BACON’S APHORISTIC STYLE:

Bacon’s style is most remarkable for its conciseness. Bacon displays a great talent for
condensation. Every sentence in his essays is pregnant with meaning and is capable of
expanding into several sentences. Many of his sentences appear to be proverbial sayings by
virtue of their gems of thoughts expressed in a pithy manner. He can say the most in the
fewest words. His essays combine wisdom in thought with extreme brevity. The short, pithy
sayings in his essays have become popular mottoes and household expressions.

An aphoristic style means a compact and epigrammatic style of writing. An aphorism

is a short sentence expressing a truth in the fewest possible words. An aphorism is like a
proverb, which has a quotable quality. Bacon excels in this kind of writing. Indeed, his essays
are full of aphorism. Any number of examples, from his essays to illustrate this style of
writing, is as under:

Take the essay, Of Truth. There are number of aphoristic sentences in this essay. For
example, “A mixture of lie doth ever add pleasure.” Here Bacon wants to convey the idea that
the statement of a truth becomes more attractive when mixed with a lie in it. Thus, whenever
we want to defend a lie, we would quote his sentence from Bacon. “But it is not the lie that
passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt.”
Here wishes to convey the idea that a lie ,that settles down in the mind causes much harm
because such a lie will keep working upon the mind and will have long-term effect. A lie that
one hears and forgets will not cause any injury to a man.

“Certainly it is heaven upon earth to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in
providence and turn upon the poles of truth.” Here Bacon conveys a valuable moral by the
use of the minimum possible number of words.

The essay, Of Marriage and Single Life, shows the aphoristic quality of Bacon’s style in
a more striking manner. Here are some of the sentences that are eminently quotable.

“He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune.” Bacon has expressed
the idea here most effectively and memorably.

“Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants but not always best
subjects.” This is an excellent summing up of the case.

“Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions of the middle aged and old men’s
nurses.” Here aphorism combines wisdom with it.

All the sentences quoted above are excellent examples of Bacon’s terse and
epigrammatic style. Here are few pithy sentences of the essay, Of Friendship:

“For a crowd is not company and faces are but a gallery of pictures.”

“Those that want friends to open themselves unto are cannibals of their hearts.”

“For there is no man that imparteth his joy to his friend, but he joyeth the more: and
no man that imparteth his grief to his friend, but he grieveth the less.”

1
 His aphoristic style makes Bacon an essayist of high distinction. Aphorism gives to his
essay singular force and weight. No one has ever produced a greater number of closely
packed and striking formulas, loaded with practical wisdom. Many of them have become
current as proverbs. Bacon’s essays constitute a handbook of practical wisdom. They enclose
in them shortest maxims and astonishing treasure of insight.

However, because of extreme condensation, Bacon’s aphorism occasionally becomes

obscure. For instance, it would be difficult to get the meaning of the following pithy sentence
from the essay, Of Truth:

“Certainly there be that delight in giddiness, and count it a bondage to fix a belief.”

Every aphorism that we come across startles us by its novelty. Every epigram arrests us. Every
pithy sentence holds our attention. Moreover, they all charm, delight and thrill us because
they all clothe weighty and valuable ideas, suggestions, lessons, and so on. In addition, what
adds to their appeal is the fact that Bacon does not seem to have made conscious efforts to
produce them. The aphoristic style is not “labored” in the case of Bacon; it is truly
spontaneous.

Written & Composed By:

Prof. A. R. Somroo

M.A. English, M.A. Education

Cell: 03339971417