Write the explanation of the essay entitled "The Art Of The Essayist

Write the explanation of the essay entitled “The Art Of The Essayist”. (Part-2)

Ans.

Explanations

(5) And the confessed aim of the essayist is to make people interested in life and in themselves and in the part they can take in life; and he does that best if he convinces men and women that life is a fine sort of a game, in which they can take a hand.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Art of the Essayist’ written by A. C. Benson. The great fact of human nature is its quality to pull in different ways like that of the tug-of-war between Devil and Baker in our restless brains.

Explanation: The writer makes it very clear what the essayist has to achieve by the power of his essay writing. He gives the example of a tug-of war which goes on between the good and evil in human mind. Such struggle makes our brains restless when the essayist should play his important part.

According to the writer, the main aim of the essayist is to maintain people’s interest in their life. They should regard life as a sport because there is no need to feel disappointed. He suggests that the people should face their life in the spirit of a true game. In the same way a true essayist, should think of life as a game and himself as a player. A true reader should enjoy such essays as the part of literature getting the real charm of life even in a difficult situation. The true essayist inspires his readers to play the game of life by maintaining the interest of their life even in difficult situations. It is the power of art or a true essay that makes the spirits of a sorrowful man high by saving him from complete break down.

(6) The essayist is the opposite of the romancer, because his one and continuous aim is to keep the homely materials in view; to face actual conditions, not to fly from them.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay. The Art of the Essayist’ written by A. C. Benson. The essayist is really a lesser kind of poet working with his simple and humble material of his life.

Explanation: In these lines the writer describes the true nature of the essayist. He makes it very clear that the essayist is totally different and opposite of the romancer who is the one not to face the realities of human life. On the other hand, the romancer flies from the realities of the life and he lives in the own world of his imagination. Therein he regards himself very happy.

On the other hand, the essayist looks at the harsh realities of human life and he describes them in his essays and other writings. He does not fly from them because he does not fear them in any way. The only purpose of his life is to keep the homely material in his view. He does so to make the readers accept life in its real way. When his readers read his essays, they feel perfectly satisfied by the idea that human life does not contain anything bad. He feels that there are moments of joy along with the times of sorrow. In this way, the true essayist helps his readers to understand human life in a better way and to be really happy.

(7) We think meanly of life if we believe that it has no sublime moments; but we think sentimentally of it if we believe that it has nothing but sublime moments. The essayist wants to hold the balance.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay. The Art of the Essayist’ written by A. C. Benson. The essayist is the opposite of the romancer because he faces the reality of life. He does not fly from it like the romancer.

Explanation: In these lines the writer describes the right view about life. On the other hand, some pessimists think that human life is full of sorrow and suffering. There are for him no great moments when he can think of human life in a right manner because such people have only the negative attitude about human life and they do not see any joy in their life. They always look at life in a negative and sorrowful manner so they remain much disappointed.

On the other hand there are some optimists who think of life hopefully as well as in a joyful manner. They think that everything in life is good with happy moments and with no cause to feel sorry and unhappy. We may call such persons sentimentalists because they think of life with good feelings. They do not think of the sad realities of life. According to the writer the essayist is neither a pessimist nor an optimist because he avoids both the extremes and he holds a balance between both kinds of thinking. For him life is the mixture of both joy and sorrow.

(8) It is rather like what is called an organ prelude, a little piece with a theme, not very strict perhaps in form, but which can be fancifully treated, modulated from, and coloured at will. It is a little criticism of life at some one point clearly enough defined.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Art of the Essayist’ written by A. C. Benson, Essay in literature is outside classification. The writer gives the example of Plato’s ‘Justice’.

Explanation: The writer, in these lines, makes his attempt to define the essay as the form of literature as it defies all classification. He further says that the true essay is like an organ or an element of some hidden gas which can be felt but it cannot be seen, or it cannot be touched.

The writer further says that its effect can be felt in the mind of the reader. It does not have any theme to describe without any strict form. The essayist can decide his own form which may be short or long and be in accordance to the writer’s imagination. In this way the essay becomes delightful in reading as a poem in prose. According to the writer poetry is regarded as the criticism of life showing human life in its different colours as seen by the poet. In the same way, the essay is a literary piece of work and it can be defined well as the real criticism of life. Its reason is that such an essay describes a definite aspect of life in a small way.

(9) He does not see life as the historian, or as the philosopher, or as the poet, or as the novelist, and yet has a touch of all these.

Reference to the Context: These lines are an extract from the essay, ‘The Art of the Essayist’ written by A. C. Benson. According to the writer the true essayist is an interpreter of life in his own particular manner.

Explanation: The writer, in his essay, The Art of the Essayist’ defines the necessary traits of the true and effective essayist. He tries to show his real taste which helps him to live and work as a true essayist in the real manner. It should be remembered by us that the right form of essay is changing from one way to the other. Its different features related to the literary ones are related with it. It should be remembered that an essay does not conform to any one literary rule because it includes a richer and broader domain of life.

It should be remembered that the true essayist is the real interpreter or critic of life in a general way because he does not ignore any part of human life. At the same time he is free from any particular bias. With this reason he does not look at life like the historian, nor like the philosopher, nor like the poet, nor like the novelist because he touches all aspects of human life in his essays out-and-out.