1.

Narrative Essays: Telling a Story

In a narrative essay, the writer tells a story about a real-life experience. While telling a story may
sound easy to do, the narrative essay challenges students to think and write about themselves.
When writing a narrative essay, writers should try to involve the reader by making the story as
vivid as possible. The fact that narrative essays are usually written in the first person helps
engage the reader. I sentences give readers a feeling of being part of the story. A well-crafted
narrative essay will also build towards drawing a conclusion or making a personal statement.
2. Descriptive Essays: Painting a Picture
A cousin of the narrative essay, a descriptive essay paints a picture with words. A writer might
describe a person, place, object, or even memory of special significance. However, this type of
essay is not description for descriptions sake. The descriptive essay strives to communicate a
deeper meaning through the description. In a descriptive essay, the writer should show, not tell,
through the use of colorful words and sensory details. The best descriptive essays appeal to the
readers emotions, with a result that is highly evocative.
3. Expository Essays: Just the Facts
The expository essay is an informative piece of writing that presents a balanced analysis of a
topic. In an expository essay, the writer explains or defines a topic, using facts, statistics, and
examples. Expository writing encompasses a wide range of essay variations, such as the
comparison and contrast essay, the cause and effect essay, and the how to or process essay.
Because expository essays are based on facts and not personal feelings, writers dont reveal
their emotions or write in the first person.
4. Persuasive Essays: Convince Me
While like an expository essay in its presentation of facts, the goal of the persuasive essay is to
convince the reader to accept the writers point of view or recommendation. The writer must
build a case using facts and logic, as well as examples, expert opinion, and sound reasoning. The
writer should present all sides of the argument, but must be able to communicate clearly and
without equivocation why a certain position is correct.

Of Studies by Francis Bacon (1625)

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness
and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of
business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the
general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are
learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is
affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. They perfect
nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need
pruning, by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they
be bounded in by experience. Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise
men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above
them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for
granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted,
others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be
read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with
diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by
others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books,
else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man;
conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had
need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read
little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men
wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and
rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores [Studies pass into and influence manners]. Nay,
there is no stond or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases
of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for
the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if a
mans wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be
called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find
differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores [splitters of hairs]. If he be
not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him
study the lawyers cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

Three Days to See by Helen Keller

What would you look at if you had just three days of sight? Helen Keller, blind and deaf from
infancy, gives her answer in this remarkable essay. I have often thought it would be a blessing if
each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early
adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight, silence would teach him the joys
of sound. Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I
asked a friend, who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, what she had observed.
Nothing in particular, she replied. How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour
through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I who cannot see find hundreds of things to
interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly
about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the
branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening Nature after the
winters sleep. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and
feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song. At time my heart cries out with longing to see all
these things. If I can get so much pleasure from mere touch, how much more beauty must be
revealed by sight. And I have imagined what I should most like to see if I were given the use of
my eyes, say for just three days. On the first day, I should want to see the people whose
kindness and companionship have made my life worth living. I do not know what it is to see into
the heart of a friend through that window of the soul, the eye. I can only see through my
fingertips the outline of a face. I can detect laughter, sorrow, and many other obvious emotions. I
know my friends from the feel of their faces. For instance, can you describe accurately the faces
of five different friends? As an experiment, I have questioned husbands about the colour of their
wives eyes, and often they express embarrassed confusion and admit that they do not know. I
should like to see the books which have been read to me, and which have revealed to me the
deepest channels of human life. In the afternoon I should take a long walk in the woods and
intoxicate my eyes on the beauties of the world of Nature. And I should pray for the glory of a
colourful sunset. That night, I should not be able to sleep. On my second day, I should like to see
the pageant of mans progress, and I should go to the museums. I should try to probe into the
soul of man through his art. The things I knew through touch I should now see. The evening of
my second day I should spend at a theatre or at the movies. The following morning, I should
again greet the dawn, anxious to discover new delights, new revelations of beauty. Today this

third day, I shall spend in the workaday world, amid the haunts of men going about the business
of life. At midnight permanent night would close on me again. Only when darkness had again
descended upon me should I realize how much I had left unseen. I am sure that if you faced the
fate of blindness you would use your eyes as never before. Everything you saw will become dear
to you. Your eyes will touch and embrace every object that came within your range of vision.
Then, at least, you would really see, and a new world of beauty would open itself before you. I
who am blind can give one hint to those who see: Use your eyes as if tomorrow you would be
stricken blind. And the same method can be applied to the other senses. Hear the music of
voices, the song of a bird, the mighty strains of an orchestra, as if you would be stricken deaf
tomorrow. Touch each object as if tomorrow your tactile sense would fail. Smell the perfume of
flowers, taste with relish each morsel, as if tomorrow you could never smell and taste again.
Make the most of every sense; glory in all the facets of pleasure and beauty, which the world
reveals to you through the several means of contact which nature provides. But of all the senses,
I am sure that sight must be the most delightful.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Prince Hamlet of Denmark is urged by his fathers Ghost to avenge his murder at the hands of
the dead kings brother, now King Claudius; to make matters worse, Claudius has married the
widow, Hamlets mother, Queen Gertrude. Denmark is under threat of invasion from young
Fortinbras, who seeks to regain lands lost to Hamlets father by Fortinbrass father. Claudius
sends word to the King of Norway (Fortinbrass uncle) to curb Fortinbrass aggression. In the
meantime, Hamlet feigns madness with his family and friends, including his beloved, Ophelia,
sister to Laertes and daughter to Polonius. Both Polonius and Laertes warn Ophelia against
Hamlets amorous advances. Polonius believes Hamlets madness to be love sickness. Laertes
is given permission to return to his studies in Paris.
Claudius directs Gertrude to try to learn the cause of Hamlets odd behavior; they suspect it is
the old kings death and their own recent marriage. Meantime, Claudius and Polonius eavesdrop
on Ophelia and Hamlet, who spurns her and appears mad. The King reveals to Polonius his plan
to send Hamlet to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.
Hamlet seizes the opportunity presented by a traveling troupe of players to expose the Kings
guilt with a play within a play. Soon after, Hamlet delays killing Claudius because the King is at
prayer, and Hamlet does not wish to send him to heaven instead of hell. When Gertrude meets
with Hamlet as Claudius has directed, Polonius hides behind the arras in Gertrudes room to
eavesdrop on the conversation. Hamlet, suspecting the interloper is Claudius, stabs and kills
Polonius.
When Poloniuss body is discovered, Claudius summons Hamlet and tells him he must sail to
England for his own safety; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern accompany Hamlet, carrying letters to

the English, threatening war unless they kill Hamlet. Hamlet eventually escapes, returns to
Denmark, and is met by Horatio.
Ophelia has gone insane after Hamlets departure and her fathers death. Laertes returns and
vows to avenge Poloniuss death. Claudius contrives a fencing match between Hamlet and
Laertes, during which Hamlet is to be injured with a poisoned sword tip and poisoned with a
drink, thus assuring his death. When news arrives that Ophelia has drowned herself, Laertes is
grief stricken. Hamlet and Horatio happen upon the burial site and funeral cortege; Hamlet tries
to fight Laertes but is restrained.
Hamlet tells Horatio that he rewrote the papers carried by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and
that the letters now call for their own deaths. Osric invites Hamlet to the duel with Laertes;
Claudius has supposedly bet on Hamlet to win. Gertrude mistakenly drinks from the cup poisoned
by Claudius for Hamlet, and dies; Laertes wounds Hamlet with the poisoned sword, and then
Hamlet wounds Laertes when they accidentally exchange swords. When Laertes reveals the
conspiracy, Hamlet wounds the King and forces the poisoned drink upon him. Laertes and Hamlet
reconcile, and Laertes dies; Hamlet prevents Horatio from drinking the poison so that he can live
to tell the truth. Hamlet names as his successor young Fortinbras, who arrives and orders Hamlet
buried with all dignity.

The Titans And The Twelve Great Olympians

The Titans, often called the Elder Gods, were for untold ages supreme in the universe. They were
of enormous size and of incredible strength. The most important titan of all was Cronus, in Latin
Saturn. He ruled over the other Titans until his son Zeus dethroned him and seized the power for
himself. The Romans believed that when Zeus ascended the throne, Cronus fled to Italy and
brought it in its Golden Age. Another notable Titan is Ocean, the river that is said to encircle the
world; his wife Tethys; Hyperion, the father of the sun, the moon and the dawn; Mnemosyne,
which means memory; Themis, usually translated by justice; And Iapetus, important because of
his sons, Atlas, who bore the world on his shoulders, and Prometheus, who was the savior of
mankind. The great Olympians were supreme among those who succeeded to the Titans. They
were called Olympians because Olympus were their home. Olympus was first said to be on a
mountain top, and generally identified with Greece's highest point, Mt. Olympus. In one passage
of the Iliad, Zeus talks to the gods from the "highest peak of many ridged Olympus" clearly a
mountain. But a little further he says that if he willed he could hang earth and sea from a
pinnacle of Olympus, clearly no longer a mountain. Even so, it is not heaven. Homer, said to be
the author of the ancient poems Iliad and Odyssey, makes Poseidon say that he rules over the
sea, Hades the dead, Zeus the heavens, but Olympus is common to all three. Wherever it was,

the entrance to it was a great gate of clouds kept by seasons. No wind, Homer says, ever shakes
the untroubled peace of Olympus; No rain ever falls there or snow; but the cloudless firmament
stretches around it on all sides and the white glory of sunshine is diffused upon its walls.
The twelve Olympians made up a divine family: (1) Zeus (Jupiter), the chief; his two brothers next
, (2) Poseidon (Neptune), and (3) Hades (Pluto); (4) Hestia (Vesta), their sister; (5) Hera (Juno),
Zeus's wife, and (6) Ares (Mars), their son; Zeus's children: (7) Athena (Minerva), (8) Apollo, (9)
Aphrodite (Venus), (10) Hermes (Mercury), and (11) Artemis (Diana); Hera's son (12) Hephaestus
(Vulcan), sometimes said to be Zeus's son.

Francis Bacon was born into a prominent wealthy family in London, England, on January 2,
1561. He was the familys youngest son.Bacons father was Sir Nicholas Bacon, who held the
powerful government position of Lord Keeper of the Great Seal.His mother was Anne Cooke, a
scholar, translator, and holder of strong Puritan beliefs. She tried hard to ensure that her children
were as well-educated and as puritanical as she was. Anne Cookes father had been tutor to King
Henry the Eighths son, who became King Edward the Sixth of England.Other notable people who
lived in the same era as Bacon include Galileo Galileiand William Shakespeare, both born in
1564, and Johannes Kepler, born in 1571.Bacons education reflected his upper-class background.
He was tutored at home until, aged 12, he entered the University of Cambridge, where he was
again tutored privately. His lessons were conducted entirely in Latin, focusing on arithmetic,
astronomy, geometry, grammar, music theory, logic, and rhetoric.Grammar, logic, and rhetoric
were considered the most important subjects. Bacon earned a reputation as a serious boy who
worked hard.At Cambridge and other European universities the sciences, then known as natural
philosophy, were dominated by the ancient works of Aristotle.Bacon began to think that,
although Aristotles intellect might have been formidable, his ideas and methods led nowhere.

The unquestioning way scholars treated Aristotles work had elevated him into the role of a
dictator in all but name; a dictator who was now blocking the development of science.
Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880 in Tuscumbia, Alabama. In 1882, she fell ill and
was struck blind, deaf and mute. Beginning in 1887, Keller's teacher, Anne Sullivan, helped her
make tremendous progress with her ability to communicate, and Keller went on to college,
graduating in 1904. In 1920, Keller helped found the ACLU. During her lifetime, she received
many honors in recognition of her accomplishments. Keller was born with her senses of sight and
hearing, and started speaking when she was just 6 months old. She started walking at the age of
1. In 1882, however, Keller contracted an illnesscalled "brain fever" by the family doctorthat
produced a high body temperature. The true nature of the illness remains a mystery today,
though some experts believe it might have been scarlet fever or meningitis. Within a few days
after the fever broke, Keller's mother noticed that her daughter didn't show any reaction when
the dinner bell was rung, or when a hand was waved in front of her face. Keller had lost both her
sight and hearing. She was just 19 months old.
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon on 23rd April 1564.
His father William was a successful local businessman and his mother Mary was the daughter of
a landowner. Relatively prosperous, it is likely the family paid for Williams education, although
there is no evidence he attended university.
In 1582 William, aged only 18, married an older woman named Anne Hathaway. They had three
children, Susanna, Hamnet and Juliet. Their only son Hamnet died aged just 11.
After his marriage, information about the life of Shakespeare is sketchy but it seems he spent
most of his time in London writing and acting in his plays.
Due to some well timed investments Shakespeare was able to secure a firm financial
background, leaving time for writing and acting. The best of these investments was buying some
real estate near Stratford in 1605, which soon doubled in value.It seemed Shakespeare didnt
mind being absent from his family he only returned home during Lent when all the theatres
were closed. It is generally thought that during the 1590s he wrote the majority of his sonnets.
This was a time of prolific writing and his plays developed a good deal of interest and
controversy. His early plays were mainly comedies (e.g.Much Ado about Nothing, A Midsummers
Night Dream) and histories (e.g. Henry V)By the early Seventeenth Century, Shakespeare had
begun to write plays in the genre of tragedy. These plays, such as Hamlet, Othello and King Lear,
often hinge on some fatal error or flaw in the lead character, and provide fascinating insights into
the darker aspects of human nature. These later plays are considered Shakespeares finest
achievements.