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Comment on Francis Bacon’s Of Studies
Of Studies is one of famous works written by Francis Bacon’s, an English philosopher, statesman, and essayist of Elizabethan age. Francis Bacon comments forcefully on the value of reading and learning throughout this concise, one-paragraph essay. He strives to persuade us to study, and tells us how to study efficiently.
Of Studies is an essay written to inform us of the benefits of studying, which tells us that natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study. It can be divided into three levels. In the first level, the writer tells the purposes or uses of studies: Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. The second level is to tell us the methods of reading books: Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested. The last level introduces the effect of studies: Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing and exact man.
Bacon applies many figures of speech to this essay, such as parallelism, ellipsis, simile and analogy. Those figures of speech contribute to express the author’s thought and make the essay infectious and persuasive.
⑴parallelism and ellipsis
Parallelism is also called parallel structure. Parallelism is the use of components in a sentence that are grammatically the same; or similar in their construction, sound or meaning. It appears throughout the whole essay. For example:
? 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.
? Bowling is good for the stone and reins; shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like.
The orders are always from light to heavy, and usually from bottom to climax. This kind of arrangement simplifies the language structure and creates visual beauty of symmetry. From the stylistic functions, it is advantageous for expressing strong feelings, outstanding the
emphasized contents, and enhancing the strength of language. In this essay, he uses a large
amount of parallelism combined with ellipsis, making the essay more concise and the key information more prominent. Just like the first examples I mentioned above, the author omit “maketh” in the second and third parts to avoid repetition, which makes the sentence brief and concise.
⑵ Analogy and simile
? “They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience.”
? “Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them bothers; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, flashy things.”
Analogy, a form of comparison, but unlike simile or metaphor which usually uses
comparison on one point of resemblance, analogy draws a parallel between two unlike things that have several common qualities or points of resemblance, is another important rhetorical device in Of Studies. In first sentence, the author compares the natural abilities to natural plants in order to make the sentence easy to understand. As we all know, if the natural plants are not to be pruned, they will grow out of shape. Thel analogy between the natural plants and natural abilities is vivid and let the readers know that experience can make up the deficiency of abilities. Simile is a figure of speech which makes a comparison between two unlike elements having at least one quality or characteristic in common. It is just used once in this essay. It shows in the second sentence. Bacon compares the “distilled books” to common “distilled waters” to criticize those who study books mainly depending on the extracts other readers made.
Of Studies is an extremely outstanding work because of both its thoughts the writer wants to express and its languang style which affects mang people.
Bibliography
【1】Luojin guo A New Anthology of English Literature
【2】Francis Bacon Of Studies