Embracing the Spirit of the Essay
Every Creation Begins With First Attempts
What do you picture when you think of essay writing? I think many people remember the sweaty-palmed panic of churning out an essay during high school English exams. Maybe you picture irritating assignments asking you to defend your opinion on a topic of no personal interest? I am one of the lucky few with some positive memories regarding essay writing; in part due to having a high school English teacher who allowed a considerable range of writing within the formal structure. He understood the essence of the essay lies in its’ origins — essays are about trying out ideas, making attempts to find one’s voice.
What’s in a name?
I’m a word nerd. I love finding out about the origins of words and seeing how words connect to each other. As a bilingual French/English speaker, I have wondered about the possible connection between the French verb “essayer”, which means “to try”, and the literary form we call an essay. A little research into the origins of the essay (along with some interesting insights on the imprecise qualities of what makes an essay an essay) in this article revealed that my hunch was correct. The first person to coin the term “essay” was French writer Michel de Montaigne (1533–1592), who used the term to describe his “attempts” at putting his…
