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Episodes
- S1 E1 - Steal, Adopt, Adapt: Where Essays BeginJune 23, 201634minSee how the practice of writing essays has evolved over centuries yet has remained versatile, and examine the many uses of essays across the ages. Professor Cognard-Black uses examples from Aristotle to Michel de Montaigne to Edgar Allan Poe on how to look both inward and outward to find inspiration and build the story you most want to tell.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E2 - Memory Maps and Your Essay’s DirectionOctober 31, 201629minLook at the world around you with a new lens and discover how to convey those memories you've kept as an experience rather than just a recounting of facts. You'll travel down the streets of London with Virginia Woolf to explore her home as a stranger might, learning how taking on a new perspective can translate into compelling essays.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E3 - Secrets, Confession, and a Writer’s VoiceOctober 31, 201629minOne of the most remarkable consequences of essay writing is the insights you discover about yourself. The nature of the essay doesn't allow for plot building or outlines - you simply sit and write, which means the story takes its own direction. Professor Cognard-Black encourages this process of discovery and shares stories of how many an essay she started turned into a different piece in the end.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E4 - The Skeptical Essayist: Conflicting ViewsOctober 31, 201630minEssays that present conflicting views are not uncommon; Socrates would commonly switch sides in order to test all parts of an argument, and many others have followed his example. Learn how writing essays that provide both sides of an argument, even if you support one side and oppose the other, can help you to develop an elasticity of mind, expand your range of ideas, and add to your credibility.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E5 - The Reasonable Essayist: Artistic ProofsOctober 31, 201631minThe most important artistic proof in any essay is ethos - the writer's ethical appeal or credibility. She demonstrates how to effectively use ethos along with logos or rationality to bring reasonableness into your essays, which vital to writing effectively. You'll examine the work of a pair of writers who mastered the reasonable essay: Joseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E6 - The Unreasonable Essayist: Strategic IronyOctober 31, 201631minProfessor Cognard-Black explores the world of unreasonable essays, often written for the sake of humor or irony, or to be provocative, such as Jonathan Swift's "A Modest Proposal." You'll explore an example of an essay that showcases conflicting views yet remains reasonable, and then look at examples where unreasonable writers use demagoguery to play on readers' emotions.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E7 - The Empathetic Essayist: Evoking EmotionOctober 31, 201630minRevisit Aristotle to master the craft of pathos - being able to express empathy for the subject of any essay. Learn how to elicit emotions from your readers while remaining authentic and not manipulative, clichéd, or contrived. Reflect on honest and moving uses of language from Maxine Hong Kingston and Barack Obama.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E8 - When an Essayist's Feelings Face FactsOctober 31, 201630minYou'll be introduced to three examples of logical fallacies and then take on a challenge that brings together emotional appeals with rational ones to achieve credibility, empathy, and candor. You'll examine Naomi Shihab Nye's ability to blend rational argument with compassionate anecdotes, then hear a personal take on the concept of "home" from Professor Cognard-Black.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E9 - Unabashedly Me: The First-Person EssayOctober 31, 201631minThe use of a first-person perspective in essay writing. Ethos is more inherent in an "I" essay because the person sharing the story actually experienced the events. Learn how to write concisely to avoid an "I" story becoming simply an outlet for your own feelings, instead using your emotions to develop a broader appeal that will interest and benefit others.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E10 - Essayists as Poets: Tapping into ImageryOctober 31, 201630minUsing imagery in essays does more than describe and evoke a scene. When done well, imagery can transport your reader to a specific time and location. Professor Cognard-Black provides examples of metaphors and sense-based descriptions, which are the most effective ways to employ imagery within essays.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E11 - The Visual Essay: Words + PicturesOctober 31, 201631minWriting a visual essay requires you to detach yourself from how you have been taught to view images your whole life. Once you start writing, though, the goal is to not recreate the exact image that you saw, but instead to reimagine it - to view it anew. Professor Cognard-Black discusses an example essay by Barbara Kingsolver in which images enhance her writing, adding shape and color to her words.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E12 - Writing Inch by Inch: From Draft to PolishOctober 31, 201630minProfessor Cognard-Black guides you through Aristotle's process of inventio or invention, which the period of discovery as you write your first draft. You'll examine openings from a number of works, gaining a powerful toolkit that can help you craft the first sentence of your draft. From there, Professor Cognard-Black provides a multitude of invaluable tools for revising, editing, and reviewing.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E13 - Short Forms: Microessays and Prose PoemsOctober 31, 201630minLearn how essays can break the rules of conventional writing, allowing you to design forms to match your needs rather than being forced to fit the rules of convention. Examine structures that reimagine the essay, such as the microessay and the prose poem or "proem." Professor Cognard-Black shares her own students' work to explore what makes them successful essays.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E14 - The Memoir EssayOctober 31, 201631minA memoir is often confused with a personal essay, but Professor Cognard-Black shows you the difference, using examples from her own students' work. She then provides tips to help you recreate your memories and turn them into fascinating pieces of writing. Learn techniques that allow you to get as detailed as possible in your descriptions while still maintaining focus and writing concisely.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E15 - Lyric Essays: Writing That SingsOctober 31, 201629minProfessor Cognard-Black demonstrates the similarities between a lyric poem and a lyric essay and shares a moving lyric piece written by one of her students that uses memory fragments and figurative language to synthesize experience into a kind of mosaic. A lyric essay does not focus on telling a chronological story, but instead is meant to share the impressions that create a mood or an idea.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E16 - The Epistolary Essay: Letters to the WorldOctober 31, 201631minSee how a handwritten letter differs from any other form of direct communication. You'll explore the similarities between letters and the epistolary essay as they both speak to a specific audience and convey a strong sense of reality and veracity. Then, consider passages from the book Between the World and Me, which is written as a letter to the author's son.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E17 - Portrait Essays: People in WordsOctober 31, 201632minDelve into this dynamic between a subject and its writer and examine this power struggle as it plays out in a portrait essay. Using examples from Truman Capote and Scott Russell Sanders, you'll see how your own anxieties and prejudices can come through in an essay focused entirely on someone else.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E18 - The Essayist as Public IntellectualOctober 31, 201633minProfessor Cognard-Black demonstrates public intellectual essay through her own examples and those of well-known public figures, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson and Salman Rushdie. You'll learn how to trade superficial terminology and over-the-top imagery for clear, simple, and direct prose without losing the engagement emotional connection to your audience.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E19 - Polemical Essays: One-Sided ArgumentsOctober 31, 201631minOriginating in the medieval period, polemical essays are the form for writers who wish to focus on a topic from one perspective only. They are often written to be deliberately polarizing. Professor Cognard-Black shares examples of both well-written and overly strident polemical essays from authors such as Jonathan Edward and Laura Kipnis.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E20 - Historical Essays: Past as PresentOctober 31, 201632minThe non-artistic proofs of research and data set the scene for a historical essay, which connects personal memory to a larger project of human history. Professor Cognard-Black shares samples of strong historical essays with a compelling use of non-artistic proofs from authors such as Maureen Stanton and Jeffrey Hammond.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E21 - Humor EssaysOctober 31, 201631minAristotle once noted that laughing at tragedy is cathartic for both the writer and the audience. You'll delve into how self-deprecating humor lends itself to creating ethos or credibility in this particular form of essay. Professor Cognard-Black provides a treasure trove of humorists to study, including droll examples from David Sedaris and Tig Notgaro.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E22 - Nature EssaysOctober 31, 201633minSince the first nature essays were written in the 19th century, such pieces have often romanticized the natural world - but there is value in not sentimentalizing the great outdoors. Examining works by William Wordsworth, Henry David Thoreau, Deb Marquart, and Michael P. Branch, Professor Cognard-Black explores the various takes on nature that offer a balance between realism and idealism.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E23 - Food Essays: My Grandmother’s Recipe BoxOctober 31, 201632minRecipes form the basis of edible essays, which start out as instructions and ingredients, but when you mix in personal connections between a dish and your own culinary culture, add a dash of imagery, and stir in the history behind the food, you've extended your recipe into a taste memory. Professor Cognard-Black demonstrates how food essays can be among the most delicious to create and consume.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
- S1 E24 - Sharing Your Essays: From Blog to BookOctober 31, 201634minThe modern form of the essay may be seen in blogs, although not all blogs are essays. Professor Cognard-Black provides examples of what components are required for a piece to be a fully formed blog essay. While looking at examples from her students and professional writers you'll discover the benefits to blogging and learn about the pros and cons of other forms of publication for your essays.Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
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