Philippine

Literature
Lecture #4
Prepared by:
Ms. Cyrile R. Francia
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Understanding
the Essay

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 Essay
• A literary type in which a
writer states an opinion
and explains his or her
reasons for this opinion.

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 Essay
• It is a prose composition
of any length intended to
present a tentative
exploration or evaluation
of a subject.
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 Essay
• A prose composition is not
an essay if it attempts to
present its viewpoint as the
last word or all that can be
said on a particular subject.
 Essay
• The essay received its name from
the title of Michel de Montague’s
first collection of prose writings
ESSAIS or attempts and from its
beginning, it was considered an
“attempt” to communicate. The
word essay has a cognate ASSAY
which means to test r to evaluate.
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Elements of
the Essay

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Elements of the Essay
1. Theme and Content
2. Form and Structure
3. Language and Style
 Theme and Content
• What is the main point of
the essay?
–trivial, commonplace,
unusual, controversial.
–appraise, criticize, expand,
comment, lament, celebrate
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–human nature, social conditions,
manners, politics, attitudes, art
–creating a single impression or
producing a single effect with the
work
–present ideas, describe events,
interpret experiences

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 Form and Structure
• How are ideas ordered to achieve
a single effect?
–unity of expression, coherence and
cohesion
–orderly, systematic, logical manner
–three basic parts: introduction,
main body, conclusion

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–two major patterns:
inductive and deductive
–expository devices:
definition, description,
narration, analogy
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 Language and Style
• What makes the essay literary?
–mode or tone, sensibility of the
essayist
–whimsical, humorous, matter-of-
fact, satirical, serious, optimistic
–diction, choice of topics, personal
bias or attitude

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Prepared by: Ms. Cyrile R. Francia - For LSPU Use Only
Types of
Essays

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 Two General Types of
Essay
• Formal or Impersonal Essay
• Informal or Familiar Essay

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Formal or Impersonal Essay
• Deals with serious and important
topics like philosophy, theology,
science, and politics. It has
authoritative and scholarly style, and
shows the writer’s masterful grasp of
the topic. Its formal tone echoes a
detached, objective, clear,
straightforward expression. Mainly
the purpose is to teach and instruct.
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Informal or Familiar Essay
• Covers the light, ordinary, even
commonplace subjects
through a bubbling, casual,
conversational, friendly, often
humorous, but equally
insightful stance as the formal
essay.
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Informal or Familiar Essay
• The familiar essay appeals more to
the emotion than to the intellect,
touching the sensitivity first, then
the mind. Often, the personality
of the author is revealed through
a fluid style and light treatment of
the topic.

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• The modern essay has
derived from the
combination of these two
general types. A number
of specific types such as
the following:
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 Types of Essay
1. Reflective 6. Nature
2. Narrative 7. Critical
3. Descriptive 8. Didactic
4. Speculative 9. Scientific
5. Biographical
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 Reflective
• A serious in tone and dignified in
style, this type is mainly
aphoristic. It’s short and sharp
“quotable quotes” or choice
maxims cut deep into memory like
a proverb or an adage. The subject
matter spurs thinking and arouses
keen observation.
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 Narrative
• Uses an incident or event, not
for the sake of the story but to
shape the theme. Narration is
often used more to make the
idea clear and endearing than
to present a plodding plot.

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 Descriptive
• Adds vividness, reality,
and animation to the
narrative essay.

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 Speculative
• Theories or poses some
questions on an interesting
subject or it may just ramble
along aimlessly, merely
speculating and prying into
some problems.
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 Biographical
• Portrays characters or sketches
life, not simply chronicling it. It
is analytical and interpretative,
depending upon which side of
the character or individual is
emphasized. This is also known
as character essay.
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 Nature
• Aims to picture the world of
trees, flowers, birds,
mountains, animals and
plants. It may either be
pictorial or reflective or both
depending upon which side.
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 Critical
• Includes biography, literary
criticism, book reviews and
other prose compositions
that aim at analytical
judgment upon literature.
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 Didactic
• Enforces a moral lesson. It is a
serious and has the tone of a
teacher explaining or trying to
convince. It does away with
moods and fancies, but
concentrates wholly on driving
a lesson.
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 Scientific
• Contains excellent logic,
clarity of expression and
organized presentation

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How to Read
an Essay

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HOW TO READ AN ESSAY
• Decide who is speaking. Is
the piece written from the
first person or the third
person point of view?

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HOW TO READ AN ESSAY
• Determine the writer’s
attitude toward the
subject. Is the writer
admiring? critical?

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HOW TO READ AN ESSAY
• Make use of your own
experience on the topic.
What you know will help
you understand what you
read.
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 References:
Dones, Bermudo, Yango.
Philippine Literature A Student Guide.
Mindshapers Co., Inc. Intramuros,
Manila. 2009

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