Francis Bacon as an Essayist

Francis Bacon as an Essayist

Francis Bacon is considered the father of modern English prose. His essays are distinctive and become classics not for their subject matter but for their style. In his essay "Of Studies", he exhibits all the characteristics of his prose style, which are: arresting beginning, aphoristic style, analytical presentation, use of figures of speech, and Latin quotations.

The first characteristic of Bacon's prose style is his arresting beginning. He starts his essay with a sentence that catches the interest of the readers and states the main purpose of the essay with utmost clarity. He writes: "Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability." This sentence introduces the topic of the essay and the three benefits of studies that he will discuss in the following paragraphs.

The second characteristic of Bacon's prose style is his aphoristic style. His sentences are brief and universal in content. They have a force and a beauty that makes them memorable and influential. They reveal insights and truths about human nature and society. For example, in "Of Studies", he writes: "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man." This sentence summarizes the effects of different types of learning on one's personality and abilities.

The third characteristic of Bacon's prose style is his analytical presentation. He makes a statement and then analyses it in the following sentence. He clarifies his ideas and arguments by explaining them in detail. For example, in the opening sentence of "Of Studies", he writes how studies serve a man and then he explains it: "Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business."

The fourth characteristic of Bacon's prose style is his use of figures of speech. He enriches his prose with brilliant figures of speech drawn from familiar objects of nature or from the facts of everyday life. He uses similes, metaphors, antitheses, paradoxes, and other rhetorical devices to illustrate his points and to make his prose more vivid and suggestive. For example, in "Of Studies", he uses two similes that are apt and expressive: "Natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study." and "Distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things."

The fifth characteristic of Bacon's prose style is his use of Latin quotations. He was a learned man and his scholarship is seen in his use of Latin quotations. He uses them to support his arguments or to add authority and elegance to his prose. He also uses them to show off his erudition and to impress his readers. In "Of Studies", he uses two Latin quotations. One is taken from Ovid: "Abeunt studia in mores" (Studies pass into character). The other is "Cymini sectores" (Splitters of hairs), referring to the scholars of the Middle Ages.

Bacon's prose style is not personal and subjective, but objective and didactic. It is terse, epigrammatic, rhetorical and full of learned quotations. In the shortest possible words, he conveys maximum ideas. His style is suitable for his purpose and audience. He writes as a philosopher, a scientist, and a moralist who wants to instruct and persuade his readers with his wisdom and wit.