Reflection of of Studies

Francis Bacon plays a significant role in literary history for his works written in the last phase of his life. Most of his literary works are famous for their fresh, powerful, and aphoristic styles. His chief contribution to literature, Essays, published at various times between 1597 and 1625, is the most cogent testimony to his wisdom and his unique style.

The Essays has a large number of subjects such as truth, love, envy, riches, ambition and beauty. It mainly reveals his intimate knowledge of human nature. Of Studies is his most famous essay, written in the 17th century. It discusses the purpose of studies and its use, analyzing different attitudes towards studies and demonstrates all kinds of ways of studying.

This essay is an succinct writing. The short and powerful sentences in the essay are flashing the author's wisdom between lines. Nowadays many sentences have become mottoes prevailing among people all over the world. For instance, “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability”, which describes the functions of study; "Read not to contradict and confuse; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider" which tells Bacon's attitude towards the purpose of study.

Bacon uses a large quantity of rhetorical devices, such as parallelism, analogy and simile, which makes his essay more attractive and convincing.

Here I want to take about the simile in this essay. Simile is a figure of speech that usually appearing with the words "like","as", "as...as", "as if" and so on. With these words, the two unlike objects described in the sentence will be associated with each other by one characteristic that they share in common. For example, the sentence, “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", natural abilities are compared to natural plants by Bacon which makes the view that experience must be also emphasized more explicitly. Just as Bacon has said "To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament is affection; to make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar".

To make the essay more convinced and powerful, Bacon also uses lots of parallel sentences to convey his idea. Such as "reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man";"Read not to contradict and confuse; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider"; and "Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business". These all sentences are expressing strong feelings, outstanding the emphasized contents, and enhancing the strength of language.

Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. In conclusion, Of Studies is well written both in language,structure and context, which is very worthy of reading.

第二篇：Of studies有感

A review of Of Studies

----How should a college student read? Recently, I reread the classical essay Of Studies written by Francis Bacon who is the father of experimental philosophy and a statesman as well as a man of letters---a renaissance man of his time. Reading this essay benefits me a lot. Today I want to say something about “How should a college student read”.

To many of us, we think whether reading or not is a personal affair. What kind of books we like to read has nothing to do with others. But as college students, especially the normal students, it is obvious wrong. Once we choose a university to continue our study, then we should be clear that our main duty is to learn. It’s a necessary process and step for us to be a comprehensive developed man.

Reading is an endless job. But what read is for? In the essay, Bacon said, “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.” But with a pity, the reading ethos nowadays is very blundering. Many students read articles with a utilitarian attitude. They only select the books which are useful for their specific vocation or something else to read. They ignore the books which can really cultivate their morality and broaden their horizons and think they are irrelevant to them so as to be set aside just for ornament. In my opinion, we should read a book just for the book itself, without purpose, without utility. We shouldn’t judge whether a book is good or bad just by how much it can benefits us. The attitude a reader holds determines the altitude he could achieve. Study has an incomparable influence on a person’s thinking way and living style in unspectacular ways. Classic books have their rich historic precipitation and popular ones have all-embracing era full of flavor. No matter what type of books, they must have something valuable for us to read, of course, excluding the books which are decayed or have no connotation.

Books benefit us much. But how can we select a book? For an initial learner, you can choose a book based on your interest. Then, after reading, what you should do is to think more and note down some ideas you think about the book. Gradually, your reading taste will become better and better. You can study in different professions more deeply. At last, you will form your own thoughts and taste. When you are reading a book, you feel as if communicating with the writer and experiencing a new life you have never experienced before. As Bacon said, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.”. For the books which can’t serve for delight, for ornament and for ability, we just read them roughly. For the classic works which can serve, we have to read them carefully, chew and digest them. While reading, we should concentrate, consider and deliberate. It’s a long hard process.

“Reading makes a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” Books can improve one’s cultural literacy, enlarge one’s ideological level and develop one’ s wisdom potential.“Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.” Books make us all-rounder.

Let’s enjoy reading and read for pleasure. Thus, we can own the happiness and satisfaction the book brings to us. Thus, we can be a cultivated man.

---08英教3班 丁梅