B.A/B.Sc. Hons-II (Prose) Eng-201
and identify the characters whose works and actions are to be witnessed by the reader,Or it may take the form of a monologue rather than of a dialogue. We use the term“monologue” here because the speaker in this kind of essay is a dramatic character rather than the author- or, we might say, the speaker is a character whom the author isimpersonating. An essay is poetic to the extent that its author or speaker appears to betalking to himself rather than to others. A poetic essay takes the form of meditation“overheard” by the reader. These definitions might seem to imply that only the pureform of the essay has persuasive purpose, but this is not the case. In one sense or another all essays have a persuasive purpose, for they are, after all, views-ways of looking at a thing rather than the thing itself. When essayists describe something, theyrecord what they see from their angle of vision, from their point of view in space andtime, because they cannot do otherwise. They can describe something only as theysee it, not as anyone else sees it, nor as it is. Yet, in choosing to describe something,they implicitly ask us to take their word for what it looks like. The same is true of essayists who narrate events or report information. They ask us to take their words for things. Persuasion, then, is at the heart of all essay, but some essayists acknowledgethis and proceed directly about their persuasive business, while others play down their persuasive intention, or use indirect means to attain their ends. Some essays areargumentative, while others are narrative, dramatic, or poetic.PROSE like anything else that you read, will give you more pleasure when youread it actively and attentively. In particular, an active reader will remember that a workof PROSE, while factual in nature, represents one author’s version of the truth. Whenyou actively look for clues about the author’s intentions in a work you will be better;
able
to weigh the particular version of the truth that the work presents. The followingreminders will help to make such judgments when your read PROSE. ,1. The title often indicates the author’s purpose, intended audience, and attitude.2. The writer of any form of nonfiction-biography, autobiography, or essays-usesvarious techniques, including the following:
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Anecdotes to illustrate character traits and portray key events
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Figurative language (similes and metaphors) and sensory language to communicateimportant ideas
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Details, incidents, and other evidence as well as analogies to support opinions or clarify explanations.
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A clear organization-such as chronological order, parallelism, or comparison andcontrast- to help communicate a message
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