning of "Walden, "  Henry David Thoreau reminds the reader that "it is ... always the first person that is speaking." Whether expressed directly or not, there's always an "I" in the essay -- a voice shaping the text and fashioning a role for the reader.

Fictional Qualities

The terms "voice" and "persona" are often used interchangeably to suggest the rhetorical nature of the essayist himself on the page. At times an author may consciously strike a pose or play a role. He can, as E.B. White confirms in his preface to "The Essays," "be any sort of person, according to his mood or his subject matter." 

In "What I Think, What I Am," essayist Edward Hoagland points out that "the artful 'I' of an essay can be as chameleon as any narrator in fiction." Similar considerations of voice and persona lead Carl H. Klaus to conclude that the essay is "profoundly fictive":

It seems to convey the sense of human presence that is indisputably related to its author's deepest sense of self, but that is also a complex illusion of that self -- an enactment of it as if it were both in the process of thought and in the process of sharing the outcome of that thought with others.

But to acknowledge the fictional qualities of the essay isn't to deny its special status as nonfiction.

Reader's Role

A basic aspect of the relationship between a writer (or a writer's persona) and a reader (the implied audience ) is the presumption that what the essayist says is literally true. The difference between a short story, say, and an autobiographical essay  lies less in the narrative structure or the nature of the material than in the narrator's implied contract with the reader about the kind of truth being offered.

Under the terms of this contract, the essayist presents experience as it actually occurred -- as it occurred, that is, in the version by the essayist. The narrator of an essay, the editor George Dillon says, "attempts to convince the reader that its model of experience of the world is valid." 

In other words, the reader of an essay is called on to join in the making of meaning. And it's up to the reader to decide whether to play along. Viewed in this way, the drama of an essay might lie in the conflict between the conceptions of self and world that the reader brings to a text and the conceptions that the essayist tries to arouse.

At Last, a Definition—of Sorts

With these thoughts in mind, the essay might be defined as a short work of nonfiction, often artfully disordered and highly polished, in which an authorial voice invites an implied reader to accept as authentic a certain textual mode of experience.

Sure. But it's still a greased pig.

Sometimes the best way to learn exactly what an essay is -- is to read some great ones. You'll find more than 300 of them in this collection of  Classic British and American Essays and Speeches .

• Periodical Essay Definition and Examples
• Learn How to Use Extended Definitions in Essays and Speeches
• Understanding General-to-Specific Order in Composition
• Definition and Examples of Humorous Essays
• Thesis: Definition and Examples in Composition
• Definition Examples of Collage Essays
• Reading Quiz on 'Why I Want a Wife' by Judy Brady
• Best Practices for the Most Effective Use of Paragraphs
• 11 Weird and Interesting Words in English
• Definition and Examples of Symbolic Action
• What Is a Compound Verb?
• Definition and Examples of Formal Essays
• Conclusion in Compositions
• personal statement (essay)
• Definition and Examples of Body Paragraphs in Composition
• Topic In Composition and Speech

Local Histories

Tim's History of British Towns, Cities and So Much More

The History of Essay: Origin and Evolvement

These days, an essay is one of the key assignments at college. This particular task allows tutors to evaluate the student’s knowledge effectively. But it was not always a key assessment tool in the education sphere. So, when did an essay become so important for study purposes? And who invented the essay? According to Aldous Huxley, this particular literary piece can be used to describe almost everything. Essays have become very popular since the first day this type of paper was introduced. What is more, the first time the essay appeared in the far 16th century, it was a part of a self-portrayal done by Michel de Montaigne. The term essay was adopted from French “essayer”, which was adopted from Latin “exagere”. The last one means “to sort through”. In the far 16th century, the essay was mostly a form of a literary piece. Afterward, it has gained wider use in literature and study. It lost all its formality and has become quite a popular writing form. Besides, it has turned into quite a complicated study assignment. That is why many modern students need help writing an essay these days.

Difference Between Essay and Article

In contrast to an article that mostly has an informative purpose, an essay is more a literary paper. The “essay” concept can refer to practically any short piece of report or small composition. It can be a short story, some critical piece, etc. The essay differs from an article or other kinds of papers. Many prominent features distinguish essays from research papers, case studies, or reports. The essay paper has a standard structure in most cases. Sometimes, the layout can be a little bit creative. An article provides information on a certain topic. It has a mostly informative character and does not tend to deliver solutions or recommendations. Besides, it lacks a strict formatting style and outline. Still, it mostly refers to modern academic essays. In old times, essays had no defined format or structure. The origin of the essay does not affect its current usage. Now, it is an effective educational tool and one of the top college projects. Academic essays have an assigned structure and formatting style. You cannot ignore the provided requirements if you want to have a good grade. There are many strict rules to essays assigned at college. Students often check long tutorials to learn how to prepare a proper essay

Types of Essays and Its Characteristics

In the history of the essay, there were always different types of essays. First and foremost, essays were divided into formal and informal. Next, impersonal and familiar. Formal essays are mostly focused on the described topic. Informal essays are more personal and focused on the essayist.

Academic essays differ greatly with their wide variety of types and formats. You can count descriptive, argumentative, reflective, analytical, persuasive, narrative, expository essays’ types. The key types of academic essays include analytical, descriptive, persuasive, and critical.

Every of the mentioned types has its own essay format. They also differ by structure, length, main points to analyze, and purposes. In old times, writers were mostly concerned by the personal or impersonal tone of written composition. It takes more effort to learn all the types of academic essays these days. Besides, they all have a different focus and the final goal.

The most popular narrative essay is quite familiar to the one it was just a few centuries ago. In this paper, you tell the story and focus on a single idea. Such papers like argumentative or analytical essays are more like research papers. They require a thesis statement, strong arguments, and supporting evidence. You have to conduct research work. It is way more difficult than to tell a simple story. Still, even storytelling requires natural talents and a clever mind to be appreciated by readers.     

Essay Evolvement and Modern Use

The essay history describes the way the traditional essay was turned into a decent educational tool. First, the essay was a typical literary form of expression. Authors were mostly concerned to share their point of view about some ideas or themselves in the composition. It gained more personal coloring than any other paper in years.

Since being parted from a self-portrayal, this particular piece was mostly essayist-focused originally. Afterward, once the essay writers have figured out it can describe particularly everything, an essay has gained wider use. Not every modern essay writer knows how the term “essay” was created. Still, modern writers face even bigger challenges with these particular kinds of written papers.

The key reasons include a set of strict rules and requirements for academic essays. They force writers to come up only with the most interesting and unique ideas. Also, they make writers prepare papers formatted due to an assigned formatting style only. Besides, many types of essays require strong analytical abilities.

An analytical essay is like a research paper. It also requires all the elements of a research piece. Thus, the ability to conduct proper research work and provide a complex analysis is mandatory for a modern author as well.

Final Thoughts

Preparing an essay can take a lot of time and great effort these days. With lots of complex requirements and difficult writing instructions, students often need outside writing essay help to succeed.

A modern essay differs greatly from the one it was in the far 16th century. In the first years, this particular writing form was introduced, it was a part of self-portrayal. In many following years, it turned into one of the most popular compositions and the top college assignment.

Nowadays, there is probably not a single student who has never dealt with an essay. Therefore, knowing how it was created and who introduced it to the world can be quite interesting and surely very informative for everyone. Knowing history helps to recognize yourself in the world better. Knowledge can always be quite a driving force for every person.

Share this:

• Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
• Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)

New Product! Create Academic and Professional Success with “Academic Vocabulary”!

A Brief History of the Essay: The Essay Defined

What is an essay? If you cannot answer that question concretely and competently, you are lost when it comes to fully grasping writing and literature. Understanding essays and essay writing is critical for students, teachers, writers, and readers of all ages.

I have a different post that outlines what an essay is for teachers to use with students in this modern era. However, if teachers don’t understand the following definitional background information on the essay’s origin, they will only teach part of the truth.

This section comes from an early 20th-century introduction to a book on essays and essay writing. It provides an excellent historical perspective for understanding and defining the essay. Sometimes, someone else has said it perfectly already, and Tanner did just that.

Please note that I have strategically extracted the following text and moderately adapted it for modern audiences. As you will see, Tanner included definitions from Benson (1910), Smith (1863), and others in his introduction.

Please enjoy and absorb the many insights from the following!

The Introduction from Essays and Essay Writing: Based on Atlantic Monthly Models (1917) by William M. Tanner – Selected Text and Moderately Adapted

The first essayists: montaigne (1533-1592) and bacon (1561-1626): the beginning of the battle between the informal essay and formal essay.

From the time of Montaigne and Bacon to the present, the essay has developed along two lines: the formal essay (Bacon) and the informal or familiar essay (Montaigne).

Although no exact definition of the essay can be given, it may be helpful to consider a few of the recognized meanings and some of the definitions that have been proposed.

Definition: Year 1580: Since 1580, when Michel de Montaigne first called his short, informal prose compositions Essais, the word essay has come to include an ever-increasing variety of literary forms. Montaigne, the inventor of the term and the genre, used the word to indicate a trial, attempt, or endeavor. Montaigne felt tentativeness, incompleteness, and lack of elaboration and literary finish to be characteristic of this new literary genre.

Definition: Year 1755: In Doctor Samuel Johnson’s A Dictionary of the English Language (1755), Johnson retained this idea of incompleteness in his dictionary definition: “A loose sally of the mind; an irregular, undigested piece; not a regular and orderly performance.”

Definition: Year 1910: According to the New English Dictionary (1910), an essay is a composition of moderate length on any particular subject or branch of a subject; a composition more or less elaborate in style, though limited in range.

Definition: Year 1910: Mr. Edmund Gosse, in his article on the essay in the Encyclopedia Britannica (1910), proposed the following: “As a form of literature, the essay is a composition of moderate length, usually in prose, which deals in an easy, cursory way with the external conditions of a subject, and, in strictness, with that subject only as it affects the writer.” In this definition, naturalness, ease in style, and the author’s personality are additional characteristics of the essay. Since the essayist deals with her subject primarily as it affects her, she allows the reader to look at the subject through her temperament and personality. Throughout the entire history of the essay, personality has been a most important characteristic.

Developmental History of the Essay

Here is a quick look at the essay through the centuries:

• 17th Century: The seventeenth-century essay was personal, moral, and reflective.

• 18th Century: That of the eighteenth was social, didactic, and critical.

• 19th Century: The nineteenth-century essay included both the other types, which were greatly expanded and highly perfected by this period’s essayists.

The Familiar Essay

The Thesis Statement: In almost every familiar essay, no matter how short or informally written, there is stated at the beginning or early in the essay some general thesis or central idea that the author uses as the text of her comments. This central idea is the most effective means of giving the essay unity. After setting forth her thesis, which often consists of an abstract statement, the writer usually develops this central idea by introducing concrete details and appropriate references. Her personal experiences, observations, and well-chosen historical and literary allusions provide her with the necessary illustrative material.

For the reader’s convenience, an attempt has been made in the present volume to classify the essays selected into five rather general types. This classification has been made primarily based on the subject matter and the mood of the essayist.

• Essays of Type 1: Personal Experiences, Confessions, and Self-Analyses. • Essays of Type 2: Reflections and Comments on Life, Human Nature, Customs, and Experience. • Essays of Type 3: Observations and Discoveries in the Familiar and Commonplace. • Essays of Type 4: Nature Essays. • Essays of Type 5: General Observations, Comments, and Opinions of the Author.

A Few More Insights on the Essay

Here are three more passages from Tanner’s introduction. Yes, two are from different authors.

Introduction: Essay and Essay Writing (1917) by William M. Tanner

The familiar essay is a composite fabric woven upon a framework called the theme or unifying idea. The pattern is of the essayist’s own devising. The texture and quality of the resulting fabric depend upon the writer’s personality, attitude toward her subject, and skill in weaving—that is, the writer’s style of expression. The familiar essay and the lyric in poetry are essentially literary organs of personality. In discussing the nature and character of these two forms of literature, it is nearly impossible to consider the subject, the author, and the style separately. The familiar essay is best defined by pointing out the interrelation of these three elements.

On Essays at Large (1910) by Arthur C. Benson

The true essay is a tentative and personal treatment of a subject; it is a kind of improvisation on a delicate theme; a type of soliloquy. The theme itself matters little—the art of it lies in the treatment. And the important thing is that the essay should possess what may be called atmosphere and personality. The mark of the true essay is that the reader’s thinking is all done for him. A thought is expanded in a dozen ways until the most nebulous mind recognizes it. The path winds and suggests itself, like a little leafy lane among fields, with the hamlet chimneys and the spire, which are its leisurely goal.

On the Writing of Essays (1863) by Alexander Smith

As a literary form, the essay resembles the lyric, as it is molded by some central mood—whimsical, serious, or satirical. From the first sentence to the last, the essay grows around this mood as a cocoon grows around a silkworm. Essay writers are libertines and a law unto themselves. A quick ear and eye, an ability to identify the infinite suggestiveness of common things, and a brooding, meditative spirit are all that the essayist requires to start. The essayist is a kind of poet in prose, and if questioned harshly as to her uses, she might be unable to render a better apology for her existence than a flower might. The essayist plays with her subject, now whimsical, now grave, now in a melancholy mood. She lies upon the idle grassy bank letting the world flow past her, and from this thing and the other, she extracts her delight and her moralities.

The essay writer’s main gift is an eye to discover the suggestiveness of common things; to find a sermon in the most unpromising texts. Her discourses are not beholden to their titles. Let her take up the most trivial subject, and it will lead her away to the great questions over which the serious imagination loves to brood—fortune, change, life, death. The world is to the meditative writer what the mulberry plant is to the silkworm. The essay writer has no lack of subject matter. She has the day that is passing overhead. If unsatisfied with that, she has the world’s six thousand years of history to feed upon.

The fastest, most effective way to teach clear, organized paragraph and multi-paragraph writing… Guaranteed!

Create academic or professional success today by improving your critical thinking, logical arguments, and effective communication.

Instructor: James Wood Monday & Wednesday, 3:00-4:15pm | Location:  TBD Matthew Arnold famously said that poetry is, at bottom, “a criticism of life.” But if any literary form is truly a criticism of life, it is the essay. And yet despite the fact that all students write essays, most students rarely study them; bookshops and libraries categorize such work only negatively, by what it is not: “non-fiction.” At the same time, the essay is at present one of the most productive and fertile of literary forms. It is practiced as memoir, reportage, diary, criticism, and sometimes all four at once. Novels are becoming more essayistic, while essays are borrowing conventions and prestige from fiction. This class will disinter the essay from its comparative academic neglect, and examine the vibrant contemporary borderland between the reported and the invented. We will study the history of the essay, from Montaigne to the present day. Rather than study that history purely chronologically, each class will group several essays from different decades and centuries around common themes: death, detail, sentiment, race, gender, photography, the city, witness, and so on. In addition to writing about essays – writing critical essays about essays – students will also be encouraged to write their own creative essays: we will study the history of the form, and practice the form itself. Essayists likely to be studied: Plutarch, Montaigne, Hazlitt, De Quincey, Woolf, Benjamin, Orwell, Camus, Primo Levi, Barthes, Baldwin, Sontag, Dyer, Didion, Leslie Jamison, Knausgaard, Ta-Nehisi Coates. This course satisfies the “1900-2000 Guided Elective" requirement for English concentrators and Secondary Field students.

• Lecture Courses
• Guided Elective: 1900-2000
• Spring 2025
• Spring 2024