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Geoffrey chaucer: the father of modern english.

Touted as the father of modern English by his contemporaries and later (even modern) critics, Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) remains one of the essential medieval writers that still has prevalence in our literary culture today. Most well known as a poet, Chaucer worked as a bureaucrat, courtier, and diplomat, which exposed him to the courtly style of life that he explores, questions, and mocks in his works. Most notably, Chaucer wrote in his vernacular English, as opposed to Latin or French, and also translated many important Continental works, such as Boccacio's The Decameron and Boethius's Consolation of Philosophy into English . The popularity of Chaucer's works written in the London dialect of Middle English gave rise to this dialect's prominence and eventual status as modern English's predecessor.

In his lifetime, Chaucer's best known and most well-received work was Troilus and Criseyde , a story of two star-crossed lovers in Troy that fall upon misfortune through the insufficiency of language to convey their love for one another. Modern audiences, however, know Chaucer best for his unfinished poem The Canterbury Tales , which chronicles a group of pilgrims journeying to Canterbury Cathedral. The pilgrims agree to entertain themselves along the journey by telling each other tales; each agrees to tell two tales on both legs of the journey. Unfortunately, Chaucer completed only 24 tales before his untimely death. The 24 Tales with which we are left, however, are exemplary in their discussion of genre, authorship, reader-response, and concern with dissemination of written material. Within each of the tales, Chaucer explores a variety of issues and constructs the tales in ways that are influenced by various Continental authors, specifically Dante, Boccacio, and French romantic poets. Although other English poets from the medieval period are integral to the study of English literature, Chaucer stands as a beacon of cross-cultural literary identity, and his works and translations are an integral moment in the rise of the English literary tradition.

If reusing this resource please attribute as follows: Geoffrey Chaucer: The Father of Modern English? at http://writersinspire.org/content/geoffrey-chaucer-father-modern-english by Colleen Curran, licensed as Creative Commons BY-NC-SA (2.0 UK).

Francis Bacon is an Essayist

Francis Bacon is widely considered as the father of modern essay . Through his essays he implemented the way of systematic thinking and the nature of social interactions. Human characters, nature and intentions are highly reflected through his essays. Bacon introduced a new form of composition into English Literature through his essays.

Bacon’s Point of view

Bacon was a man of logic. His essays are mainly developed in logical and systematical basement. The essays are written in verity of points of view. Through these points of view he covers many familiar topics such as truth, love, death, marriage, education, religion, child-rearing, evil and good, health and many more. All the topics are mainly developed on the stages of human nature and psychology. Actually these are analysis of human character .

Bacon’s style

Bacon states all the essays in to the point. Aphorism is the salient feature of Bacon’s essay . Aphorism is the terse expression of universal truth. This use of terse expression and epigrammatic shortness of sentences reflect the depth of Author’s personal experience. So it can be said that Bacon blended his personal experiences in his prose . Epigram is another prominent element of Bacon’s essay . Epigram is a brief, pointed and often witty statement which apparently self-contradictory. One of the chief characteristics of Bacon’s prose is epigram . As Bacon’s essays are argumentative in nature, his style becomes antithetical. There are number of quotations and allusions in his essays. Figure of speeches which Bacon used in essays are clearly state his ideas. Flexibility, wit and fun are also important styles of his essays.

Theme of Bacon’s essay

Bacon’s essays are developed in various themes. Every theme has a great variety from another theme . Essays often examine some abstract theme such as love, friendship, truth, anger etc. The essays are developed in the range from human to haven, from society to soul, from envy to triumph. In “Of Studies” we see Bacon emphasis on reading. Here Bacon explains reason and purpose of study. At the same time he suggests the mode of selecting right books for study. In “Of Truth” he suggest to manage truth in life. Like these in “Of Marriage and Single Life” he showed the importance of marriage. On Anger Bacon enlisted different causes of anger then offer solution.

Bacon and his thinking

Francis Bacon is mainly considered as the famous English essayist though he borrowed from another writers like Montaigne, Seneca, Aristotle.

In many aspects we can see Bacon changed his essays with the spirit and manners of Seneca. For him his essays are dispersed meditation and receptacle for detached thoughts. Influence of Machiavelli is mainly focused in Bacon’s Essays. Bacon’s Essays are highly practical and developed on the theme civil and moral . Utilitarianism is obvious in Bacon’s essays. He shrewdly instructed the way of leading perfect life. Bacon borrowed the form of essay from Montaigne, the great essayist of France. Both Montaigne and Bacon share the form of essay but not the spirit. Montaigne is mainly personal and familiar but on the other hand Bacon is formal, curt and impersonal. Montaigne appeals the heart but Bacon is to the head. Though they are different in thinking they are successful in their own field.

It is obvious to us that Bacon’s essays are mainly noteworthy. To English literature his essays are priceless acquisitions. The essays are classics of English prose . Thus, Bacon is a great essayist.

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Montaigne: The Father of Modern Essay and Skepticism

Michel de Montaigne, a prominent French Renaissance philosopher and writer, is widely regarded as the father of the modern essay. Through his famous collection of essays, “Essais,” Montaigne revolutionized the literary form and introduced a new way of thinking about the self, human nature, and the pursuit of knowledge. This essay explores Montaigne’s life, his philosophical approach of skepticism, and the lasting impact of his work on literature and philosophy.

Life and Background

Michel de Montaigne was born in 1533 in the Aquitaine region of France into a family of nobility. He received a humanistic education and studied law, but his true passion lay in reading and contemplation. Montaigne inherited his family’s estate and retired from public life in 1571 to dedicate himself to writing and reflection.

The Essays: A Personal Exploration

Montaigne’s most significant contribution to literature and philosophy is his collection of essays, which he began writing in 1572 and continued revising until his death. In his essays, Montaigne adopted a personal and introspective approach, exploring a wide range of topics, from friendship and love to education, morality, and the nature of human beings.

What set Montaigne’s essays apart was his willingness to delve into his own experiences, thoughts, and uncertainties. He embraced subjectivity, recounting personal anecdotes, introspecting on his own flaws and biases, and inviting readers to engage in self-reflection. This style of writing created a unique and intimate connection between the author and the reader, setting the foundation for the modern essay as a form of self-expression and exploration.

Skepticism: Questioning Certainties

Central to Montaigne’s philosophical approach was skepticism, which he employed as a tool for intellectual inquiry and self-examination. Montaigne doubted the certainty of knowledge and questioned prevailing beliefs and dogmas. He recognized the fallibility of human judgment and the limitations of human understanding, leading him to advocate for intellectual humility and open-mindedness.

Montaigne’s skepticism was not a rejection of knowledge but rather a method of inquiry. He believed that by recognizing the limits of our understanding and acknowledging the diverse perspectives of others, we could gain a more nuanced and compassionate view of the world. Montaigne’s skepticism challenged the notion of absolute truths and encouraged intellectual curiosity and critical thinking.

The Importance of Self-Knowledge

One of Montaigne’s recurring themes was the exploration of the self. He believed that true wisdom begins with self-knowledge, and his essays served as a vehicle for self-examination. Montaigne examined his own thoughts, emotions, and experiences, exploring the complexities of human nature and the contradictions within himself.

Montaigne’s emphasis on self-knowledge influenced subsequent philosophers and writers. His introspective approach laid the groundwork for modern psychology and the understanding of human behavior. Montaigne’s essays encouraged readers to reflect on their own lives, question their assumptions, and seek a deeper understanding of themselves.

Influence and Legacy

Montaigne’s essays had a profound impact on the literary and philosophical landscape of the time and continue to be studied and revered today. His exploration of the self and his skepticism laid the foundation for the emergence of modern individualism and subjectivity in literature and philosophy.

The essay as a literary form was transformed by Montaigne. His personal and conversational style, combined with his exploration of diverse topics, opened new possibilities for self-expression and the sharing of ideas. Montaigne’s influence can be seen in the works of subsequent essayists, including Francis Bacon, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Virginia Woolf, who carried on his legacy of introspection and intellectual exploration.

Furthermore, Montaigne’s skepticism influenced the development of Enlightenment thought and the scientific revolution. His emphasis on questioning prevailing beliefs and embracing uncertainty challenged the dogmas of the time and contributed to the development of critical thinking and empirical inquiry.

Michel de Montaigne, the father of the modern essay, made significant contributions to literature, philosophy, and the exploration of the self. His essays, marked by personal introspection, skepticism, and a focus on self-knowledge, revolutionized the literary form and influenced subsequent writers and thinkers.

Montaigne’s emphasis on questioning certainties and embracing intellectual humility continues to resonate in today’s world, where the search for truth and understanding remains ongoing. His legacy as a champion of individualism, skepticism, and self-reflection serves as a reminder of the enduring power of introspection and the importance of embracing uncertainty in the pursuit of knowledge and wisdom.

Essay of the Month: “The Modern Essay” “The essay must lap us about and draw its curtain across the world.”

Virginia Woolf

As Mr. Rhys truly says, it is unnecessary to go profoundly into the history and origin of the essay—whether it derives from Socrates or Siranney the Persian—since, like all living things, its present is more important than its past. Moreover, the family is widely spread; and while some of its representatives have risen in the world and wear their coronets with the best, others pick up a precarious living in the gutter near Fleet Street. The form, too, admits variety. The essay can be short or long, serious or trifling, about God and Spinoza, or about turtles and Cheapside. But as we turn over the pages of these five little volumes, containing essays written between 1870 and 1920, certain principles appear to control the chaos, and we detect in the short period under review something like the progress of history.

Of all forms of literature, however, the essay is the one which least calls for the use of long words. The principle which controls it is simply that it should give pleasure; the desire which impels us when we take it from the shelf is simply to receive pleasure. Everything in an essay must be subdued to that end. It should lay us under a spell with its first word, and we should only wake, refreshed, with its last. In the interval we may pass through the most various experiences of amusement, surprise, interest, indignation; we may soar to the heights of fantasy with Lamb or plunge to the depths of wisdom with Bacon, but we must never be roused. The essay must lap us about and draw its curtain across the world.

It [the essay] should lay us under a spell with its first word, and we should only wake, refreshed, with its last. In the interval we may pass through the most various experiences of amusement, surprise, interest, indignation; we may soar to the heights of fantasy with Lamb or plunge to the depths of wisdom with Bacon, but we must never be roused.

So great a feat is seldom accomplished, though the fault may well be as much on the reader’s side as on the writer’s. Habit and lethargy have dulled his palate. A novel has a story, a poem rhyme; but what art can the essayist use in these short lengths of prose to sting us wide awake and fix us in a trance which is not sleep but rather an intensification of life—a basking, with every faculty alert, in the sun of pleasure? He must know—that is the first essential—how to write. His learning may be as profound as Mark Pattison’s, but in an essay, it must be so fused by the magic of writing that not a fact juts out, not a dogma tears the surface of the texture. Macaulay in one way, Froude in another, did this superbly over and over again. They have blown more knowledge into us in the course of one essay than the innumerable chapters of a hundred textbooks. But when Mark Pattison has to tell us, in the space of thirty-five little pages, about Montaigne, we feel that he had not previously assimilated M. Grün. M. Grün was a gentleman who once wrote a bad book. M. Grün and his book should have been embalmed for our perpetual delight in amber. But the process is fatiguing; it requires more time and perhaps more temper than Pattison had at his command. He served M. Grün up raw, and he remains a crude berry among the cooked meats, upon which our teeth must grate forever. Something of the sort applies to Matthew Arnold and a certain translator of Spinoza. Literal truth-telling and finding fault with a culprit for his good are out of place in an essay, where everything should be for our good and rather for eternity than for the March number of the Fortnightly Review . But if the voice of the scold should never be heard in this narrow plot, there is another voice which is as a plague of locusts—the voice of a man stumbling drowsily among loose words, clutching aimlessly at vague ideas, the voice, for example, of Mr. Hutton in the following passage:

Add to this that his married life was brief, only seven years and a half, being unexpectedly cut short, and that his passionate reverence for his wife’s memory and genius—in his own words, ‘a religion’—was one which, as he must have been perfectly sensible, he could not make to appear otherwise than extravagant, not to say an hallucination, in the eyes of the rest of mankind, and yet that he was possessed by an irresistible yearning to attempt to embody it in all the tender and enthusiastic hyperbole of which it is so pathetic to find a man who gained his fame by his ‘dry-light’ a master, and it is impossible not to feel that the human incidents in Mr. Mill’s career are very sad.

A book could take that blow, but it sinks an essay. A biography in two volumes is indeed the proper depository, for there, where the licence is so much wider, and hints and glimpses of outside things make part of the feast (we refer to the old type of Victorian volume), these yawns and stretches hardly matter, and have indeed some positive value of their own. But that value, which is contributed by the reader, perhaps illicitly, in his desire to get as much into the book from all possible sources as he can, must be ruled out here.

There is no room for the impurities of literature in an essay. Somehow or other, by dint of labor or bounty of nature, or both combined, the essay must be pure—pure like water or pure like wine, but pure from dullness, deadness, and deposits of extraneous matter.

There is no room for the impurities of literature in an essay. Somehow or other, by dint of labor or bounty of nature, or both combined, the essay must be pure—pure like water or pure like wine, but pure from dullness, deadness, and deposits of extraneous matter. Of all writers in the first volume, Walter Pater best achieves this arduous task, because before setting out to write his essay (‘Notes on Leonardo da Vinci’) he has somehow contrived to get his material fused. He is a learned man, but it is not knowledge of Leonardo that remains with us, but a vision, such as we get in a good novel where everything contributes to bring the writer’s conception as a whole before us. Only here, in the essay, where the bounds are so strict and facts have to be used in their nakedness, the true writer like Walter Pater makes these limitations yield their own quality. Truth will give it authority; from its narrow limits he will get shape and intensity; and then there is no more fitting place for some of those ornaments which the old writers loved and we, by calling them ornaments, presumably despise. Nowadays nobody would have the courage to embark on the once famous description of Leonardo’s lady who has

learned the secrets of the grave; and has been a diver in deep seas and keeps their fallen day about her; and trafficked for strange webs with Eastern merchants; and, as Leda, was the mother of Helen of Troy, and, as Saint Anne, the mother of Mary …

The passage is too thumb-marked to slip naturally into the context. But when we come unexpectedly upon ‘the smiling of women and the motion of great waters,’ or upon ‘full of the refinement of the dead, in sad, earth-coloured raiment, set with pale stones,’ we suddenly remember that we have ears and we have eyes and that the English language fills a long array of stout volumes with innumerable words, many of which are of more than one syllable. The only living Englishman who ever looks into these volumes is, of course, a gentleman of Polish extraction. But doubtless our abstention saves us much gush, much rhetoric, much high-stepping and cloud-prancing, and for the sake of the prevailing sobriety and hard-headedness, we should be willing to barter the splendor of Sir Thomas Browne and the vigor of Swift.

Yet, if the essay admits more properly than biography or fiction of sudden boldness and metaphor, and can be polished till every atom of its surface shines, there are dangers in that too. We are soon in sight of ornament. Soon the current, which is the life-blood of literature, runs slow; and instead of sparkling and flashing or moving with a quieter impulse which has a deeper excitement, words coagulate together in frozen sprays which, like the grapes on a Christmas-tree, glitter for a single night, but are dusty and garnish the day after. The temptation to decorate is great where the theme may be of the slightest. What is there to interest another in the fact that one has enjoyed a walking tour, or has amused oneself by rambling down Cheapside and looking at the turtles in Mr. Sweeting’s shop window? Stevenson and Samuel Butler chose very different methods of exciting our interest in these domestic themes. Stevenson, of course, trimmed and polished and set out his matter in the traditional eighteenth-century form. It is admirably done, but we cannot help feeling anxious, as the essay proceeds, lest the material may give out under the craftsman’s fingers. The ingot is so small, the manipulation so incessant. And perhaps that is why the peroration—

To sit still and contemplate—to remember the faces of women without desire, to be pleased by the great deeds of men without envy, to be everything and everywhere in sympathy and yet content to remain where and what you are—

has the sort of insubstantiality which suggests that by the time he got to the end he had left himself nothing solid to work with. Butler adopted the very opposite method. Think your own thoughts, he seems to say, and speak them as plainly as you can. These turtles in the shop window which appear to leak out of their shells through heads and feet suggest a fatal faithfulness to a fixed idea. And so, striding unconcernedly from one idea to the next, we traverse a large stretch of ground; observe that a wound in the solicitor is a very serious thing; that Mary Queen of Scots wears surgical boots and is subject to fits near the Horse Shoe in Tottenham Court Road; take it for granted that no one really cares about Aeschylus; and so, with many amusing anecdotes and some profound reflections, reach the peroration, which is that, as he had been told not to see more in Cheapside than he could get into twelve pages of the  Universal Review , he had better stop. And yet obviously Butler is at least as careful of our pleasure as Stevenson, and to write like oneself and call it not writing is a much harder exercise in style than to write like Addison and call it writing well.

But, however much they differ individually, the Victorian essayists yet had something in common. They wrote at greater length than is now usual, and they wrote for a public which had not only time to sit down to its magazine seriously, but a high, if peculiarly Victorian, standard of culture by which to judge it. It was worth while to speak out upon serious matters in an essay; and there was nothing absurd in writing as well as one possibly could when, in a month or two, the same public which had welcomed the essay in a magazine would carefully read it once more in a book. But a change came from a small audience of cultivated people to a larger audience of people who were not quite so cultivated. The change was not altogether for the worse.

In volume iii. we find Mr. Birrell and Mr. Beerbohm. It might even be said that there was a reversion to the classic type and that the essay by losing its size and something of its sonority was approaching more nearly the essay of Addison and Lamb. At any rate, there is a great gulf between Mr. Birrell on Carlyle and the essay which one may suppose that Carlyle would have written upon Mr. Birrell. There is little similarity between A Cloud of Pinafores , by Max Beerbohm, and  A Cynic’s Apology , by Leslie Stephen. But the essay is alive; there is no reason to despair. As the conditions change so the essayist, most sensitive of all plants to public opinion, adapts himself, and if he is good makes the best of the change, and if he is bad the worst. Mr. Birrell is certainly good; and so we find that, though he has dropped a considerable amount of weight, his attack is much more direct and his movement more supple. But what did Mr. Beerbohm give to the essay and what did he take from it? That is a much more complicated question, for here we have an essayist who has concentrated on the work and is, without doubt, the prince of his profession.

What Mr. Beerbohm gave was, of course, himself. This presence, which has haunted the essay fitfully from the time of Montaigne, had been in exile since the death of Charles Lamb. Matthew Arnold was never to his readers Matt, nor Walter Pater affectionately abbreviated in a thousand homes to Wat. They gave us much, but that they did not give. Thus, sometime in the nineties, it must have surprised readers accustomed to exhortation, information, and denunciation to find themselves familiarly addressed by a voice which seemed to belong to a man no larger than themselves. He was affected by private joys and sorrows and had no gospel to preach and no learning to impart. He was himself, simply and directly, and himself he has remained. Once again we have an essayist capable of using the essayist’s most proper but most dangerous and delicate tool. He has brought personality into literature, not unconsciously and impurely, but so consciously and purely that we do not know whether there is any relation between Max the essayist and Mr. Beerbohm the man. We only know that the spirit of personality permeates every word that he writes. The triumph is the triumph of style. For it is only by knowing how to write that you can make use in literature of yourself; that self which, while it is essential to literature, is also its most dangerous antagonist. Never to be yourself and yet always—that is the problem. Some of the essayists in Mr. Rhys’ collection, to be frank, have not altogether succeeded in solving it. We are nauseated by the sight of trivial personalities decomposing in the eternity of print. As talk, no doubt, it was charming, and certainly, the writer is a good fellow to meet over a bottle of beer. But literature is stern; it is no use being charming, virtuous or even learned and brilliant into the bargain, unless, she seems to reiterate, you fulfill her first condition—to know how to write.

This art is possessed to perfection by Mr. Beerbohm. But he has not searched the dictionary for polysyllables. He has not molded firm periods or seduced our ears with intricate cadences and strange melodies. Some of his companions—Henley and Stevenson, for example—are momentarily more impressive. But A Cloud of Pinafores has in it that indescribable inequality, stir, and final expressiveness which belong to life and to life alone. You have not finished with it because you have read it, any more than friendship is ended because it is time to part. Life wells up and alters and adds. Even things in a book-case change if they are alive; we find ourselves wanting to meet them again; we find them altered. So we look back upon essay after essay by Mr. Beerbohm, knowing that, come September or May, we shall sit down with them and talk. Yet it is true that the essayist is the most sensitive of all writers to public opinion. The drawing-room is the place where a great deal of reading is done nowadays, and the essays of Mr. Beerbohm lie, with an exquisite appreciation of all that the position exacts, upon the drawing-room table. There is no gin about; no strong tobacco; no puns, drunkenness, or insanity. Ladies and gentlemen talk together, and some things, of course, are not said.

The public needs essays as much as ever, and perhaps even more. The demand for the light middle not exceeding fifteen hundred words, or in special cases seventeen hundred and fifty, much exceeds the supply.

But if it would be foolish to attempt to confine Mr. Beerbohm to one room, it would be still more foolish, unhappily, to make him, the artist, the man who gives us only his best, the representative of our age. There are no essays by Mr. Beerbohm in the fourth or fifth volumes of the present collection. His age seems already a little distant, and the drawing-room table, as it recedes, begins to look rather like an altar where, once upon a time, people deposited offerings—fruit from their own orchards, gifts carved with their own hands. Now once more the conditions have changed. The public needs essays as much as ever, and perhaps even more. The demand for the light middle not exceeding fifteen hundred words, or in special cases seventeen hundred and fifty, much exceeds the supply. Where Lamb wrote one essay and Max perhaps writes two, Mr. Belloc at a rough computation produces three hundred and sixty-five. They are very short, it is true. Yet with what dexterity the practised essayist will utilise his space—beginning as close to the top of the sheet as possible, judging precisely how far to go, when to turn, and how, without sacrificing a hair’s breadth of paper, to wheel about and alight accurately upon the last word his editor allows! As a feat of skill, it is well worth watching. But the personality upon which Mr. Belloc, like Mr. Beerbohm, depends suffers in the process. It comes to us, not with the natural richness of the speaking voice, but strained and thin and full of mannerisms and affectations, like the voice of a man shouting through a megaphone to a crowd on a windy day. ‘Little friends, my readers,’ he says in the essay called ‘An Unknown Country,’ and he goes on to tell us how—

There was a shepherd the other day at Findon Fair who had come from the east by Lewes with sheep, and who had in his eyes that reminiscence of horizons which makes the eyes of shepherds and of mountaineers different from the eyes of other men. … I went with him to hear what he had to say, for shepherds talk quite differently from other men.

Happily, this shepherd had little to say, even under the stimulus of the inevitable mug of beer, about the Unknown Country, for the only remark that he did make proves him either a minor poet, unfit for the care of sheep or Mr. Belloc himself masquerading with a fountain pen. That is the penalty which the habitual essayist must now be prepared to face. He must masquerade. He cannot afford the time either to be himself or to be other people. He must skim the surface of thought and dilute the strength of personality. He must give us a worn weekly halfpenny instead of a solid sovereign once a year.

But it is not Mr. Belloc only who has suffered from the prevailing conditions. The essays which bring the collection to the year 1920 may not be the best of their authors’ work, but, if we except writers like Mr. Conrad and Mr. Hudson, who have strayed into essay writing accidentally, and concentrate upon those who write essays habitually, we shall find them a good deal affected by the change in their circumstances. To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm’s way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin. And so, if one reads Mr. Lucas, Mr. Lynd, or Mr. Squire in the bulk, one feels that a common grayness silvers everything. They are as far removed from the extravagant beauty of Walter Pater as they are from the intemperate candor of Leslie Stephen. Beauty and courage are dangerous spirits to bottle in a column and a half; and thought, like a brown paper parcel in a waistcoat pocket, has a way of spoiling the symmetry of an article. It is a kind, tired, apathetic world for which they write, and the marvel is that they never cease to attempt, at least, to write well.

But there is no need to pity Mr. Clutton Brock for this change in the essayist’s conditions. He has clearly made the best of his circumstances and not the worst. One hesitates even to say that he has had to make any conscious effort in the matter, so naturally, has he effected the transition from the private essayist to the public, from the drawing-room to the Albert Hall. Paradoxically enough, the shrinkage in size has brought about a corresponding expansion of individuality. We have no longer the ‘I’ of Max and of Lamb, but the ‘we’ of public bodies and other sublime personages. It is ‘we’ who go to hear the Magic Flute; ‘we’ who ought to profit by it; ‘we,’ in some mysterious way, who, in our corporate capacity, once upon a time actually wrote it. For music and literature and art must submit to the same generalization or they will not carry to the farthest recesses of the Albert Hall. That the voice of Mr. Clutton Brock, so sincere and so disinterested, carries such a distance and reaches so many without pandering to the weakness of the mass or its passions must be a matter of legitimate satisfaction to us all. But while ‘we’ are gratified, ‘I,’ that unruly partner in the human fellowship, is reduced to despair. ‘I’ must always think things for himself, and feel things for himself. To share them in a diluted form with the majority of well-educated and well-intentioned men and women is for him sheer agony; and while the rest of us listen intently and profit profoundly, ‘I’ slips off to the woods and the fields and rejoices in a single blade of grass or a solitary potato.

To write weekly, to write daily, to write shortly, to write for busy people catching trains in the morning or for tired people coming home in the evening, is a heartbreaking task for men who know good writing from bad. They do it, but instinctively draw out of harm’s way anything precious that might be damaged by contact with the public, or anything sharp that might irritate its skin.

In the fifth volume of modern essays, it seems, we have got some way from pleasure and the art of writing. But in justice to the essayists of 1920 we must be sure that we are not praising the famous because they have been praised already and the dead because we shall never meet them wearing spats in Piccadilly. We must know what we mean when we say that they can write and give us pleasure. We must compare them; we must bring out the quality. We must point to this and say it is good because it is exact, truthful, and imaginative:

Nay, retire men cannot when they would; neither will they, when it were Reason; but are impatient of Privateness, even in age and sickness, which require the shadow: like old Townsmen: that will still be sitting at their street door, though therby they offer Age to Scorn …

and to this, and say it is bad because it is loose, plausible, and commonplace:

With courteous and precise cynicism on his lips, he thought of quiet virginal chambers, of waters singing under the moon, of terraces where taintless music sobbed into the open night, of pure maternal mistresses with protecting arms and vigilant eyes, of fields slumbering in the sunlight, of leagues of ocean heaving under warm tremulous heavens, of hot ports, gorgeous and perfumed. …

It goes on, but already we are bemused with sound and neither feel nor hear. The comparison makes us suspect that the art of writing has for backbone some fierce attachment to an idea. It is on the back of an idea, something believed in with conviction or seen with precision and thus compelling words to its shape, that the diverse company which includes Lamb and Bacon, and Mr. Beerbohm and Hudson, and Vernon Lee and Mr. Conrad, and Leslie Stephen and Butler and Walter Pater reaches the farther shore. Very various talents have helped or hindered the passage of the idea into words. Some scrape through painfully; others fly with every wind favouring. But Mr. Belloc and Mr. Lucas and Mr. Squire are not fiercely attached to anything in itself. They share the contemporary dilemma—that lack of an obstinate conviction which lifts ephemeral sounds through the misty sphere of anybody’s language to the land where there is a perpetual marriage, a perpetual union. Vague as all definitions are, a good essay must have this permanent quality about it; it must draw its curtain round us, but it must be a curtain that shuts us in, not out.

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51 Francis Bacon: Essays

Introduction

by Mary Larivee and Rithvik Saravanan

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), the English philosopher, was instrumental in the development of the Scientific Revolution in the late 18th century even though he had passed away centuries before.  The “Scientific Revolution” was an important movement that emphasized Europe’s shift toward modernized science in fields such as mathematics, physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry (Grant). It was an extension of the Renaissance period, which then led to the Enlightenment which brought advances across all areas of human endeavor. Francis Bacon, in particular, is remembered today primarily for the “scientific method” as a way of establishing what is true from what is false perception (a method that still lies at the heart of modern science). Bacon’s primary focus in his writings revolved around the practice of inductive reasoning, which he believed to be a complement to practical observation (Grant). Most people before this period followed the Aristotelian methodology for scientific arguments. This idea maintained that “if sufficiently clever men discussed a subject long enough, the truth would eventually be discovered” (“History – Francis Bacon.”). However irrational this sounds, the Scientific Revolution helped replace this outdated system of thinking with Bacon’s scientific method. Bacon argued that any proper argument required “evidence from the real world” (“History – Francis Bacon.”). His revolutionary ideas about empirical information helped propel him toward political and societal importance and fame.

Literary Context

Francis Bacon had a passion for metaphors, analogies, and vivid imagery. He was a rhetorical writer and his essays highlight his wisdom and incisive mind. His first book was released in 1597 followed by later editions with added essays that were released in 1612 and 1625. Each essay that Bacon wrote reveals his knowledge of Latin and draws on ancient Roman wisdom through axioms and proverbs. Additionally, Bacon uses wit as a way of getting his point across to his audience and this indeed causes the reader to reflect on his or her own beliefs and values. A key aspect of Bacon’s literature is its “terseness and epigrammatic force” (De). By managing to pack all of his thoughts and ideas into quick, brief statements, Bacon deepens the reach and impact of his work. His writing deviated from the typical Ciceronian style of the time, which was characterized by “melodious language, clarity, and forcefulness of presentation” (“Ciceronian.”). His statements are meaningful particularly because they are straight and to the point. The brevity of his ideas also facilitates the communication of his arguments, which is significant because, at the time, a solid, meaningful education was hard to come by. As such, Bacon’s work helped spread the notions that would eventually bear fruit with the discoveries of the Scientific Revolution.

Historical Context

Francis Bacon’s Essays cover a wide variety of topics and styles, ranging from individual to societal issues and from commonplace to existential. Another important aspect of the appeal of Bacon’s essays are that they weigh the argument at hand with multiple points of view. Bacon’s essays were received at the time with great praise, adoration, and reverence (Potter). He was noted for borrowing ideas from the works of historical writers such as Aristotle (Harmon), and, as such, he represents a continuation of this philosophical school of thought. Another important impact of the Scientific Revolution and Bacon’s literature is that it allowed common people of the era to question old, traditional beliefs. They began to consider everything with reason, which led to a greater sense of self as well as moral and ethical standards. By having the opportunity to judge for themselves, the people were able to advance society a step closer to a form of democracy.

Francis Bacon Essays is a collection of eight of the famous philosopher’s many essays. Each dissertation contains words of wisdom that have proven to be enlightening for many generations that followed. From “Truth” to “Of Superstition” and “Marriage and Single Life”, Bacon covers a wide range of intriguing topics in order to challenge the human mind to think deeply; as he himself writes: “Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider” (Bacon). The philosopher not only provides a framework for the genre of the modern essay but also provides his readers a code to live by.

Works Cited

“Ciceronian.” Dictionary.com , n.d., www.dictionary.com/browse/ciceronian. 23 Oct. 2020.

De, Ardhendu. “Rhetorical Devices as Used by Francis Bacon in His Essays.” A.D.’s English Literature: Notes and Guide , 07 Apr. 2011, ardhendude.blogspot.com/2011/04/rhetorical-devices-used-by-francis.html. Accessed 23 Oct. 2020.

Grant, Edward. The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts . Cambridge University Press, 1996.

Harmon, William. The Oxford Book of American Light Verse. Oxford University Press, 1979.

“History – Francis Bacon.” History , British Broadcasting Corporation, 2014, www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/bacon_francis.shtml. Accessed 24 Oct. 2020.

Potter, Vincent G. Readings in Epistemology: from Aquinas, Bacon, Galileo, Descartes, Locke, Berkeley, Hume, Kant. Fordham University Press, 1993.

Discussion Questions

• Why do you think Francis Bacon chose to enlighten and inspire his readers as opposed to other writers of his time who focused more on classic folklore tales?
• Why do you think Francis Bacon choose the topics that he did? Who or what do you think had a major influence on his writings?
• What are the goals and intentions behind Bacon’s use of rhetorical questioning?
• What are some common themes and ideas from Francis Bacon’s Essays that can be applied to general situations and contemporary society?
• From the ideas presented in this reading, how do you think Francis Bacon’s work affected government policies throughout history, including modern day governmental standards?

Further Resources

• Detailed biography of Franics Bacon’s life
• Analytical article of Francis Bacon’s impact on the Scientific Revolution
• List of Francis Bacon’s most significant accomplishments
• Compilation of Francis Bacon’s literature
• Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry on Francis Bacon
• Discussion video of Francis Bacon’s “Of Studies”

Reading: From Essayes

I. of truth..

What is truth? said jesting Pilate; and would not stay for an answer. Certainly there be that delight in giddiness; and count it a bondage to fix a belief; affecting free-will in thinking, as well as in acting. And though the sects of philosophers of that kind be gone, yet there remain certain discoursive wits, which are of the same veins, though there be not so much blood in them as was in those of the ancients. But it is not only the difficulty and labour which men take in finding out of truth, nor again, that when it is found, it imposeth upon men’s thoughts, that doth bring lies in favour, but a natural though corrupt love of the lie itself. One of the later schools 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 poet; nor for advantage, as with the mer chant, but for the lie’s sake. But I cannot tell: this same truth is a naked and open daylight, that doth not show the masks, and mummeries, and triumphs of the world, half so stately and daintily as candlelights. 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, that showeth best in varied lights. A mixture of a lie doth ever add pleasure. Doth any man doubt, that if there were taken out of men’s minds, vain opinions, flattering hopes, false valuations, imaginations as one would, and the like, but it would leave the minds of a number of men, poor shrunken things, full of melancholy and indisposition, and unpleasing to themselves? One of the fathers, in great severity, called poesy “vinum dæmonum,”; because it filleth the imagination, and yet it is but with the shadow of a lie. 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. But howsoever these things are thus in men’s depraved judgments and affections, yet truth, which only doth judge itself, teacheth, that 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 enjoying of it, is the sovereign good of human nature. The first creature of God, in the works 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. First, he breathed light upon the face of the matter, or chaos; then he breathed light into the face of man; and still he breatheth and inspireth light into the face of his chosen. The poet that beautified the sect, that was otherwise inferior to the rest, saith yet excellently well: “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 battle, and the adventures thereof below: but no pleasure is comparable to the standing upon the vantage ground of truth, (a hill not to be commanded, and where the air is always clear and serene,) and to see the errors, and wanderings, and mists, and tempests in the vale below:” so always that this prospect be with pity, and not with swelling or pride. Certainly, it is heaven upon earth, to have a man’s mind move in charity, rest in providence, and turn upon the poles of truth.

To pass from theological and philosophical truth, to the truth of civil business; it will be acknowledged even by those that practise it not, that clean and round dealing is the honour of man’s nature, and that mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better, but it embaseth it. For these winding and crooked courses are the goings of the serpent; which goeth basely upon the belly, and not upon the feet. There is no vice that doth so cover a man with shame as to be found false and perfidious; and therefore Montaigne saith prettily, when he inquired the reason, why the word of the lie should be such a disgrace, and such an odious charge, saith he, “If it be well weighed, to say that a man lieth, is as much as to say, that he is brave towards God, and a coward towards men. For a lie faces God, and shrinks from man.” Surely the wickedness of falsehood and breach of faith cannot possibly be so highly expressed, as in that it shall be the last peal to call the judgments of God upon the generations of men: it being foretold, that when “Christ cometh,” he shall not “find faith upon the earth.”

VIII. OF MARRIAGE AND SINGLE LIFE.

He that hath wife and children hath given hostages to fortune; for they are impediments to great enterprises, either of virtue or mischief. 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. Yet it were great reason that those that have children should have greatest care of future times, unto which they know they must transmit their dearest pledges. Some there are, who, though they lead a single life, yet their thoughts do end with themselves, and account future times impertinences; nay, there are some other that account wife and children but as bills of charges; nay more, there are some foolish rich covetous men, that take a pride in having no children, because they may be thought so much the richer; for, perhaps, they have heard some talk, “Such an one’s a great rich man” and another except to it. “Yea, but he hath a great charge of children;” as if it were an abatement to his riches: 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 heir girdles and garters to be bonds and shackles. Unmarried men are best friends, best masters, best servants; but not always best subjects; for they are light to run away; and almost all fugitives are of that condition. A single life doth well with churchmen, for charity will hardly water the ground where it must first fill a pool. 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. For soldiers, I find the generals commonly, in their hortatives, put men in mind of their wives and children; and I think the despising of marriage among the Turks maketh the vulgar soldier more base. Certainly wife and children are a kind of discipline of humanity; and single men, though they may be many times more charitable, because their means are less exhaust, yet, on the other side, they are more cruel and hardhearted, (good to make severe inquisitors,) because their tenderness is not so oft called upon. Grave natures, led by custom, and therefore constant, are commonly loving husbands, as was said of Ulysses, “vetulam suam prætulit immortalitati.” Chaste women are often proud and froward, as presuming upon the merit of their chastity. It is one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do if she find him jealous. Wives are young men’s mistresses, companions for middle age, and old men’s nurses; so as a man may have a quarrel to marry when he will: but yet he was reputed one of the wise men, that made answer to the question when a man should marry:—”A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.” It is often seen, that bad husbands have very good wives; whether it be that it raiseth the price of their husband’s kindness when it comes, or that the wives take a pride in their patience; but this never fails, if the bad husbands were of their own choosing, against their friends consent, for then they will be sure to make good their own folly.

XI. OF GREAT PLACE.

Men in great place are thrice servants; servants of the sovereign or state, servants of fame, and servants of business; so as they have no freedom, neither in their persons, nor in their actions, nor in their times. It is a strange desire to seek power and to lose liberty; or to seek power over others, and to lose power over a man’s self. The rising unto place is laborious, and by pains men come to greater pains; and it is sometimes base, and by indignities men come to dignities. The standing is slippery, and the regress is either a downfall, or at least an eclipse, which is a melancholy thing: “Cum non sis qui fueris, non esse cur velis vivere.” Nay, retire men cannot when they would, neither will they when it were reason; but are impatient of privateness even in age and sickness, which require the shadow: like old townsmen, that will be still sitting at their street door, though thereby they offer age to scorn. Certainly great persons had need to borrow other men’s opinions to think themselves happy; for if they judge by their own feeling, they cannot find it: but if they think with themselves what other men think of them, and that other men would fain be as they are, then they are happy as it were by report, when, perhaps, they find the contrary within; for they are the first that find their own griefs, though they be the last that find their own faults. Certainly men in great fortunes are strangers to themselves, and while they are in the puzzle of business they have no time to tend their health either of body or mind: “Illi mors gravis incubat, qui notus nimis omnibus, ignotus moritur sibi.” In place there is license to do good and evil; whereof the latter is a curse: for in evil the best condition is not to will; the second not to can. But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring; for good thoughts (though God accept them,) yet towards men are little better than good dreams, except they be put in act; and that cannot be without power and place, as the vantage and commanding ground. Merit and good works is the end of man’s motion; and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of man’s rest; for if a man can be partaker of God’s theatre, he shall likewise be partaker of God’s rest: “Et conversus Deus, ut aspiceret opera, quaæ fecerunt manus suæ, vidit quod omnia essent bona nimis;” and then the sabbath. In the discharge of the place set before thee the best examples; for imitation is a globe of precepts; and after a time set before thine own example; and examine thyself strictly whether thou didst not best at first. Neglect not also the examples of those that have carried themselves ill in the same place; not to set off thyself by taxing their memory, but to direct thyself what to avoid. Reform, therefore, without bravery or scandal of former times and persons; but yet set it down to thyself, as well to create good precedents as to follow them. Reduce things to the first institution, and observe wherein and how they have degenerated; but yet ask counsel of both times; of the ancienter time what is best; and of the latter time what is fittest. Seek to make thy course regular, that men may know be forehand what they may expect; but be not too positive and peremptory; and express thyself well when thou digressest from thy lure. Preserve the right of thy place, but stir not questions of jurisdiction; and rather assume thy right in silence, and “de facto,” than voice it with claims and challenges. Preserve likewise the rights of inferior places; and think it more honour to direct in chief than to be busy in all. Embrace and invite helps and advices touching the execution of thy place; and do not drive away such as bring thee information as meddlers, but accept of them in good part. The vices of authority are chiefly four; delays, corruption, roughness, and facility. For delays give easy access: keep times appointed; go through with that which is in hand, and interlace not business but of necessity. For corruption, do not only bind thine own hands or thy servant’s hands from taking, but bind the hands of suitors also from offering; for integrity used doth the one; but integrity professed, and with a manifest detestation of bribery, doth the other; and avoid not only the fault, but the suspicion. Whosoever is found variable, and changeth manifestly without manifest cause, giveth suspicion of corruption; therefore, always when thou changest thine opinion or course, profess it plainly, and declare it, together with the reasons that move thee to change, and do not think to steal it. A servant or a favourite, if he be inward, and no other apparent cause of esteem, is commonly thought but a by-way to close corruption. For roughness, it is a needless cause of discontent; severity breedeth fear, but roughness breedeth hate. Even reproofs from authority ought to be grave, and not taunting. As for facility, it is worse than bribery; for bribes come but now and then; but if importunity or idle respects lead a man, he shall never be without; as Solomon saith, “To respect persons is not good, for such a man will transgress for a piece of bread.” It is most true that was anciently spoken, “A place showeth the man; and it showeth some to the better and some to the worse;” “omnium consensu capax imperii, nisi imperasset,” saith Tacitus of Galba; but of Vespasian he saith, “solus imperantium, Vespasianus mutatus in melius;” though the one was meant of sufficiency, the other of manners and affection. It is an assured sign of a worthy and generous spirit, whom honour amends; for honour is, or should be, the place of virtue; and as in nature things move violently to their place and calmly in their place, so virtue in ambition is violent, in authority settled and calm. All rising to great place is by a winding stair; and if there be factions, it is good to side a man’s self whilst he is in the rising, and to balance himself when he is placed. Use the memory of thy predecessor fairly and tenderly; for if thou dost not, it is a debt will sure be paid when thou art gone. If thou have colleagues, respect them; and rather call them when they looked not for it, than exclude them when they have reason to look to be called. Be not too sensible or too remembering of thy place in conversation and private answers to suitors; but let it rather be said, “When he sits in place he is another man.”

XVII. OF SUPERSTITION.

It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him; for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity. Plutarch saith well to that purpose: “Surely,” saith he, “I had rather a great deal men should say there was no such man at all as Plutarch, than that they should say that there was one Plutarch, that would eat his children as soon as they were born:” as the poets speak of Saturn: and, as the contumely is greater towards God, so the danger is greater towards men. Atheism leaves a man to sense, to philosophy, to natural piety, to laws, to reputation: all which may be guides to an outward moral virtue, though religion were not; but superstition dismounts all these, and erecteth an absolute monarchy in the minds of men: therefore atheism did never perturb states; for it makes men wary of themselves, as looking no further, and we see the times inclined to atheism (as the time of Augustus Cæsar) were civil times: but superstition hath been the confusion of many states, and bringeth in a new “primum mobile,” that ravisheth all the spheres of government. The master of superstition is the people, and in all superstition wise men follow fools; and arguments are fitted to practice, in a reversed order. It was gravely said, by some of the prelates in the council of Trent, where the doctrine of the schoolmen bare great sway, that the schoolmen were like astronomers, which did feign eccentrics and epicycles, and such engines of orbs to save phenomena, though they knew there were no such things; and, in like manner, that the schoolmen had framed a number of subtle and intricate axioms and theorems, to save the practice of the church. The causes of superstition are, pleasing and sensual rites and ceremonies; excess of outward and pharisaical holiness; over great reverence of traditions, which cannot but load the church; the stratagems of prelates for their own ambition and lucre; the favouring too much of good intentions, which openeth the gate to conceits and novelties; the taking an aim at divine matters by human, which cannot but breed mixture of imaginations; and, lastly, barbarous times, especially joined with calamities and disasters. Superstition, without a veil, is a deformed thing: for as it addeth deformity to an ape to be so like a man, so the similitude of superstition to religion makes it the more deformed: and, as wholesome meat corrupteth to little worms, so good forms and  orders corrupt into a number of petty observances. There is a superstition in avoiding superstition, when men think to do best if they go furthest from the superstition formerly received; therefore care would be had that (as it fareth in ill purgings) the good be not taken away with the bad, which commonly is done when the people is the reformer.

XXXIII. OF PLANTATIONS.

Plantations are amongst ancient, primitive, and heroical works. When the world was young, it begat more children; but now it is old, it begets fewer; for I may justly account new plantations to be the children of former kingdoms. I like a plantation in a pure soil; that is, where people are not displanted to the end to plant in others; for else it is rather an extirpation than a plantation. Planting of countries is like planting of woods; for you must make account to lose almost twenty years profit, and expect your recompense in the end: for the principal thing that hath been the destruction of most plantations, hath been the base and hasty drawing of profit in the first years. It is true, speedy profit is not to be neglected, as far as may stand with the good of the plantation, but no further. It is a shameful and unblessed thing to take the scum of people and wicked condemned men, to be the people with whom you plant; and not only so, but it spoileth the plantation; for they will ever live like rogues, and not fall to work, but be lazy, and do mischief, and spend victuals, and be quickly weary, and then certify over to their country to the discredit of the plantation. The people wherewith you plant ought to be gardeners, ploughmen, labourers, smiths, carpenters, joiners, fishermen, fowlers, with some few apothecaries, surgeons, cooks, and bakers. In a country of plantation, first look about what kind of victual the country yields of itself to hand; as chestnuts, walnuts, pineapples, olives, dates, plums, cherries, wild honey, and the like, and make use of them. Then consider what victual, or esculent things there are which grow speedily and within the year: as parsnips, carrots, turnips, onions, radish, artichokes of Jerusalem, maize, and the like: for wheat, barley, and oats, they ask too much labour; but with pease and beans you may begin, both because they ask less labour, and because they serve for meat as well as for bread; and of rice likewise cometh a great increase, and it is a kind of meat. Above all, there ought to be brought store biscuit, oatmeal, flour, meal, and the like, in the beginning, till bread may be had. For beasts, or birds, take chiefly such as are least subject to diseases, and multiply fastest; as swine, goats, cocks, hens, turkeys, geese, house-doves, and the like. The victual in plantations ought to be expended almost as in a besieged town; that is, with certain allowance: and let the main part of the ground employed to gardens or corn, be to a common stock; and to be laid in, and stored up, and then delivered out in proportion; besides some spots of ground that any particular person will manure for his own private use. Consider, likewise, what commodities the soil where the plantation is doth naturally yield, that they may some way help to defray the charge of the plantation; so it be not, as was said, to the untimely prejudice of the main business, as it hath fared with tobacco in Virginia. Wood commonly aboundeth but too much: and therefore timber is fit to be one. If there be iron ore, and streams whereupon to set the mills, iron is a brave commodity where wood aboundeth. Making of bay-salt, if the climate be proper for it, would be put in experience: growing silk likewise, if any be, is a likely commodity: pitch and tar, where store of firs and pines are, will not fail; so drugs and sweet woods, where they are, cannot but yield great profit; soap-ashes likewise, and other things that may be thought of; but moil not too much under ground, for the hope of mines is very uncertain and useth to make the planters lazy in other things. For government, let it be in the hands of one, assisted with some counsel; and let them have commission to exercise martial laws, with some limitation; and, above all, let men make that profit of being in the wilderness, as they have God always, and his service before their eyes; let not the government of the plantation depend upon too many counsellors and undertakers in the country that planteth, but upon a temperate number; and let those be rather noblemen and gentle men, than merchants; for they look ever to the present gain: let there be freedoms from custom, till the plantation be of strength; and not only freedom from custom, but freedom to carry their commodities where they may make their best of them, except there be some special cause of caution. Cram not in people, by sending too fast, company after company; but rather hearken how they waste, and send supplies proportionably; but so as the number may live well in the plantation, and not by surcharge be in penury. It hath been a great endangering to the health of some plantations, that they have built along the sea and rivers in marish and unwholesome grounds: therefore, though you begin there, to avoid carriage and other like discommodities, yet build still rather upwards from the stream, than along. It concerneth likewise the health of the plantation that they have good store of salt with them, that they may use it in their victuals when it shall be necessary. If you plant where savages are, do not only entertain them with trifles and gingles, but use them justly and graciously, with sufficient guard nevertheless; and do not win their favour by helping them to invade their enemies, but for their defence it is not amiss: and send oft of them over to the country that plants, that they may see a better condition than their own, and commend it when they return. When the plantation grows to strength, then  it is time to plant with women as well as with men; that the plantation may spread into generations, and not be ever pieced from without. It is the sinfullest thing in the world to forsake or destitute a plantation once in forwardness; for, besides the dishonour, it is the guiltiness of blood of many commiserable persons.

XLVII. OF NEGOTIATING.

It is generally better to deal by speech than by letter; and by the mediation of a third than by a man’s self. Letters are good when a man would draw an answer by letter back again; or when it may serve for a man’s justification afterwards to produce his own letter; or where it may be danger to be interrupted, or heard by pieces. To deal in person is good, when a man’s face breedeth regard, as commonly with inferiors; or in tender cases, where a man’s eye upon the countenance of him with whom he speaketh, may give him a direction how far to go; and generally, where a man will reserve to himself liberty either to disavow or to expound. In choice of instruments, it is better to choose men of a plainer sort, that are like to do that that is committed to them, and to report back again faithfully the success, than those that are cunning to contrive out of ether men’s business somewhat to grace themselves, and will help the matter in report, for satisfaction sake. Use also such persons as affect the business wherein they are employed, for that quickeneth much; and such as are fit for the matter, as bold men for expostulation, fair-spoken men for persuasion, crafty men for inquiry and observation, froward and absurd men for business that doth not well bear out itself. Use also such as have been lucky and prevailed before in things wherein you have employed them; for that breeds confidence, and they will strive to maintain their prescription. It is better to sound a person with whom one deals afar off, than to fall upon the point at first; except you mean to surprise him by some short question. It is better dealing with men in appetite, than with those that are where they would be. If a man deal with another upon conditions, the start of first performance is all; which a man can reasonably demand, except either the nature of the thing be such, which must go before: or else a man can persuade the other party, that he shall still need him in some other thing; or else that he be counted the honester man. All practice is to discover, or to work. Men discover themselves in trust, in passion, at unawares; and of necessity, when they would have somewhat done, and cannot find an apt pretext, if you would work any man, you must either know his nature and fashions, and so lead him; or his ends, and so persuade him; or his weakness and disadvantages, and so awe him; or these that have interest in him, and so govern him. In dealing with cunning persons, we must ever consider their ends, to interpret their speeches; and it is good to say little to them, and that which they least look for. In all negotiations of difficulty, a man may not look to sow and reap at once; but must prepare business, and so ripen it by degrees.

XXXVII. OF MASQUES AND TRIUMPHS.

These things are but toys to come amongst such serious observations; but yet, since princes will have such things, it is better they should be graced with elegancy, than daubed with cost. Dancing to song, is a thing of great state and pleasure. I understand it that the song be inquire, placed aloft, and accompanied by some broken music; and the ditty fitted to the device. Acting in song, especially in dialogues, hath an extreme good grace; I say acting, not dancing, (for that is a mean and vulgar thing;) and the voices of the dialogue would be strong and manly, (a base and a tenor, no treble,) and the ditty high and tragical, not nice or dainty. Several quires placed one over against another, and taking the voice by catches anthem-wise, give great pleasure. Turning dances into figure is a childish curiosity; and generally let it be noted, that those things which  I here set down are such as do naturally take the sense, and not respect petty wonderments. It is true, the alterations of scenes, so it be quietly and without noise, are things of great beauty and pleasure; for they feed and relieve the eye before it be full of the same object. Let the scenes abound with light, especially coloured and varied; and let the masquers, or any other that are to come down from the scene, have some motions upon the scene it self before their coining down; for it draws the eye strangely, and makes it with great pleasure to desire to see that it cannot perfectly discern. Let the songs be loud and cheerful, and not chirpings or pulings: let the music likewise be sharp and loud, and well placed. The colours that show best by candle-light, are white, carnation, and a kind of sea-water green and ouches, or spangs, as they are of no great cost, so they are of most glory. As for rich embroidery, it is lost and not discerned. Let the suits of the masquers be graceful, and such as become the person when the vizards are off; not after examples of known attires; Turks, soldiers, mariners, and the like. Let anti-masques not be long; they have been commonly of fools, satyrs, baboons, wild men antics, beasts, spirits, witches, Ethiopes, pigmies turquets, nymphs, rustics, Cupids, statues moving and the like. As for angels, it is not comical enough to put them in anti-masques; and any thing that is hideous, as devils, giants, is, on the other side as unfit; but chiefly, let the music of them be recreative, and with some strange changes. Some sweet odours suddenly coming forth, without any drops falling, are, in such a company as there is steam and heat, things of great pleasure and refreshment. Double masques, one of men another of ladies, addeth state and variety; but all is nothing except the room be kept clean and neat.

For jousts, and tourneys, and barriers, the glories of them are chiefly in the chariots, wherein the challengers make their entry; especially if they be drawn with strange beasts; as lions, bears camels, and the like; or in the devices of their entrance, or in bravery of their liveries, or in the goodly furniture of their horses and armour. But enough of these toys.

L. OF STUDIES.

Studies serve for delight, for ornament and for ability. Their chief use for delight, is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business; for expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one: but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies, is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar: they perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty men contemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that is a wisdom without them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute, nor to believe and take for granted, nor to find talk and discourse, but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man; and, therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit: and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtile; natural philosophy deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend “Abeunt studia in mores;” 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; bowling is good for the stone and reins, shooting for the lungs and breast, gentle walking for the stomach, riding for the head, and the like; so, if a man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again; if his wit be no apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen, for they are “Cymini sectores;” if he be not apt to beat over matters, and to call upon one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyer’s cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

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Short stories, literary essays, india today english lit 1, francis bacon, the father of english essays—his prose style, introduction: .

Bacon is regarded as the father of English essays. The great title is attributed to him on the ground of his great contribution to English essay. But the term father gives the sense of the originator also. In this sense this title seems unjustified, because there was essay even before Bacon. But the form was different. It was a sort of lecture given by a great scholar to display his learning. Under the impression the readers are fools. Bacon gave a new direction to English essay. He made the essay a form to discuss topics of day to day life. It was the period of Renaissance. Therefore, Bacon wrote essays on the problems related to his contemporary society. It is his universality that his thoughts are of great importance even in this computer age.

Bacon's Contribution to the English Essay: 

Bacon's contribution to English essay can never be overvalued. Bacon has dedicated his essays to the Duke of Buckingham. There is a long list of Bacon's essays. The most important of these are: Of Truth, Of Death, Of Unity in Religion, Of Revenge, Of Adversity, Of Simulation and Dissimulation. Of Parents and Children, Of Marriage and Single Life, Of Envy, Of Love, Of Great Place, Of Boldness, Of Goodness and Goodness of Nature, Of Nobility, Of Seditions and Troubles, Of Atheism , Of Superstition, Of Travel, Of Empire, Of Counsel, Of Delays, Of Cunning, Of Wisdom for a Man's Self, Of Innovations, Of Dispatch, Of Seeming Wise, Of Friendship, Of Expense, Of the True Greatness of Kingdoms and Estates, Of Regiment of Health, Of Suspicion, Of Discourse, Of Plantations, Of Riches, Of Prophecies, Of Ambition, Of Mosques and Triumphs, Of Nature in Men, Of Custom and Education, Of Fortune, Of Usury, Of Youth and Age, Of Beauty, Of Deformity, Of Building, Of Gardens, Of Negotiating, Of Followers and Friends, Of Suitors, Of Studies, Of Faction, Of Ceremonies and Respects. Of Praise, Of Vain - glory, Of Honour and Reputation, Of Judicature, Of Anger, Of Vicissitude of Things, Of Fame. Bacon's essays seem to justify what Pope says regarding him.

Great Ideas of Practical Wisdom: 

Bacon was a utilitarian. His essays are full of great ideas of practical wisdom. For example, throughout the essay of Studies, Bacon shows his practical wisdom and comprehensiveness. Generally people give importance to either technical knowledge or practical experience but Bacon recognizes importance to both and advises to consult an experienced man if the work is at a small scale, and technically trained or learned man for managing a work at a large scale . Generally people think studies are always useful but Bacon advises to avoid excess of studies. He recognises importance of natural talent, training and practical experience. Generally people think all books are equally important but Bacon advises to study books according to their importance. He recognises importance of original texts and notes. Generally people think that reading is the only way of learning but Bacon advises to give importance to conference and writing also. Bacon shows how different subjects affect our mind also. 

Clarity of Thought and Expression: 

Bacon's belief in clarity of thought and expression is well exposed in this essay when he adopts the device of classification. He classifies purposes of studies in three parts: 

“Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.”

He brings to light not only advantages of studiers but also its disadvantages that appear when studies are used in excess. Too much study for delight develops idleness; for ornamentation develops artificiality: to take decision wholly by their rules is a bookish approach becomes the whim of a learned man. Studies mature natural talent that is perfected by practical knowledge. Natural talent too requires pruning or trimming. Books express confusing or contradictory ideas that should be limited by experience. Wicked people oppose studies, common or foolish people admire them while wise people use them. 

“Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them.” 

In the same way he classifies followers into two parts: 

1. Followers fit to be disliked 

2. Followers to be liked 

Aphoristic Style: 

Bacon is known for the use of aphoristic style. Of Revenge is an illustration of the compact style of Bacon. Most of the sentences are terse and have that aphoristic quality about them that he is famous for. This essay is a fine illustration of Bacon's style which was unmatchable for pith and pregnancy in the conveyance of his special kind of thought. He in this essay, as elsewhere, has structured out at once a short, crisp, and firmly knit sentence of a type unfamiliar in English pregnant with rich meaning.

Proverbial Style: 

Bacon's proverbial style enables him to make proverbial statements. Here are a few examples of the proverbial style of Bacon taken from Of Revenge: 

1. “For, as for the wrong, it does but offend the law; but the revenge of that kind putteth the law out of office.” 

2. “Therefore, they do but trifle with themselves that labour in past masters.” 

3. “But base and crafty towards are like the arrow that flieth in the dark.”  

4. “This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal and do well.” 

Bacon's great wisdom enables him to express thoughts of universal importance. When he expresses these thoughts in aphoristic style so many sentences of the novel seem proverbial. It encourages him to make proverbial statements. The essay, ‘Of Studies’ for example opens with a proverbial statement: 

If anybody talks about studies, he refers to this statement necessarily. The essay is full of such statements that express a general thought which is true to all. 

“To spend too much time in studies is sloth. 

For natural abilities are like natural plants, that need pruning by study; 

They perfect nature, and are perfected by experienced. 

Crafty men condemn studies, simple men admire them, and wise men use them. 

Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” 

Poetic Style: 

Bacon's prose style so often becomes poetic. It is full of poetic imagery. So often he makes use of myth making and sensuous word pictures. The essay Of Followers and Friends opens with the image of a bird. 

“Costly followers are not to be liked; lest while a man maketh his train longer, he maketh his wings shorter.” 

Bacon borrows his images from common life. Bacon uses game imagery and nature imagery. 

“For lookers - on many times see more than gamesters; and the vale best discovereth the hill.” 

Bacon cites the imagery of a hill to confirm the former imagery of players. It suggests a paradox that sometimes, the players fail in knowing their faults but the spectators who remain watching their movements closely, mark the error. Image of a hill does not require any proof for it is a general truth that: 

“The vale best discovereth the hill.” 

Bacon uses water imagery for notes and guides: 

“Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of arguments, and the meaner sort of books; else distilled books are, like common distilled waters, flashy things.” 

For and Against Arguments: 

It is Bacon's style that he introduces arguments for and against the subject. His arguments are always logical. For example, he points out advantages and disadvantages of treating people equally or differently. 

“It is a matter of practical wisdom that man of same rank must be treated equally. If one man is given preference, he becomes rude and others feel dissatisfied. But the case is somewhat different with an able man. He must be treated with respect. It makes the able man respectful to the master and inspires others to improve their ability.”

Bacon is a practical philosopher who does not believe in imposing his thoughts on others. He gives arguments for and against the subject and leaves it to the reader to conclude according to his requirement. For example, he points out advantages as well as disadvantages of studies and its three purposes. 

“Studies provide amusement; help in improving effectiveness of speech; and improve skill and perfection; their main purpose of giving amusement is when we are alone or taking rest. They give effectiveness to conversation or discussion. They make perfect in deciding or managing things. According to Bacon experienced man perform well in special parts. But suggestions of universal importance, details and management of business are done best by trained persons. But his discussion does not end here for incoming lines he warns against the disadvantages of making excessive use of studies. Bacon points out disadvantages of studies if done unwisely. Too much study for delight develops idleness; for ornamentation develops artificiality; to take decision wholly by their rules is a bookish approach becomes the whim of a learned man. Studies mature natural talent that is perfected by practical knowledge. Natural talent too requires pruning or trimming. Books express confusing or contradictory ideas that should be limited by experience. Wicked people oppose studies, common or foolish people admire them while wise people use them. How to use studies is a more important art that is attained by practical experience. Likewise on the one hand suggests reading of books and on the others pleads for natural talent. He points out advantages as well as disadvantages of experienced man. He suggests to read some books with the help of notes or extracts made by others.”

Use of References, Quotations and Latinism: 

As regards its style, this essay shows the usual qualities that are associated with Bacon. Bacon is fond of allusions, quotations, Latin phrases and expressions, and figures of speech. We have here a reference to Ulysses, a well-known hero of Greek mythology. There is a reference to the cruelty and hard - heartedness of Inquisitors who used to be employed to inflict punishment on heretics. There is a quotation from an ancient Greek philosopher, Thales who said, in reply to the question when a man should marry: “A young man not yet, an elder man not at all.” 

Thus, Bacon is rightly called the father of English essay. His contribution to the development of English essay is great. He gave a new style to English essay.

Saurabh Gupta

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The Role of a Father in the Family: Today & in the Past

The duties of a dad are changing and involvement is key.

Gabrielle is an experienced freelance writer and Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with experience using equine-assisted therapy.

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The role of a father in the family has an incredibly important impact on a child's psychological and physical wellbeing. When a child has a healthy relationship with a father figure, they tend to have improved psychological health, as well as better quality relationships throughout their life. We break down the father role and how it has changed in very recent years.

The Role of a Father in the Family

Father figures can play many roles within the family system . Keep in mind that the term father does not solely apply to biological relationships, nor does it only apply to a husband and wife relationship.

• 5 Big Ways Parenting Has Changed Over the Years
• 18 Poignant Poems in Memory of Dad
• 6 Types of Family Structures Common in 2023

Same-sex couples, transgender men who are parents, and single fathers provide just as meaningful parent-child relationships as families with a husband and wife. There is no one type of family where a child recieves the healthiest father-child relationship.

Father figures:

• May not be biologically related to the child or children they care for
• May be a step-parent
• May have adopted a child or children
• May not be legally responsible for the children they look after

Regardless of what the family looks like, the most important factor is the quality of the parent-child relationship.

• The Role of a Godfather

What Is the Role of a Father in Families Today?

Unlike years past, many fathers today are equally involved in both the parenting of the children and the upkeep of the household. This not only sets a solid example for the children, but it also improves the spousal relationship.

In fact, a study of married men and women who had just had their first child showed that when a father took the time to contribute to these tasks, there was an overall decrease in aggravation for both partners, even when their baby was fussy. Within the family, fathers can take on multiple roles, which may include:

• Financial contributors
• Supportive partners
• Loving parents
• Stay-at-home parents
• Healthy co-parents , even after a breakup or divorce

Why Having a Father Is Important

A father figure can significantly influence the life and wellbeing of a child. In families where the father figure is present, the father serves as one of the first role models and relationships the child will encounter. Children are extremely sensitive and observant beings and internalize relational experiences.

These early interactions with their father serve as a blueprint for what a relationship looks like and impacts both the father-son relationship and the father-daughter relationship. This means that unhealthy relationships with a father figure can significantly impact not only the child's psychological wellbeing, but their unconscious relational choices when they become adults.

• If a child has a healthy relationship with their father, they tend to have higher levels of self-esteem and confidence, and they develop more stable relationships with other men in their adulthood.
• If a child has an unhealthy relationship with their father, they may experience more psychological distress and struggle with forming healthy relationships with as they become adults.

Keep in mind that it is very difficult to alter the internalized relational blueprint that forms when children are quite young. While it is possible to change this foundation, it often takes high levels of insight, as well as significant psychotherapeutic interventions to shift these deep-rooted, and often unconscious, mental pathways.

The Changing Role of the Modern Day Father

It has only been in the past several decades that the idea of the " involved father " has taken shape. While historically, men's identities were heavily tied to their careers, dads continue to take a more active parenting role in recent years. According to Pew Research Center statistics on American fathers (2016):

• 7% of dads reported being stay-at-home fathers, and of those 7%, 24% cite their primary reason for this choice was to take care of their child or children.
• 49% of men felt pressure to be an involved father.
• 49% of adults reported they felt men face more pressure returning to work after they've welcomed a child into their family.

How the Pandemic Has Changed the Father Role for the Better

When the pandemic hit in 2020, we were all forced to retreat to the safety of our homes while health experts figured out how to handle this medical crisis. During this time of solitude, fathers had the unique opportunity to spend more quality time with their kids while working from home.

Researchers at Harvard University have found that " almost 70% of fathers across race, class, educational attainment, and political affiliation in the United States [felt] closer to their children during the coronavirus pandemic." The studies also found that since the start of the pandemic, more than half of American fathers:

• Appreciate their children more
• Are more aware of their children's feelings
• Engage more with their children in both daily activities and conversations

Interestingly enough, Pew Research has also found that as of October 2020, 46% of fathers feel as if they spend the right amount of time with their kids (only 36% of fathers felt this way in 2017). Additionally, there has been a 15% decrease in the number of fathers who believe they spend too little time with their kids (down from 63% in 2017).

How the Pandemic Changed the Way Fathers View Work

The pandemic also brought more flexible work conditions. While most businesses have gone back to the status quo, many fathers have changed their views of their old roles. The Hamilton Project reports that as of September 2021:

• A quarter of fathers sought to reduce the hours they work
• Only 26% intended to go back to how they worked in pre-pandemic days
• Many wanted to pursue less demanding positions

This restructuring of the way fathers think about their careers and the value they see in achieving a work-life balance is a big step in helping families maintain healthy relationships.

The pandemic changed how many businesses function. New and experienced fathers who want to be more involved in their kid's lives can benefit from this, so take the time to research opportunities that will give you the balance you need to foster a better life for yourself and your family.

Important Responsibilities of a Father

In terms of healthy parenting, the duties of a dad may include:

• Modeling healthy relational behavior with your other caregiver (if applicable), and other adults
• Being kind, nurturing, and spending time to bond with your child without distractions
• Expressing love in healthy ways
• Taking good care of yourself both physically and mentally and modeling appropriate behavior when help is needed
• Being understanding and forgiving
• Not imposing or projecting your notions onto your child
• Giving your child the space to be themselves and allowing them to take the lead in certain situations
• Offering acceptance and compassion
• Teaching and modeling healthy communication skills , as well as appropriate conflict resolution skills
• Setting appropriate boundaries and disciplining appropriately (no violence, no spanking, no yelling, no withholding affection, and no prolonged punishment)

What Is the Role of Father and Mother in a Family?

Keep in mind that a family with a mother and father is not the only type of family where a father figure can be involved in healthy ways; parents today tend to share the responsibility of child rearing.

Parental Roles Vary Based in Individual Families

In terms of specific roles, these will vary greatly depending on each unique family's needs. However, in healthy families, ideally both parents are flexible and are able to take on the same roles, while supporting each other as parents and partners. The roles that parents play today in individual families can look very different from family to family - and that's ok. No one family needs to operate just like another.

What Is the Responsibility of Parents?

Depending on the family unit , mothers and fathers may trade off in terms of responsibilities, or come up with their own balanced way of splitting the tasks of the household. When it comes to parenting, ideally both the mother and father have healthy relationships with their child or children and are equally involved in child rearing.

The Importance of a Father

A father plays a significant role in molding their child and promoting good mental and physical health. Regardless of how the father figure is connected to the child or which name for dad the children call this parent by, the most important aspect of the parent-child relationship is the quality of the connection, and not whether the child and father are blood relatives. Thus, the most important father role is to be present in a positive way.

The Modern Essay in Brazil

• Published: 25 May 2020
• Volume 51 , pages 318–329, ( 2020 )

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• Maria Arminda do Nascimento Arruda 1  

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We analyze the construction of the modern essay in Brazil, inaugurated by the so-called 1930s generation: Gilberto Freyre’s Casa-grande e senzala , Caio Prado Júnior’s Evolução política do Brasil , and Sérgio Buarque de Holanda’s Raízes do Brasil . Based on the classic theoretical references on the essay, we approach the modern Brazilian essay under three aspects. First, its context and historical significance, especially from the point of view of the intellectual tradition outlined by Antonio Candido. We argue that the Brazilian essay emerges in interface with modernist art and the socio-political problem of the country’s modernization. Secondly, we argue that Holanda’s work stands out in the 1930s Brazilian essayism as the most effective accomplishment of the essay as a form. Finally, we show how Florestan Fernandes’ intellectual and historical experience represents both an update and a breakdown of Brazilian essayism in the 1970s.

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do Nascimento Arruda, M.A. The Modern Essay in Brazil. Am Soc 51 , 318–329 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-020-09445-1

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Published : 25 May 2020

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DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/s12108-020-09445-1

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Father’s Day Essay in English for Children, 10 Lines, 100, 200, 400 Words

Discover heartfelt sentiments and appreciation in our Father's Day Essay, celebrating special bond between fathers and children. Check Essay on Father's Day in English (10 Lines, 100, 200, 400 words).

Table of Contents

As we know that each and every member of the family like Mother, Father, and Children, are very important to each other, so to celebrate their presence in our we celebrate many days, for Mother we have Mother’s Day, for children we have children’s day and for the Father we celebrate Father’s day.

Today, let us talk about Father’s Day celebrated on the third Sunday of June. This year, Father’s Day is going to celebrate on June 16, 2024 (Sunday). This day is a time to celebrate and show love to our dads. It is a day to thank them for all the things they do for us. As a child, our dads are our superheroes and our best friend. They always know how to make us smile, whether it’s with a funny joke or a big hug. Fathers are somewhat like a silent strength behind every step we take, always ready to lift us up when we stumble.

All the students and children can check the Essay on Father’s Day in an Easy and Short way, 10 Lines, 200 words, and 400 words provided in the article below. Read the complete article on Father’s Day Essay.

10 Lines on Father’s Day Essay in English

• Father’s Day is a special day celebrated to honor and appreciate our fathers. It falls on the third Sunday of June every year. This day is a time for us to express our love and gratitude to our dads.
• My dad is my superhero because he takes care of our family and always supports me.
• On Father’s Day, we can show our love to our dads by spending quality time together.
• My favorite memories with my dad include playing games, going on outings, and learning new things from him.
• He always encourages me to do my best and believes in my abilities.
• I am thankful for my dad’s love, guidance, and all the sacrifices he makes for our happiness.
• He is not just a father but also a friend who listens to me and cheers me up when I am sad.
• This Father’s Day, I want to thank my dad for being there for me always and making our family feel safe and loved.
• He is my role model, and I am proud to call him my dad.
• Father’s Day is a wonderful occasion to celebrate the bond between fathers and children. It reminds us to appreciate our dads and show them how much we care.

Father’s Day Essay in English – 100 words

Father’s Day is a special day when we celebrate and honor our dads. It is a time to show them how much we love and appreciate everything they do for us. Fathers are like our heroes because they protect us, play with us, and teach us many things. They work hard to make sure our family has everything we need. On Father’s Day, we can make our dads feel special by giving them cards, gifts, or even just a big hug. We can also spend good quality time with them doing things they enjoy, like playing games or going for a walk or a drive. It is a day to say thank you to our dads for always being there for us and loving us no matter what. So let us celebrate Father’s Day with lots of love and gratitude for our wonderful dads!

Thank you for listening and reading the essay, and happy Father’s Day to all the amazing dads out there!

Father’s Day Essay in 400 Words

Good Morning Everyone,

Today let us talk about Father!

As a child who is the first person that strikes your mind when asked about who is your real-life superhero or your role model? Most of you might have the same answer i.e., “My Father”.

Father’s Day is a special day dedicated to honoring our dads and father figures. Whether they are here with us or watching us from above, their love and guidance shape our lives in profound ways. Fathers are heroes in so many different ways. They teach us how to ride a bike, they help us with our homework, and they cheer the loudest at our games. They work hard to provide for us, sacrificing their own needs for ours.

Their strength and wisdom guide us through life’s challenges, showing us what it means to be responsible and caring individuals. Today is a reminder to express our gratitude and love for everything they do. It’s a day to say thank you for all those late-night talks, for the jokes that make us laugh, and for the comforting hugs when we need them most. It is a time to cherish the memories we have made together and to create new ones that we will treasure forever.

Let us also remember those fathers who are no longer with us but whose love remains in our hearts. Their legacy lives on in the lessons they taught us and the values they instilled in us. So, to all the dads out there – biological fathers, stepfathers, grandfathers, and father figures – we honor you today. Thank you for your strength, your love, and your unwavering support. You are the pillars of our families and the unsung heroes of our lives.

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY to each and every one of you. May your day be filled with love, laughter, and the warmth of family.

Story Behind Father’s Day

Father’s Day is a holiday dedicated to honoring fathers and celebrating fatherhood, paternal bonds, and the influence of Fathers in society. Today, Father’s Day is celebrated in many countries around the world, often with similar sentiments of appreciation and recognition for the role of fathers. The specific customs and dates of the celebrations can vary, but the core intent remains to honor and acknowledge the contributions and significance of fathers.

The first known Father’s Day service occurred on July 5, 1908, in Fairmont, West Virginia, after a mining accident that killed 361 men. Grace Golden Clayton suggested a day to honor fathers, especially those who died in the disaster. However, this event did not result in a recurring celebration.

Sonora Smart Dodd

The modern version of Father’s Day is largely credited to Sonora Smart Dodd of Spokane, Washington. Inspired by the success of Mother’s Day, which was officially recognized in 1914, Dodd wanted to establish a similar day to honor fathers. Her own father, William Jackson Smart, was a Civil War veteran who single-handedly raised six children after the death of his wife. Dodd proposed June 5, her Father’s birthday, as the date for Father’s Day. However, due to logistical issues, the first Father’s Day in Spokane was celebrated on June 19, 1910.

Early Growth

The idea of Father’s Day slowly gained popularity. In 1916, President Woodrow Wilson spoke at a Father’s Day celebration in Spokane, expressing his support for the holiday.

Despite these early endorsements, it took many decades for Father’s Day to become an official national holiday. In 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson issued the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers, designating the third Sunday in June as Father’s Day.

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English Compositions

Short Essay on My Father [100, 200, 400 Words] With PDF

Essays on ‘Father’ is a very common English writing comprehension test for many exams. In this lesson today, I will discuss how to write short essays on one of the most important people of our life: Father. 

Short Essay on Father in 100 Words

My father is a kind and caring person. He is my hero. He works hard and takes care of our family. He always motivates me to study well, work hard and chase my dreams. Whenever I am sick, he stays beside me and takes care of me alongside my mother.

My father is a loving husband to my mother and a filial son to his parents. He helps my mother with the household chores and spends a lot of time with my grandparents. He has never differentiated between a son and a daughter and treats me and my sibling equally. On weekends, he takes us out for picnics, movies, and other fun activities. My father is a role model for me. 

Short Essay on Father in 200 Words

My father is an ideal man. He is kind and caring. He works hard and takes care of our family. He is a strong-willed person who doesn’t fear challenges and never gives up. He motivates me to study well and work hard towards my dreams. My father is my best friend. I share all my worries and problems with him and he always comes up with the best solutions. When I am sad, he comforts me and gives me strength. When I am sick, he stays beside me and takes care of me alongside my mother. 

My father is a loving husband and a filial son. He helps my mother with the household work and shares her load. He values her a lot and never fights with her. He also spends a lot of time with my grandparents and takes them to visit their old friends whenever he has time. He also takes us out for family picnics and outings on weekends.

My father has never differentiated between a son and a daughter and treats both me and my sibling equally. He has set an example for us by being an upright, compassionate and genuine human being. He has taught us to be honest, respectful, and kind. My father is my role model and I love him very much. 

Short Essay on Father in 400 Words

My father is the backbone of our family. He is a kind, caring and compassionate person. He is a teacher by profession and is well-respected by his students and colleagues. He works hard and takes care of our family. My father is strong-willed and optimistic. He is not afraid of facing challenges and doesn’t give up no matter how difficult a situation is.

He motivates me to study well and work hard towards my dreams. My father is also my best friend. He listens to whatever I have to say. I can share all my worries and problems with him and he always comes up with the best solutions. When I am not in a good mood, he comforts me. When I am sick, he takes care of me. Even when he returns home tired, he makes sure to sit with us and have a nice talk. 

My father is a generous person. Being a teacher, he has come across many students who want to learn but do not have the financial capacity to support their studies. For them, he has given lessons for free and even helped them financially.

He is very kind to the poor and needy. He helps them and does as much as possible to support them. My father is a helpful person and is always ready to extend a helping hand whenever our neighbours are in some kind of trouble. I am very proud of him. 

My father is an ideal husband and son. He helps my mother with the household chores and shares the load. He values her, listens to her thoughts, ideas and opinions and never fights with her. They always make sure that our home environment is peaceful and harmonious.

My father is also a filial son who spends a lot of time taking care of his parents. He takes my grandparents out to the park and to visit their old friends whenever he has time. On weekends, he takes us out for picnics, movies and other fun activities. When my sibling or I have exams, my father stays up at night to guide us and help us with our studies. 

My father has never differentiated between a son and a daughter and treats both me and my sibling equally. He has taught us to be upright, honest, respectful and kind. He leads by example and has shown us how to be selfless, brave and patient. My father is my role model and I love him dearly. 

Hopefully, from the session above, you have gotten a holistic idea of how you can write short essays on ‘Father’ in a concise form. In this lesson, I have adopted a simplistic approach and easy language to write these essays so that all kinds of students can understand those without any difficulties. If you still have any doubts regarding this session, kindly let me know through some quick comments. 

Join us on Telegram to get the latest updates on our upcoming session. Thank you.

Modern-Day Fatherhood and the Health of Dads

Becoming a father can impact a man's health, mentally and physically. Craig Garfield, MD , has published dozens of studies about fatherhood. He shares insights about modern-day dads that might surprise you.

"There's a small but definitely growing body of literature on fathers that show that, cognitively, children who have involved fathers have better linguistic abilities, they have higher academic readiness. And, ultimately, higher academic achievement. Socioemotionally, they have better coping, show more maturity and more prosocial behaviors and have secure attachments."

— Craig F. Garfield, MD

• Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Hospital-Based Medicine and of Medical Social Science

Episode Summary

Craig Garfield, MD, is a pediatrician and scientist who's published dozens of papers about fatherhood. He is also a dad himself.

Craig Garfield: “Children thrive when parents thrive, so if you can help parents be the best that they can be, most likely you're going to end up with the kids having the best outcome that they could ever possibly have. I started getting an interest in fathers after residency. I had a baby during residency. My wife was a medical student, and we moved back here to Chicago for her to start her residency at Children's Memorial, which now is Lurie Children's. I had finished three years of residency in pediatrics."

He decided to be a stay-at-home dad while his wife finished her residency. He took his son to the playground, tots classes and pediatrician visits.

Craig Garfield: “I would arrange my schedule to make it to the pediatrician visit, and I would sit there and the pediatrician would pay no attention to me. I realized that if I was not getting any feedback from the healthcare system, most likely many other men weren't either. And I think what happens with men who are trying to figure out what their role is as they become a father, if you get no feedback from the healthcare system, the education system, then you just turn to places where you do get feedback, which typically is work, right?”

When Garfield finished his year as a stay-at-home dad, he started a fellowship at the University of Chicago in a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and spent the next two years studying fatherhood and how fathers are involved in pediatrics.

Craig Garfield: “There's a small but definitely growing body of literature on fathers that show that, cognitively, children who have involved fathers have better linguistic abilities, they have higher academic readiness. And, ultimately, higher academic achievement. Socioemotionally, they have better coping there, show more maturity and more prosocial behaviors and have secure attachments.”

In a survey of dads living in Chicago and Milwaukee, Garfield asked about the effect having a baby had on their lives.

Craig Garfield: “The vast majority, 80 percent of them, said that they actually try and eat better now. They try and exercise more. They try and avoid risky situations, too. They drink less."

Garfield wondered what it would be like to look at these kinds of issues in a bigger study that's followed over time. The results were very different than he expected. New fathers actually reported higher depression scores after the birth of their child. 

Craig Garfield: “What we found is that for those dads, that actually are living in the house with the baby, that in the five years before they became a father, their depressive symptoms scores, which were measured at four different times across this 20 years, were decreasing. And once they had their baby in the next five years, there was an increase in those depressive symptoms scores. And that increase in the depressive symptoms scores for the average participant in the study was about a 68 percent increase."

It's not just depression: When a dad has a baby, his BMI often rises, too.

Craig Garfield: “What we found is that for men who are fathers who do not live with their child on average in this sample, they gained about 3.5 pounds after controlling for all other factors. Once you become a dad, in resident fathers, so those men who actually live with their children, gain on average, about 4.5 pounds.”

Garfield says it's important  to study fatherhood and what the effects of the transition to fatherhood might have on men. He says educating soon-to-be dads and preparing them for life with a baby is critical. Garfield currently teaches a popular class at Prentice Women's Hospital in Chicago that is for dads only. He says he creates a space for men to ask questions and express their hopes and fears.

Craig Garfield:  "The men start to realize, 'You know what? I'm not alone, other people have these same concerns.' Or there are other things that they had not thought about that now they are really looking forward to or concerned about."

Read more about Garfield's work.

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Continuing Medical Education Credit

Physicians who listen to this podcast may claim continuing medical education credit after listening to an episode of this program., target audience.

Academic/Research, Multiple specialties

Learning Objectives

At the conclusion of this activity, participants will be able to:

• Identify the research interests and initiatives of Feinberg faculty.
• Discuss new updates in clinical and translational research.

Accreditation Statement

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation Statement

The Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine designates this Enduring Material for a maximum of 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.

Disclosure Statement

Craig Garfield, MD, has nothing to disclose. Course director, Robert Rosa, MD, has nothing disclosure. Planning committee member, Erin Spain, has nothing to disclose. Feinberg School of Medicine's CME Leadership and Staff have nothing to disclose: Clara J. Schroedl, MD, Medical Director of CME, Sheryl Corey, Manager of CME, Jennifer Banys, Senior Program Administrator, Allison McCollum, Senior Program Coordinator, and Rhea Alexis Banks, Administrative Assistant 2.

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  Read the Full Transcript

Erin Spain : This is Breakthroughs , the podcast from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. I'm Erin Spain, editor on the monthly breakthroughs newsletter. Today we're talking about dads, the evolution of fatherhood and some important scientific findings about modern-day fatherhood that might surprise you. Joining me as someone who is not only a dad himself, he's a pediatrician and a scientist who's published dozens of papers about fatherhood.

Craig Garfield : My name is Craig Garfield. I am an associate professor of pediatrics and medical social sciences at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine and an attending physician at Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.

Erin Spain : Your life's work as a pediatrician revolves around helping children and the health of children, and specifically you spend a lot of time with preemies and the neonatal unit at Prentice Women's Hospital. How did you transition into studying dad?

Craig Garfield : That's a good question. Children thrive when parents thrive, so if you can help parents be the best that they can be, most likely you're going to end up with the kids having the best outcome that they could ever possibly have. And I started getting an interest in father's after residency. I had a baby during residency. My wife was a medical student and we moved back here to Chicago for her to start her residency at Children's Memorial, which now is Lurie Children's. I had finished three years of residency in pediatrics but never really experienced the hands on of being a parent yet. So much of my advice affected mothers and fathers taking care of their kids. So, knowing that my wife was going to be in her most intensive time of her life as an intern, I said, well, let me just be at home with him and I'll stay at home and be a stay at home dad and see what this world of parenting is all about.

Erin Spain : When was it when you were home with your little one?

Craig Garfield : It was 1999 to 2000.

Erin Spain : About 18 years ago.

Craig Garfield : That was a huge eye-opening experience for me. I went from June 30th, so the end of my residency, where I was senior in the house at Mass General Hospital, like the most senior resident in pediatrics, and I flew home and the next day was on the playground with my son all by myself, as the only dad on the playground, and it opened up this incredible world to me over the next year. I was trying to find activities to do with him, so I looked for, you know, what classes we might do together and all the classes were called mom and tots classes. So I called the mom and tots coordinator. I said, “Hey, are dad's allowed at this class?” And she said, “Yeah, I don't see why not.” And it was fascinating, about six months into that mom and tots class, a mom came up to me and very quietly said, “You know, we have a play group that meets on Thursdays if you wanted to join us.”

Erin Spain : Oh, you broke into the inner circle.

Craig Garfield : I felt like I had finally broken into the group and I became close with all those ladies, women, all those moms. That really opened my eyes to like what, what's going on here with fathers in health in families and what part can I play in this? And when we had been in Boston, we had a pediatrician who is a very well respected pediatrician, and I would take, you know, arrange my schedule to make it to the pediatricians visits and I would sit there and the pediatrician would pay no attention to me. I realized that if I was not getting any feedback from the healthcare system, most likely many other men weren't either. And I think what happens with men who are trying to figure out what their role is as they become a father, if you get no feedback from the healthcare system, the education system, then you just turn to places where you do get feedback, which typically is work, right? So, then you get a paycheck and so instead of being at home and being with your kid, which maybe is what you kind of want to do, society is sending you messages that you know where you need to be as at work. So, when I had finished this year at home with my son, I was started a fellowship at the University of Chicago, a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, which was two years of research time to think about studying an issue, and I originally was going to do it on violence prevention in the ER, and realized that this, this idea of fatherhood, was really interesting and something that I wanted to study. So, I spent those next two years working on that, on projects, looking at fatherhood and how fathers are involved in pediatrics. And that was really the start of the whole career trajectory.

Erin Spain : Children with involved fathers do better. Can you tell me about that?

Craig Garfield : There's a small but definitely growing body of literature on fathers that show that cognitively children who have involved fathers have better linguistic abilities, they have higher academic readiness. And, ultimately, higher academic achievement, socioemotionally, they have better coping there, show more maturity and more pro social behaviors and have secure attachments. And if you think about the job of a baby or a toddler, their job is to, from a secure base of attachment, explore the world. So if mom and dad are both involved, whether they're married or not, right, because again, 40 percent of a births are to the unmarried, and almost whether or not they're cohabiting or not. So, if they're living in the same house or not, children who have involved fathers are actually going to feel more comfortable exploring their world and that's how children learn and that's how they know what a safe world is and they can go away from the parents go and play off on the corners of the playground, but know that they always have that safe attachment to come back down. And then, children with involved fathers also have fewer risk behaviors such as truancy and substance abuse and stealing. So, all these things combined really make a difference. When we started our research, we really wanted to say to look at our fathers there in the, in pediatrics, right? That was kind of where we started, where you want to look at, are fathers there, if they're there, what do they do, how do they impact children? How do children then impact fathers? Which is a little bit of a twist on the equation. Then started to look at special populations and how you might approach those two. And so we did interviews with 35 couples in Chicago and Milwaukee, very in depth interviews with them, with the father actually,  how they are involved with their children. And then ask them not just the typical question, did you take your child to the doctor? Which is usually how research has assessed father's involvement in health, but we really said “what are the ways that you're involved in the health of your child?” We came up a new survey tool that is more dynamic and more detailed about how fathers are involved, which include things like role modeling for the kid, healthy behaviors, arranging your life in such a way so that you, if the baby or the child needs to be at home…

Erin Spain : If they're sick…

Craig Garfield : If they're sick, that you actually also have flexibility to make a change. And it's not just expected that the mom wouldn't necessarily. And I think a lot of this comes back to your question again of what dads are facing of, the fact that more graduate degrees are going to women, right? And, as more women get into the workplace and start to obtain higher salaries, it may become a very simple calculus for the family to say, you know, what, she can get more money in the workplace, Dad, you step up your involvement at home. And my question always is, are dads ready to do that, right? And they do, they have the role modeling for that? And one thing that I think it's important to understand is that dad's involvement in childcare and in housework has doubled since 1965. So, the lion's share of work is still being done by moms. Of course we have to give them their shout out. But dads are starting to step it up to.

Erin Spain : Modern Day fatherhood here in 2018 probably looks pretty foreign to maybe the grandfathers or great grandfather is out there.

Craig Garfield : Absolutely. Absolutely. And even the way that, if you think about our grandfathers and certainly our great grandfathers, would never have been in the delivery room when their baby was born. And now it's the, it's the rare dad who isn't there in the delivery room whether he wants to be there or not and whether the mom wants him there or not. But at every place dads are expecting to be involved, our research has shown that they go to the doctors with their kid and they have their own unique questions that they want to ask. And they want to be involved in that baby's life, at the very beginning of the baby’s, you know, after the baby's born. And my message really is that they're coming to the door. Let's open the door for them, let's meet them at the door and close it to them at the very beginning.

Erin Spain : How do you feel pediatricians are dealing with that right now? Are they have changes been made where fathers are being a bit more welcomed in the pediatrician office?

Craig Garfield : I think so. I think more and more pediatricians are aware of the value of this extra player on the team. Right. And I think pediatricians are learning how to engage dads and dads are looking for…dads generally are pretty, like many men, are problem solvers, so they may need more direct advice on what to do. Right. So, I talk a lot with dads, particularly when I'm in the neonatal intensive care unit. And I say, “here's what you can do for your partner right now.” And it might be helping with breastfeeding, which many dads are like, what? That's not my job. Right? But there are certain things you can do to help a mom around breastfeeding.

Erin Spain : Can you talk about what your research has shown? Mental Challenges, physical challenges, relationship challenges that can take place once someone becomes a father.

Craig Garfield : Sure. So, in those interviews with the 35 dads in Chicago, Milwaukee, we asked some questions like, how did having a baby effect your life, how did, how did having a child affect your life and your health behaviors? And the vast majority, 80 percent of them said that they actually try and eat better now. They try and exercise more. They try and avoid risky situations, too. They drink less. So, I thought, well, this is really interesting coming from just 35, you know, dads, I wonder what it would be like to look at these kinds of issues and in a bigger study and one that's followed over time. We found some data that had been tracking adolescents from high school all the way into their mid-thirties. We took this data and we broke all men into whether they were a father or not. And then if they were a father, whether they live with a child or whether they didn't live with a child. And we asked the question, you know, from a mental health perspective, was there a change in the dad, in the men's mental health during the transition into fatherhood? We did some very sophisticated and complicated statistics to figure out how long the men had been fathers and when they transitioned into fatherhood. And what we found is that for those dads that actually are living in the house with the baby, that in the five years before they became a father, their depressive symptoms scores, which were measured at four different times across this 20 years, were decreasing. And once they had their baby in the next five years, there was an increase in those depressive symptoms scores. And that increase in the depressive symptoms scores for the average participant in the study was about a 68 percent increase.

Erin Spain : These are men who are living with their child and  they weren't depressed. And as matter of fact, it was less likely that they were depressed until they had the child. Then they are at risk for depression?

Craig Garfield : So, if they were scoring really low on the, on this depression scale that we have, then a 68 percent increase is not really going to bump them up into a worrisome area, but if they have some past mental health problems, if they were scoring high already on the depressive scale, a 68 percent increase may kick them into some, area and they may be then at risk for depression and really should be seeing someone. And those first five years are really important years for children and the attachment that we talked about and how they, the baby and the toddler needs to know that they have a good base from which they can then explore the world around them. And for the men themselves, and the enjoyment that they get out of parenting as well.

Erin Spain : So, that's important to know because we do have more screenings in place for mothers after the birth of a child, but now it sounds like fathers need that type of screening to?

Craig Garfield : Yeah, and the good news is, is that there are screens available, even the many of the same tools that we use for mothers can be used for fathers too. The issue becomes, and again, this is a nut that we have not cracked quite yet, is what do you do as a pediatrician when you find out that a mother is depressed, right? So there are a number of resources that are out there now to help pediatricians deal with mothers.  For fathers, not so much, right? And so that's something that I think the field needs to think about, is what do you do when you actually identify the dad's having a hard time with his transition into fatherhood? And that transition for both parents is hard. It's a loss of control, it's a loss of sleep for many men, the work family balance is very, very difficult and we don't have a really comprehensive approach as most other countries due to family leave that can help men in this transition into fatherhood.

Erin Spain : So, you had an interesting study a few years ago with a headline that is a little funny about “dad bods.” Dad bods is a real thing. When men have a baby, oftentimes their BMI rises. Is that right?

Craig Garfield : Yeah. So, we were looking at what the transition to fatherhood, what the effects of the transition of fatherhood might be on men. So, we did the one looking in mental health. And one of the things that you hear anecdotally is that dads ended up well eating less healthy foods because there's a couple of leftover nuggets on your kid’s plate, so you just take those. There's pizza crust around the house and you just start eating that, and you just might have different food in the house and if you were just living without children. So, we looked into sample of over 10,000 men. We broke that sample, they had been studying for about 20 years, and at four different points in that 20-year time period they had been weighed and their BMI, their body mass index, had been calculated, and we looked at those men who were not fathers and compared them with men who were fathers and men who are fathers who lived with their babies and then those who didn't live with their children. We looked at what happened to their BMI over that time period. And we controlled for the fact that for everyone BMI is going to go up anyways. We controlled for marriage. We controlled for all the things that you would think would be associated with changes in weight. So what we found is that for men who are fathers who do live with their child on average in this sample, they gained about three and a half pounds after controlling for all other factors. Once you become a dad, in resident fathers, so those men who actually live with their children, gain on average, about four and a half pounds. What I love about this study is that we actually take anecdote, what people just talk about on the street and say, yeah, this happened to me and actually we're able to show that there is an association between becoming a father and gaining weight after you become a father. So, what that really tells me is that the transition to fatherhood is a place that when you're looking at men's health, you could intervene, it could be a lever for change for these dads and it's an important area for the baby, for the mother, but also for the dad himself.

Erin Spain : Something else you're really interested in is using technology to help parents and dads take care of their children. Everyone's using apps on their phones. They have their baby monitors on their phones there are different ways that we're using technology. Tell me about some of the latest tools that you've created to use technology to help parents, specifically dads.

Craig Garfield : We realized that when you start looking at populations of fathers, one of the most terrified populations of fathers are fathers in the neonatal intensive care unit and that comes -- it's terrifying for mothers as well, right, for the whole family. This is not necessarily the delivery or the baby that they were expecting, right? These are often very little babies that are very medically fragile and vulnerable. And for Dads, it's a little bit worse. Dads, even with a full term big baby fear that they can break this baby and now you have a baby who's, you know, much smaller and instead of 40 weeks of gestation is only 25, 26 weeks of gestation or even 30, but definitely not what they had expected. And these babies stay in the NICU from weeks to even months or longer compared to just a two day stop in the hospital before going home with a full-term baby. So there's a lot of information that parents can benefit from it. This particular place in the hospital, it's a very unique setting.  And so we realized that one of the things that we thought that parents could benefit from was that period when they're getting ready to go home and then actually going home. So we developed the first version of the APP that focused on the discharge process. So as soon as the baby graduated from an incubator and into the regular air that we all breathe in and the regular temperature that we all are in, that's usually about two weeks before they're going to go home. And so, we started our intervention at that point and we did a randomized trial, so half the people in the sample got the phone and half the people just got the usual care and we compared what the benefit of using the app was. And what we found in that study was that the parents that got the phones, with the app on it, were more confident in taking care of their baby after they took the baby home, more prepared for discharge. And if they use the app more, they had a shorter length of stay. So, based on that, those findings, which are really remarkable, we talked to all the parents that finished this study and said, you know, what would be used more useful in this app? And they all said we wished we had this when we got admitted to the NICU, right. We got the app and we were going home because that was the study, but they wish they had to it at admission. So, based on our findings, based on this feedback, uh, we went and now are testing an APP, a smartphone app in the NICU, called NICU2Home, which goes from admission all the way through to discharge  and we've kind of tailored and personalized what information is going out to each person, each baby and each parent based on their unique clinical situation. We've been funded by Friends Prentice to develop this and we're rolling it out at Prentice Women's Hospital, in the NICU. There's a number of features that we built specifically for Dads and we call dads out on this. We have a content that says, welcome to the NICU, Dad. We've done a number of videos and still photos that include dads and moms, because previously the research had focused just on moms and their experience in the NICU. And this comes from studies that we did looking at a stress in the NICU where we actually collected salivary hormone from moms and dads in the NICU from, uh, being in the NICU to going home. So, we looked at stress levels from discharge into going home for babies in the NICU. And what we found, which was remarkable because we didn't really expect this, is that moms actually have a high levels of stress based on their salivary cortisol levels while in the NICU. And when they go home, they remain high. Dads actually have high levels of stress while in the NICU, and when they go home, it actually increases, and no one had looked at this during the transition to home. But it's remarkable because what that we hypothesize is that these dads are actually maintained the status quo, right? The baby's taken care of in the NICU. They often have a routine where mom may be there during the day, dad's at work trying to get things finished up because baby is getting ready to go home and then they meet kind of at the bedside at the end of the day. Now, all of a sudden, they're at home and dad is trying to take care of the baby and be a good partner with his wife. His wife is now home as well and she has to deal with the stress of being home with the baby now and he's trying to balance work as well. And take care of himself. When you think about where that mom is going to get her primary support from, it's from that Dad, right? So if we didn't know that dad was more stressed out than he may not be at his best in terms of helping that mom. So if we can identify and prepare and help that dad with that stress of discharge of going home, then he might be a better support for the mom in the stressful period of going home as well.

Erin Spain : What other changes are on the horizon right now for dads?

Craig Garfield : Yeah, so there are about 66 million men who are fathers in the United States, so it's a tremendous population and 40 percent of those births are to unmarried couples and we're starting to understand the differences in those populations of men and I think a lot of the work in fatherhood now is understanding subpopulations of fathers. This falls kind of on the fact that men are not just being looked at as breadwinners in the family, but are actually looking at participants in raising that child and that they're looking to not be a male mother, but they're actually looking to be an engaged father and fatherhood and the way fathers interact with their kids is different than that of mothers. For example, you can just imagine when you're walking down the street, that fathers might describe the scene in front of them differently than mothers might, right? They might call out, in the stereotypical way, maybe a dad would describe kind of “look at the trucks and look at this building that's being built.” A mom might describe, “look at these beautiful flowers and look at this tree” and all that language goes to help the child develop more vocabulary and a better receptive and expressive language when moms and dads are both contributing to that particular language. And dads themselves actually have been really increasing their involvement in childcare and in housework.

Erin Spain : What has changed in society during that time that now there's more of an emphasis on fatherhood and fathers being involved?

Craig Garfield : Part of it is cultural and that if you look at who appears on People magazine for example, you'll see Mark Zuckerberg with his baby, right? Mark Zuckerberg took time away from work. Now, granted he has lots of other resources, right? But, nonetheless, he's setting an example. You have Prince William, right? He's, he's a prince. And yet you see him very closely involved with Kate in their children. So much so you see that there actually is a new word that came in the Super Bowl in 2015 when there was so much advertising that happened that involved fathers. That award came into our lexicon called dadvertising, which describes ads on TV or even on radio, focus on fathers and there are ads for cars or ads for soap and shampoo. There's a really funny one for toilet paper. All of these ways that we know dads are involved, but Madison Avenue figured out what's happening on Main Street and they figured out that actually what needs to happen is you need to feature your dads. They may not be the consumers who are buying it, but it completes the picture of real that are out there.

Erin Spain : Many dads here in Chicago might recognize you. You mentioned that you teach a class, a Prentice Women's Hospital for a while now, but six years you've taught a class only for new dads. No Mom's allowed. Why? Why did you decide to start teaching this class? And tell me a little about what the class is like.

Craig Garfield : Sure. So I think dads are really have questions that they want to ask, but it may not be the best environment for them to ask them in a group setting with other moms there who are really experiencing the physical manifestations of pregnancy. So, it's a tough sell for a dad, you know, sitting next to a mom who's 30 weeks pregnant and can't sleep on her stomach and can’t eat sushi and can't drink alcohol to then say, well, you know, raise his hand and say “it's really hard for me to, you know, like, because I'm very nervous about this baby or what do I need to know?” So, we thought there was a great opportunity for just having dads in the room. And it's a really a pretty marvelous group of men when the class gets going, because we sit around the table and we start by asking them kind of, you know, “what are your hopes and fears going into this?” And we talk about that. And men start to realize, you know what? I'm not alone, right, that other people have these same concerns or there are other things that they had not thought about that now they are really looking forward to or concerned about.  An then we talk about again what their super power might be, how they can get involved with helping mom with breastfeeding, how they can get involved with kangaroo care, which is putting the baby just on their skin and doing skin-to-skin, which really is a beautiful thing. It soothes the baby and most of the time it soothes the parent also and everybody ends up falling asleep on the couch. Right? Yeah. Nice low heart rate. We see it in the NICU. We use in the NICU all the time. The other way that I think the class is helpful is it helps dad who are again looking for “tell me directly what to do.” I give very kind of explicit directions both in the class and in the NICU. Your job in breastfeeding is to make sure that the baby latches on at the right level and that might involve bringing pillows to help the mom, get the baby in the right position. Your job is to help mom stay hydrated because it's a lot of liquid that you're giving that baby and your job is to be baby Uber, like to take that baby from wherever the baby's sleeping and bring it to the mom so the mom can feed and that bring the baby back. And I think dad's benefit from knowing there's something that they can do because otherwise, they get in this mindset of “I don't know what I'm doing,” it's all a mystery and it's some secret thing that all moms know and you know, to be honest, not all moms know what either, right? But they are the ones who are going to be providing the breast milk. So dads can help up by help by kind of assisting in the logistics of getting the baby there and getting the baby on.

Erin Spain : And this class is a little intense. It's a couple hours long. There is, a couple dozen men in the room?

Craig Garfield : Yeah, there's 20 dad's each session. We don't take a break because I feel like, again, this is all the information that I, as a pediatrician, would want to impart to a dad, but there's just not enough time when you're actually seeing patients and no one really leaves, right? We don't take a break. Very few people get up. It's at the end of a day of work day for all of us. But they stay. They asked really insightful questions about what's going on and we talk about kind of the research center that's involved with, the upcoming research that's involved in dads and we place dads kind of in a cultural moment here. And then talk a lot about what happens with labor and delivery, but talk beyond that because labor and delivery is kind of one moment when that baby is born and you suddenly get to see this child for the first time, which is a magical moment for, for many dads, but then you have 18 years still to learn about that kid. So, I spend a lot of time talking about that and how do you think about balancing work and family and how to help the family in general and what you can do when that new baby comes home.

English that goes straight to the heart

My Role Model is My Father Essay

The importance of the word ‘Father’ and its general worth towards family is limitless. This word generates honor because of symbol good deeds which every head of the family tries to earn.

My father is the guiding force and leader of our family, bringing our aspirations into reality. He is not just a figurehead, but a role model who foresees the needs of the time and shapes our family through his unwavering responsibility and dedication. I hold immense respect for him due to his extraordinary achievements.

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As my role model, my father accompanies me in all my endeavors, ensuring that I make the right choices. He attentively listens to my problems and imparts valuable lessons to shape my thinking. His primary concern is my future career, and he leverages his maturity, knowledge, and awareness of the modern world to evaluate my interests and decisions, going above and beyond to help me develop and achieve my goals.

Despite his financial limitations, my father fulfills my genuine needs and ensures that I never feel inadequate. He works tirelessly, sweating profusely, to increase his earnings for my sake. He sacrifices his own comfort, willingly eating less, in order to provide for my well-being.

Being educated and possessing a logical vision, my father has evolved into a contemporary and progressive figure. He utilizes his knowledge and embraces modernity to raise me in a manner that equips me to thrive in today’s competitive world. He leaves no gaps in meeting my needs and actively supports my personal growth and career-building process.

As an ideal father, my father spares no effort in fulfilling my necessities. He strives to eliminate any obstacles that could hinder my development and career path, leaving no room for shortcomings.

What sets my role model father apart is his refusal to impose his own career choices on me. He believes that I should pursue a future based on my own passions, suitability, and capabilities. The tradition of following specific family professions is fading away, as doctors no longer insist on their children becoming doctors, professors do not compel their offspring to pursue academia, and army officers do not force their sons into the military. Similarly, my father desires that I have a better future according to my own choices.

My father is a mature and understanding individual who assists me in making important decisions. Like most devoted fathers, he plays a significant role in my life, supporting my career aspirations and helping me overcome daily challenges. When I face difficulties and seek guidance, I instinctively turn to my father. He selflessly puts aside his own priorities to provide the necessary support. He works tirelessly, making countless sacrifices to help me navigate through my problems.

We celebrate Father’s Day every year on 19 June to strengthen the relationship and remind a father of the sacrifices he endured towards his kids when they were in need. Unfortunately, it has become a mere formality for many, lacking genuine emotional connection and appreciation. In today’s times, children often choose to live separately from their fathers, prioritizing their own families and disregarding their responsibilities towards their aging fathers, who cling to hope for support.

It is very important that our fathers should be given deep respect and utmost respect not only because they are fathers, but for their unparalleled fatherhood and incredible sacrifices towards us. We must recognize the value of their presence and the impact they have on our lives. By cherishing our fathers, upholding our duties, and expressing gratitude for their sacrifices, we can truly acknowledge the exceptional role models they are in our lives.

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Essay on My Father for Students and Children

500+ words essay on my father.

Essay on My Father: Usually, people talk about a mother’s love and affection, in which a father’s love often gets ignored. A mother’s love is talked about repeatedly everywhere, in movies, in shows and more. Yet, what we fail to acknowledge is the strength of a father which often goes unnoticed. Father’s a blessing which not many people have in their lives. It would also be wrong to say that every father is the ideal hero for their kids because that is not the case. However, I can vouch for my father without any second thoughts when it comes to being an ideal person.

My Father is Different!

As everyone likes to believe that their father is different, so do I. Nonetheless, this conviction is not merely based on the love I have for him, but also because of his personality. My father owns a business and is quite disciplined in all aspects of life. He is the one who taught me to always practice discipline no matter what work I do.

Most importantly, he has a jovial nature and always makes my mother laugh with his silly antics even after 27 years of marriage. I completely adore this silly side of him when he is with his loved ones. He tries his best to fulfill all our wishes but also maintains the strictness when the need arises.

One of the best things I love about my father is that he has always kept a very safe and open home environment. For instance, my siblings and I can talk about anything with him without the fear of being scolded or judged. This has helped us not to lie, which I have often noticed with my friends.

In addition, my father has an undying love for animals which makes him very sympathetic towards them. He practices his religion devotedly and is very charitable too. I have never seen my father misbehave with his elders in my entire life which makes me want to be like him even more.

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My Father is My Source of Inspiration

I can proudly say that it is my father who has been my source of inspiration from day one. In other words, his perspective and personality together have shaped me as a person. Similarly, he has a great impact on the world as well in his own little ways. He devotes his free time in taking care of stray animals which inspires me to do the same.

My father has taught me the meaning of love in the form of a rose he gifts to my mother daily without fail. This consistency and affection encourage all of us to treat them the same way. All my knowledge of sports and cars, I have derived from my father. It is one of the sole reasons why I aspire to be a cricket player in the future.

To sum it up, I believe that my father has it all what it takes to be called a real-life superhero. The way he manages things professionally and personally leaves me mesmerized every time. No matter how tough the times got, I watched my father become tougher. I certainly aspire to become like my father. If I could just inherit ten percent of what he is, I believe my life will be sorted.

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Machiavelli: Father of Modern Politics Analytical Essay

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Introduction

Politics and ethics, reference list.

The contemporary political world owes a lot of its stature to defining and perception of Nicolo Machiavelli in his works, and The Prince gives a particularly vindictive view with respect to the societal norms and ethics. This view, therefore, evoked (and still does draw) criticisms, giving the author a distasteful appeal to the realists who are more inclined to morality and ethical practices in leadership and governance (Baron 1988, 78).

During his time, the society placed ethics and morality above everything, and politics were not an exception. For anything to be recognized and accepted as a means of achieving leadership and thus governance, it had to be in keeping to what was widely accepted as being morally upright and acceptable. Machiavelli’s approach was different in that it separated the two (Baron 1988, 35).

His separation of politics from ethics not only embodied his ideas to what is practiced today, but also set his approach on a path that, even though challenged by realists, gets sufficient support from philosophies widely experienced in the world. According to his views, power and the authority that comes with it is the ultimate drive behind politics.

This power centers around one person. The lengths that individuals have to go in their quest to achieve it or for those that already have it to retain it do not necessarily have to conform to set ethical statutes, unless such a move would result in achieving or retaining power (Hooker 2010, 13).

Contemporary politics are centered on power. In fact, it is viewed as ‘the tool’ to achieving it. Politicians go out of their way in their pursuit of power.

They are ready to do whatever it takes to wrest it from their opponents, irrespective of the murk they would have to endure, or the effects of whatever approach applied. This is a complete contrast to what was realistically viewed and accepted as the norm- power inheritance (Mansfield 1995, 67).

He eludes fortune to a lady that is the subject of attention to draw a line between what was and what should be- Ideally, the lady was courted and pleaded with before accepting a hand in marriage. For Machiavelli, the ideal prince went against morals –he got what he wanted forcefully (Hooker 2010, 35).

By this, he sought to express the principle behind politics being independent or indifferent to virtues and societal norms in pursuant of power. He goes ahead and recognizes popes Alexander VI and Julius II who retained power through warfare success, despite the society’s negative views about them.

The prince, therefore, is portrayed as a villain by ignoring the-seek- (and beg) until- you- find an approach to woo Lady Fortune and instead takes her by force as noted by Hooker (2010, 45). This makes him one of the greatest men to ever live.

Harsh as his ideas may have been, Machiavelli is without a doubt the father of modern politics, since his ideologies form the stem of politics as we know it today. The Prince represents the power seekers of the day, who go beyond societal norms, to claim it. As long as they achieve what they desire, the end justifies the means. According to Mansfield (1995, 12), he was a go-getter in all his undertakings and never shied away from his goals.

Baron, Houghton.1988. In Search of Florentine Civic Humanism . Oxford: Wiley.

Hooker, Richard. 2010. The Renaissance Reader: The Prince .Web.

Mansfield, Hitoler. 1995. Machiavelli and the Idea of Progress: History and the Idea of Progress. Cornell: Cornell University Press.

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Essay on Isaac Newton: The Father of Modern Science

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• Mar 15, 2024

Did you know Isaac Newton almost gave up on his education before discovering the laws of motion? Born in 1642, Isaac Newton was an English mathematician , physicist , astronomer, and author who is widely recognized as one of the most influential scientists in history. He is known as the father of modern physics. He made significant contributions to various fields of science and mathematics, and his work laid the foundation for many scientific principles and discoveries. Let’s find out more about Isaac Newton with the essays written below.

Table of Contents

• 1 Things to keep in Mind while Writing Essay on Isaac Newton
• 2 Essay on Isaac Newton in 100 Words
• 3 Essay on Isaac Newton in 200 Words
• 4 Essay on Isaac Newton in 300 Words

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Things to keep in Mind while Writing Essay on Isaac Newton

• Isaac Newton was born on 4th January 1643.
• He is famous for discovering the phenomenon of white light integrated with colours which further presented as the foundation of modern physical optics.
• He is known for formulating the three laws of motion and the laws of gravitation which changed the track of physics all across the globe.
• In mathematics, he is known as the originator of calculus.
• He was knighted in 1705 hence, he came to be known as “Sir Isaac Newton”.

Essay on Isaac Newton in 100 Words

Issac Newton was an English scientist who made some groundbreaking discoveries in the field of science and revolutionized physics and mathematics. revolutionized physics and mathematics. He formulated the three laws of motion , defining how objects move and interact with forces. His law of universal gravitation explained planetary motion. Newton independently developed calculus, a fundamental branch of mathematics. 

Everybody knows Newton because of the apply story, in which he was sitting under a tree when an apple fell on him. His ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ remains a cornerstone of scientific thought. Newton’s profound insights continue to shape our understanding of the natural world.

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Essay on Isaac Newton in 200 Words

Born in 1642, Isaac Newton is one of the most influential scientists of all time. His groundbreaking contributions in physics, astronomy and mathematics helped reshape the understanding of the natural world. Our science books mention Newton’s three laws of motion which brought a revolution in physics.

• Newton’s first law of motion, also known as the law of inertia, states that an object will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force.
• The second law of motion states that an object’s acceleration is produced by a net force that is directly proportional to the net force’s magnitude.
• The third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

All these laws laid the foundation for classical mechanics, revolutionizing the way we comprehend the physical world. He is known as the father of modern physics.

In mathematics, Newton developed calculus independently. His work in calculus was essential for solving complex mathematical problems, making it a cornerstone of modern mathematics and science.

His work ‘Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica’ was published in 1687, and remains a monumental work that underpins modern science. His profound insights continue to shape our understanding of the universe, making Isaac Newton one of history’s most influential and celebrated scientists.

Essay on Isaac Newton in 300 Words

Isaac Newton was an English scientist who was known for his groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of Physics, Mathematics and Astronomy. Thanks to his discoveries of revolutionizing our understanding of the natural world. 

One of his well-known discoveries was the three laws of motion, also known as Newton’s three laws of motion. 

• The first law, known as the law of inertia, states that objects at rest tend to stay at rest, and objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an external force.
• The second law quantifies how forces affect an object’s motion, introducing the famous equation F = ma (force equals mass times acceleration). 
• The third law, the law of action and reaction, explains that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. 

These laws provided a comprehensive framework for understanding and predicting the behaviour of physical objects, from the motion of planets to the fall of an apple.

Another groundbreaking achievement of Newton was the discovery of the universal law of gravitation. This law states that every object in the universe attracts every other object with a force directly proportional to their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

It explained the mechanics of planetary motion and demonstrated that the same laws that govern objects on Earth also apply to celestial bodies, unifying the terrestrial and celestial realms.

In mathematics, Newton independently developed a powerful mathematical tool, called calculus, for analyzing rates of change and solving complex problems. His work laid the groundwork for modern calculus and transformed mathematics, physics, and engineering.

Newton’s magnum opus, “Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica” (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy), published in 1687, is a landmark work that brought together his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. 

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Issac Newton was an English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, alchemist, author and physicist, was known for the discovery of the laws of gravity, and worked on the principles of visible light and the laws of motion.

Newton’s three laws of motion are: first law of motion (law of inertia), which states that an object will stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside force; The second law of motion states that an object’s acceleration is produced by a net force that is directly proportional to the net force’s magnitude; The third law of motion states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.

Issac Newton is known as the father of modern physics and was associated with Cambridge University as a physicist and mathematician.

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Shiva Tyagi

With an experience of over a year, I've developed a passion for writing blogs on wide range of topics. I am mostly inspired from topics related to social and environmental fields, where you come up with a positive outcome.

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The Father of My Child Has Taught Me More About Good Parenting Than Almost Anyone Else

By Nell Frizzell

I am a 39-year-old married woman with a child, and when my toilet wouldn’t stop flushing recently, I immediately called my dad.

A lot is written about the role of fathers (I’m up to two novels and counting), and unsurprisingly so. More than almost any other area of our social fabric, the way men interact with their children has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. When I was born, in the 1980s, there was no universal paid paternity leave in the UK (we’d have to wait until 2003 to get the current two weeks’ worth). Men were already doing a bit more childcare than the 18 minutes per day they’d managed in 1961 (according to the University of Essex), but without any recognition that men might want to spend a couple of days at home meeting the child they’d just co-created, things didn’t get off to a great start.

In many of my favorite children’s books ( The Magic Faraway Tree , The Railway Children , Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ), the dads were either completely absent or barely mentioned. They were rarely the primary carer on children’s TV, either, and it was mums who overwhelming stood at the school gates. And yet, the seeds were certainly being sewn for the generational change that I see playing out with my own son and his dad. The 1970 Equal Pay Act had started to move the dial towards more equal parenting; immigration to the UK by men with different cultural expectations about What Dads Do was having a subtle impact on British culture; and the generation of people damaged by the hands-off parenting styles of the 1950s were starting to do things differently.

My father—a man who would cycle me to school, barefoot, shouting out times tables, wearing seven earrings and having made my packed lunch—didn’t necessarily carry the mental load of remembering my appointments, my friends’ names, when I had to bring in PE clothes, and checking whether I’d done my homework. But he certainly played with me. He took me on bike rides and taught me how to do carpentry and make pikelets on a Saturday morning. He took me to my first gigs and brought me swimming and pierced my ears in the middle of our kitchen. He can also fix just about anything; bikes, shelves, doors, damp, light switches, fire alarms, and leaks. Which is why, at nearly 40, I’m still regularly ringing him up in a panic whenever I’m scared my house is about to explode.

You see, hands-on fatherhood benefits everyone: children, mothers, employers, and men themselves. According to a literature review from the University of Kent in 2021 shared on the government website, “a large amount of evidence was found to suggest that fathers’ involvement in childcare can help reduce a number of negative outcomes for children in terms of emotional and behavioral problems. Ample amounts of evidence has also shown that it can also help improve children’s cognitive development, improving their academic achievements. Fathers’ involvement in care has also been linked to positive emotional and wellbeing outcomes in children.” Obviously mothers’ involvement improves those same outcomes, but today isn’t Mother’s Day, so for once I’m not talking about us.

The report goes on to say that fathers’ involvement in childcare is also good for—wait for it—fathers, while “equal division of housework and childcare matters not only for children’s outcomes but also for parental wellbeing outcomes, which come full circle to influence children’s outcomes.” So there you have it: cleaning up the encrusted Weetabix and reading bedtime stories and wrestling and taking the morning off to settle them in at nursery school and putting Vaseline on their sore and snotty noses will not only guard your child against the emotional and physical challenges of the world, but it will improve your life, too.

The father of my own child—I’m still so surprised I have “a husband” —has taught me more about calm, considered, committed, and creative parenting than anyone else. From a starting point of basically zero (when we met, he had never once held a baby), he is probably the most attentive and adept dad I know. Aged six, my son absolutely switches between the two of us with no regard for gender; when he’s scared or tired or excited or hungry, he will shout for dad or mum interchangeably. And before you think this whole column has been nothing but a andro-centric tirade of pro-father propaganda, I would like to point out that my husband was raised by a single mum.

Because being a father isn’t a case of following a circumscribed model of masculinity; it’s about doing the unpaid, uncelebrated, unending work of raising your child for the rest of your life. Yes, even when they’re 39 and their toilet’s gone bananas.

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What’s the Best Advice You’ve Received About Fatherhood?

With Father’s Day around the corner, we’re looking for tips you’d like to pass on.

By The New York Times

Parenthood does not come with a definitive instruction manual. While there are scores of books, influencers and classes offering guidance on how to raise children, the experts all have their own, sometimes wildly different, methods. Family members or strangers on the internet who may or may not have been asked for their advice are also eager to share their often conflicting opinions. And, still, even though men are spending more time at home with their families, many of those discussions are aimed at mothers.

That’s not to say dads aren’t searching for advice. Anyone with a child, no matter what age, needs help at some point, and, in the midst of all the noise, fathers find the strategies, tips, and yes, dad jokes, that work for them.

Ahead of Father’s Day, we’d like to hear your best pieces of advice for dads today. If you’re already a father, it could be a hack that was passed down to you, or one you discovered almost by mistake. Maybe you have a seemingly magic formula to calm down a fussy kid, or a way to stay connected to a teenager in your life. Is there a parenting motto that kept you sane when things got tough? Is there something special your own father did that you wish other dads knew about?

Please fill out the form below to share your experiences and tips, and your response may be part of an upcoming article. We will not publish any part of your submission without contacting you. A reporter will be in touch first.

Share your best advice for dads

El Paso libraries and Khalid's Foundation celebrate Father's Day essay winners

by David Ibave

EL PASO, Texas (KFOX14/CBS4) — Ahead of Father's Day, the Great Khalid Foundation celebrated the winners of its Father's Day essay contest.

The El Paso Public Libraries, along with the El Paso R&B singer Khalid's foundation, held a reading and awards ceremony Friday afternoon at the Westside Branch Library located at 125 Belvidere Street, near Coronado High School, to honor the winners of their 2024 Father's Day essay contest winners.

Khalid did not make an appearance, but his mother Linda Wolfe was present and handed the awards to the winners.

Winners received prize packages they could give to their fathers or father figures on Sunday.

Winners also had the opportunity to read their winning essays to attendees.

RECOMMENDED: El Paso community leaders chow down at cereal-eating contest to fight food insecurity

KFOX14/CBS4 spoke with Theodora Ordaz, one of the winners, who said she entered the contest to show her dad how much she appreciates everything he has done for her,

My dad has always done so many great things for me and my family. And sometimes I feel like he sacrifices himself before us. I really wanted to thank him for all he does for us.

Ordaz said the decision was sort of spur of the moment, as she saw the flyer announcing the contest the day before.

Thankfully, it seems like Ordaz's father is the "best dad ever," as she said it took her only one hour to write the winning essay.

Ordaz thanked the Great Khalid Foundation for the opportunity and said she is looking forward to entering both the Mother's and Father's Day contests in 2025.

RECOMMENDED: El Paso and Fort Bliss team up to help veterans transition into city jobs

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The Cultural Significance and Influence of my Swedes Chart in Modern Society

This essay about “My Swedes Chart” explores its cultural significance and influence in modern society. Initially created for educational purposes, the chart has become a symbol of Swedish cultural representation, impacting education, media, art, and social discourse. It promotes understanding of Swedish culture, aids in discussions on immigration and diversity, and helps shape personal and collective identities. Its digital presence further enhances its educational and cultural value.

How it works

The cultural significance and influence of “My Swedes Chart” in modern society is a multifaceted phenomenon that encapsulates the intricate ways in which visual aids can reflect, shape, and transform cultural identities and societal norms. This essay delves into the diverse dimensions of this influence, exploring how “My Swedes Chart” has become a cultural artifact that resonates across various domains, including education, media, art, and social discourse.

“My Swedes Chart,” initially conceived as a tool for educational and informational purposes, has transcended its utilitarian origins to become a symbol of cultural representation and identity.

At its core, the chart provides a visual representation of Swedish culture, demographics, and societal trends. This visualization has played a crucial role in fostering a deeper understanding of Sweden’s unique cultural landscape, both within the country and internationally.

One of the most profound impacts of “My Swedes Chart” lies in its educational value. In classrooms across the world, educators use the chart to teach students about Swedish history, geography, and societal structure. By presenting complex data in a visually accessible format, the chart enhances students’ engagement and comprehension. This educational utility is not confined to Sweden alone; the chart serves as a gateway for global students to explore and appreciate the nuances of Swedish culture, thus promoting cultural literacy and fostering a sense of global interconnectedness.

Moreover, “My Swedes Chart” has found a prominent place in media and popular culture. Journalists and media outlets frequently reference the chart in articles and reports that discuss Sweden’s social policies, demographic changes, and cultural phenomena. This widespread media usage underscores the chart’s credibility and authority as a source of accurate and relevant information. By embedding the chart in their narratives, media professionals contribute to shaping public perception and discourse about Sweden, influencing how people worldwide understand and engage with Swedish culture.

In the realm of art, “My Swedes Chart” has inspired a variety of creative expressions. Artists and designers have reinterpreted the chart in innovative ways, integrating its elements into visual art, graphic design, and multimedia projects. These artistic reinterpretations not only celebrate the chart’s aesthetic qualities but also provoke thought and dialogue about the cultural themes it represents. Through art, the chart becomes a canvas for exploring identity, belonging, and the intersections of tradition and modernity in Swedish society.

The influence of “My Swedes Chart” extends beyond cultural representation to encompass social and political dimensions. In recent years, the chart has been utilized in discussions about immigration, diversity, and social integration in Sweden. By illustrating demographic shifts and cultural trends, the chart provides a factual basis for debates about national identity and social cohesion. Activists and policymakers leverage the chart to advocate for inclusive policies and to highlight the contributions of immigrant communities to Swedish society. In this context, the chart becomes a tool for promoting social justice and equity, reinforcing the idea that cultural diversity is a strength rather than a challenge.

Furthermore, “My Swedes Chart” plays a role in shaping personal and collective identities. For individuals of Swedish descent living abroad, the chart serves as a tangible link to their heritage, fostering a sense of pride and connection to their roots. It also facilitates cultural exchange by providing a structured way for people to share and compare their cultural experiences. In this way, the chart acts as a bridge between different generations and communities, preserving cultural memory and fostering a shared sense of belonging.

The digital age has amplified the reach and impact of “My Swedes Chart.” Online platforms and social media have enabled the chart to circulate widely, reaching diverse audiences and stimulating global conversations about Swedish culture. The chart’s digital presence allows for interactive and participatory engagement, as users can explore the data in more dynamic and personalized ways. This interactivity enhances the chart’s educational and cultural value, making it a powerful tool for both individual learning and collective dialogue.

In conclusion, “My Swedes Chart” is far more than a mere informational graphic; it is a cultural artifact that encapsulates the richness and complexity of Swedish society. Its significance and influence permeate various aspects of modern life, from education and media to art and social discourse. By providing a visual representation of Sweden’s cultural landscape, the chart fosters understanding, dialogue, and connection among diverse audiences. As it continues to evolve and adapt to new contexts, “My Swedes Chart” will undoubtedly remain a vital tool for cultural exploration and expression in the ever-changing tapestry of modern society.

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The Cultural Significance and Influence of My Swedes Chart in Modern Society. (2024, Jun 17). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cultural-significance-and-influence-of-my-swedes-chart-in-modern-society/

"The Cultural Significance and Influence of My Swedes Chart in Modern Society." PapersOwl.com , 17 Jun 2024, https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cultural-significance-and-influence-of-my-swedes-chart-in-modern-society/

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Cultural Significance and Influence of My Swedes Chart in Modern Society . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cultural-significance-and-influence-of-my-swedes-chart-in-modern-society/ [Accessed: 18 Jun. 2024]

"The Cultural Significance and Influence of My Swedes Chart in Modern Society." PapersOwl.com, Jun 17, 2024. Accessed June 18, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cultural-significance-and-influence-of-my-swedes-chart-in-modern-society/

"The Cultural Significance and Influence of My Swedes Chart in Modern Society," PapersOwl.com , 17-Jun-2024. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cultural-significance-and-influence-of-my-swedes-chart-in-modern-society/. [Accessed: 18-Jun-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2024). The Cultural Significance and Influence of My Swedes Chart in Modern Society . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/the-cultural-significance-and-influence-of-my-swedes-chart-in-modern-society/ [Accessed: 18-Jun-2024]

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