of studies读后感

View on of Studies

2011级师范10班

张莉 1114142186

Key words:

Bacon, studies, reading books, learning, rhetorical device, culture

Abstract:

Bacon has created a large amount of famous works, involving philosophy, literature and politics. And the essays of Bacon are so highly esteemed that the critic Hallam declares it would be “derogatory to a man of the slightest claim to polite letters” to be unacquainted with them. Most of the essays are short but concise. They expressed Bacon’s motions and feelings, or the attitude toward something. The essay Of Studies is the most celebrated one, explaining the functions of books and ways to read books correctly. It is very useful and practical.

Introduction:

Francis Bacon is a famous British statement, a philosopher, and a poet. He is the father of modern scientific method and the father of empiricism. Marx once said: “he is the progenitor of English Materialism”. And Mr. Pope also thought he “the wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind”. But we often know him as a distinguished poet and prose writer.

Bacon has written a lot of famous works and they can be divided into three classes, the philosophical, the literary, and the professional work. The principal and best known of the philosophical works are: the Advancement of Learning, the Novum Organun, and the De Augmentis .Of The Bacon’s literary works, the most important are the Essays. They deal with a great variety of subjects, some quite general like those Of Truth, and Of Death; some on questions of individual behavior like those Of Revenge and Of Friendship; many on problems of statesmanship like that Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates. But his essays are the shining points among all his varies of works. And the most well-known one that we are familiar with is of studies.

I met this essay in my elementary school. The passage was translated into Chinese, ancient Chinese. It is known to all that Chinese is very difficult, especially in ancient style. Even people who have a large stock of information cannot interpret ancient work in an absolutely correct way. As a young student, I had a narrow knowledge about Chinese literature, let alone English literature. Naturally, I knew nothing about the author and hardly understood the meaning of the essay. But it is quite different now.

From the title, we can get some basic information---it is talking something about studies and reading. It introduced us the three functions of studies, and the different attitudes the different men had toward studies. How should we read a book in an effective and correct way? Having learned this passage, we can get something deeply about studies and apply these methods to our daily life. It must be very useful. Then I will say something of my own understanding about this essay.

Body:

This prose is covering a lot of parallel structures; the usage of them improves the clearness, and emphasizes the importance of some parts. The first sentence is talking about the three functions of books: it can make us happy and delightful, it can make us knowledgeable and witty, and it also can foster our abilities. The following sentence interprets the first one, making us have a better understanding of these three functions of reading.

Reading is good, but it does not mean that we should spend too much doing it. If you read books that way，you will feel exhausted and lazy. We must do everything properly: doing too much is excessive, but a little is insufficient. But at the same time, we should have a clear assessment when we do readings. We bear in mind what are needed, and we delete what are useless.

Reading can make up for our natural disadvantages. If someone is not very intellect, actually all the people are not intellect, he can improve himself by reading. It can make us think, and broaden our horizon. It is reading that gives us detailed directions, except for some directions that are only guided by experience. Experience is also essential, it is more important than books to some extent. Skilled men mostly look down on books, while inexperienced men look up to reading. Wise men can apply it to their real life. So the wisdom of reading does not lie inside books, the other way around, outside books.

When we do reading, we should be cautious. We neither negate all the things in books, nor believe everything wholly. The two ways are totally wrong. Among all the reading methods, there are three kinds of them: taste, swallow, chew and digest. Some books are to be read only in some parts, it is not worth reading in details; others to be read, but do not have to read it carefully and curiously; a few number of them are should be read back and forth, and meditate them with our whole attention. That is to say, different books use different attitudes. Meanwhile, we should judge them and decide which method we should take.

It is known to us all that reading can fulfill a man, but it is not enough. We should take notes when we do readings, especially without a good memory. In a short time, you may remember all the details you have read, but after some time, you may just recall a little about the contents. So we must take notes in case of forgetting. We should discuss with others about what we have read, and what are the opinions and what are the advantages and disadvantages of each one. Thus, we can avoid making the same mistakes next time, and take in other people’s good ideas. We should also be cautious and crafty if we read a little. It doesn’t matter if someone without reading, but the premise is that he has plenty of intellects.

Different books bring us different benefits. For examples, learning histories makes men clear-minded, and we can know what has happened in the past times, and also can have a better understanding about the world. Learning poets makes men clever. We will marvel at the wit of our ancestors, and how strict they were when they chose every word. There are great quantities of various books, so we can benefit a lot.

Apart from the significance of the essay, there are three main rhetorical devices we should take in, for instance, parallelism, ellipsis, analogy. Parallelism is the most common one among the three. The first sentence of the whole prose is an example, and it makes the meaning clear and convincing. Ellipsis is also easy to see. “Histories make men wise; poets, witty”, and the complete one should be “poets make men witty”. As we can see, ellipsis makes sentence compact and concise. The sentences have become simpler and the important points are highlighted. In such sentences, the usage of parallelism and ellipsis brings great help to express Bacon’s ideas and emotions. Analogy is also quite often used. “Nay, there is no stond or impediment in the wit but may be wrought out by fit studies, like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises.” In this example, he makes an analogy between the solutions of diseases of the body and the disadvantages in mind. It makes the two similar parts seem more vivid.

Conclusion:

After learning this short essay, first, I have a better understanding of the functions of books and reading, and also I get to know how to read a book. It should be thoroughly read, or just read parts of it, or even go through it? It depends on the book’s content, and our judgment. So if we get a book, don’t read it immediately. We should check the content first to see if it worth intensive reading. If it isn’t, it will be stupid to spend too much time on it. So giving a correct judgment is absolutely critical.

And then, I also understand that the usage of rhetorical devices will beatify our essays. They can make our writing more clear and vivid, and also stand out from others. If we use them, we will be considered to be knowledgeable and well-educated.

In Bacon’s words and view of reading, we could see many similarities in our Chinese’s culture. In the essay, “read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider” is similar to what Mencius once said “would rather read no book than believe everything in a book”; while “if a man read little, he had need have a great memory” is equal to “the palest ink is better than the best memory” in Chinese words. So even in different parts of the world and having various cultures, the western and eastern countries still have something in common.

And it is this intercommunity enables us to have a better understanding about other cultures. It is true that every coin has two sides. In the development of technology, culture is becoming more and more impure and taking in some bad manners. Therefore, we must adopt the good points of home culture and avoid the shortcomings of other culture.

Reference: ANALYSIS OF OF STUDIES

HISTORY AND ANTHOLOGY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

《论读书》，王佐良译

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