More on Essays

The essence of the essay is that it involves wrestling by the writer to resolve or clarify an issue. Essays are, in the current jargon, "think pieces." They involve efforts to think seriously about important matters. The word essay was coined by a Frenchman, Michel de Montaigne, in the second half of the sixteenth century, to describe his written reflections on various subjects. His essays resembled public letters about his observations, his reading, and his ruminations. He rambled much more than essayists do now, letting his thoughts move from one idea to another. He was curious, as all good writers are, asking questions and seeking to answer them. He died in church in 1592, but his integrity and wit make disciples of his thought four centuries after his death.

Montaigne wrote with an independent mind, without accepting the prejudices of the crowd and without seeking favor from the powerful. His writing is natural, unaffected, simple. "I speak to the paper," he wrote. "just as I speak to someone I meet for the first time." He never talked down to readers. Nor did he pander to their prejudices; he never feared be in the minority. He tried to see things as they were, and his observations were surprising for their freshness. He proved that an honest observer always has something new to say. He called his pieces essays, from the French word essai, meaning attempts" or "trials." For him, an essay was just that - an attempt to think dearly. He was far too humble to claim that he had established truth beyond all doubt. "I freely give my opinions on all things," he wrote, "even those that may go beyond my competence and on which I by no means claim to be an authority. And so my thoughts about them are only to reveal the extent of my vision and not the limits of things themselves." He supposed that he had made an "essay" toward truth - observing honestly, marshaling his evidence, reflecting on his experience, interpreting it as fairly as he could. When he could not answer a question, he admitted his ignorance. He never claimed to have found the truth about everything. He knew his conclusions would not satisfy everyone.

Most good essays are akin to Montaigne's - civilized efforts to arrive at truth without rancor, without destroying those who disagree. Good essays appeal to the best in readers, to their sense of fair play to their best emotions, to their wish to do the right thing, to their ability to think. Now and then you may be tempted to write passionately for a noble cause. Resist the temptation. A few writers manage great passion for great causes, but success is rare in passionate writers because few of them control passion well. Angry passion easily becomes bombast and self-righteousness. Sentimentality often becomes cloying. Most readers dislike prose dipped in syrup.

Superheated prose is usually embarrassing. of modern times is "Letter from a Birmingham Jail," written by the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., when he was arrested by a city government whose police chief had turned savage dogs on black citizens - including children - peacefully demonstrating for their rights. King's example teaches us that writers who rudely dismiss opinions with which they disagree do not have much effect on those opinions. You can't write, "That's stupid" or "It's all baloney" or "This is totally ignorant" and expect anybody to take you seriously. Readers usually scorn contemptuous language in writers. If you disagree with something, you have to work out the reasons for your disagreement and present these reasons in careful steps, maintaining the calm and the confidence of one who is unthreatened by dissent. Such careful responses can be crushing and memorable - as Dr. King's "Letter from a Birmingham Jail" proves. The best prose is tolerant and cool. If you are temperate and measured and reasoned, and if you think of your reader as a friend to persuade rather than a foe to slay, you will have a far better chance of carrying your point than if you dip your pen in fire and write to burn.