In the literature there are more than fifty different genres, the essay is one of the most interesting of them. This work incorporated a little from fiction, a little from journalism. Pupils and students unknowingly write ordinary descriptive articles, but this is wrong. An essay is something more, the author’s thought slips in it, there is truthful information, facts, thoughts on a solution to a problem. In order to write such an article, in some cases it is necessary to conduct a journalistic investigation. For this we need an example of an essay, so that it would be clear how to draw up an essay and what thoughts to express on paper. Similar works are found in many famous writers.
What is an essay
The first acquaintance with such a literary genre takes place at the lessons of the Russian language, but all its types and subspecies are studied in more detail by journalists and philologists. To correctly write an essay, you should understand its essence. An essay is a small literary work describing true incidents, events, a specific person. The time frame is not respected here, you can write about what happened thousands of years ago and what just happened.
Before writing an essay, it is necessary to collect all the facts, since they are the basis of the essay. Incidents and actions, which are described by an eyewitness, should be important for society, addressing serious sociological issues. The article is written in a descriptive style, subjective assessment and the author’s own speculations are excluded in it.
The main components of the essay
The composition of such a genre should contain three main components: the journalistic, sociological and figurative aspect. The author must necessarily address socially important issues. This could be an essay on juvenile delinquency, alcoholism and drug addiction of a particular people, environmental pollution, AIDS, cancer, tuberculosis and other diseases dangerous to society. The writer should take facts as a basis, rely on statistics. For example, it can be data on the number of sick people in a particular region, country or around the world, on the number of hazardous substances released into the atmosphere, etc. At the same time, the work cannot be littered only with numbers, otherwise it will turn out to be dry, too official and will not affect the feelings of readers.
Journalism in the essay is also very important, since the author acts as a journalist, conducts a personal investigation. An example of an essay can be found in many entertainment magazines, newspapers. To obtain reliable data, sometimes it takes a lot of time to devote information collection. To do this, you need to visit the library, look for facts on the official websites of enterprises or government agencies, communicate with specific people, visit the places described, because you can’t paint how beautiful Lake Baikal is, seeing it only in the picture. In other words, the essayist must be a diversified, inquisitive person, a great connoisseur of life.
To interest the reader, you need to write an essay in a beautiful literary style. Genre is an important component of a work. The work should be written in an artistic style, a colorful description of the problem, a story about the life of a particular person will be logical here. An introduction to the story of a bright and memorable character will allow you to immerse the reader in a certain environment, to understand the essence of the problem. The text has a specific structure: the designation of the problem, its analysis, the search for solutions. A composition of this kind is a collection of statistics with everyday stories.
Story appearance
A vivid example of the work can be seen in the work of some writers of the XVIII century. The fact is that such informative, vivid and fascinating essays arise during the crisis of social relations, changes in the usual way of life. Great Britain came to this genre at the beginning of the 18th century, because it was during that period that a moral decline in the elite of society was observed. The magazines mainly published socially critical sketches on the subject of everyday scenes or the characters of representatives of certain segments of the population.
In Russia, a similar phenomenon was observed in the second half of the same century. In satirical magazines, the intelligentsia ridiculed the officials and landowners of the old system in outline forms. In the first half of the 19th century, the crisis reached unprecedented heights, therefore essays became the main genre of writers who wanted to convey to society the idea of ​​a decline in morality, oppression of the poor, stupidity and degradation of those in power and the rich. Saltykov-Shchedrin, Belinsky, Nekrasov wrote in this style, Gorky, Korolenko and other democratic writers continued in the same spirit.
An example of an essay can be found in Soviet literature. This genre is fueled by changes in society, a change in the economic, social, domestic and legal spheres of life. Soviet writers developed compositional and substantial forms, improved the main functions of the essay: the study of the problem, the disclosure of the complexity of life. V. Tendryakov, V. Peskov, E. Radov, F. Abramov, E. Dorosh and others resorted to this genre.
Portrait work
Genre portrait essay requires good observation and well-read from the essayist. For the lack of these qualities, the author will get not a vivid and vivid description of a person’s appearance, but some kind of photo robot. Good essays are usually obtained from lovers of classical literature, because such people already know how to roughly compose a text. The classics have already left the descendants with full-fledged examples of portrait sketches. You also need to accustom yourself to observation, carefully look at the behavior of your family, friends, acquaintances, simple passers-by, neighbors. You should concentrate on the style of conversation, speech style, gait, gestures, facial expressions, body features, facial features.
In creative universities, mainly in directing departments, students are offered to play a game - describe a stranger, try to guess his profession, where he goes, who his companion or companion is brought to him, etc. An essay in the portrait essay genre is written in the same format. It is imperative that you carry a pen and notebook with you to capture all the interesting moments and details that you see, this will help you train and learn to separate the important from the insignificant. Experienced essayists at first sight determine the specific qualities inherent in the person being described.
Only a description of the appearance, gestures, gait of the hero should not contain a portrait essay. An example can be seen in the classical literature. The appearance can very often tell a lot, acquaint with the inner world of a person, his habits, preferences. For example, by the appearance and condition of the clothes, you can find out whether the hero is neat, is interested in fashion, likes to be in the spotlight or prefers to merge with the crowd. When studying a person, one should rely not only on the visual impression, but also connect touch, hearing, smell. What touch the hands of the hero, what his voice, maybe it smells something special from him.
An example portrait essay may contain the life of the character being described. For example, something unusual happened in the hero’s life, he happened to save people from a burning house, solve global issues that affect the region’s economy, make a serious operation, etc. It is necessary to trace how the character of a person is manifested through this act. This should be an unusual verbal portrait, consisting of beautiful words, the incident shows what a hero is in life, whether you can rely on him.
Travel essay
Such an essay is often used in journalism; both beginners and professional journalists resort to it. It has some features that must be considered when writing a work. First of all, one should decide on the purpose of what the essay essay is written for, what purpose the author pursues. Perhaps the essayist wants to share his impressions of what he saw, to talk about the political, economic, environmental or social situation in a particular region or country.
Before writing a work, it is advisable to familiarize yourself with the works of other, more experienced authors. An example of an essay can be found in the works of such great writers as Pushkin, Novikov, Radishchev and others. You cannot write an essay of this type without surviving the described emotions, without seeing the sights with your own eyes. Here one cannot rely solely on fantasy, because an essay is a true work based on reliable information. When traveling to some places, it is necessary to make notes in a notebook about the impressive details of the landscapes, interesting incidents, about what you liked and what went wrong as planned. At the same time, it is impossible to describe a specific personality, the composition should be more extensive.
It is common for a person to forget about some moments in his life, so during a trip it is useful not only to take notes, but also to keep an audio diary and take photos. Before you write an essay, you need to put together all the pictures and notes, refresh your memories, draw up a rough plan of the composition, and only then proceed to write it.
Problem work
The literary essay contains an analytical beginning and an artistic description. In a problematic work, the author may touch upon some economic, political, social, environmental situation in which he is very well versed. The main goal of the essayist is to get to the bottom of the truth, to understand why such a problem arose, what it can lead to, what are the ways to solve it. The composition requires in-depth analysis, a superficial description is not suitable here. Before writing an essay, one should not only study the problem in all details, but also read the works of other authors, familiarize themselves with their views on this issue, and study the writing style.
Only those people who are interested in solving and analyzing the existing problem will be able to qualitatively write such texts. The topic should be close to the author himself, only then he will describe the situation in a truthful and living language. In the travel essay, the personality of the essayist is very clearly traced, the text is written only in the first person. The author should clearly outline the essence of the problem, familiarize readers with his vision of the situation, and the work can be supplemented with the opinions of several heroes, very well if they are opposite.
The essay is based only on reliable information, but it should not be overloaded with graphs, numbers and statistics, so as not to turn into a dry, uninteresting article. The work is written in an artistic style, if any data is given, then they must be accompanied by explanations and comments. This type of text is similar to a story and a tale, it allows the use of artistic turns, spatial reflection, comparison with other events.
Essay on a Man
Even Gorky said that in the center of the work should be a man. The writer also mentioned that the essay is between the story and the study. This genre cannot be called easy, because it consists of rational facts and a vivid, emotional description of events. In the essay journalism, documentary and creative work should complement each other, then an interesting, truthful and lively essay about a person will turn out. Examples of such works can be seen from the classics, it is from them that you need to learn and try to reach the level of their work.
A hero must be at the center of the work, it must be described from two sides. First you need to find out the social relationship of the character with society, and then study his inner world, find out how he behaves at home, refers to close people, acquaintances. It is necessary to collect the maximum information about a person before writing an essay. An example of stage-by-stage compilation of a work: conducting an interview, selecting key points, listing positive and negative character traits, mentioning unusual situations in a character’s life.
In the essay, a brief biography of a person is usually necessary, but it should not be similar to personal data. It is important to focus on the character of the hero, but you can’t just say that he is hardworking, persistent, smart, etc. You need to provide evidence, cite difficult moments from his life, tell how he behaved, what guided him. Describing a certain act, one should analyze the psychological characteristics of a person, typical and individual character traits. You can also talk about the thoughts of the hero in a given situation.
Absolutely isolated people do not exist, each person to some extent interacts with society, he has and is influenced by economic, political, moral processes. Therefore, in the essay you need to be able to connect together the individuality of the hero with social phenomena, to show the character's attitude to them. Professional essayists often manage to reconstruct an important historical event through a fact from the biography of a particular person.
If the central figure is a well-known public figure with numerous merits, then it is worth emphasizing them. The essay essay should also contain the theme of creativity, spiritual pursuit. A good work not only tells the reader in detail about someone else's life, accomplishments and falls, but also makes you think about understanding your mistakes, learn to dream, set goals and achieve them.
Essay Investigation
Very often, journalists conduct research in order to tell the reader about unknown or little-known information. This may be some unusual area of ​​human activity or the study of certain phenomena. A historical essay is also allowed here, the author can collect important data about a specific region or country, engage in research of buildings erected several centuries ago, or reveal an organization that keeps important information secret for many years.
To begin with, a journalist must collect facts, if necessary, go to the place of investigation. Then you need to determine the task and objectives of the study, based on the information received, you can proceed to put forward various versions and hypotheses. In America, an essay-investigation refers to material collected and analyzed by a journalist on a serious topic that some people would prefer to keep secret. Not everyone can write such an article, since even at the stage of collecting information a certain qualification is required, the author should understand the topic of the study. At the same time, the essayist must not only correctly use the data, but also in a beautiful, lively form to describe the situation, create the image of the central character.
Judicial Composition
Unfortunately, essays are written not only about good events and kind, sympathetic people. Stories are different, there are with a bad ending. Works on the judicial topic are mainly written by journalists in order to give a moral assessment of the crime, to make readers think about where this world is heading, to find ways to prevent the recurrence of such situations. The author of the essay should analyze in detail the corpus delicti made by a group of persons or by one person. The journalist does not give a legal assessment of the situation; he must go from afar, talk about what influenced the criminal’s action, what factors pushed him to a terrible step, which made him break the law.
For example, a young man is accused of theft. The essayist must figure out the motive for the crime. This is a guy from a dysfunctional family, from childhood, his parents taught him to steal, to deceive, in order to get his own food. So he got used to such a life, a man does not want to get a job, start a family, he likes to mess around and live at someone else's expense. Of course, not only the young man is to blame for this, but also his parents, a society that did not stop at the right moment, did not direct the true path.
The journalist in his essay should describe in his paints the childhood of a homeless child, how he begged in the streets, searched for at least some food together with stray dogs in dumps. It is also worth mentioning parents suffering from alcoholism, who do not care about the child, a society that looks at such children through their fingers. – , , .
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Each genre has a certain impact on the minds of mankind. What is an essay in literature, what place does it occupy in the cultural development of people, how important is it for society? The main goal of this genre is to tell the reader the truth about current events, innovations, and the life of a particular person. Thanks to a lively, understandable language, information is easier to digest. A colorful description takes the reader to those places or draws an image of the person the author is talking about. Although the essay is read as a literary text, it contains reliable dates and facts.
Most people learn about world events from newspaper articles written in essay form. There are no such areas of human activity in which this one of the most important and useful literary genres would not be applied. Thanks to the essay, people will learn a lot of reliable information from different parts of the world. In the literature there are a huge number of varieties of this genre, the most common of which are portrait, travel and problematic.