The word "essay" in Russian came from French. It goes back historically to one Latin concept, which means "weighing" in translation. The French term is translated by the words "essay", "sketch", "attempt", "trial", "experiment". In this article, we will tell you about how to write an essay in literature. You will learn what are the characteristic features of this genre, what is its structure and composition. Also, in our article, useful tips will be given, after reading which, you will understand how to write an essay on literature beautifully and interestingly. Let's start with the definition of the term itself.
What is an essay?
An essay is a prose essay with a free composition of a small volume, which expresses individual thoughts and impressions on a specific issue or occasion and does not pretend in advance to be an exhaustive or defining interpretationthis item.
In the explanatory dictionary compiled by L. P. Krysin, it is defined as follows: this is an essay that treats some problems in a free form, and not in a scientific systematic way.
Turning to the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary, we learn that the essay is a genre of literary-critical, philosophical, journalistic, historical-biographical prose, which combines the individual author's position, emphasized in the text, with a relaxed, often paradoxical presentation, close to colloquial speech.
The Concise Literary Encyclopedia states that an essay is a small, free-form prose work that treats a topic and is an attempt to convey the author's individual considerations or impressions associated with it.
Signs of an essay
- Having a specific issue or topic. A work devoted to the analysis of a wide range of problems cannot, by definition, be made in such a genre as an essay.
- It necessarily expresses individual considerations and impressions on a certain issue or occasion, does not pretend to be an exhaustive and defining interpretation of a certain subject. See below for more information on how to write a literature essay.
- An essay, as a rule, implies the presence of a new, subjectively colored word about something. The work can be of a historical-biographical, philosophical, literary-critical, journalistic, popular science or fiction nature.
- First of all inthe content of the text evaluates the personality of the author, his feelings and thoughts, worldview.
Essay genre creator
This genre has become very popular in recent years. Its creator is Michel de Montaigne (author of the book "Experiments", published in 1580). It is in it that we first find examples of how to write essays on literature. Although it should be clarified that this author wrote philosophical essays. The book contains such chapters as, for example, "On self-conceit", "On conscience". However, the very structure of the texts, the author's idea will help you in creating works of this genre both in literature and in other subjects.
The skill of writing an essay is now very relevant. Currently, this type of work as a task is offered quite often. For example, it includes essays on USE literature. When entering various educational institutions or, for example, when finding a job, this genre is given great importance. The competition of works allows you to choose the best of the best.
Why do we write essays?
The goal of writing an essay is to develop the creative thinking of the individual, as well as the ability to express thoughts in writing. This experience is very useful, as it helps the author to learn how to correctly and clearly formulate his thoughts, use the most important concepts, structure information, highlight the links between cause and effect, illustrate theses with examples, and argue the conclusions.
No plot
The first feature of writing an essay on literature is the absence of a classical plot in this genre. Of course, you can give various examples from life, but all this will only be an illustration of the main idea of the text.
Shape uncertainty
Another feature is the indeterminacy of the form. In other words, you can, as they say, spread your thoughts along the tree, and no one will say a bad word to you for this. Everything that comes to mind can be put down on paper, analyzed, and then summed up.
Essay Length
Keep in mind that the volume of the essay is quite small, but it does not have clear boundaries. It is approximately three to seven pages written in computer text. At Harvard Business School, for example, essays are often written on only two pages. In domestic universities, up to ten pages of typewritten text are allowed.
Specific problem or question
Another feature is that the author's thoughts must necessarily be centered on a specific problem (some unsolvable question). The topic must be clearly defined. An essay cannot simultaneously consider many topics, contain a large number of ideas (thoughts). It only reflects one thought, one variant, and develops them. That is, this is just an answer to a certain question.
Own opinion
At the same time, you need to express only your own opinion. Essay does not applyto the only correct point of view, even if many arguments and evidence are given. This, most likely, is only one of the facets of this issue. Writing an essay on literature is not a scientific job.
Imitate a conversation with a reader
The next thing I would like to mention is that when creating an essay, it is like an imitation of a live conversation with the reader, which you should lead, call with various questions, raise burning topics in this way, as if you are in front of him here and now. The author's monologue should be outside of space and time, filled with live speech turns. Writing essays on literature involves a significant creative element. A trusting, friendly style of communication should be established with the reader. To do this, the author must deliberately avoid obscure, complex, overly strict constructions. At the same time, formulaic phrases, slang, abbreviated words should be excluded from use, as well as an overly frivolous tone should be avoided. As the researchers note, a good essay can only be created by someone who owns the topic freely, is able to see it from different angles, and is also ready to present the reader with a multidimensional, but not exhaustive, look at this phenomenon.
Free composition
An important feature of this genre is free composition. The essay plan for literature is not strict. Various researchers note that by its nature, this genre is arranged in such a way that it does not tolerate a formal framework. Often it is built contrary to the basic laws of logic, according to the principle of arbitrary associations. Essay plan forliterature so you can design your own. We will give some basic compositional features below.
Prone to paradoxes
There is a penchant for paradoxes. This genre is designed to surprise, puzzle the reader - this quality is mandatory. The starting point for reflections embodied in an essay is often a bright aphoristic statement or some paradoxical definition that pushes together indisputable at first glance, but at the same time mutually exclusive theses, characteristics, statements.
Semantic unity
One of the paradoxes of this genre is the internal semantic unity. Focused primarily on subjectivity, but compositionally free, the essay has at the same time a semantic unity within the text, that is, the consistency of the main statements and theses, as well as the internal harmony of associations and arguments, the consistency of judgments that reflect the personal position of its creator.
Essay structure and outline
1. Introduction. "How to start an essay in literature?" - you ask. As you know, the most difficult to write the first lines. You don’t need to immediately start proving something to someone by creating sample essays on literature. First, you need to prepare the ground, that is, create the right atmosphere and immerse the reader of the text in a state of thought that will help him in the future to penetrate the author's ideas as much as possible.
2. The main part, which consists of theses. Remember that the mainthe idea should be formulated briefly and clearly. It should be simple and understandable. Nobody likes unfounded statements. The task of the author, who creates sample essays on literature, is not only to state it, but also to prove it. For example, you say that the fate is determined by the name of a person. Then prove it by giving specific examples from life or based on some well-known theories. According to this principle, you should write an essay on literature. Lermontov, Pushkin, Gogol, Nekrasov, S altykov-Shchedrin… Use your knowledge of Russian classics, but be sure to present a fresh look.
The thesis thus answers the question: "What?" After that, you should definitely answer the question: "Why?", that is, prove it.
3. The plan for writing an essay on literature also includes a conclusion, a final part, a summing up of what has been said. You can talk about the subject of the essay for a long time, go into the jungle of reflections, but in the end you must definitely collect all the mental we alth in a bundle. This is the only way to complete the statement qualitatively, as well as to show the value of the written text. If its volume is too small, you can do without this part. The main thing is that the main idea should sound in the conclusion.
This is a Literature Essay Plan that you can change a bit as it is quite freeform.
Things to help you write better essays
1. Reflect on the topic and its meaning. Analyze how well you understand whatwant to write. Are you able to offer something fresh and new on the topic? The essay is famous, first of all, for originality. It is necessary to present a necessarily non-banal look at even the most banal things, if they are the subject of its content. Do not forget about the freshness of the language.
2. Materials. Choose what you will use when writing your work. Will only reading and life experience be enough? Do not forget that a collage of formulations, a variety of thoughts always captivate. Get to know different points of view on this issue and enter into a discussion with some of the authors. The work should give the impression of hard and long work, surprise readers with erudition and baffle them with fresh thinking.
3. Use of ideas. Don't try to tell everything at once. You can please readers with unexpected facts and sparkling expressions. Make it interesting, pleasant and informative to read.
4. Three whales. Write down on paper the main thoughts and directions. Choose the three most successful theses from them. Take them as a basis. If you get more branching, you run the risk that the text will seem incomprehensible and superficial, and if less - conservative and loopy. The number "3" has long been recognized as magical. Therefore, it should not be ignored.
5. First, the skeleton. And only then - the skin. The point here is that at first it is necessary to state only briefly the train of thought. They can be written down in one or two sentences in each of the paragraphs, after which they can slowly re-read, andthen make a snowball of your own thoughts. You can add the necessary details and examples, as well as wind up the information using various artistic means.
Now you know how to write a literature essay. The information presented in our article can also be used when creating an essay on other subjects. The main points are no different in the different kinds of this genre. The literature essay structure presented by us can be used, for example, when writing a work on philosophy, when applying for a job, etc.
