Non-Fictional Prose

Non-fictional prose argues, records and reflects without inventing its facts: the essay, the biography, the autobiography, the travel book and the letter. The exam tests whether you can tell these kinds apart and name their masters. Example: Francis Bacon's essays are terse and aphoristic — 'Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability' — while Charles Lamb's essays are familiar and personal, built on anecdote and digression.