What Is an Essay?
Daniel Kim
English 101
Prof. Buscemi
Essay #3 Rough Draft
An essay is a creative written piece in which the author uses different styles such as diction, tone, pathos, ethos or logos to communicate a message to the reader using either a personal experience, filled with morals and parables, or a informative text filled with educational terms. Educational terms could mean the usage of complicated and elevated words or simply information you would get in schools. Some authors, such as Cynthia Ozick, claim that an essay has no educational, polemical, or socio-political use. Others, such as Kathleen Norris, contend that an essay is like story-telling, and that the writer attempts to breathe life into the words on a page. “Breathing life” into the words on a page means that the essay is so personal and so intimate, that the reader feels like the writer is telling him a story personally, face to face. Additionally, other authors such as Susan Orlean, claim that essays are like conversations, and they should have the attitude that any conversation has. Although I acknowledge that essays are like story-telling, and like conversations, I disagree with the statement that essays are completely non-educational. I disagree with the claim that an essay is non-educational, because every essay has their own way of informing the reader with some sort of educational teachings. A clear example that supports my argument is the essay “You Be The Moon” by Amy Leach. In this essay the reader is able to absorb a grand variety of informations about the Moon, and at the same time see the connection between the scientific and poetic side of the essay. Amy Leach states that in the Moon everything is silent and nothing makes a sound on the Moon. Not even a huge meteor crashing on the Moon’s surface at seventy eight thousand miles an hour. Moreover, Leach uses poetry and makes an analogy between the human heart with the Sun and the Moon. She says that “if your heart is too fervent,
English 101
Prof. Buscemi
Essay #3 Rough Draft
An essay is a creative written piece in which the author uses different styles such as diction, tone, pathos, ethos or logos to communicate a message to the reader using either a personal experience, filled with morals and parables, or a informative text filled with educational terms. Educational terms could mean the usage of complicated and elevated words or simply information you would get in schools. Some authors, such as Cynthia Ozick, claim that an essay has no educational, polemical, or socio-political use. Others, such as Kathleen Norris, contend that an essay is like story-telling, and that the writer attempts to breathe life into the words on a page. “Breathing life” into the words on a page means that the essay is so personal and so intimate, that the reader feels like the writer is telling him a story personally, face to face. Additionally, other authors such as Susan Orlean, claim that essays are like conversations, and they should have the attitude that any conversation has. Although I acknowledge that essays are like story-telling, and like conversations, I disagree with the statement that essays are completely non-educational. I disagree with the claim that an essay is non-educational, because every essay has their own way of informing the reader with some sort of educational teachings. A clear example that supports my argument is the essay “You Be The Moon” by Amy Leach. In this essay the reader is able to absorb a grand variety of informations about the Moon, and at the same time see the connection between the scientific and poetic side of the essay. Amy Leach states that in the Moon everything is silent and nothing makes a sound on the Moon. Not even a huge meteor crashing on the Moon’s surface at seventy eight thousand miles an hour. Moreover, Leach uses poetry and makes an analogy between the human heart with the Sun and the Moon. She says that “if your heart is too fervent,