•Describe Bacon's style.
•Explain Fransic Bacon's writing style.
Fransic Bacon as an essayist
Introduction:
Bacon wrote in no systematic discussion of rhetoric or essay writing but scattered throughout, his own essays are comment on his own approach and for this reason, his essays are known as dispersed meditations he himself calls his essays counsels as his essays are writings with some good piece of advice for the readers.
Bacon as an essayist:
Bacon was a Utilitarian, his essays are full of practical wisdom also. The chief characteristics of his essays are as under:
1. Aphoristic style:
Bacon is known for his use of aphorisms. An aphorism is a terse statement of a truth and dogma; a pithy generalization, which may or may not be witty. Expressions such as 'Men fear death, as children fear to go in the dark', 'Whosoever delighted in solitude is either a wild beast or god', 'Revenge is a kind if wild justice' are some excellent examples of aphorisms Bacon uses in his essays.
2. Epigrammatic style:
An epigram is a short, witty statement in verse or prose which may be complimentary, satiric or aphoristic. Bacon was a master of epigrams. Some of his well known epigrams are: He that hath wife and children hath given hostage to fortune,' 'Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested' 'There is a superstition in avoiding superstition, when men think to do best if they go farthest from the superstition formally received.'
3. Brevity and Precision:
Bacon's forte lies in his conciseness. His essays are brief, pithy observations on a variety of subjects like death, marriage and single life, gardens, revenge, studies, friendship, adversity and many more. Bacon's essays seldom exceed a paragraph or two but what other writers say in two or three paragraphs, Bacon is able to convey the same idea in a sentence or two. His essays are terse and we get an impression of ideas rapidly jotted down, for this reason his essays are called 'dispersed meditation'. Bacon describes his essays as 'grains of salt which will rather give an appetite than offend with satiety'.
4. Lucidity:
Bacon's essays are written in Elizabethan English; moreover, they are loaded with Latin expressions and make innumerable references to the Bible. Hence, the modern day reader finds it difficult to comprehend Bacon at places, but once the reader gets accustomed to reading him, he has no difficulty comprehending the essays. The secret ofi his lucidity lies in the clarity of his thoughts as a result he has no difficulty in putting hish thoughts into paper.
5. Pragmatism:
Bacon was an astute observer of life. All the observations he makes, he translates them into practical precepts, and offers to his readers. The wisdom that is reflected in his essays comes from the immense knowledge he possessed. He himself declared that he considered all knowledge to be his province. Furthermore, his knowledge is "perfected by experience." On careful reading, we see that each sentence of Bacon is worth being "chewed and digested."
The above discussion shows that although Bacon was endowed with a sparkling intellect and great wisdom, he lacked moral principles and for this reason Alexander Pope called him 'the wisest, the brightest and the meanest in mankind."
