THE PERSONAL ESSAY
THE PERSONAL ESSAY
A personal essay is a piece of writing that serves to describe an important lesson gathered from a writer’s life experiences. The essay often describes a significant event from a first-person perspective, and can be done in various writing styles, like a formal essay or as creative nonfiction. Personal essays usually have a conversational tone that creates a connection with the reader. This type of essay can be inspiring and uplifting, or it can serve as a warning to others to avoid the author’s mistakes.
The personal essay began with Montaigne, but in English it found perfect expression in the essay of Charles Lamb, known as the essays of Elia. Lamb's essays are a delightful blend of autobiography, fancy, humor, pathos and sentiment. They can be called personality translated into print.
Lamb chose a variety of subjects and modes for his essays. Whatever may be the subject, there is a confessional tone in his essays. The tone of intimate chat is seen in his autobiographical essays like 'The South-Sea House' and 'Christ's Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago'. There is a fancy mingled with pathos in essays like 'New Year's Eve' and 'Dream Children: A Reverie'.
The subjective element dominates the writings of other 19th century essayists such as Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt, De Quincey and R.L.Stevenson. But none of them could excel Lamb who still continues to be the prince of personal essayists .
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