Of Studies by Francis Bacon Text (Important lines highlighted)

Important lines from the text , which can be quoted in exams for obtaining good marks , are highlighted.

Of Studies
by Francis Bacon (1625) [500 words]
Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.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. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humor of a scholar. 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. Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; 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. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores [Studies pass into and influence manners]. Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies; like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. 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. So if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the Schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores [splitters of hairs]. If he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers’ cases. So every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.


########################################################

This is my last post on "Of Studies" by Francis Bacon. If you want more help on this topic, you can mail me or comment on my blog. I will try my best to provide you with more help.

Summary of Bacon's "Of Studies"

More on Bacon's "Of Studies"

Q.) Comment on the style of Bacon's essay.
A.)Sir Francis Bacon’s fame in England and even abroad rests very largely on his Essays. According to W.J. Long, Bacon’s famous essays are the one work, which interests all students of English literature. In these Essays, Bacon presents himself as a novelist, a statement and a man of the word. They are specimens of that wisdom which arise our of a universal insight into the affairs of the world. They are the fruits of the observation of life. In fact, the Essays are the fullest and finest expression of the practical wisdom he had acquired from study experience and meditation.
It was the greatness of Bacon as a stylist that he sets up a model of writing prose particularly in Essays, which avoided the prevailing defects of the English prose. His prose style was suitable for all kinds of subjects ranging from heaven to earth. Bacon’s style was completely different.
Bacon’s prose style includes a number of features common to the Elizabethans and the Jacobeans:
1) The of Bacon remains for the main part aphoristic. These are a terseness of expression and epigrammatic brevity in the essays of Bacon. In fact, the essays of Bacon have to be read slowly because of the compact and condensed thought.These sentences show that Bacon is a man of practical wisdom.
2) This aphoristic style always depends on the device of balance and antithesis. In the essay Of Studies. Bacon says, Studies serve for ornament and for ability In the essay Of Studies he says “ Read not to contradict, nor to believe, but to weigh and consider." He scrupulously presents the advantages and the disadvantages of a particular issue. This sort of weighing and balancing makes his style antithetical.
3) In Bacon’s style there is an over luxuriance of figures of speech. Bacon is a past master of simile and metaphor. The fact is that Bacon’s mind was wonderfully quick in perceiving analogies of ass types. His similes and metaphors are telling. They strike, they charm and sometimes they thrill.  In Of Study he says: "Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed and some few to be chewed and digested."
4) Bacon is a master of rhetoric and pithy sentences in his essays. Indeed, Bacon’s strength lies in his conciseness. He knew, how to high up his thought with well-placed figures and give to it an imaginative glow and charm when required.
Bacon’s style was suited for all occasions. The adaptability to the subject matter was a characteristic quality of his writings. Some of the examples of style of Bacon as proverbial expressions in his essay - "Of Studies" are as follows---
             "Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them;"
            "Read not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider."
            "Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man."
He adapted a Latin line from Obeid Haroids, Chapter 15, Verse 83 in order to show a high degree of refinement and the assurance that comes from wide social experience. That Latin line was--
                                                                 "Abeunt studia in mores"
This line means that our study pass into our personality. Another Latin phrase as used by Bacon was--
                                                                        "cymini sectores"
This phrase means hair splitters. In context to this essay, it means a very very deep study.
To conclude we may say that Bacon’s style is compact yet polished and indeed some of its conciseness is due to the skillful adaptation of Latin idiom and phrase. But its wealth of metaphor is characteristically Elizabethan and reflects the exuberance of the Renaissance. No man in English literature is so fertile in pregnant and pithy comparisons. Bacon set up a new method of prose writing, which was at once easy, simple, graceful, rhetorical, musical and condensed.



Q.)What are Francis Bacon's views on studies in his essay "Of Studies"?
A.)Bacon's essay "Of Studies" is part of The Essayes or Counsels, Civil and Moral, of Francis Lord Verulam, Viscount St. Alban (London, 1625)
Bacon argues that studies "serve for Delight, for Ornament, and for Ability."  For delight, Bacon means one's personal, private education; for "Ornament," he means in conversation between and among others, which Bacon labels as "Discourse."  Studies for "Ability" lead one to judgment in business and related pursuits.  From Bacon's perspective, men with worldly experience can carry out plans and understand particular circumstances, but men who study are better able to understand important political matters and know how to deal with problem according to their severity ("Marshalling of Affairs").
At the same time Bacon encourages studies, he warns that 1) too much studying leads to laziness; 2) if one uses one's knowledge too often in conversation with others, then one is showing off; and 3) to be guided solely by one's studies one becomes a scholar rather than a practical man.  Bacon's argument about the value of studies is that moderation is the key to using studies appropriately: studies are wonderful only if influenced by experience because a person's natural abilities are enhanced by studies, but studies without experience, lead to confusion in dealing with the outside world.
According to Bacon, dishonest men condemn education; stupid men admire education; but wise men use education as their real world experience dictates.  He warns the educated man not to use his education to argument unnecessarily with people; not to assume that education always leads to the correct behavior or understanding; not to use education merely to focus on conversation with others.  Rather, Bacon argues, education ("some Bookes") should be read but their advice ignored; other books, ignored completely; and a few books are to be "Chewed and Digested," that is,  understood perfectly and used to guide behavior.  In addition, Bacon advises that some books can be read by others, who take notes, and the notes can substitute for reading an entire book--but these books should not be those that cover important subjects.
Bacon returns to addressing the effects of reading, conversation, and writing: reading creates a well-rounded man; conversation makes a man think quickly; and writing, by which Bacon usually means argument essay writing, makes a man capable of thinking with logic and reason.  Further, Bacon argues, if a man doesn't write very much, he has to have a good memory to compensate for what he doesn't write; if he doesn't exercise the art of conversation, he needs to have a quick wit; and if he doesn't read very much, he has to be able "to fake it," to pretend that he knows more than he does.
History, Bacon argues, makes men wise; poetry, clever; mathematics, intellectually sharp; logic and rhetoric, skilled in argument.  Further, Bacon believes that there is no problem in thinking that cannot be fixed by the appropriate study--just as the right physical exercise cures physical illnesses.  Every disorder of the mind has a cure--for example, if a man cannot use one set of facts to prove the truth of an un-related set of facts, Bacon advises the study of law.
Every defect in thinking can be cured by another form of study.

Everything about Francis Bacon's "Of Studies"

 I will publish more on this topic later.