Essays Questions and Answers
Essays
What are Francis Bacon's views on studies in his essay "Of Studies"?
Bacon begins this essay by arguing that studies are good for a number of reasons: "for delight, for ornament, and for ability." In other words, studying makes a man happy, enjoyable to be around,...
Essays
What did Bacon mean in the line "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and...
In his essay "Of Studies," Francis Bacon makes a distinction among books. When he writes that "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested," he...
Essays
What are Francis Bacon's main arguments in his essay "Of Adversity"?
Francis Bacon wrote just over a hundred essays between 1597 and 1625), many of which discuss how man should handle himself in difficult situations--in this case, how one should view adversity and...
Essays
Bring out the philosophy in Bacon's essay "Of Studies." Especially explain the sentence "read not to contradict...
In Bacon's essay "Of Studies," he lists the profound benefits and the vain applications of scholarly work and study. When Bacon writes "to use them (studies) too much for ornament, is affectation,"...
Essays
How might Francis Bacon's essay "Of Truth" be analyzed?
Francis Bacon is a seventeenth-century philosopher and scientist generally considered an early founder of empiricism, which is a branch of philosophical thought in direct conflict with the theory...
Essays
What is Francis Bacon saying in his essay "Of Simulation and Dissimulation" about the differences between them?
Bacon's Essays, written in three groups between 1597 and 1625, are Bacon's attempts to guide men to appropriate actions in their personal, business, and public lives--they are, in essence, the...
Essays
What is the message in "Of Youth and Age"?
Francis Bacon's essay "Of Youth and Age," like many of his other essays, explores two sides of the same coin, that is, the benefits and detriments of youth as opposed to those of "age," by which he...
Essays
What is the theme of “Of Travel” by Francis Bacon?
Knowledge broadens the mind, as they say, and Francis Bacon is certainly of that opinion in his essay “On Travel.” Bacon sees travel primarily in utilitarian terms, as a means of expanding one's...
Essays
Why does Sir Francis Bacon use the word "Of" at the start of every essay?
In 1572, Montaigne began writing a series of essays, or Essais, as a way to occupy his mind. This project proved revolutionary. Before Montaigne, writing was typically public and purposeful. In the...
Essays
What are some chief thematic and stylistic features of Sir Francis Bacon's Essays?
When discussing the style and themes of Sir Francis Bacon’s Essays, it’s important to remember that the Essays were published in three editions in Bacon’s lifetime. Each new edition added more...
Essays
What are the main arguments in Bacon's "Of Superstition?" Does he use a counterargument?
Bacon, in short, argues that superstition—by which, we should be clear, he means Catholicism—is a corrupting influence in society. He goes so far as to say that even atheism is better than...
Essays
In Francis Bacon's essay "Of Studies," what does Bacon mean by "writing makes an exact man"?
An important way in which writing makes an exact man is that a conscientious writer must always be searching his mind, as well as his dictionary and his thesaurus, for the exact word to express his...
Essays
What are some meanings of the essay "Of Anger" by Francis Bacon? In particular, what are the three causes and motives...
In his essay “Of Anger,” Sir Francis Bacon lists various causes or motives of anger, including the following: a “natural inclination and habit to be angry”: in other words, a tendency toward anger...
Essays
What is an analysis of "Of Marriage and the Single Life"?
"Of Marriage and the Single Life" is a short essay by Francis Bacon. Bacon begins the essay by proposing that married men and fathers stifle their own creativity and usefulness to the world when...
Essays
Critically comment on Sir Francis Bacon's use of persuasive techniques and figurative language to support his views...
In his essay “Of Travaille” [that is, concerning travel], Sir Francis Bacon uses a variety of persuasive techniques and some notable instances of figurative language in order to support his...
Essays
What is Francis Bacon's Of Praise about?
Francis Bacon's "Essays" are a series of writings that address a very broad range of topics, including Anger, War, Virtue, Envy, etc... as well as the one at hand, Praise. On first glance they look...
Essays
In "Of Plantations," what are Bacon's suggestions regarding victuals, beasts, birds, crops, wood, salt, and mines in...
For the protean Francis Bacon, the question of how to operate a plantation effectively was more than an academic exercise; along with Captain John Smith and his cousin the Earl of Salisbury, he was...
Essays
Discuss Francis Bacon's Essays as a compendium of worldly wisdom and the art of success.
This is going to be a matter of opinion. I think that it's highly subjective to be able to argue that Bacon's works are an example of worldly wisdom. They are based on his own experience and what...
Essays
How does Bacon present the importance of studies?
Francis Bacon's Essays, written in groups between 1597 and 1625, are masterpieces of practical guidance in how to get along in the world of business, politics, government, and personal relations....
Essays
According to Bacon's essay OF FRIENDSHIP which are the Three fruits of friendship?
This is the essay of a wise man, who describes the three fruits of friendship as follows: For there is no man, that imparteth his joys to his friend, but he joyeth the more; and no man that...
Essays
How can I critically analyze Francis Bacon's essay "Of Delays"?
Bacon's essay "Of Delays" might well be called "Of Proper Timing" because its subject is the importance of weighing carefully when to move ahead with a plan and when to wait. The essay opens with...
Essays
What, according to Bacon, is the use of studies?
Francis Bacon's essay "On Studies," perhaps his most famous, lays out the reasons that Bacon thinks that studies are an essential part of daily life and describes the kinds of studies that he...
Essays
In Francis Bacon's essay "Of Anger," what is the meaning of the paragraph beginning "For raising and appeasing anger"?
In the 1601 edition of Francis Bacon’s Essays, the essay “Of Anger” concludes with the following paragraph: For raising and appeasing anger in another; it is done chiefly by choosing of times,...
Essays
“A man’s nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore, let him seasonably water the one, and destroy the other”...
In both his Essays and his New Atlantis, Bacon promotes an ideal world founded on Christian ethics conjoined with an enlightened view of scientific inquiry and rationalism. The Essays examine a...
Essays
Can you please discuss and explain Sir Francis Bacon's essay "On Truth"?
A helpful discussion of Sir Francis Bacon’s essay “Of Truth” might begin by simply paraphrasing the argument of the essay. Essentially, Bacon argues as follows: Although there are few...
Essays
In “Of Truth,” how does Francis Bacon teach his moral to his readers?
In his essay “On Truth,” Francis Bacon argues that people have a natural tendency to tell lies. Furthermore, he maintains that we have a “natural, though corrupt love, of the lie itself.” Belief in...
Essays
What is your personal opinion after reading Francis Bacon's essay "Of Studies"?
For a number of reasons, this is a difficult question to answer. For one thing, it is unclear what the “opinion” is supposed to be about? Is it supposed to be about Bacon’s essay “Of Studies”? Or...
Essays
What were some literary influences on the style of Sir Francis Bacon's Essays?
The style of Sir Francis Bacon’s Essays is indebted to a number of sources, both literary and otherwise. Like most Renaissance Christians, especially the well-educated, Bacon was very familiar with...
Essays
Can we find any common elements in the essays of Francis Bacon?
Francis Bacon was a Renaissance humanist, and all of his essays reflect this characteristic. Each one is a blend of wisdom from the classical world of Greek and Rome and Christian theology. Bacon...
Essays
In Francis Bacon's essay "Of Anger," what is the meaning of the paragraph that begins "To contain anger from mischief"?
In the 1601 edition of Francis Bacon’s Essays, the penultimate (that is, next-to-last) paragraph reads as follows: To contain anger from mischief, though it take hold of a man, there be two things,...
Essays
Is the following a true estimate of Bacon's Essays: Their (Essays) essential merit lies in the density of thought and...
I think that much of this can be read as opinion. It is difficult to assess whether or not such a statement is true because it is a matter of opinion. Take some of the items presented in the...
Essays
I need help with my Philosophy paper, I need a thesis????? with purposeof Education, curriculum, assessment,...
A thesis statement is meant to be a road map of your paper. It is going to be an interpretation of what the subject is. It should be a well written single sentence in the first paragraph of your...
Essays
What is the meaning of the paragraph starting with "for the second point: the causes and motives, ... in the meantime...
In this paragraph, Bacon basically describes what he thinks are the causes of anger. Consider the first point. First, to be too sensible of hurt; for no man is angry, that feels not himself hurt;...