Cold Open
A cold open in an essay is a technique where the writer begins with an attention-grabbing story, fact, or scene without providing much context or introduction, also known as Medias Res. This approach is designed to engage the reader immediately and draw them into the essay before revealing the broader topic or story.
The rain hammered down on the tin roof, each drop a tiny explosion in the quiet of the night. I huddled under the thin blanket, my breath visible in the cold air, wondering if I'd ever feel safe again.
This technique can get the reader invested in your backstory as opposed to having the read it while wondering if it's going anywhere...now they know it is going somewhere.
This is a great cold open because it start the reader right in the midst of some action while the narrator wonders if he will ever feel safe again. This pondering forces the reader to wonder about the backstory. How did we get here? What is going on in this person's life? Why doesn't he feel safe? From here you can go back in time and provide the necessary exposition.
"On a sunny afternoon in April 1961, a small spacecraft named Vostok 1 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, carrying a single human being who would soon become a global icon."
Even though this one isn't particularly poetic, it's big. The almost clinical nature of the writing, paired with the epic line, "...single human being would soon become a global icon" provides a historic and monumental nature to the story that is about to be told.