The characteristics of the reflective essay
Across
- 4. A persona often adopted by essayists to appear as a "harmless," "marginal," or "retired" observer who has the leisure to practice the art of seeing.
- 5. The essayist's tendency to go against the grain of popular opinion to ensure fresh expression and avoid self-righteousness.
- 6. "mischievous impudence" or "cool impertinence" that keeps readers alert by puncturing the solemnity of the argument or the status of the genre itself.
- 7. The process by which an essayist first interrogates their own limitations and "littleness" before using self-knowledge to find a larger, more detached perspective.
Down
- 1. This characteristic mimics the "give-and-take" of common speech and suggests the writer is having a dispute with themselves.
- 2. The central "ethos" and struggle of the genre, where the essayist must drop psychic defenses to achieve self-disclosure while paradoxically protecting certain "secrets".
- 3. A source of guilt for many practitioners, this involves the "presumptuous" act of assuming one's small observations are worth sharing with others.