Bacon's Contribution to English Prose

BACON’S CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH PROSE: English prose owes a good deal to Bacon’s way of writing. A critic rightly points out that Hooker and Bacon did great things for the development of English prose. When alliteration, antithesis, similes from “unnatural natural history” were common, these two men showed that English was as capable as the classics of serving the highest purpose of language. They showed that it was possible in English also to express the subtitles of thought in clear, straightforward, and uninvolved sentences and, when necessary, to condense the greatest amount of meaning into the fewest possible words. Bacon shows himself in his essays as a perfect rhetorician. He used a style, which though not quite flexible and modern, was unmatchable for pith and pregnancy in the conveyance of his special kind of thought. When the bulk of English prose was full of loose sentences of enormous length, he supplied at once a short, crisp and firmly knit sentence of a type unfamiliar in English. He rejected the conceit and overcrowded imagery of affected literary style, but he knew how to light up his thought with well placed figures, and give to it an imaginative glow and charm upon occasion, contrasting strongly with the unfigurative style of Ben Jonson who represents in his prose the extreme revulsion from affectation. For the students of expression, Bacon’s essays are of endless interest and profit: The more one reads them, the more remarkable seem their compactness and their nervous vitality. They shock sluggish attention into wakefulness as if by an electric contact, and though they may sometimes fail to nourish, they can never fail to stimulate. According to Hugh walker, Bacon took one of the longest steps ever taken in the evolution of English prose style. English prose was already rich and impressive. Hooker still ranks as one of our great stylists. So does Raleigh. Nevertheless, while these writers have majesty and strength, they were not the masters of style suited to all the purposes which prose must help to fulfill. It was admirable for great themes. The sentences were inconveniently long, and even in the hands of the most skilful writers were frequently involved and obscure. Parentheses were common. The same is true of Bacon himself in his larger and more sustained works. However, in the essays he did set the example, he did furnish the model. By the plan and conception, almost of necessity, the sentences had to be short. With shortness came lucidity. The essays of Bacon are to be read slowly and thoughtfully, not for the style is obscure, but because they are extremely condensed. The grammatical structure is sometimes loose, but it is rarely ambiguous. With shortness came flexibility. The new style of Bacon fitted itself as easily to buildings and gardens, as to truth and death. In short, we are indebted to Bacon for making good what was the chief defect of English literature. Conciseness of expression and compactness are the most striking qualities of Bacon’s style in the essays. Bacon had a marvelous power of compressing into a few words an idea, which ordinary writers would express in several sentences. Many of his sentences are like proverbs that are quotable when the occasion demands. His aphoristic style makes Bacon an essayist of high distinction. Aphorism gives to his essays singular force and weight. Bacon achieves this conciseness of style often by avoiding superfluous words and by omitting the ordinary joints and sinews of speech. 1

Another important quality of Bacon’s style is his recurrent use of figurative language. In the essay, Of Truth, for instance, he gives us very vivid and suitable similes and metaphors in order to illustrate his ideas. He compares truth to a naked open daylight. He compares falsehood to an alloy in a coin of gold or silver. The alloy makes the metal better, but it lowers the value of the metal. The essays of Bacon are full of illustrations, allusions, and quotations. Some of these quotations are from Latin sources. These allusions and quotations show Bacon’s love of learning. In the essay, Of Truth, we have allusions of Pilate, Lucian, Lucretius, and Montaigne with quotations from the last two. He also gives us a quotation from the Bible in the essay. These allusions and quotations enrich this essay and make it more interesting.. In the essay, Of Marriage and Single Life, we have a reference to Ulysses and a quotation from Thales, an ancient Greek philosopher. The essay, Of Friendship, contains a large number of allusions that illustrate Bacon’s argument that even great men, who have strong and firm minds, need friends to whom they can open their hearts. There are a number of allusions to philosophers also in the same essay. His love of quotations is also clear in this essay. These allusions and quotations seem to be at his finger’s tips and lend to his ideas greater weight and serve to make his style more scholarly.

Written & Composed By: Prof. A.R. Somroo M.A. Education, M. A. English Cell: 03339971417

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