(1762), a work remarkable in the history of aesthetics for its attempt to equate beauty with what is pleasant to the natural senses of sight and hearing. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. ", Barry goes on to say that rhetoric teaches. This is an example of cultural c… Change ), You are commenting using your Google account. Most of my writing was for reporting the status of construction projects. 3. We each may have variations to this, but unless you were raised outside of the United States, you are strongly (consciously or unconsciously) influenced by an American perspective. While until twenty years after my brief sojourn in the Creative Writing program at San Francisco State University (then San Francisco State College.) White has just been republished in a 50th-anniversary edition. Stylistics, then, is the pursuit of understanding key elements of style that affect a given audience's interpretation of a text. Never tedious or boring, it’s always amazing how the book’s clear and  staccatto presentation of what it represents as the most important tools of intelligent English discourse, is actually fun reading. As art critics, when we look at a painting, sculpture, or other form of art, we don't approach it as something that we like or dislike. Our eldest son Aaron, had just entered our local community college and was showing me the newly purchased textbooks he had arrayed across the top of his bedroom dresser. Deconstruction, form of philosophical and literary analysis, derived mainly from work begun in the 1960s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, that questions the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or “oppositions,” in Western philosophy through a close examination of the language and logic of philosophical and literary texts. The Elements of Style . The original Elements of Style was a textbook written by William Strunk Jr. for his Cornell English class. It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention (in Chapters II and III) on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated. Diction: The correctness of the overall grammar (big picture) or … The free Kindle version is an excellent research tool, but E.B.White’s later resurrection and  editorial annotation of Professor Strunk’s, originally mimeographed and hand-stapled, handout is well worth the price of one of Amazon’s  hard copies. Thanks to that initial reading of my son’s copy of The Elements of Style, I think I was able to pull it off in a credible manner and even help others to tighten up and improve their own business writing. Use the organizer to make notes and observations about the elements of the author’s style. A book review by Danny Yee © 1994 http://dannyreviews.com/. . ( Log Out /  Elementary Rules From Elements of Style: Form the possessive singular of nouns by adding ‘s In series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. 2. Elementary Principles of Composition. It contains eight rules of usage, ten rules of composition, some notes on miscellaneous matters of form in writing (such as headings, numerals, and quotations), and … Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. Some may swear by it, but let’s be clear: this book is … Basic Elements of Style – Diction, Syntax, Point of View, Tone, Theme Diction = word choice – A study of diction is the analysis of how a writer uses language for a distinct purpose and effect, including word choice and figures of speech. The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition, is the absolute must-have book for anyone aspiring to write any sort of content. The Elements of Style Summary. When it was first published, The Elements of Style was favorably reviewed in newspapers nationwide. American poet Dorothy Parker has, regarding the book, said: Learn how your comment data is processed. 4. New Criticism is an approach to literature made popular in the 20th century that evolved out of formalist criticism. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of William Strunk and E.B. In one sense it seems to refer to all the elements of language and structure evident on the surface of a text. © Vernon Miles Kerr and vernonmileskerr.com, 2013-2018. It is even referenced by some of the other books mentioned in this post. 12/13/2020 AP English Language and Composition; 1/3 Style Analysis Directions: There are two parts to this assignment, so read the instructions for Parts 1 and 2 carefully. III. White's The Elements of Style … He says that stylistics' analysis of these similar qualities—or rather how they are utilized—would, therefore, entail that stylistics is a modern interpretation of the ancient study. ... , Literary style, Sex in Plants, Botany, Plants, Literary Style. It is linguistic analysis plus literary criticism. It emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object. I was confident that my little shortcut to scholarship would work just as well as tedium and elbow grease. The author adopts a variety of style elements depending on his or her purpose, audience, and genre. Learn literature elements style with free interactive flashcards. By using ThoughtCo, you accept our, The Writer's Voice in Literature and Rhetoric, Rhetorical Analysis Definition and Examples, Definition of Belles-Lettres in English Grammer, Word Choice in English Composition and Literature, Overview of Baroque Style in English Prose and Poetry, Definition and Examples of Explication (Analysis), Understanding the Use of Language Through Discourse Analysis, How a character changes throughout the story, element of the story to represent something else, Ph.D., Rhetoric and English, University of Georgia, M.A., Modern English and American Literature, University of Leicester, B.A., English, State University of New York, Theme: A message delivered by or shown in a work; its central topic or big idea. Part 1: Copy and paste your selected passage, including title and author, in the space below. Choose from 500 different sets of literature elements style flashcards on Quizlet. The Elements of Style was required for my Communication 101 class in 1956. Thanks for the comment, Mitch. I didn’t learn about The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. I enjoyed reading and the typical curriculum for an English major in college requires a lot of that. And a very clever artist has figured out how to illustrate sentence fragments, misused words, the hyphen, participle phrases and lots of other teeth gritting English stumbling blocks—in a very Magritte sort of way. “What’s this little guy?” I asked, picking it up and opening it to the Introduction. Style in writing is not what is said but how it is said. In many ways, stylistics is an interdisciplinarity study of textual interpretations, using both language comprehension and an understanding of social dynamics. Ever. Place a comma before and or but introducing an independent clause. For understanding literary criticism, we first need to drive home the concept of literature which is best not defined on the basis of whether it can be imaginative or fictional. [David Watson Rannie] Alliteration: Close repetition of consonants, used for effect. I read and read, always with a virtual ear opened for writing and rhetorical style. This Study Guide consists of approximately 34 pages of chapter summaries, quotes, character analysis, themes, and more - everything you need to sharpen your knowledge of The Elements of Style. Stylistics is a branch of applied linguistics concerned with the study of style in texts, especially, but not exclusively, in literary works. New Criticism was a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism in the middle decades of the 20th century. 4. The Elements of Style (p. 1). An author's way of using the elements creates their distinct writing voice. Upon its release, Charles Poor, writing for The New York Times, called it "a splendid trophy for all who are interested in reading and writing." Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. The elements of style; an introduction to literary criticism,. I didn’t learn about The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. It is even referenced by some of the other books mentioned in this post. Just as a baseball pitcher studies how to properly grip and throw a type of pitch a certain way, to make the ball go in a certain location, and to create a game plan based on a lineup of specific hitters, studying writing and literature helps people to learn how to improve their writing (and thus communication skills) as well as to learn empathy and the human condition. Human life has an aesthetic dimension in most parts of life meaning there will be a lot of potential for criticism. Studying a text closely helps to unearth layers of meaning that run deeper than just the basic plot, which happens on the surface level. While until twenty years after my brief sojourn in the Creative Writing program at San Francisco State University (then San Francisco State College.) Kindle Edition. Edit. I came upon it as the 41 year-old father of a college freshman. The Elements of Style William Strunk, Jr. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Plot Summary of “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr.. A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality study guides that feature detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, quotes, and essay topics. The classic writing guide by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. In the 1970s the term was applied to work by … Here, from the Kindle Edition, are the subjects covered in the Table of Contents. The Elements of Style is the definitive text and classic manual on the principles of English language read by millions of readers. To quote Stuart Hall: It could be said that growing up in America contributes to an ‘American worldview’. As life would have it, I dd not go into the writing business after college but I did get a lot of writing practice in my three pre-retirement careers as bank officer, sales and marketing manager and finally, computer software developer and manager. The capper was when a Biology Lab Teaher’s Assistant  — not even a real professor — gave me a “D” on some required lab notes because of several spelling and grammatical errors. The Elements of Style does not deserve the enormous esteem in which it is held by American college graduates. Colloquialisms: Informal words, such as slang and regional terms. It gives advice on grammar, word choice, appropriate use of different syntactical constructions and similar topics. ( Log Out /  Form the possessive singular of nouns with ’s. The Elements of Style was listed as one of the 100 best and most influential books written in English since 1923 by Time in its 2011 list. Various concepts are broken down and many example sentences are provided. A stylistician's textual analysis is influenced by rhetoric reasoning and history. Michael Burke describes the field in "The Routledge Handbook of Stylistics" as an empirical or forensic discourse critique, wherein the stylistician is. From the rising-star designer and author of the hit blog, Elements of Style, a full-color, fully illustrated book packed with honest advice, inspiration, ideas, and lessons learned about designing a home that reflects your personality and style. The author adopts a variety of style elements depending on his or her purpose, audience, and genre. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Vernon Miles Kerr and vernonmileskerr.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. Elements of criticism. It’s the best. By becoming wrapped up in a character's thoughts and actions in a book, story, or poem, people experience that narrator's point of view and can draw on that knowledge and those feelings when interacting with others in real life who might have similar thought processes or actions. Its advice ranges from limp platitudes to inconsistent nonsense. Analyzing an author's style involves analyzing the writer's unique way of communicating ideas. But when you try to analyze those surface features, you find yourself very quickly being drawn into the realm of rhetoric with its focus on context, audience, and purpose. Also called literary linguistics, stylistics focuses on the figures, tropes, and other rhetorical devices used to provide variety and a distinctness to someone's writing. However, he also notes that stylistics differs from simple close reading in the following ways: Stylistics is arguing for the universality of language usage while close reading hinges upon an observation of how this particular style and usage may vary from and thereby make an error relating to the norm. But even in 2017, The Elements of Style occupies a pride of place in the canon of literary how-to manuals, with many teachers holding it up Bible-ishly, and with many students following it to the letter. ( Log Out /  Assonance: Close repetition of vowels, used for effect. P. F. This book is a terse pocket-guide full of best practices for forming sentences. Arriving from community college into the upper-division  English program at State — at the time, reputedly, one of the best Creative Writing programs in the country — I experienced a rather abrupt and rude awakening. Big-Picture Elements. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. 1. Elements of style studied in literary works are what is up for discussion in any literature or writing class, such as: Elements of style are the characteristics of the language used in the written work, and stylistics is their study. The classic writing guide by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. Strunk, William. Great Review. The Elements of Style is concise, easy to understand and practically perfect. ( Log Out /  So I set about to learn writing by osmosis. . White has just been republished in a 50th-anniversary edition. White's The Elements of Style … This year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of William Strunk and E.B. New Criticism, in simple terms, is a critical movement that propagates the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’.” In focusing on the text itself (“close reading“), New Critics intentionally ignore the author, the reader, and the social context. Elements of criticism. 4. Haven’t dusted it off in years but, yeah, Mr. Strunk set me straight once upon a time, as well. This form of critical analysis refrains from analyzing the biographical and historical context of a poem. In a series of three or more terms with a single conjunction, use a comma after each term except the last. Strunk and White's The Elements of Style deals only with style in the narrow sense. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. In accordance with this plan it lays down three rules for the use of the comma, instead of a score or more, and one for the use of the semicolon, in the belief that these four rules provide for all the internal punctuation that is required by nineteen sentences out of twenty.”. This type of Criticism is considered to be a part of aesthetics which are concerned with judging the beauty and awareness style and fashion and other issues of human sentiment very critically. It's no wonder, then, that author Peter Barry uses rhetoric to define stylistics as "the modern version of the ancient discipline known as rhetoric," in his book "Beginning Theory. The 18 main topics are organized under the headings, “Elementary Rules of Usage,” “Elementary Principles of Composition,” “A Few Matters of Form,” “Words and Expressions Commonly Misused,” and “Words Often Misspelled.” Get this from a library! Strunk, William. I have a terrible memory, so Strunk & White is a great refresher for me every little once in a while. Raised in Connecticut by a creative mother and self-taught architectural designer, Erin learned to love every aspect of the home building and decorating process from a very young age… Read More Rhetorical analysis is a form of criticism that uses principles of rhetoric to examine interactions between a text, an author, and an audience. Since that initial exposure to “Stunk & White”  both I, and my wife have purchased several copies of this little manual and have kept them handy for not-infrequent reference and  occasional entertainment. In my high school and early college days, “being a writer” was my dream, but the act of writing and pouring through peevish grammar texts was drudgery. Some may swear by it, but let’s be clear: this book is … Analyzing an author's style involves understanding the particular way a text is written. New Criticism coined by John Crowe Ransom’s The New Criticism in 1941, came to be applied to theory and practice that was prominent in American literary criticism until late in t… However, it can be described in terms of the way it makes use of languages in different ways. According to Katie Wales in "A Dictionary of Stylistics," the goal of. It is liberally illustrated with examples, with correct and incorrect usage in parallel, and has a whole section on common mistakes. 5th ed. Write in a chronological sequence and format in logical sequence (one paragraph: one idea, go from simpler to more complex) I was immediately intrigued, as I usually am, by something that promises a short-cut method of achieving  results that normally require some effort. A participial phrase at the beginning of a sentence must refer to the grammatical subject, Make the paragraph the unit of composition: one paragraph to each topic, As a rule, begin each paragraph with a topic sentence; end it in conformity with the beginning, Use definite, specific, concrete language, Express co-ordinate ideas in similar form. But even in 2017, The Elements of Style occupies a pride of place in the canon of literary how-to manuals, with many teachers holding it up Bible-ishly, and with many students following it to the letter. Tags: Great Writing, Books, Grammer, Elements of Style, The Chronicle Review, If you love an old fashioned grammarian throw down, we've got a good one for you. 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