Assignment on

Bacon’s Aphorisms and Epigrammatic Style with Special Reference

to “Of Truth” and “Of Marriage and Single Life”

Submitted by:

Akhitha S Kumar

Semester 1

MA English Language and Literature

Govt. College for Women, Vazhuthacaud, TVPM

 CONTENTS

Page Number

Introduction 1

Bacon’s Art of Brevity 2

Conclusion 7

Works Cited
 Chapter 1. Introduction

As his contemporary Ben Jonson says of him, Francis Bacon seemed to be

"one of the greatest men, and most worthy of admiration, that had been in many ages"

(Eugene Dixon 314). Although known extensively for his prose-writing prowess,

Francis Bacon was an English polymath who shone as a philosopher, statesman,

scientist, and author who is often considered one of the pioneers of the scientific

method during the Renaissance. He is known as the Father of Empiricism and is

known for promoting the idea that knowledge should be based on sensory

experiences, empirical evidence and observation rather than relying solely on

traditional authorities or philosophical speculation.

Bacon brought about a lot of changes in the flow of English Literature,

particularly prose. Before Bacon, the English prose was plagued by diffuseness.

Bacon was a spokesperson of clarity and scientific thought, and his prose style which

gave emphasis to clear-headed, sharp views and thoughts brought simple strength to

the form. His use of aphorisms and the epigrammatic style make the essays sources of

avid discussions.

This essay aims to examine the aphorisms and epigrammatic style of Bacon’s

essays, with special reference to “Of Truth” and “Of Marriage and Single Life”. The

objective of this essay is to study the background of Bacon’s essays, his writing style

which includes aphorisms and epigrams, and his proficiency in such writing with

special reference to the aforementioned essays.

The methodology of this essay is doing a qualitative analysis of the essays “Of

Truth” and “Of Marriage and Single Life” by including the opinions of critics and

experts along with my personal observations.

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 Chapter 2. Bacon’s Art of Brevity

2.1. Background of Bacon’s Essays

Francis Bacon was known for his proficiency in the genre of prose, especially

essay writing. He is considered to have been influenced by Michel de Montaigne, who

established the literary form of essays (Sankovich) and is the Father of Modern Essay.

During the time of Montaigne, the essay was an exploration of ideas rather than the

expression of opinion it is nowadays, as is evident through the etymology of the word:

from the French word ‘essayer’, which means ‘to try’ or ‘to attempt’; he mostly used

the essay to pin down his personal thoughts amid the uncertainty of the world around

him (Ashcroft).

Bacon read widely, and hence his style was also influenced by the curt writing

of Seneca and Tacitus (“Bacon and his Essays”) and used this novel form in the

scientific method using inductive reasoning to treat the subjects he wrote on. Bacon

wrote about man and the issues he was interested in, and hence the subject of his

essays is varied and bears a wide range. This is also a reason for the vast popularity of

his work apart from its literary qualities (Dean).

2.2. The Style of his Essays

Bacon created his essays by mixing different styles to suit different purposes.

As someone greatly influenced by scientific thought, he used empirical and deductive

methods, using sense to gradually move his essay from smaller beginnings to broader

conclusions. His vast erudition resulted in allusions from many different sources,

including the ancient Romans and Greeks, giving multiple layers of meaning to his

works. As a Renaissance Man, his essays had the quality of use of figurative language

(Sahibzada et al.) The opening statements of his essays also immediately take up the

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subject and engage the reader. He does not use a topic sentence but uses something

called “the period” in classical rhetoric, a lengthy thought that is organized in terms of

parallelisms and antitheses (“Francis Bacon, Of Truth” 4:46-5:20).

2.2.1. His Aphorisms and Epigrammatic Style

Bacon also wrote pithy and significant ideas in a concise manner; his essays

are known widely for their use of aphorisms and epigrammatic language. Merriam-

Webster defines an aphorism as “a terse formulation of a truth or sentiment”,

“ingeniously terse style of expression”. It is a concise, terse, but memorable

expression, an epigrammatic expression, of a general truth or principle, something

that is revealed in a profound manner. An epigram is defined as “a terse, sage, or

witty and often paradoxical saying”, in prose or verse. Epigrams can be aphorisms,

but they are most often satiric, sarcastic or funny. One of Bacon’s famous aphorisms

is from “Of Studies”: “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some

few to be chewed and digested” which makes an impactful statement on how some

books are meant to be skimmed through or merely scanned, only a few books are

worthy of intense, concentrated perusal.

Both aphorisms and epigrams are meant to make a lasting impact on the mind

of the reader. Bacon’s essays are not in paragraphs, but a flow of thought

immaculately structured, and he also makes use of these figures of speech to make the

essay telegraphic but succinct.

2.3. Analysis of Aphorisms and Epigrammatic Language in Selected Essays

2.3.1. “Of Truth”

“Of Truth” is the opening essay of the final edition of Bacon’s Essays,

published in 1625. This essay was a response to the shift in thinking: the change in
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what was considered knowledge. The essay talks about the concept of truth which

many consider “abstract” but is concrete to Bacon, the existence of truth in different

manifestations, etc. but is focused on how humans often tend to not accept the truth

and love lies (“Francis Bacon, Of Truth”).

Speaking on why he thinks humans favor lying so much, he says that “A

mixture of lie doth ever add pleasure.” The truth is powerful, but muted and silent.

Only when a bit of falsehood is added to the truth that it becomes more attractive,

pleasing and interesting to all. Bacon here means to say that if everything is presented

as its real color with no additional praise, flattering comments, and illusions the

society will become indolent. (“Prose II”)

Bacon says, “But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that

sinketh in and settleth in it that doth the hurt”, making a distinction from poetic truth

and scientific truth. Even though poets lie, their lies are “passed through the mind”,

through their imagination, which stays only for a while in the mind of the reader, is

meant to only give pleasure to the people who are on the receiving side. Lies that are

intended to fool or mess with someone, which stay for long in their minds, are the lies

that are bad. Here, he also might refer to how some poetry feeds lies that stay in the

mind of the reader and affect their mind.

“Certainly, it is heaven upon earth to have a man's mind move in charity, rest

in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth”, Bacon in these lines expresses the

importance of being truthful. He says that a man who has charitable thoughts and acts,

and who has firm faith in God's goodness, and who lives truthfully, is in actual heaven

while living on earth.

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 Bacon ends the essay with a remark that a liar does not have courage to tell the

truth to men but has the courage to disobey God and tell a lie. This is further

explained through the aphorism: “For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.” It is a

paradox, which has a great impact on the reader. By a lie that faces God but cowers in

front of man, this sentence puts across the idea that man does not fear even God when

he lies, all for his own sake. (Bacon’s Philosophy of Life as Revealed in His Essays)

2.3.2. “Of Marriage and Single Life”

This essay was published in the second edition of Bacon’s Essays (1612). It is

a short essay, primarily directed towards men, where he describes the advantages and

disadvantages of being married and being single. Bacon begins the essay with a

surprising statement towards married life: that one who has a wife and children “hath

given hostages to fortune”, which is also an example of an aphorism. But the intended

meaning is deeper, showing how the head of a family is forced to make a fortune to

ensure the well-being of his family, thus inhibiting his personal adventures. The

sentence makes an impact on the reader and draws in their attention.

Bacon does continue and give importance to the institution of marriage by

saying those who are unwilling to get married because of the responsibilities “will go

near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles”, meaning that people

err and are selfish in thinking that unmarried life means lifelong freedom from

worries, obligations and the “bondage” of marriage, not regarding the matter the

fulfilment that marriage brings; Bacon says this happens to the extent that they

believe that even their own clothing is restrictive. He continues this string of thought

through another aphorism “Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best

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servants but not always best subjects”, which refers to how unmarried people can find

time to be friends or to work but is not a good person as they are “unstable”.

He also gives the idea on how he views marital relationships at different ages;

“Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle ages, and old men’s

nurses” which refers to how a young couple indulge in sensual and romantic pleasure,

how the wife and husband support each other through the joys and sorrows in their

middle ages, and how the wife takes care of the husband when he is weak of old age.

This statement has great wisdom, showing how marriage is not something that loses

its “charm” over the years, it strengthens and provides support in different ways. It is

also used to put across the idea that any age is a good age to get married, when chosen

aligning with what one expects from marriage

2.4. The Significance of the Use of Aphorisms and Epigrammatic Style

Looking through the above-stated examples, we can see that even the shortest

of Bacon’s essays have been made meaningful and striking using aphorisms. If one

tries to expand such a statement to its full meaning, one will need to write paragraphs

and still won’t be able to do it. Abstract and complex ideas are converted into easily

digestible bits of information, which are a delight to read because of their imaginative

quality as well. Aphorisms encourage critical thinking. The vastness of ideas dealt

with by Bacon, distilled into memorable sentences also accounts for a greater impact

on the readers.

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 Chapter 3: Conclusion

This essay delved into the writing style of Sir Francis Bacon, who is regarded

as the Father of the Modern English Essay. The background of his essays was

discussed, including the writers who influenced him. Bacon was influenced by Michel

de Montaigne to try out the novel form of the essay, while his mixed style was a result

of the influence from many including the “scientific thinkers” of the age, and ancient

writers like Seneca.

A brief examination of his writing style was done. Bacon made use of

figurative language, a result of the age he lived in. His essays were short and not often

structured into paragraphs, but a string that wove seamlessly from one thought to

another. He also used figures of speech like aphorisms and epigrammatic sentences,

which are often considered the most characteristic feature of his essays.

To understand this, an analysis of the aphorisms and epigrams in two of

Bacon’s essays was done. The essays taken were “Of Truth” and “Of Marriage and

Single Life”, which are both essays on the shorter side. It was seen that despite the

essays being short, Bacon’s style transcends brevity. His use of aphorisms and

epigrams make the essays a vessel of transmission of wisdom and knowledge. They

also make his essays more memorable, making them relevant even after centuries.

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 Works Cited

“Bacon and His Essays.” Literpretation, 1 Aug. 2023,

www.literpretation.com/post/bacon-and-his-essays.

Bacon’s Philosophy of Life as Revealed in His Essays. 2 Jan. 2015,

enamsnote.blogspot.com/2015/01/bacons-philosophy-of-life.html.

Dean, Leonard F. “Sir Francis Bacon’s Theory of Civil History-Writing.” ELH, vol. 8,

no. 3, JSTOR, Sept. 1941, p. 161. Crossref, https://doi.org/10.2307/2871768.

“Aphorism.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, 26 Sep. 2023,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/aphorism.

“Epigram.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster,

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/epigram.

“Francis Bacon, of Truth.” YouTube, by Dr Scott Masson, 16 Jan. 2022,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIiWR_f-fTY.

“Prose II.” PG And Research Department of English, 26 July 2019,

hicasenglishliterature.wordpress.com/prose-ii.

Sankovitch, Tilde A. “Michel De Montaigne | French Renaissance Humanist and

Essayist.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Sept. 2023,

www.britannica.com/biography/Michel-de-Montaigne.

Sahibzada, Javed, et al. “Analysis of Francis Bacon’s Prose Writing Style.” American

International Journal of Social Science Research, vol. 5, no. 1, Centre for

Research on Islamic Banking and Finance and Business, Jan. 2020, pp. 16–21.

Crossref, https://doi.org/10.46281/aijssr.v5i1.464.