Lesson on Aphorism
For Nonfiction
The Sentence That Stays
Francis Bacon, “Of Studies” · Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
Lessons in Nonfiction
An aphorism is a short sentence that holds a whole idea and stays in the memory. Bacon’s essays are built almost entirely from them; Emerson’s essays use them as pillars. Both show how balance, contrast and compression make a sentence last.
Questions on the Classic Readings
Francis Bacon, “Of Studies”
- “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” How does the metaphor organize the sentence?
- “Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man.” Why might Bacon leave out the verb in the second and third parts?
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Self-Reliance”
- “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” Why is the word “foolish” essential?
- Find another sentence in the essay that could stand alone, such as “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string.” How does Emerson build an essay from such sentences?
Activities
These draw on the classic readings on this page.
- Three ways. Write an aphorism on Bacon’s model with three parallel parts about something you know well (cooking, teaching, music).
- The essay’s one sentence. Take an essay you have written and compose one sentence that states its central idea memorably. Decide where in the essay it belongs.
—Silver Current Press