An essay is a short piece of nonfiction prose that explores a particular subject from a personal or argumentative angle. The word comes from the French for “attempt,” and the form retains a sense of exploratory thinking.

Montaigne’s Essais established the personal, digressive model; Bacon’s essays offered a more aphoristic, public style. Modern essays range from formal arguments to informal reflections, literary criticism, and cultural commentary. What they share is a focus on ideas rather than on sustained narrative, and a voice that is usually more direct than that of fiction. The essayist may persuade, meditate, describe, or simply turn a subject over for the reader’s inspection.

Length is flexible, but the essay is typically shorter than a treatise and more finished than a rough sketch. It thrives on the tension between the writer’s individual perspective and the general interest of the topic. A good essay leaves the reader with a clarified thought or a new angle of vision.

A focused attempt to think through a subject in prose is an essay.