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> Topic: Prose writers of Elizabethan Age
with special reference to Francis Bacon
> Paper no.1
Renaissance Literature
> Name: Abulhasan H.
Aabedi
> Roll no: 01
> Class: Semester 01
> Enrollment
no.:2069108420180001
> Email Id:
abediabul@gmail.com
> Batch: 2017~19
> Submitted to Department
of English MK Bhavnagar University.
Introduction: Although the Elizabethan age is called The Golden
Age of English poetry and drama, it should also be regarded as a glorious age
of English prose, for English prose was set on the track of The Elizabethan
age is called The Golden Age of English poetry and drama, it should also be
regarded as a glorious age of English prose, for English prose was set on the
track of glory by such great prose writers as Bacon, Richard Hokker, sir Philip
Sidney, sir Walter Raleigh, John Fox, Camden, knox and Thomas North with Sir
Philip Sidney on the forefront. almost all
Elizabethan prose is the nearness of their prose to poetry. It is colourful,
blazing, rhythmic, indirect, prolix, and convoluted. The Renaissance spirit of
humanism, liberalism and romanticism found full play in the growth and
development of English prose in the Elizabethan Age
We should note that at the outest, the
Elizabethan prose turned to translation of foreign books, especially the
Italian Novella and short romantic stories so on.
Prose writers of Elizabethan:
Richard Hooker:
In strong contrast with Bacon is Richard
Hooker, one of the greatest prose writers of the Elizabethan Age. One must read the story of his life, an obscure and
lovely life animated by a great spirit as told by Izaak Walton, to appreciate
the full force of his contrast. His one great work is “The Laws of
Ecclesiastical Polity”, a theological and argumentative book; but entirely apart from its subject, it will be
read whenever men desire to hear the power and stateliness of the English
Language.
Sidney and Raleigh:
Among the prose writers of this
wonderful literary age there are many others that deserve passing noticed,
though they fall far below the standard of Bacon and Hooker. Sir Philip Sidney,
who has already been considered as a poet, is quite as well known by his prose
works, ‘Arcadia’, a pastoral romance, and the ‘Defense of poesic’, one of the
earliest literary essay. Sidney represents whole romantic tendency while Sir
Waltor Raleigh represents its adventurous spirit and activity. He was the poet,
scholar and adventurer. Raleigh prime works are the ‘ Discovery of guiana’ and
the ‘History of the world’ written to occupy his prison hours. It is
interesting chiefly for its style, which is simple and dignified, and for the
flashes of wit and poetry that into the fantastic combination of miracles,
traditions, hearsay, and state records which he called history.
John Fox:
Fox will be remembered always for his
famous ‘Book of Martyrs’. Foxe had been driven out of England by the Marian
persecution, and in a wandering but diligent life on the continent he conceived
the idea of writing a history of the persecutions of the church from earliest
days to his own. To return from England he translated ‘book of martyrs’ which
is earlier named is ‘Act and Monuments’.
It is strongest in its record of humble men, like Rowland Taylor and Thomas
Hawkes, whose sublime heroism, but for this narrative, would have been lost
amid the great names and the great events that fill the Elizabethan Age.
Camden and Knox:
Two historians, William Camden and John
Knox, stand out prominently among the numerous historical writers of the age,
Comden’s “Britannia” is monumental work, which marks the beginning of true
antiquarian research in the field of history; and his “Annals of Queen
Elizabeth is worthy of a far higher place than thus far been given it. John
Knox, the reformer, in his “History of the Reformation in Scotland, has some
very vivid portraits of his helper enemies. Such scenes make one wish that more
of his time had been given to literary work, rather than to the disputes and
troubles of his own Scotch Kirk.
Hakluyt and Purchas:
Two editors of this age have made for
themselves and enviable place in English literature. They are Richard Hakluyt
and Samuel Purchas. First Hakluyt translate ‘ De Soto’s travels in America’. To
further the second he made himself familiar with books of voyages in all
foreign language and with the brief reports of exploration of his own
countrymen. His, ‘principal Navigations’, ‘Voyages’, and ‘Discoveries of the
English Nation’. This all book of travels has so well expressed the spirit and
energy of the English race, or better deserves a place in the literature.
Samuel Purchas first famous book, ‘Purchas’, ‘His Pilgrimage’, Appeared in
1613. So, both in accuracy and literary finish, there is still plenty to make
one glad that the book was written and that he can now comfortably follow
Purchas on his “Pilgrimage’.
Thomas North:
Among the translators of the Elizabethan
Age Sir Thomas North is most deserving of noticed because of his version of
‘Plutarch’s Lives’ from which Shakespeare took the characters and many of the
incidents for three great Roman plays. North’ translation, to which we owe so
many heroic models in the Literature, was probably made not from Plutarch but
from Amyot’s excellent French translation. Nevertheless he reproduces the
spirit of the original, and
notwithstanding the modern and more accurate translation, he remains the
most inspiring interpreter of the biographer whom Emerson calls “the historian
of heroism”.
Francis Bacon:
There was another great scholar who
contributed a great deal to the enrichment of English prose. He was Francis
Bacon (1561-1626). He was the first to introduce in English the literary genre,
known as the Essay, innovated by the French philosopher Montaigne. Bacon was
both a scholar and a creative genius with a unique style of his own. Bacon was
the first to introduce the intellectual, impersonal, reflective essays in a
style which is inimitable. Brevity is the soul of Bacon’s essay. The words
chosen by him are crisp and pithy. His sentences though small, speak volumes.
It may be said that the Elizabethan intellectual prose finds its culmination in
Bacon.
“Cowards die hundred time before their death”
~ Francis Bacon
“Fear of death is more dangerous than death”
~ Francis Bacon
Bacon is known as the
father of English essay also the greatest prose writer of Elizabethan Era. Now
Bacon withdrew permanently from public life, and devoted his splendid ability
to literary and scientific work. He completed the Essay, experimented largely,
wrote history, scientific, articles and one scientific novel, and made
additions to his ‘Instauratio Magna’ the great philosophical work which was
never finished.
Bacon’s masterpiece work:
·
The Advancement of Learning
·
The Novum Organum
·
Instauratio Magna
·
The Great Institution of True Philosophy
·
The New Atlantis
‘The Instauratio Magna’
was the most ambitious, though it is not the best known of bacon’s work. For
the insight it gives us into the author’s mind, we note here a brief outline of
his subject. It was divided into six parts
1. Partitiones Scientiarum – This was to be a classification
and summary of all humen knowledge.
2. Novum
Orgnum- Is the use of reason and experiment instead of the old Aristotelian logic.
3. Historia
Naturalis et Experimentalis- the study of all phenomena of nature. Of four
parts of this work which he completed,
one of them at least the Sylva Sylvarum, is decidedly at variance with his own
idea of fact of experiment.
4. Scale
Intellectus or Ladder of the mind- is
the rational application of the Organum to all problems.
5. Prodromi(Anticipation)-
Is a list of discoveries that men shall make when the have applied Bacon’s method of study and
experiments.
6. Philosphia
Secunda- Which was to be a record of practical results of the new philosophy
when the succeeding ages should have applied it faithfully.
“We may, said Bacon, “make no despicable
beginnings…for upon. The destinies of the human race must complete the work…
for upon this will depend not only a speculative good but all the fortunes of
mankind and all their power”.
There is the
unconscious expression of one of the great minds of the world. Bacon was like
one of the architects of the middle ages.
The Essay:
Francis Bacon is considered
the father of English essay. His famous Essay is the one work which will
interest all students of literature. His Instauratio was in latin, written
mostly by paid helpers from short English abstracts. He regarded Latin as the
only Language worthy of a great work; but the world neglected his Latin to
seize upon English, marvelous English, terse, pithy, packed with thought, in
age that used endless circumlocution. The fist ten essays published in 1597
then he gave more charm and great thought in second addition of the essays in
1612 which are covering wide variety of subjects suggested by the life of men
around him.
Concerning the best of these
essays there are as many opinions as there are readers, and what one gets out
of them depends largely upon his owns thought and intelligence. In this respect
they are like that nature to which Bacon directed men’s thought. The whole
volume may be read through in an evening; but after one has read them a dozen
times he still finds as many places to pause and reflect as the first reading.
If one must choose out of such a storehouse, we would suggest “Studies”,
“Goodness”, “Riches”, “Atheism”, “Unity in Religion”, “Adversity”, “friendship”
and “great place” as an introduction to Bacon’s worldly-wise philosophy.
Other works of Bacon are
interesting as a revelation of the Elizabethan mind, rather than because of any
literary value. ‘The new Atlantis’ is a kind of scientific novel describing another
Utopia as seen by Bacon. The inhabitants of Atlantis have banished Philosophy
and applied Bacon’s method of investigating nature, using the result to better
their own condition. ‘De sapientia veternum’ is a fanciful attempt to show the
deep meaning underlying ancient myth. ‘ The History of Henry Vll’ is a calm,
dispassionate and remarkably accurate history, which makes us regret that Bacon
did not do more historical work. Beside these are metrical version of certain
Psalm- which is valuable in view of the controversy anent Shakespeare’s plays,
for showing Bacon’s utter inability to write poetry and a large number of
letters and state papers showing the range and power of his intellect.
Conclusion:
To conclude, we can
say that Francis Bacon was the prominent prose writer of the Elizabethan Age,
and also considered as a father of essays in English literature of the world.
Although Bacon was for the greater part of his life a busy man of affairs, one
can’t read his work without becoming conscious of two things, a perennial
freshness which the world insists upon in all literature that is to endure and
an intellectual power which marks him as one of the great minds of the world.
Works Cited
<http://www.literaturewise.in/mdl/mod/page/view.php?id=130>.
"The History of
English LIterature." W.J.Long. n.d.
