Exposition is a form of composition designed to explain. Its important
characteristic is clearness, and it, therefore, makes large use of
illustration.
The main points may be stated in various ways in order to make them
clear.
Essays and editorials are among the best known forms of exposition.
=Essay.=--An _essay_ is a short composition upon any subject. The
subject may be of any kind whatever, one fit for treatment, and with
great fulness, in any of the species of discourse described above, or
one without sufficient dignity for such treatment. No other species of
writing ranges over so wide and varied a field of topics--nothing less
than that of all others combined--and none other allows such freedom and
diversity in the handling.
In _style of thought_ the essay may be dreamy and semi-poetical, and
charm by its beauty, it may be simply instructive or critical, it may
blaze with its brilliancy, sting with its satire, convulse with its
humor, convince with its logic, inflame with its appeal and move to
instant duty. The author may wander off in leisurely excursions to the
right and the left, and load his pages with gleanings by the way; or,
like the orator, he may keep his eye on the point he would reach, and
move, with the directness of an arrow’s flight, toward it.
The _style of expression_ should fit the thought, and October woods are
not more varied in color than this department of literature in
utterance.
_Outline of the Essay._--1. Give a clear definition of the subject or
proposition to be discussed, amplified, paraphrased, or explained.