Bacon as a Man of Renaissance:

Renaissance means the ‘revival of learning and an absolute change in every occupation.’ In its
broadest sense, it denotes the gradual enlightenment of human mind after darkness of middle
ages.
The influence of Renaissance spirit is obvious on Bacon in his essays. He lays emphasis on self-
advancement. He has a love for classical learning and natural beauty, which are the qualities of
Renaissance.
Tillotson says:
“Bacon the man was the product of the Renaissance: man’s glory, generous or tense, his
opportunities of mind and body, his eye finally rolling across the subtlety and magnificence of
the world, his joy in learning, discovering, weighing, creating—all this as it existed in Bacon’s
mind shifted through into the Essays.”
Sir Francis Bacon can be considered a “man of the Renaissance” in a number of different ways,
including the following:

 He was a man of diverse interests and talents, gifted as a writer, scientific thinker, judge,
and politician, to name just a few of his roles. Since the term “Renaissance man” refers
to a man who deliberately cultivated numerous talents, Bacon is a man of the
Renaissance in this respect.

 Renaissance age was accompanied with the great spirit of humanism. Bacon's essays are
proper study of humanism. He directed his gaze inward and became deeply interested
in the problems of human personality. All of his essays have "man" as their subject
matter.

 As a philosopher and scientific thinker, Bacon sought to promote the responsible use of
reason, which he considered one of the most important gifts God had given to man.
Thinkers of the Renaissance almost universally prized reason, and Bacon was no
exception.

 At the same time, Bacon and other Renaissance thinkers believed that reason was fully
compatible with Christian faith; they considered Christianity an
eminently reasonable religion.

 Because he did believe that Christianity was reasonable, Bacon (like many other
Renaissance thinkers) sought to show how truths discovered by the ancient Greeks and
Romans were compatible with Christian truth.

 Bacon was also a typical Renaissance thinker in his emphasis on ethics and morality.
Truth should not simply be known but should also be practiced, especially in one’s
 dealings with other persons. It is not surprising, then, that his essays deal with topics
“Civil and Moral.”

 Bacon was a typical Renaissance thinker in the range of his intellectual ambitions. Not
content to specialize in one area of thought or practice, he gave serious thought to
many different kinds of topics, as the mere titles of his various essays suggest. He also
fulfilled a wide variety of social roles.
In all these ways, then, Bacon might reasonably be called a “man of the Renaissance.”
Bacon's love of learning is portrayed in his essays. This love of learning is an important quality
of Renaissance age. In his Essay "Of Studies", he emphasizes the advantages of reading. His
essay "Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates" contains thirteen Latin quotations. He
says about the love of learning:

"I have taken all the knowledge to be my province.”

Another important characteristic of the Renaissance is the striking use of the figure of speech
that is clear in Bacon's essays. The metaphors and similes taken from different spheres of
knowledge and experience reflect the popular taste of the age. We have a glimpse of his
metaphor and similes in the following sentences from his essays:

"A mixture of lie doth ever add pleasure" (Of Truth)

"Men fear death as children fear to go in dark" (Of Death)

Bacon has the main feature of Renaissance spirit in his essays but there is one great exception
and that is the use of language. He does not reflect the age's pride in English language. He
admired and preferred Latin to English and thought that the Latin version of his essays would
be more popular. Critics have different opinions about Bacon’s language. A critic says:
"The language of Bacon is as supreme in prose as Shakespeare's in verse."
In the end, we can say that Bacon is a writer who represents the most salient feature of his age,
which is the age of revival of learning and study of ancients, the spirit of inquiry and
individualism. He is the real product of The Renaissance glory and reveals the thoughts,
philosophy and true features of the Renaissance spirit.