The History and Peculiarities of a Biography Essay
Biography is a work that describes the life of a person. Plutarch, with his Comparative Biographies, is considered the founder of this genre. His work consists of 22 biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, including Cicero, Caesar, and Brutus. The book influenced not only the biographical genre but also literature in general. For example, Rousseau noted that he was greatly impressed by the descriptions of heroes and their characters. Later, many used Comparative Biographies as a biography standard.
What is a Biography Essay
A biography essay is a short description of the life events of a famous person. Unlike fiction, where heroes and events are most often a part of the author’s fantasy, the main character is the most real in a biography essay. And this is what makes such works especially attractive since it allows, albeit indirectly, to get to know extraordinary people.
In a story about a person, you tell when and where a person was born, when, where and how he/she studied, where he/she spent his/her childhood, received recognition, etc. Of course, the most critical events are selected. The story goes from the past to the present and the future. There are specific guidelines on how to write a biography essay. Still, its purpose is always to tell a story about a person and attract the readers’ attention to some socially significant problem. Therefore, a biography essay is usually written in a journalistic style, so you need to actively use all the means of this style.
Why are Biography Essays Popular?
For the same reason, tabloids or their counterparts were famous before, and celebrities’ pages on social media are popular today. When you observe the public life of an outstanding personality, willy-nilly, you want to get to know him or her better when. When it comes to successful and wealthy entrepreneurs, everyone wants to understand exactly how they lived and decided to come to what they have. If we are talking about a famous artist, it is curious how he lived, where he got his/her inspiration from, what events, people, or phenomena inspired him/her to write this or that masterpiece. Why did the famous actress, who everyone loved, die early and alone?
The 21 century became a turning point in the development of biography essays. A vast number of events, technological breakthroughs, wars, the rapid change of eras have left society literally without support, which it seeks in the experience of people of the past. Today, this aspect is even more relevant: in a world where so much can change in a day, a biography can tell you what to do and how to live. If before biography essay was treated with distrust because it is too contradictory and combines documentary accuracy and author’s point of view, today these features have become the reason for its popularity.
Which biography essays are the most popular?
It differs from country to country. There are stories about presidents, dictators, doctors, astronauts, writers, brilliant scientists. They all became loved because they lift the veil of secrecy over those aspects of life that seem so far and complex. It is not to say that they often are about people of the past; biographies of contemporaries are also famous. Therefore, we may conclude that the main criterion for success will still be a unique experience and an exciting story.
What makes a biography essay remarkable?
First of all, as evident as it may sound, the very object of the description. The most exciting thing is to read about extraordinary personalities to find out how they lived, what is behind the curtain of glory.
Secondly, the plot. Like any other essay, it should be interesting to read, and there should be a particular structure:
- intriguing introduction ending in a thesis statement;
- main body paragraphs with arguments to support your thesis.
- a conclusion that restates a thesis.
Thirdly, the details. It is never enough to simply describe the events in chronological order. You need to add need feelings; something personal that will resonate in the reader’s soul will allow him or her to feel involved in what is happening.