A Rhetorical Analysis of the Five Paragraph Essay

By Julius Nang Kum

This groundbreaking secondary school textbook analyses the rhetorical nature of the Five Paragraph Essay and the structure of examination essay questions. It provides students with an insightful and a comprehensive picture of the five-paragraph essay. The book is divided into six chapters. Chapter one focuses on the origin of the genre of essay,

• Language: English
• Publisher: Ukiyoto Publishing
• Release date: Jan 25, 2023
• ISBN: 9789360496388

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The Origin of Essay

1.0 Introduction

Winston Church Hill, the one-time British Prime Minister once said The further backward you can look, the further forward you can see. In view of the strategic rule the genre of essay plays in our success (essay writing in our certificate examinations, essay writing in our competitive examinations into professional schools, essay writing in reports and admission situations, essay writing in our course works), it might be of paramount importance to acquaint ourselves with this vital genre. Our first step of acquaintance with the genre of essay should be that of knowing its source or its origin. This might sound convincing because a deep knowledge of who first coined the word Essay, what pushed him to write an essay, and why the present definition of an essay reflects its father’s idea is necessary. This knowledge is needed because it enables us to admire, to know, to write and to use the essay better for our success in our literary world. This chapter therefore focuses on the origin of the genre essay and the standard definition of an essay.

1.1 The Origin of Essay

Altogether, it should be noted that before the 16th century, the name essay was not known to the world. Other short writings might have existed, but the word essay was first coined by a French born lawyer, Michel de Montaigne (McKay et al 1983:544).       Talking of who Montaigne was, McKay et al (1983:544) narrate:

Montaigne came from a bourgeois family that had made fortune selling salted herring and in 1477 had purchased the title and property of Montaigne in Gascony. Montaigne received a classical education before studying law and securing a judicial appointment in 1554. Although a member of the nobility, in embarking on a judicial career he identified with the new nobility of the robe. He condemned the ancient nobility of the sword for being more concerned with war and sports than with cultivation of the mind.

The citation above tells us that even though Michel was a rich and educated figure, he constantly opposed the authority of that time for not promoting the cultivation of the mind. In this position, Michel was forced to resign to his private estate and became an outstanding promoter of modern scepticism. What then is scepticism? McKay et al (1983:544) narrate:

Scepticism is a school of thought founded on doubt that total certainty or definitive knowledge is ever attainable. The sceptic is cautious and critical, and suspends judgment.

It should be noted that the period of scepticism marks the end of the medieval period and the beginning of the modern time. Scepticism came up because the medieval period was characterized by wars, killings, tortures, stereotype doctrines from the church and many vices (Holt et al, 1999; Farah et al, 1997). The atmosphere during the medieval period was so dogmatic to the point that any intellectual works that went against the doctrine of the church were condemned. This hampered reasoning and so gave rise to the period of doubt or scepticism. To demonstrate the unfavourable atmosphere in the medieval period for intellectuals, we shall use the case of Nicolas Copernicus and his publication. Talking about Copernicus and his scientific discovery, Farah et al (1997:516) narrate:

Copernicus started his scientific careers at the University of Krakow in Poland in 1492-the same year in which Christopher Columbus reached the Americas. Like Columbus, Copernicus began his questioning in a time when few people dared to question age-old beliefs and superstitions. As Copernicus developed into his studies, he became convinced that ideas commonly accepted about the universe were wrong Copernicus believed that the earth was round and that it rotated on its axis as it revolved around the sun. The sun stayed still at the centre of the universe.

From the quotation above, it is clear that after a careful observations and research, Copernicus published his findings in 1543, under the title On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres. (McKay et al, 1983:630). In this publication, he made it clear that it is the earth that revolves round the sun and not the sun round the earth as had been the knowledge before that time.

When the publication of Copernicus was made known to the world, the reactions of some outstanding religious Icons during that period were bitter, McKay et al, 1983:631 state:

Martin Luther, an icon during that period said the new astrologer who wants to prove that the earth moves and goes around… The fool wants to turn the whole art of astronomy upside down. He then concluded as the Holy Scriptures tells us, so did Joshua bid the sun stand still and not the earth.

John Calvin on his part condemned Copernicus findings and subsequent publications, citing as evidence the first verse of Psalm 93. The world also is established that it cannot be moved who asked Calvin will venture to place the authority of Copernicus above that of the Holy Spirit.

Catholics authorities also condemned Copernicus findings but were not too bitter until in 1616 that they became more vocal. It was this atmosphere of wars, fear, torturing, killing, etc., that Michel de Montaigne wanted to correct. As already mentioned above, a jurist by profession, Michel de Montaigne advocated the cultivation of the mind; instead of a stereotyped period based on doctrines of religions and faith. He wrote to the French barons for a change. But when his proposals were rejected, Michel de Montaigne resigned from his state duties to his private estate.

Talking of how Michel de Montaigne came about inventing the genre essay, (McKay 1983:544) explain:

At the age of thirty-eight, Montaigne resigned his judicial post, retired to his estate, and devoted the rest of his life to study, contemplation and the effort to understand himself. Like the Greek,

he believed that the object of life was to know they self for self-knowledge teaches men and women, how-to live-in accordance with nature and God. Montaigne developed a new literary genre, the essay- from the French essayer meaning to test or try- to express his thoughts and ideas.

Based on the narration above, it is evident that Michel de Montaigne introduced the genre essay into the literature of the world. He aimed at correcting the stereotyped beliefs and superstitions that were common during his period, through his personal brief writings, which he called essayer- to try.

Nowadays, scholars of the genre of essay define it as a relatively brief prose composition expressing personal ideas, or personal thoughts. Describing an essay, Black and Mcbee (1978: xv) state: an essay is a relatively brief prose composition expressing personal ideas. Since it is a subjective form of communication, the essay can range in topic from the concrete to the abstract, from the serious to the whimsical. And, depending on the author’s purpose,