essay

An essay is a short piece of nonfiction prose that presents a focused argument, analysis, or reflection on a topic. Essays are typically concise and aim to inform, persuade, or illuminate a particular viewpoint. They may be formal or informal in tone and can adopt various organizational patterns.

The word essay comes from the French essai, meaning “a trial” or “an attempt,” from essayer, “to try.” The term entered English in the 15th century and came to denote a short piece of writing that explores a subject rather than a comprehensive treatise.

Essays often follow a basic structure: a thesis or guiding idea introduced in an opening paragraph, a body of paragraphs that develop the argument with evidence or detail, and a concluding section that restates the point. Genres include expository, argumentative, descriptive, reflective, critical, and biographical or literary-essay forms. Style ranges from plain and straightforward to intricate and rhetorical.

Historically, the essay took shape in early modern literature. Michel de Montaigne popularized the essay as a vehicle for personal reflection and inquiry, while Francis Bacon helped establish a more argumentative and aphoristic mode. In English literature, essays by Addison, Steele, and Johnson contributed to essayistic prose; later figures such as George Orwell, Virginia Woolf, and James Baldwin expanded the form into social and political critique.

Today the essay remains a common assignment in education, a form used for public discourse, publishing, and creative writing. It emphasizes clarity, a coherent line of thought, evidence or observation, and a distinctive voice within a compact framework.