Definition and Examples of Humorous Essays

Definition and Examples of Humorous Essays

Humor is the key element that differentiates other types of essays from humorous essays. Something that can make the readers choke with laughter, guffaw, chuckle, or smile must be present in a humorous essay.

In various aspects of our routine lives, a significant role is played by one of the most common phenomena, that is, humor. The type of familiar or personal essay whose key objective instead of persuading or informing the reader is to amuse the readers is referred to as a humorous essay. It is also perceived and known as a light or a comic essay. As organizational and rhetorical strategies, humorous essays often rely on two key elements that are, description and narration.

In English, some of the excellent humorous essays have been forwarded by different notable and renowned writers, such as Mark Twain, James Thurber, David Sedaris, Dorothy Parker, Fran Lebowitz, Stephen Leacock, Garrison Keillor, Ian Frazier, Robert Benchley, Max Berrbohm, and Dave Berry. In different collections of classic American and British Speeches and Essays, many of these humorous writers are presented.

Key Elements

One must look out for fun in his/her topic along with proper organization of essay materials. Moreover, genuine feelings of delight, sorrow, anger, and joy are allowed to be expressed through means of humorous essays due to lesser constraints. In short one of the most ingenious classes of literary essays in Western literature is the humorous essay.

In addition, a critical understanding that is generated by observing life from deeper perspectives must be possessed by every individual who aims to craft and write the best humorous essays along with a lively style of writing.

It is also important to consider some of the successful methods through which an excellent humorous essay can be generated. Besides jokes, the writer must ensure that he/she has a story too.

The story is essential in case the writer’s objective is to write compelling nonfiction. The backseat to the story is then taken by the humor making the essay a more fine and effective piece of writing. In addition, the humorous essay must not be spiteful or mean to the reader.

A personal injury lawyer or a politician can be skewed by the essay writer, however, he/she must play carefully while mimicking the common man. Moreover, one of the most efficient tools for humorous essays is subtlety. Last but not least is selecting a suitable and relevant title for the humorous essay.