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Montaigne : The First Modern Essayist Essay

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Montaigne is considered the first modern essayist but he refuses to define exactly what an essay is. For Montaigne essays seem to be a form of story-telling and a stream of consciousness. Considering he worked on the essay, “Of Coaches,” for 12 years it is logical to conclude that his essays would digress and drift off to other topics. His thoughts paralleled his life and not everything stays consistent throughout our lives which is why his essay continues to change topics. Comparatively, this is a very different style of writing than we are accustomed to academically. Essays have been established in setting in which at times it feels like creativity has been suppressed. Thoughts are not allowed to run rampant and everything has to be extremely professional in order to achieve the grade.
Essays such as Montaigne’s give me hope as to the creative potential in essays. He has this timeless aspect to his essays; what was once applicable in his time is still very much relevant in today’s world. At first Montaigne’s essay seems to be a jumble of different stories put together. It starts off with Montaigne first describing why we sneeze. He then continues to describe how he prefers horseback, then with the spending of public money, and finally with the abuse of the native people by the Spaniards. Montaigne was still able to connect the beginning of the essay and the end. The beginning described a type of coach, a chariot, that was used in battles. The end described the last king

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