BACON AS AN ESSAYIST

Bacon is considered as the first great essayist in England referring to this Hugh Walker has observed,
“Bacon is the first English essayist and he remains for sheer mass and weight genius, the greatest.”
It is indeed true that Bacon’s essays have achieved a popularity that his other works have not. There are a
number of reasons that attribute to this popularity of his essays. Bacon stands supreme in the history of
English literature but his matchless qualities as an essayist. He rightly deserves the title of fatherhood in
English prose. His essays have rightly been regarded as capsules of wisdom.
One has to merely look at the titles of the essays to realize the wide range of subjects that Bacon deals
with e.g.
o Of marriage and single life
o Of death
o Of revenge
o Of truth
o Of studies
o Of gardens etc.

There are the topics to interest people of every taste, age or profession as is clear form the titles of the
essays mentioned above. There are essays which deal with the ethical or moral topics such as truth,
goodness of nature, nobility etc. There are some which are concerned with the eternal human passion like
revenge, envy, ambition, love. Other essays deal with the topics of general interest like travel, studies
friendship. All these varied topics are supported by a variety of quotations and a wide observation of men
and manners and often a rich collection of metaphors and similes. Almost no topic of human life is there
that has not been touched by Bacon n his essays.

Merit as an essayist:
One of the prominent features of Bacon’s essays is practicality. His essays deal with the practical
problems rather than abstract issues. The merit of his essays lies in the density of thought and expressions.
They are not mere ideas and speculations. His essays force the readers to think a lot. Some critics think
that these are just light essays Macaulay terms his essays as:
“The best collection of jests in the world.”
But he also admits that:
“They are really something deeper than jests.”
When we go through his essays, we clearly feel that he inserts ideas and expression not for the purpose of
decoration but to tell us reality and to emphasize an idea. Note the following expressions.
“Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested.”
“Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man and writing an exact man.”
“Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age and old man’s nurse.”
There is a lot to think and understand in these words Hugh Walker says:
 “Bacon is too stately and his thought is too profound to permit us to speak of the essays as the
confidential chat of a great philosopher but in them he comes as near as his nature would permit.”
Man is the subject of Bacon’s essay. This human interest is one reason why his essays are universally
popular, because human beings are interested most of all in themselves. Bacon’s essays can be broadly
divided into three categories.
a) Man in relation to the world and society.
b) Man in relation to himself, and
c) Man in relation to his maker.
Whether ethical, civil or political the essays are the distillations of Bacon’s observations of men, their
natures, their ways and habits of life. Another quality of Bacon’s essays is his aphoristic style employed
by him in his essays e.g.
“Revenge is a kind of wild justice.”
“Men fear death as children fear to go in the dark.”
Another important quality of Bacon as an essayist is his “terseness” in his essays. e.g.
“Revenge is a kind of wild justice.”
“All colours die in the dark.”
“Vindictive persons are like witches.”
Machiavelli spirit is still another characteristic feature of Bacon’s essays. As an essayist Bacon seems
more of a humanist in his essays. He preferred human success and happiness to all e.g.
“By indignities men can come to dignities.”
“A mixture of lie doth ever add pleasure.”
Morality can also be found in Bacon’s essays though most of time it is not an ideal morality. Bacon
undoubtedly is at his best in what may be termed as his political essays. One might argue that these topics
are of interest only to kings and statemen. But the remarks he makes in his essays can not go
unappreciated even by a layman. A man who wants to achieve material prosperity and success in worldly
affairs could easily find very useful principles in Bacon’s essays. all rising to a “great place is by a
winding stair” and Bacon advises the aspirant to make use of factions and lake sides while rising to his
position. It is dubious morality to be sure and yet, a maxim many people follow successfully even to this
day. Another quality of Bacon as an essayist is that time and again, he cites reference form Bible, Greek
and Latin mythology. e.g.
“What is truth? Said Jesting Pilate”
And in “Of Marriage and Single Life”, Bacon says:
“Ulysses, vetulam, Suam, Proetulit immortalitati.”
And
“When Christ cometh, there shall be no faith upon earth.”
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we can say that the essays of Bacon embody the accurate and shrewd observation of an
author regarding man and life. Terse, compact and packed with thought, the style as well as the matter
appeal to a wide range of readers. Illustrated and reinforced as the ideas are with appropriate similes,
metaphors and quotations they appeal even more to the reader’s imagination and hence the popularity of
Bacon’s essays.