Of Love
by Francis Bacon
1. What is the meaning of 'Of' in of Love?
Ans: The meaning of 'of' in “Of Love” is “about”.
2. What is more beholding for love affairs?
Ans: The stage is more beholding for love than the life of a man.
3. Why is stage more beholding for love affairs?
Ans: The stage is more beholding or indebted to love affairs because love is the subject matter of both tragedies and comedies.
4. What are 'Siren' and Fury?
Ans: The siren is a partly human female creature that lured sailors onto destructive rocks with their singing, and Fury is the goddess of Revenge.
5. What did Epicurus say on love?
Ans: Epicurus said, “Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus” meaning “We are a sufficiently large theatre, one for another.”
6. How does the author differentiate between a flatterer and a lover?
Ans: The author differentiates between a flatterer and a lover by saying that man’s ego is a man’s chief flatterer but a lover is a greater flatterer than even the ego of a man.
7. How can love enter into the well-fortified hearts?
Ans: Love can enter into the well-fortified hearts ‘if watch be not well kept’.
8. What is the excess of the passion of love?
Ans: The excess of the passion of love is that ‘it braves the nature and value of things’.
9. How can love with strong passion affect us?
Ans: Love with strong passion affect us “sometimes like a siren and sometimes like a fury”.
10. 'That it is impossible to love and to be wise" – who wrote this?
Ans: Francis Bacon wrote, 'That it is impossible to love and to be wise" in his essay “Of Love”.
11. Why is it impossible to love and be wise at the same time?
Ans: It is impossible to love and be wise at the same time because love makes a lover think foolishly and absurdly of himself and more absurdly of his beloved.
12. How many kinds of love are mentioned by Bacon in "Of Love"? [NU 2014, 2016]
Ans: Bacon mentioned three kinds of love in "Of Love". They are nuptial love, friendly love and wanton love.
13. What is meant by "Nuptial love"?
Ans: "Nuptial love" refers to love between husband and wife.
14. What does nuptial love do?
Ans: Nuptial love “maketh mankind”.
15. What is love more suitable for?
Ans: Love is more suitable for stage performance.
16. What types of love are good for mankind according to Bacon?
Ans: According to Bacon, friendly love and nuptial love are good for mankind.
17. What matches best for love affairs?
Ans: The stage matches best for love affairs.
18. When do the people respond to love affairs?
Ans: People respond to love affairs when they become weak because of great prosperity or great adversity.
19. What role does love play in actual life?
Ans: In actual life, love plays the role of a mischievous person sometimes like a siren and sometimes like a fury.
20. How does the author conclude about love?
Ans: The author concludes the essay “Of Love” by saying, “Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth, and embaseth it”.
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