Tital:

Another classic essayist, William Hazlitt, began an essay thusly: “One of the pleasantest things in the world is going a journey; but I like to go by myself. I can enjoy society in a room; but out of doors, nature is company enough for me. I am then never less alone than when alone.” Do you prefer traveling alone or with company? Contemplate for a moment how the experience of walking through deep woods feels when you are simply by yourself and how it feels when you are in the company of a congenial friend. (Better yet, find a forest or lakeside and actually have the experience before writing.) How about a museum or historic cathedral? Do you crave solitude when in the presence of art and architecture, or good company?

STRUCTURE:

Meditative Essay 5 pages

There are, as we’ve seen in our reading, a number of ways to go about a meditative essay, but what all forms of meditation have in common is that they begin with either open-ended questions, or an abstract idea (think noise in Seneca’s essay, or the annoyances of court life in Shonagon’s). According to Dave Hood (and Phillip Lopate, and others): “[t]he intent of the writer is to turn the abstract idea or the generalization of an emotion into an essay of concrete details that readers will understand and relate to.”

There is no narrative here—this is not a story—nor is it about an experience that you’ve had that led to you some giant epiphany and some “universal truth.” What we’re doing here is to ask a question, or identify an emotion or large-scale concept (think: love, hate, evil, justice, et cetera) and then progress from an investigation of facts drawn from sources and personal observation, to an exploration of the idea or question that uses both logic, and figurative language (similie, metaphor) to entertain and inform our readers

Again, from Dave Hood:

“The aspiring writer can write about any topic. For instance:

Is war ever just? Is killing ever justified?

Does God exist?

Does life have meaning and purpose? Or do we live existential lives?

What is morality?

What is it we enjoy so much about gossip?”

(adapted from davehood59.wordpress.com).

I DONT WANNA BE IN PROBLEM WHIT MY UNIVERSITY.

I DONT WAANA AN USE ONE.