Compared with "verse" (verse), "prose" includes all non-verse genres except poetry, such as novels, dramas, literary criticism, biographies, political commentaries, speeches, diaries, letters, travel notes, etc. etc. It can be seen that the coverage is too broad.
As for "essay", British scholar W. E. Williams believes that "British 'essays' come in many colors, but there are almost no rules" and "are generally short and not for the purpose of narrative. "Non-rhyme prose" is generally translated as "essay" or "essay". This obviously has very limited coverage.
Looking at the history of literary development in various countries around the world, prose is an important category prevalent in the literature of various nationalities. However, due to huge differences in regions and national customs, its development situations are very different. . In the development of literature in Western countries, compared with poetry, drama, and novels, the development of prose is quite slow and it is still a rising star. Although the creation of prose genres in Western countries had different beginnings, it was generally from the Renaissance that they gradually developed and prospered one after another.
General literary historians believe that France is the birthplace of "essay", and Montaigne is known as the founder of the "essay" genre. In 1580, Montaigne published his collection of essays, Essais, which marked the beginning of greater development in French prose. In 1597, the British Francis Bacon borrowed the title of Montaigne and published a collection of essays, which became the beginning of British prose.
Liu Bannong was the first to introduce the word essay into China, and Lu Xun explained the word essay more clearly when he translated "Out of the Tower of Ivory" by Chu Chuan Bai Cun. What is an essay? Lu Xun's translation said: "If it's winter, I sit on an easy chair next to the stove; if it's summer, I put on my bathrobe, sip bitter tea, and chat casually with my friends, and transfer these words to the paper as usual. The thing is essay. "Here, essay mainly refers to a kind of rambling prose, which is relatively loose and casual, and closer to essay writing.