critique vs essay

critique

noun
  • An essay in which another piece of work is criticised, reviewed, etc. 

  • The art of criticism. 

  • A point made to criticize something. 

verb
  • To review something; to criticize. 

essay

noun
  • A written composition of moderate length, exploring a particular issue or subject. 

  • A proposed design for a postage stamp or a banknote. 

verb
  • To move forth, as into battle. 

How often have the words critique and essay occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )