The Pleasures of the Personal Essay

Explore the personal essay as a form of thinking on the page, and read it for its movement of mind.

The word essay comes from the French essayer, 'to try' or 'to attempt. ' The sixteenth-century French writer Michel de Montaigne used it for short pieces in which he tested his thoughts on subjects from friendship to cannibals to his own habits. The personal essay still works this way: a writer starts with an experience or question and thinks it through on the page, often arriving somewhere unexpected. The pleasure lies in following a mind at work.

Consider an original essay that begins with the writer's annoyance at a noisy neighbor practicing trumpet badly every evening, moves to memories of the writer's own clumsy piano lessons, and ends with a reflection on how rarely adults allow themselves to be beginners in public. The essay's subject turns out to be not noise but courage. When reading essays for pleasure, notice the turns: where does the writer's thinking shift, and what larger question does a small experience open up?

• 1Essay comes from French 'essayer,' to try.
• 2Montaigne pioneered the form in the 1500s.
• 3Personal essays follow a mind thinking on the page.
• 4Small experiences often open larger questions.