Francis Bacon as an essayist
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Francis Bacon is of great importance in the history of English literature. His essays have become classic in the English Language. They owe this position not only due to their subject matter but for their unique style and fine literary taste. As well as the features of his essays make him an essayist. Essays should be prose composition, brief, short, or of moderate length. The brevity or shortness doesn’t mean that the author has less knowledge about the subject. Rather, he has full command over his subject and can express himself in a pithy and condensed language. Bacon’s essays are full of these qualities. His essays are of moderate length and express his ideas in pithy languages. Another feature of Bacon’s essays like others is that they are incomplete. As an essayist, Bacon does not give details about a subject. He writes only those aspects which he thinks significant and leaves out the rest. In Of Plantation he aims to convey his view of colonization; not to give exhaustive information about it Like an essayist Bacon’s essays are also personal. When the writer is in a mood to compose the essay grows round that mood as the cocoon grows around the silkworm. The essay thus expresses the personal likes and dislikes, prejudices and predictions, of the essayist. In Of Truth his personal view about lies is found i.e. lies can be mixed with truth for worldly gain. There is no formal or logical development of thought in an essay. The various points or arguments are not systematically arranged, but haphazardly follow each other. In this case, Bacon also likes to enjoy the freedom of conversation. So he is informal, and often chatty like an essayist. An essay ” must have a grain of salt within it “. In other words, it should be attractive and charming, so that it may be easily retained in the mind. It should have a touch of humor. Bacon’s Of Marriage and Single Life is a good example of it. Here the advances and disadvances of marriage and single life are portrayed in such a way that they reflect in readers ‘ personal affairs. Thus, Bacon is considered a successful essayist for the features of the development of English prose and language. what he used in his essays. Besides, these play a very important role in the development of English prose and language.
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