essay
Sign in to savethumb|Essays of Michel de Montaigne
AI overview
An essay is a short piece of writing in which an author explores a particular subject or idea, often from a personal perspective. Essays matter because they allow writers to share their thoughts and observations on topics in an accessible way that engages readers in thinking alongside them.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Article
36 sectionsContents
- Definitions
- History
- Montaigne
- Europe
- Japan
- China
- Forms and styles
- Cause and effect
- Classification and division
- Compare and contrast
- Expository
- Descriptive
- Dialectic
- Exemplification
- Familiar
- History (thesis)
- Narrative
- <span class="anchor" id="Argumentative"></span>Argumentative
- Process
- Economic
- Reflective
- Other logical structures
- Academic
- Magazine or newspaper
- Employment
- Non-literary types
- Film<!--'Film essay', 'Essay film', 'Cinematic essay' redirect here-->
- Video
- Music
- Photography
- Visual arts
- See also
- Notes
- References
- Further reading
- External links
thumb|Essays of Michel de Montaigne
An essay (, ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a letter, a paper, an article, a pamphlet, and a short story. Essays have been sub-classified as formal and informal: formal essays are characterized by "serious purpose, dignity, logical organization, length," whereas the informal essay is characterized by "the personal element (self-revelation, individual tastes and experiences, confidential manner), humor, graceful style, rambling structure, unconventionality or novelty of theme," etc.