English Literature

Of Love By Bacon: A Critical Analysis Francis Bacon is one of the greatest essayists of English literature, and "Of Love" is among his most discussed essays. It first appeared in a shorter form in 1612 and was rewritten for the final 1625 edition of the Essays. The essay presents Bacon's practical and rather severe view of love. Writing as a man of the world, he examines love not for its beauty but for its effect on a man's judgment, fortune and work. The argument of the essay is simple and clear. Bacon begins by comparing life with the stage. Love delights us in comedies and tragedies, but in real life it "doth much mischief," behaving like a siren or a fury. He then turns to history and shows that no truly great man was ever "transported to the mad degree of love." Great spirits and great business keep out this weak passion. Marcus Antonius and Appius Claudius are the only exceptions, and they prove that love can enter even "a heart well ...

Of Love by Francis Bacon (Complete Text) The stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man; for as to the stage, love is even matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief; sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury. You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent,) there is not one that hath been transported to the mad degree of love, which shows, that great spirits and great business do keep out this weak passion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half partner of the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the latter was an austere and wise man: and therefore it seems (though rarely,) that love can find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. It is a poor saying of Epicurus, "Satis magnum ...