英美文学简明教程(华中科技大学出版社)
The major characters in his plays are not simply type ones representing certain group or class of people, but are individuals with strong and distinct personalities. Structure:
Shakespeare’s plays are generally well organized, with harmony and order disbalanced at the beginning, social conflicts sharpened in the middle and harmony and order restored at the end.
Language and Style
He is a master of English language.
6. Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
An English philosopher, statesman, scientist, lawyer, jurist, author and father of the scientific method；the first English essayist
（1）Life:
Bacon was born on 22 January 1561 at York House near the Strand in London. Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health (which plagued him throughout his life), receiving tuition from John Walsall, a graduate of Oxford with a strong leaning towards Puritanism. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, on 5 April 1573 at the age of twelve. It was at Cambridge that he first met Queen Elizabeth, who was impressed by his precocious intellect, and was accustomed to calling him ―the young Lord Keeper‖.
In 1576, he went abroad with Sir Amias Paulet, the English ambassador at Paris.
The sudden death of his father in February 1579 prompted Bacon to return to England.
In 1584, he took his seat in parliament.
He became Bencher in 1586, and he was elected a reader in 1587, delivering his first set of lectures in Lent the following year.
In 1596, Bacon became Queen’s Counsel.
In 1598 Bacon was arrested for debt.
The accession of James I brought Bacon into greater favor. He was knighted in 1603.
In 1613, Bacon was finally appointed attorney general.
Bacon’s public career ended in disgrace in 1621. After he fell into debt, a Parliamentary Committee on the administration of the law charged him with twenty-three separate counts of corruption.
On 9 April 1626 Bacon died of pneumonia outside London.
（2）Major Works:
The Advancement of Learning 《学术的进展》
Novum Organum 《新工具》
Essays 《论说文集》
Of Study 《论读书》
（3）Writing Styles of Essays— directness, terseness, forcefulness
Bacon’s essays are noted for their clearness, brevity and force of expression.