1、英国文学选读教学课件1/10Unit3 Francis Bacon (I561-1626)Of Marriage and Single LifeOf Studies2/10Francis Bacon(15611626)Francis Bacon,the youngest son of Sir Nicholas Bacon,Keeper of the Privy Seal to Queen Elizabeth.He went to Cambridge University at twelve.He took up law after graduation,and soon became succ
2、essful.He became a member of the House of Commons(下议院)at the age of twenty-three.His alliance with the bourgeoisie(中产阶级)offended Queen Elizabeth who,up until that time had liked him.When James I came to the throne,Bacon became Lord Chancellor and was made a knight in 1618.In the course of his climbi
3、ng to the top,however,he made enemies who brought about his final downfall.He died in disgrace in 1626.3/10 Bacon was English philosopher,essayist,courtier,jurist,and statesman.Bacons works may be divided into three groups:the philosophical works;the literal works;and the professional works.Bacon wa
4、s the founder of English materialist philosophy,as well as of modern science in England.He published The advancement of Learning(1605)and The New Instrument(1620).The former deals with the accomplishments of science up to his time.In this work he analyzed the various divisions of knowledge and consi
5、dered the possible means of advancing them.In the latter Bacon described the method by which knowledge could be universalized.4/10Bacons literary works are essays.They are noted for their style and striking observations about life.They are the first true English prose classic.Bacon is especially fam
6、ous for his Essays,first published in 1597 and then in 1625.Bacons practical wisdom is shown through his reflections and comments on rather abstract subjects in his 58 essays.These essays cover a wide variety of subjects,such as love,truth,friendship,parents and children,beauty,studies,riches,youth
7、and age,death and many others.Among these essays the famous pieces are Of Studies,Of Travel and Of Wisdom.5/10Writing Style of Bacons Essays:His essays have a literal style peculiar to their own.They are noted for their clearness,brevity and forces of expression.Bacons chief concern is to express hi
8、s thought with clearness and in as few words as possible.His sentences are short,pointed,incisive and often of balanced structure.Many of them have become wise old sayings.Generally speaking,Bacons literary style has three prominent qualities:directness,terseness(简练),and forcefulness.6/103.Ofstudies
9、 a.fiveparts:purposeofreadingattitudestowardsstudyprinciplesofstudiesstudymethodstudydevelopyourcharacter/effectofstudyonhumancharacterStyle:a.The arguments are well arranged in unity and coherence in oneparagraph.b.theconcisenessofexpressionsandphrasespresentsaplainstyleaswellashissimplelanguage.c.
10、Thesimplemetaphorshavedeepimplications.d.Theomissionmakestheessayconcise,clearandcoherent.e.Thenaturalflowofparallelsmakeshislogicandphilosophicalargumentconvincinglyandforceful.E.g.TospendtoomuchtimeinstudyCraftymansimpleman.7/10“Of Studies”discusses the fuctiong and method of reading.Although Bacon highly promotes reading,he also urges readers to combine his reading with experiment abd observation.Many excerpts from the essay become so famous that they have become daily quotations.8/10HTH9/10Thank you for learning10/10
