Essay - one of the genres of epic literature. Relatively short in volume, it combines the features inherent in fiction and journalistic literature.
The main task of the essay as a genre is to describe already established morals.
A special place is occupied by a portrait essay. True, today the meaning of this term has changed somewhat. Classics of literature, drawing portraits of various people, explored their inner world, painted it so that readers understood what was the true background of the actions and behavior of the heroes. The authors pointed out, explicitly or implicitly, the most dramatic features of the characters, determined what distinguishes them from other people. It was believed that no other genre was able to respond in such a way to the most acute problems of our time. Only a portrait essay is capable of this.
Today, this term is increasingly understood as biographical descriptions. One of the reasons for the loss of acuity in the essays is freedom of speech: thanks to this freedom, purely informational genres began to take a leading place in literature and journalism.
Portrait essay, like any other genre of literature, has its own characteristic features.
- The purpose of the essayist is to talk about another person, to show him the way he is seen by the author of the work. The author’s interpretation of the character of the hero based on the features of his biography is given.
- The essayist must depict the hero, documenting his portrait with documentary accuracy, showing his behavior or actions in unusual situations. The author must conduct an artistic analysis of the character of his hero. If this is a portrait sketch of a friend, then it will not hurt to tell how she relates to the author, and how to other people, what she loves and what not. Well, if you can determine the origins or causes of her actions. It is important to remember that writing an essay is possible only on the basis of well-studied material: unlike a narrator, an essayist cannot conceive events. He works exclusively with documentary materials.
- If the author creates a mother’s portrait essay, one should (however, as in other cases) draw not only the external portrait, but also reveal the mother’s inner world and conduct a psychological analysis of her features. It is necessary to explain why she is the best, to highlight the most significant trait of her character, to emotionally talk about her.
- Creating a portrait sketch of any person, you should correctly submit yourexposition, find an appropriate “frame” for it, pick up a fascinating beginning and end for the story. One must be able to arouse interest in the hero, to make him think about him even after the essay has been read and set aside.
In no case should you start the story with common phrases (for example, “I want to tell ...”, “my mother’s name is ...”, etc.). The beginning should be a kind of seed. Here are some good examples: “ And life is beautiful because it has a mother ...”; "Her eyes are in front of me at the most difficult moments of my life ..."; "What do you remember about your childhood?"
When creating a portrait essay, you need to remember that for the full disclosure of the image of the hero, you should definitely use dialogs, landscape sketches, a description of significant details and carefully monitor the language of presentation.