# A Study of Parallelism in the Essays by Francis Bacon
## SUBMITTED BY
WAI YAN HTUT
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PHONE THIRI ZAW
MYAT SANDI AUNG
WIN LEI YADANAR
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HNIN AYE YU
AYE MYAT MON
OHNMAR SEIN
HNIN OO WAI YEE
# ABSTRACT
In this paper, the study of parallelism form in the essays of Francis Bacon (1561-1626) makes so as to realize how most of his essays are full of with different kinds of parallelism forms. They make his essays clear to understand by the readers and give information, and some exact examples to express vividly. According to the research from some essays by Francis Bacon show that parallelism forms take place as an essential part of his every essay. And then, this usage makes his messages prominent.
It can be read in this paper that is commonly included in Bacon's essays.
# 1. INTRODUCTION
Most of the authors often use various sort of literal devices to describe their works vividly. These devices make the essay or prose very interesting and prominent one among the readers. Among them, the parallelism forms are one of the important literal devices in the literature. Different types of parallelism structures can be found in many proses and essays.
The aim of this term paper is to study about the parallelism structures in the essays of famous author, Francis Bacon. He is a very successful essayist in his time. He always used literal devices to create his essays. Among them, we would like to focus on the parallelism forms that he used in his essays. He used them to describe his messages such as the moral lessons, education, marriage, studying, death, honest, friendship, travelling and so on.
He wrote his essays based on his experiences in wide range of style. So, he is also known as the father of empiricism. He wrote 59 essays, which titles are started with the proposition "Of". We can find many parallelism structures from them. This paper is aimed to understand about the various sorts of parallelisms structures and Bacon's parallelism form in his essays. Parallelism structure is a striking features as an essential part of his work. They make the passage to understand easily and popular among the readers.
This paper explains thoroughly about a brief study of parallelism structures in the Bacon's three essays.
# 2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
The aim of the paper is to study the usage of parallelism structures in three essays of Francis Bacon, Of Truth (1625), OfDeath (1612) and Of Marriage and Single Life (1625). The objectives are as follow:
To express the various kinds of parallelism structures,
To express how Francis Bacon used the parallelism forms in his essays in order to understand vividly about the messages he wanted to point out, and To express what sort of parallelism forms are rarely used and mostly used in his essays.
# 3. LITERATURE REVIEW
## 3.1. PARALLELISM
Parallelism is the principle of representing equal ideas in the same grammatical form. It produces a sense of balance and order, and is frequently employed as a feature of the periodic sentence. It can also prompt readers to infer parallel meanings between those structures.
For example - "government of the people, by the people, and for the people".
- "Whether in class, at work or at home, he is always busy".
- "Out of sight, out of mind".
- "Like father, like son".
## 3.2. FUNCTION OF PARALLELISM
The usage of parallelism structures in speech or writing allows speakers and writers to maintain a consistency within their work and create a balanced flow of ideas.
They can be often called as the parallelism structures as mentioned in below:
1. The fact or condition of being parallel: agreement in character, directions, etc.
2. The position or relation of parallels,
3. A parallel or comparison,
4. The philosophical theory that mental and physical process are concomitant but not casually related,
5. The repetition of a syntactic structure for rhetorical effect and
6. Parallelism evolution.
## 3.3. PHILOSOPHY OF PARALLELISM
Parallelism is a difficult position to hold, since it does little to count for the fact that the brain seems to regularly interact, and that changes in one appear to affect the other. If the two are separate substances in a dualist view, then the idea that there is no causality between them, yet obvious changes in both simultaneously, seem counter-intuitive.
## 3.4. TYPES OF PARALLELISM STRUCTURES
There are five kinds of parallelism structures. They are:
1. Phonological Parallelism,
2. Morphological Parallelism,
3. Grammatical Parallelism (syntactic parallelism,
4. Lexical Parallelism (semantic parallelism) and
5. Extended Parallelism.
## 3.5. DEFINITION AND EXAMPLES OF PARALLELISM STRUCTURES
### 1. Phonological Parallelism
It is a repetition of similar sounds including assonance, alliteration, consonance, and rhyme.
Example - "Humpty Dumpty", "Severus Snape".
### 2. Morphological Parallelism
It is a kind of repetition of morphemes.
Example - "I kissed thee ere I killed thee".
### 3. Grammatical Parallelism (syntactic parallelism)
It focuses more on grammatical structure.
Example - "Government of the people, by the people, and for the people".
### 4. Lexical Parallelism (semantic parallelism)
It is a repetition of lexical items. It may be identical form and in meaning, or they may be related by lexicon-semantic relationship.
Example - "She likes dancing, cooking and reading".
### 5. Extended parallelism
It can be found in jokes, novels and funny stories where parallelism goes no longer.
# 4. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
In writing this paper, we studied a lot about the parallelism structures. And they are analyzed according to the theories and definitions of many professionals. Most of the facts are collected from The Essays, written by Francis Bacon. Moreover, the theories and further information are taken from books and the internet.
## 4.1. Research Questions
The research questions for the paper are as follow:
1. What sorts of parallelism are mainly used and rarely used in his essays?
2. How do this parallelism structures make the essays interesting?
There are 59 essays of his that start with the preposition "Of". Among them, we want to focus on three essays. They are:
1. Of Truth,
2. Of Death and
3. Of Marriage and Single Life.
Moreover, we focus on four kinds of parallelism structures. They are:
1. Grammatical Parallelism (syntactic parallelism),
2. Phonological parallelism
3. Morphological parallelism and
4. Extended Parallelism
# 5. DATA ANALYSIS
## 5.1 Data Analysis on "Of Truth"
### (i). In the essay "Of Truth", the grammatical parallelisms (syntactic parallelism) are-
1. "The first creature of God, in the works of the day, was the lights of the sense, the last, was the light of reason.
2. "It is a pleasure, to stand upon the shore, and to see ships tossed upon the sea; a pleasure, to stand in the window of a castle, and to see a bottle, and the adventures three of below.
3. "The inquiry of truth, which is the love-making or wooing of it, the knowledge of truth, which is the presence of it, and the belief of truth, which is the enjoy of it, is the sovereign good of human nature.
4. "first he breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos: then he breathed light, into the face of man;..."
5. "Why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge?"
6. "truth may perhaps come to the price of a pearl, that showeth best by day, but it will not rise to the price of a diamond, or carbuncle."
7. "..., and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests, in the vale below,...".
8. "Certainly there be, affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting".
9. "...; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant: but for the lie's sake.
10. "Truth may perhaps come to the prince of a pearl, that showeth best by day: but it will not rise to the prince of a diamond, or carbuncle, that showeth best in varied lights".
11. "Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men's minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would."
12. "First he breathed light, upon the face of the matter or chaos: then he breathed light, into the face of man, and still he breathed and insprieth light, into the face of his chosen.
### (ii). In the essay "Of Truth", the morphological parallelisms are:
1. "...to to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting". (-ing morphemes)
2. "but it is not the Lie that passed through the mind but the lie that sinketh in, and settleth in it, that doth the hurt". (-th (s) morphemes)
3. "... it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor," (-th (s) morphemes)
4. "..., which only doth judge itself, teacheth that the inquiry of truth..." (-th (s) morphemes)
5. "...false valuations, imaginations as one would... and indisposition ..." (-ion morphemes)
6. "...half so stately and daintily as candle-lights" (-ly morphemes)
7. "To pass from the theological and philosophical truth... (-cal morphemes)
8. "...which is the love-making or wooing of it...which is the enjoying of it..." (-ing morphemes)
9. "But howsoever these things are thus in men's depraved judgments and affections". (-s morphemes)
10. " cannot possibly be so highly expressed..." (-ly morphemes)
### (iii). There are some phonological parallelisms in the essay, "Of Truth". They are-
1. "... to fix a belief, affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting". (/try/ Assonance)
2. "a man's mind move in charity, rest in providence". (/m/ Alliteration)
3. "And though the sets of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursing wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them, as was in those of the ancients." (// Alliteration, /er/ Assonance)
4. "But it is not only the difficulty and labor, which men take in finding out of truth, nor gain, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men's thoughts, that doth bring lies in favor: but a natural, though corrupt love, of the lie itself." (/8/, A Alliteration).
5. "One of the later school of the Grecians, examineth the matter, and is at a stand to think what should be in it, that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant: but for the lie's sake". (/m/, /V Alliteration).
6. "But it is not the lie that passeth through the mind, but the lie that sinketh in and settleth in it, that doth the hurt: such as we spake of before". (/s/ Alliteration)
7. "The first creature of God, in the work of the days, was the light of the sense, the last, was the light of reason: and his sabbath work ever since, is the illumination of his spirit". (Is/ Alliteration).
8. "For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man." (/f/ Alliteration).
9. "Surely the wickedness of falsehood, and breach faith, cannot possibility be so highly, as that it shall be the last peal, to call the judgment of God upon the generations of men: it being foretold, that when Christ cometh, he shall not find faith upon the earth". (/f/, /k/ Alliteration).
## 5.3 Data Analysis on "Of Marriage and Single Life"
### (i). There are the grammatical parallelisms (syntactic parallelism) in the essay, "Of Marriage and Single Life". They are-
1. "there are some foolish, rich, covetous men..."
2. "wives are young men's mistresses, companions for the middle age, and old men's nurses..."
3. "unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants..."
4. ".... especially in certain self-leasing and humorous minds ..."
5. "when a man should marry, 4 young man not yet, an elder man not at all."
### (ii). There are also a morphological parallelism (syntactic parallelism) in the essay, "Of Marriage and Single Life". They are -
1. "he that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; ..." (-th morphemes)
2. "Certainly the best works, and of greatest merit for the public, have proceeded from the unmarried or childless men; which both in affection and means have married and endowed the public." (-ed morphemes)
3. "children should have greatest care of future times; unto which they know they must transit their dearest pledges." (-est morphemes)
4. "It is indifferent for judges and magistrates; (-s morphemes)
### (iii). There are phonological parallelisms in the essay, "Of Marriage and Single Life". They are-
1. "yet it were great reason that those that have children should have greatest care of future time:" (/°/ Alliteration).
2. "...unto which they know they must transmit their dearest pledges". (/*/ Alliteration).
3. "some there are, who though they lead a single life, yet their thought do end with themselves..." (// Alliteration).
4. "It is one of the best bonds both of chastity and obedience in the wife". (/b/ Alliteration).
5. "a single life doth well with churchmen: for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool". (/w/ Alliteration).
6. "though they may be many time more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, yet..." (/m/ Alliteration).
7. "he that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; ..." (/h/ Alliteration).
8. "Nay, there are some other that account wife and children but as bills of charges." (/bl, /tJ/ Alliteration)
9. "But the most ordinary cause of a single life is liberty, especially in certain self-pleasing and humorous minds, which are so sensible of every restraint, as they will go near to think their girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles. (/g/, /s/ Alliteration).
10. "A single life doth well with churchmen: for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. (/w, /tf/Alliteration).
11. "It is indifferent for judges and magistrates: for if they be facile and corrupt, you shall have a servant five times worse than a wife. (/f/Alliteration, /al/ Assonance).
12. "... though they may be many times more charitable, because their means are less exhausted, yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hardhearted (good to make severe inquisitors) because their tenderness is not so often called upon. (/m/ Alliteration).
13. "Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses... (/k/ Alliteration).
14. "It is often seen that bad husband had very good wives: whether it be that raiseth the price of their husband's kindness when it comes... (/a/ Assonance).
## 5.3 Data Analysis on "Of Death"
### (i). In the essay "Of Death", the grammatical parallelisms (syntactic parallelism) are-
1. "think how long thou hast done the same thing; not only a valiant man or a miserable man but also a fastidious man is able to wish for death.
2. "groans and convulsions and a discolored face, and friends weeping, and blacks, and obsequies, and the like, show death terrible".
3. "revenge triumphs over drath; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear pre-occupateth it".
4. "better saith he, who accounts the close of life as one of the benefits of nature."
### (ii). In the essay "Of Death", there are also the morphological parallelisms. They are-
1. "death hath this also; that it openth the gate to good fame and extinguisheth envy". (-th morphemes)
2. "revenge triumphs over drath; love slights it; honor aspireth to it; grief flieth to it; fear pre-occupateth it". (-th morphemes)
3. "what a pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed, or tortured, and thereby imagine". (-ed moephemes)
### (iii). In the essay "Of Death", there are also phonological parallelisms. They are
1. "... bent upon somewhat that is good doth avert the dolers of death. (/d/ Alliteration).
2. "It is worthy the observing, that there is no person in the mind of man, so well, but it mates, and masters, the fear of death, and therefore, death is no such terrible enemy, when a man hath so many attendants about him, that can win the combat of him. (/m/, /w/ Alliteration)
3. "what a pain is, if he have but his finger's end pressed, or tortured, and thereby imagine, what the pain of death are, when the whole body is less pain than the torture of a limb, for most vital parts... (/p/alliteration)
4. "Certainly, the contemplation of death, as the wages of sin, and passage to another world, is holy and religious, but the fear of it, as a tribute due unto nature, is weak. (/w/ Alliteration).
5. "it is no less worthy, to observe, how little alteration good spirits, the approaches of death make; for they appear to be the same men, till the last instant. (/1/ alliteration)
6. "and by him that spake only as a philosopher and natural man was well said. It is the accomplishments of death that are frightful rather than death itself. (// alliteration)
# 6. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
In the findings, we found about the different types of parallelisms and their branches. In fact, not only the presented three essays but also the rests have many literally parallelisms. Nevertheless, our finding results are as follow;
1. Of Truth - 31 parallelisms
2. Of Marriage and Single Life - 23 parallelisms
3. Of Death - 13 parallelisms
The types of parallelisms in each essay are as follow:

||Phonological Parallelism|Morphological Parallelism|Grammatical Parallelism|Total|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|Of Truth|9|10|12|31|
|of marriage and Single Life|14|4|5|23|
|Of Death|6|3|4|13|

**Table 6.1: The Numbers of Parallelism Structures and Their Types in Bacon's Three Essays**
[Figure 6.1 - Bar chart showing parallelism structures across three essays]
**Figure 6.1: Demonstrating the Number of parallelism Structures Found in Bacon's three Essays**
[Figure 6.2 - Pie chart for "Of Truth"]
**OF TRUTH**
- Phonological Parallelism: 29%
- Morphological Parallelism: 32%
- Grammatical Parallelism: 39%
**Figure 6.2: Demonstrating the Percentage of parallelism Structures Found in the Essay "Of Truth"**
[Figure 6.4 - Pie chart for "Of Marriage and Single Life"]
**OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE**
- Phonological Parallelism: 61%
- Morphological Parallelism: 17%
- Gramatical Parallelism: 22%
**Figure 6.4: Demonstrating the Percentage of parallelism Structures Found in the Essay "Of Marriage and Single Life"**
[Figure 6.3 - Pie chart for "Of Death"]
**OF DEATH**
- Phonological Parallelism: 46%
- Morphological Parallelism: 23%
- Grammatical Parallelism: 31%
**Figure 6.3: Demonstrating the Percentage of parallelism Structures Found in the Essay "Of Death"**
Finally, according to the previous findings on the parallelism structures in the essays of Francis Bacon, it is found that he used the phonological parallelism mostly in his every essay. And, he also used grammatical and morphological parallelism moderately. Finally, he never used the extended parallelism. This is due to the fact that such kind of parallelism is used in the comedy novels, and plays. In addition to this, we left the study of lexical parallelism in his essays. His writing style is so simple but he often used compound sentences by joining with conjunctions frequently. His focused messages are very popular because of his style. He often used the various forms of parallelisms in his messages. His grammatical parallelisms make his focused messages short and clear to understand. Some of his sentences became popular as the sayings. So, the readers can know vividly what he wants to point out. Writing his messages with various parallelisms is one of the Francis Bacon's being famous in English Literature field.
# 7. CONCLUSION
To conclude this paper, the parallelism structures in the Essay of Francis Bacon and types of parallelisms theories can be found. Moreover, the examples of parallelisms and how they reflect the author's focused messages are described in the paper.
The answers to the research questions are as follow:
1. What sorts of parallelisms are mainly used and rarely used in his essays?
    - Phonological parallelism is mainly used and extended parallelism is rarely used
2. How do this parallelism structures make the essays interesting?
    - His grammatical parallelisms make his focused messages short and clear to understand.
# REFERENCES
• Hebron, M. Mastering the Language of Literature.
• McMahan, E. Literature and the winning process.
• Quinn, E. Literary and Thematic Terms: Facts on File Library of American Literature. (2nd ed.).
• Taylor, J. (1613-67). Sermon Preached at the Funeral of the Lord Primate.
• Walter, E. Cambridge Advanced Learners' Dictionary (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. 2008.
## E-RESOURCES
• [www.wikipedia.com.org](http://www.wikipedia.com.org/)
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• [http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/topic/essays](http://www.enotes.com/homework-help/topic/essays)
• [http://www.authorama.com/essays-of-francis-bacon-15.html](http://www.authorama.com/essays-of-francis-bacon-15.html)
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• [http://www.studymode.com/subjects/summary-of-truth-by-francis-bacon-pagel.html](http://www.studymode.com/subjects/summary-of-truth-by-francis-bacon-pagel.html)
•[http://www.slideshare.net/Bhattigr8/types-of-parallelism?qid=9d5dclc3-fl1d-4381-894a-b4fa2accd0b9&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1](http://www.slideshare.net/Bhattigr8/types-of-parallelism?qid=9d5dclc3-fl1d-4381-894a-b4fa2accd0b9&v=qf1&b=&from_search=1)
# APPENDEX: THE BIOGRAPHY OF FRACNIS BACON
He was born in a nursing home at Dublin on January 22, 1561. His father was the Lord Keeper of the Greatest Seal under Queen Elizabeth I. He studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, from 1573 to 1575. He was an English philosopher, statesman, scientist, jurist, orator, essayist and author. Bacon is also known as a father of empiricism.
Biographers believe that Bacon was educated at home in his early years owing to poor health, which would plague him throughout his life. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge on April 5, 1573 at the age of 12. Bacon's education was conducted largely in Latin and followed the medieval curriculum. He was also educated at the University of Poitiers. 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".
When he was 36, Bacon engaged in the courtship of Elizabeth Hatton, a young widow of 20. Reportedly, she broke off their relationship because she wanted to get married with another wealthier man, Bacon's rival, Edward Coke. At the age of 45, Bacon married Alice Barnham, the 14-year-old daughter of a well-connected London alderman and MP. And Bacon wrote two sonnets proclaiming his love for Alice.
He attempted a scientific experiment in March 1626. Later he caught cold and went to stay at the Earl of Arundel's house nearby. Then he died of pneumonia at Highgate outside London on April 9, 1626.
# FRANCIS BACON'S ESSAYS LISTS AND PUBLSHED YEAR
He wrote a lot of books according to his experiences. He is also known as the father of empiricism. Among of his works, there are 59 books of Francis Bacon that he started with the preposition "Of" in the titles. They are -
1. Of Expense (1597)
2. Of Regimen of Health (1597)
3. Of Discourse (1597)
4. Of Negotiating (1597)
5. Of Followers and Friends (1597)
6. Of Suitors (1597)
7. Of Studies (1597)
8. Of Faction (1597)
9. Of Ceremonies and Respects (1597)
10. Of Honor and Reputation (1597)
11. Of Death (1612)
12. Of Unity In Religion/ Of Religion (1612)
13. Of Parents and Children (1612)
14. Of Marriage and Single Life (1612)
15. Of Love (1612)
16. Of Great Place (1612)
17. Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature (1612)
18. Of Nobility (1612)
19. Of Atheism (1612)
20. Of Superstition (1612)
21. Of Empire (1612)
22. Of Counsels (1612)
23. Of Cunning (1612)
24. Of Wisdom for A Man's Self (1612)
25. Of Dispatch (1612)
26. Of Seeming Wise (1612)
27. Of Friendship (1612)
28. Of The True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates (1612)
29. Of Riches (1612)
30. Of Ambition (1612)
31. Of Nature In Men (1612)
32. Of Custom and Education (1612)
33. Of Fortune (1612)
34. Of Youth and Age (1612)
35. Of Beauty (1612)
36. Of Deformity (1612)
37. Of Praise (1612)
38. Of Vain Glory (1612)
39. Of Judicature (1612)
40. Of Truth (1625)
41. Of Revenge (1625)
42. Of Adversity (1625)
43. Of Simulation and Dissimulation (1625)
44. Of Envy (1625)
45. Of Boldness (1625)
46. Of Seditions and Troubles (1625)
47. Of Travel (1625)
48. Of Delays (1625)
49. Of Innovations (1625)
50. Of Suspicion (1625)
51. Of Plantations (1625)
52. Of Prophecies (1625)
53. Of Masques and Triumphs (1625)
54. Of Usury (1625)
55. Of Building (1625)
56. Of Gardens (1625)
57. Of Anger (1625)
58. Of Vicissitude of Things (1625)
59. Of The Colours of Good and Evil (Unknown year)