Francis Bacon

1. Bacon as An
Essayist
Muhammad Zameer Nawaz

2. Main Features of Bacon’s Style
• Utilitarianism/Machiavellianism
• Aphorism
• Antithesis
• Parallelism
• Comparison & Contrast
• Metaphor
• Simile
• Analogy
• Allusions
• Ellipsis
• Latin words
• Punctuation

3. Utilitarianism/Machiavellianism
• The useful is the good;
– All rising to great place is by a winding stair;
and if there be factions, it is good to side a
man’s self whilst he is rising and to behave
himself when he is placed.
– A mixture of lie doth ever add pleasure.
– Some books are to be tasted, others to be
swallowed, and some few to be chewed and
digested

4. Aphorism
• a brief statement containing an important truth or
fundamental principle.
• Examples
– A place showeth the man.
– Man is bold towards God and coward towards men. (Of Truth)
– A lie faces God and shrinks from Man. (Of Truth)
– Studies serve for delight, for ornament and for ability.
– Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be
chewed and digested
– A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. (Of Truth)
– It is a strange desire to seek power and lose liberty: or to seek power over others
and lose power over a man’s self. (Of Great Place)
– The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains.
(Of Great Place)

5. Antithesis
• Antithesis, which literally means “opposite,” is a
rhetorical device in which two opposite ideas are put
together in a sentence to achieve a contrasting effect.
– “Setting foot on the moon may be a small step
for a man but a giant step for mankind.
– Patience is bitter, but it has a sweet fruit.

6. Examples
• Studies serve for delight, for ornament and
for ability.
• It is a strange desire to seek power and to
lose liberty.

7. Parallelism
• the use of components in a sentence that
are grammatically the same; or similar in
their construction, sound, meaning, or
meter.
– using pairs or series of related words, phrases
and clauses
– using punctuations such as colon, semi colon
and comma

8. Faulty parallelism
• Faulty parallelism
– I like singing,kayaking, and to dance.
– I enjoy basketball more than playing video
games.
– My history class was both interesting and a challenge.
• parallelism:
– I like singing, kayaking, and dancing
– I enjoy basketball more than video game
– My history class was both interesting and challenging.

9. Examples
• Read not to contradict and confute; nor to
believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and
discourse; but to weigh and consider.
• Men in great place are thrice servants: servants
of the sovereign or state; servants of fame; and
servants of business. So as they have no
freedom; neither in their persons, nor in their
actions, nor in their times.

10. Comparison & Contrast
• “for natural abilities are like natural plants,
that need pruning, by study.”
• “Crafty men contemn studies, simple men
admire them, and wise men use them”
• “Some books are to be tasted, others to
be
swallowed, and some few to be chewed
and digested

11. • Reading maketh a full man; conference a
ready man; and writing an exact man.”
• “Histories make men wise; poets witty; the
mathematics subtle; natural philosophy
deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able
to contend.”
• “Nay, there is no stond or impediment in
the wit, but may be wrought out by fit
studies; like as diseases of the body, may
have appropriate exercises”

12. Metaphor
• a figure of speech that makes an implicit,
implied, or hidden comparison between two
things that are unrelated, but which share some
common characteristics.
– this same truth, is a naked, and open day–light,
– envy is a gadding passion, and walketh the
streets, and doth not keep home”

13. Simile
• A simile is a figure of speech that makes
a comparison, showing similarities between two
different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws
resemblance with the help of the words “like” or
“as.” Therefore, it is a direct comparison.
–“Natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning, by study”
– “Distilled books are like common distilled
waters, flashy things”
– Suspicions amongst thoughts, are like bats amongst birds, they ever
fly by twilight. Certainly they are to be repressed, or at least well
guarded: for they cloud the mind.”

14. Analogy
• a comparison in which an idea or a thing is compared to another
thing that is quite different from it.It aims at explaining that idea or
thing by comparing it to something that is familiar.
• Metaphors and similes are tools used to draw an analogy.
Therefore, analogy is more extensive and elaborate than either
a simile or a metaphor. Consider the following example:
– “The structure of an atom is like a solar system. The nucleus is the sun, and
electrons are the planets revolving around their sun.”
• Here, an atomic structure is compared to a solar system by using
the word “like.” Therefore, it is a simile. Metaphor is used to relate
the nucleus to the sun, and the electrons to the planets, without
using the words “like” or “as.” Hence, similes and metaphors are
employed to develop an analogy

15. Examples
• Nay, there is no stond or impediment in
the wit, but may be wrought out by fit
studies; like as diseases of the body, may
have appropriate exercises
• All rising to great place is by a winding
stair; and if there be factions, it is good to
side a man’s self whilst he is rising and to
behave himself when he is placed

16. Allusions
• Rerences to familiar historical , cultural ,
literary, or biblical texts , figures, or
events-may also expand readers'
understanding and appreciation of a work
• Pilate, Montaigne, Solomon, Tacitus of
Galba, Vespasian

17. Ellipsis
• the omission of a word or series of words.
– Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and
for ability.
– 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.

18. Archaic Words
• Maketh – makes
– “Reading maketh a full man”
• Doth – does
– “He had need have much cunning, to seem to
know, that he doth not”
• Nay – no
• Stond – hindrance

19. Latin Phrases
• Cumini Sectores
– Skilled in analysis
• Abeunt studia in mores
– Studies pass into and influence manners

20. References
• https://literarydevices.net