Bacon's main contribution lies in philosophy. He claimed to be "responsible for all the knowledge in the world" and attempted to "completely rebuild all the science, technology and knowledge of mankind", and planned to write a set of big books for this purpose, with the total name of "Great Rejuvenation". Although only 1 and 2 parts have been completed, it has a great impact.
In addition, Bacon also wrote legal works, historical works History of the Seventh Dynasty of Henry (1622), fantasy travel notes New Island (1626) and an essay composed of 58 short articles.
Essay is Bacon's main literary work. It was originally published in 1597, and only contains 10 very short abstract articles. After two additions and expansions by 16 12 and 1625, 58 short essays were included, but they played an important role in the history of English literature. The author is a philosopher and political activist who knows the world. In his book, he wrote "Social Moral Advice to Aristocratic Children" (this is the subtitle of the book), which involves philosophical thoughts (such as truth and death), ethical discussions (such as taboos, love and selfish cleverness), official secrets (such as high positions and party struggles), and family management rules (such as parents and children, single marriage). It also includes suggestions on some specific issues (such as reading, traveling, architecture and entertainment), and appreciation of art and nature (such as beauty and gardens).
Bacon has a unique view on every topic. His articles are compact, complex, sharp and thorough, and full of epigrams. His writing is full of mature life experience, and his writing rules should be clear and expressive. The metaphors used are all appropriate, but they all come from reality. Bacon's article is also very poetic. After reading his essay Death, the poet Shelley once praised: "Lord Bacon is a poet" (defending poetry).
There are no essays in Britain. Because of Bacon's argument, it began to take root in Britain, and later famous writers came forth in large numbers, so essays became one of the distinctive genres in English literature, and Bacon played a pioneering role in it.
Talking about reading is a famous article. Many wonderful passages in the article, such as "reading history makes people wise, reading poetry makes people witty, mathematics makes people think deeply, science makes people profound, ethics makes people solemn, and learning logic rhetoric makes people eloquent", have become well-known aphorisms. Mainly talking about the benefits of reading. Around this central topic, I also talked about some related issues, such as supplementing experience in reading, paying attention to reading methods, and making different choices according to different personalities and needs. This paper discusses it from three aspects:
First of all, from the beginning to "all by observation", talk about the benefits of reading. From the beginning, the author pointed to the theme and thought that reading has three advantages: delight in emotion, happiness in talent and long talent. Then explain them separately from the front, which is not complicated. Later, when the conversation turned, it was pointed out from the opposite side that there might be misunderstandings in seeking knowledge, that is, "reading is too time-consuming and easy to be lazy, and literary talent is too abundant to be corrected." It is a pedant's truth to judge things completely by the provisions. "
Secondly, talk about reading methods (from "don't deliberately question the author when reading" to "ignorant but clearly know"). He advocates adopting different methods for different books, such as selective reading, full reading and intensive reading, and combining reading with taking notes and writing to apply what you have learned; It should also be treated separately according to personal temperament and needs.
Finally, the author quotes an important viewpoint of Ovid, an ancient Roman poet, that is, "learning changes temperament" (translated by Wang Zuoliang as "everything learned becomes character"), which actually emphasizes and publicizes the benefits of reading from another angle, making the argument of the article more complete, the argument more rigorous and the writing echoing.
Bacon is a famous English essayist. As a literary genre, prose "essays" was first used by him in Britain. From this article, we can see some stylistic features of essay literature, that is, it is conversational and focuses on expressing opinions without careful discussion. At the beginning of this paper, a highly generalized epigram is used as the title: "Reading is enough to please feelings, enrich colors and increase talents." As for how to be happy, how colorful and how talented, I won't explain it further. Fortunately, everyone has experience and speaks common sense. But common sense is so incisive, one is ten, and this is the power of bacon. In order to explain the benefits of reading thoroughly and convincingly, the article does not shy away from the opposite views, such as reading too much and becoming pedantic, theory divorced from reality and dogmatism. But instead of arguing, he calmly blocked the loopholes, pointed out the advantages of reading from the front, and then talked about the disadvantages that superstitious book knowledge can easily cause. "It takes too much time to study, and it is easy to be lazy, but the literary talent is too rich to be corrected. It is pedantic to rely entirely on the provisions." Then talk about the method of reading. Don't talk too much, stop here. He advocates adopting different methods for different books, such as selective reading, full reading and intensive reading, and combining reading with discussion and composition to apply what they have learned; It should also be treated separately according to personal temperament and needs. Finally, the author further emphasizes and publicizes the benefits of reading according to the viewpoint that "everything you learn becomes character". The style of the article is concise and smooth, and every sentence has a certain pertinence. It can be seen that this is a knowledgeable person's earnest warning to the human feelings and psychology of ordinary people. In order to increase readability and make the style of writing friendly, the article also pays attention to flexibly inserting rhetorical devices such as metaphor, parallelism and analogy, such as: "Natural talent is like natural flowers and plants, and pruning and grafting are only known after reading"; "Reading history makes one wise, reading poetry makes one witty, and mathematics makes one careful …"; "People's intelligence is hindered, which can be smoothed by proper books, just as all diseases of the body can be eliminated by proper exercise." This is the characteristic of the essay, as if it were a ramble in a literary salon. There is no induction and deduction, no cause and effect, no premise of size, and no circumstantial evidence of this proof. The truth is concrete and vivid, and it is useful in life. As Rubinstein, a British literary historian, commented: "Bacon is a master of writing essays, which are not dominated by personal feelings and have a fair and detached style. He established a direct connection with readers' thoughts, fifteen generations before him. His thoughts are never abstract, but always concrete and living things. His prose is concise and changeable, which makes people involuntarily attracted every time they read it. The inspirational common sense in the article is still one of the monuments of modern people's practical wisdom that can stand the test of time. I know it can be used to change the world. "