Francis Bacon as a Essayist

Notes / Words: 655 / February 20, 2020

Francis Bacon is the first great English essayist who enjoys a glorious
reputation and considered to be the father of English essay. He
remains for the sheer mass and weight of genius. His essays introduce
a new form of composition into English literature.
Three Editions of Bacon’s Essays
Bacon sponsored this new literary form in English with the publication
of his ten essays in 1597. It grew to thirty-eight in the edition of 1612.
The number reached fifty-eight in the final issue of 1625. These essays
are the results of his direct observations of men and matters.

Dispersed Meditations

Bacon charged his essays with the serious spirit and stately manners of
Seneca. For him his essays were dispersed meditations and receptacle
for detached thoughts. He is practical under the influence of
Machiavelli. Utilitarianism is obvious in his essays. He shrewdly
instructs how to lead a successful life. That’s why his essays are called
counsels civil and moral.

Bacon and Montaigne

Bacon borrowed the form of essay from Montaigne, the French

essayist. Bacon and Montaigne share the form of essay but not its
spirit. Montaigne is personal, familiar and prolific. But Bacon is
formal, curt and impersonal. Montaigne appeals to the heart but
Bacon to the head. Thus these two great essayists present a very sharp
and interesting contrast.

Impersonal and Objective

Bacon’s essays are capsules of impersonal wisdom. They may not give
immediate pleasure but give lasting guidance. They are objective and
logically constructed. Thus as an essayist Bacon is not friendly,
confidential, intimate and familiar with the reader. His essays are for
the most part detached and impersonal. This conclusion demands
reconsideration. In fact, Bacon’s essays bear a close imprint of his
personality, though he is not disposed to unbend himself in his works.
On this basis Pope’s following statement is appreciated:

If parts allure thee, think, how Bacon shined,

The wisest, the brightest and the meanest of mankind.
Wide Range of Topics

Bacon wrote on a wide range of topics. He passes from religion and

empire to gardens and buildings. In Montaigne and Lamb, the subject
is unimportant but in Bacon subject always is important. He may be
unsystematic in his treatment but he never wanders beyond his
bounds. He surpassed all his contemporaries in the capacity to utter
pregnant thoughts on almost any theme.

Themes of Bacon’s Essays

The themes of Bacon’s essays are various. They range from Goodness
to Gardens and from Envy to Masques and Triumphs. The essay ‘Of
Studies’ is about books and reading. Here Bacon explains reasons and
purpose of study. At the same time he suggests the modes of selecting
the books and manner of study. In ‘Of Truth’ he says that some men
do not care for truth. He mentions its reasons also.

Bacon’s Style

Bacon employed a unique style. This is important for lucidity, clarity,

economy, precision, directness, masculinity and mathematical
plainness. His essays seem like a collection of short and pithy maxims
with tremendous compression. Each sentence can convey a deep and
concentrated meaning. Due to this, Bacon’s style is called aphoristic.
Bacon considered this style suitable for the spirit of enquiry.

In his early essays the sentences are short, crisp and sententious.
There are few connectives. Though there is no continuity, there is a
strong sense of rapid movement. As Bacon’s essays are argumentative
in nature, his style becomes antithetical. With an impartial air, he
balances the opposing arguments. There are number of quotations and
allusions in his essays.

Bacon’s style changed in the later editions. It became more elaborate.

Connectives were used frequently and the style became less formal.
His images and figures of speech are simple. They clearly state the
ideas. Flexibility, wit and fun are also some important features of his
style.

In short, Bacon is a very great essayist. To English literature his essays

are priceless acquisitions. Legouis has rightly remarked’ These essays
are the classics of English prose’.

Bacon's essays are not personal. Yet they are essays because they
are "a series of personal comments rather than finished arguments".
Certainly these essays do not have that incompleteness and freedom
and whimsical and humorous presentation which mark the essays of
Lamb, Stevenson and Chesterton. His essays again do not have that
lucidity of expression and urbanity of style and social criticism, which
mark the essay of Addison and Steele. Bacon uses his essay for
philosophical observations. But the charm of his essays lies in their
brevity and neatness of structure. His counsels are written in crisp and
epigrammatic sentences, which read like aphorisms. In some of his
essays, as for examples, Of Gardens, there is a personal note.

In his essay, Of Studies, Bacon gives counsels about the

manner, nature and functions of studies. The subject is meant for
giving instructions to the readers. The treatment is deliberately short
and pithy. He begins the essay with deliberate instructions to the
readers "study is served for delight, for ornament and for ability". The
antithetical style makes his purpose evident: "Reading maketh a full
man, conference a heavy man and writing an exact man". The
antithetical structure of the sentences drives home the points: "Some
books are to be tasted, other to be swallowed and some few to be
chewed and digested." His style is a peculiar mixture of epigram and
antithesis: "They perfect nature and are perfected by experience."
The metaphor is very homely and appropriate: "Like as
diseases of the body, you may have appropriate physical exercise". The
sentences everywhere are polished, neat and statements are made
concrete by example. Bacon is mainly concerned with the effect of
studies upon men of ambition and social status. He gives an account of
the basic requirements of the men of Renaissance. Just as appropriate
exercises are necessary for toning up health, so knowledge of different
branches is necessary for the development of the intellect. Thus Bacon
is too sententious and too deeply engrossed in serious matters of life.
His essays are counsels of the shrewd man of the world based on his
personal experiences and observations of men and manners. His
rational and empirical attitude is revealed in his essays.

Conclusion
Francis Bacon's essays which are called counsels however different in
tone and treatment and Bacon as an essayist. Bacon calls his essays
'detached meditations'. They are "brief notes set down rather
significantly than anxiously". But Bacon also suggests that his essays
are 'cultured glances' rather than finished examinations of subjects.
Bacon was the first essayist in English Literature. His essays are like
Montaigne's essays in that they are more economical and less
dogmatic. But they are unlike Montaigne's essays in that they have
neither their discursiveness nor their grace. Montaigne is mainly
concerned with his individual opinions but Bacon is concerned with
the type of readers he is addressing. As a matter of fact, Bacon wrote
for the young man of ambition of his own class who wanted complete
self-realisation in public life. That is why his essays are so many
counsels meant for these men of ambition. The subject and the brief
treatment of them indicate Bacon's intention. He writes about travel,
friendship, riches usury, ambition, studies, etc.