5. The Essay
The expository essay, as the most difficult form of literature for high school pupils, may well be left until the last part of the fourth year. The analysis of the logical development of the subject of the essay is of particular value at this stage of the course. The outlining of the plan of the essay with its divisions into sections, sub-sections, topics, subtopics, and details is excellent practice. Macaulay’s essays, Burke’s “Speech on Conciliation,” and Webster’s “First Bunker Hill Oration” although, of course, the latter two are orations rather than essays, afford material for this kind of study. Burke’s “Speech on Conciliation,” although difficult for young pupils, is particularly well adapted for analysis of logical structure, and may be used to study methods of exposition and argumentation.
The elements and qualities of prose style illustrated in the essays should also be considered. Balance, parallelism, antithesis, hyperbole, climax, terse and epigrammatic expression, methods of transition and connection, and similar elements of Macaulay’s style are sufficiently obvious to be readily recognized by the high school pupil after his attention has once been called to them. The rhetorical qualities of Burke’s or Webster’s style are also evident enough to make possible the study of them by high school pupils.