On Style
Style is a very ambiguous word. Asking the question, “What is Style?” is almost a philosophical endeavor, comparable with “What is Truth?” Asking the question, “What is Good Style?” is even harder. Society’s boundaries are constantly shifting to accept or banish items from the definition, in art and writing specifically. Yet there are certain elements that remain constant in all these changes, and these are the elements that style manuals try to pin down.
Before the class reading/blogging project began, I thought of style as the method a writer uses to communicate his/her ideas to the reader. I still do. If the point of writing is to communicate ideas, and the vehicle we use to transport the ideas from our brains to our readers is our STYLE, then the most important element of style is being clear.
What I have learned from reading Strunk and White's The Elements of Style and Joseph William's Style Toward Clarity and Grace is that there are a variety of ways to make writing clear. Each book has its own unique approach to the problem of establishing clear communication in print.
Strunk and White’s method of attack is from the angle of the writer. The rules outlined in the book focus on the writer’s image of what he is communicating. The rules are designed to help the writer sort through her own thoughts on paper, and extract the essence of what is being communicated. The theory seems to be that clearer writing begets clearer thinking.
For example, rule #14 in Strunk and white states "Use the active voice." If we compare the two sentences given in the example;
"Do not say: There were a great number of dead leaves lying on the ground.
Do say: Dead leaves covered the ground." (S&W 18)
we see how the active voice communicates more clearly than the passive. The excess words get in the way of what the writer is trying to say.
This is compounded in rule #17, “Omit needless words.” The passage states that “Vigorous writing is concise.” (S&W 23) This reference to vigor and other health terms is mirrored in other rules, and is a clue-in to the entire Strunk and White approach to style. Good style to them is a way of thinking, a confidence in thought that lends itself to forceful, clear statements by the writer.
Williams Style Toward Clarity and Grace carries on many of the same rules that are laid down in Strunk and White, only with a different approach.
Yunior’s encounter with drugs is first seen in “Aurora.” As a mean to help ease the financial burden on his mother, Yunior sells recreational drugs on the streets. It is a lucrative business that comes with repercussions. Yunior recollects that “Ten here, ten there, an ounce of weed for the big guy with the warts… Things around here aren’t like that yet, but more kids are dealing and bigger crews are coming in from out of town … We’re still making mad paper but it’s harder now and Cut’s already been ...
Sir Gawain and The Green Knight has prompted scholars to examine and diversely interpret the medieval narrative. One of the underlying questions that has been proposed embodies the analysis of the relationship between Christian and Pagan ideals and how knightly chivalry is influenced by religion during the Arthurian Romance period. It is no mistake that the two varied religious ideals are intertwined throughout the poem due to the nature of classical antiquity. Amidst the overlap between superstitious rituals and Orthodox- Christian beliefs it is clear that Sir Gawain has a sense of personal integrity guided by a moral compass.
Morgan, Gerald. "The Action of the Hunting and Bedroom Scenes in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Medium Aevum 56 (1987): 200-16.
Mills, M. “Christian Significance and Romance Tradition in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight.” Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Eds. Donald R. Howard and Christian Zacher. Notre Dame: UP of Notre Dame, 1968: 85-105.
Though often extensive detail may be condemned as mere flowery language, in understanding Sir Gawain and the Green Knight one must make special emphasis on it. In color and imagery itself, the unknown author paints the very fibers of this work, allowing Sir Gawain to discern the nuances of ritualistic chivalry and truth. His quest after the Green Knight is as simple as ones quest toward himself. Through acute awareness of the physical world he encounters Gawain comes to an understanding of the world beyond chivalry, a connection to G-d, the source of truth. He learns, chivalry, like a machine, will always function properly, but in order to derive meaning from its product he must allow nature to affect him.
Thesis Statement: Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows the struggle between a good Christian man against the temptations of this world.
...nscendentalism has shown signs of growth in America and it appears to be agreeable for it to continue with society. Learning from the past; what has and hasn't worked. Americans cannot forget the monumental impacts transcendentalism has made and how it has changed society today.
Transcendentalism is affecting society in a good way through music and political movements that are going on today. Transcendentalism is still apart of american culture and still bringing people to nature and the connection between nature, God, and man. Transcendentalism has not died out and is still thriving in American culture through music of Twisted Sisters, Nirvana, kendrick Lamar, and The Beatles and the political movements of Black Lives
In Gordon M. Shedd’s “Knight in Tarnished Armour: The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”, he argues that Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is truly about the strength and weaknesses of human nature. One particularly interesting part of his argument asserts that Gawain’s humanity broke medieval romance tradition.
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The Norton Anthology of English Literature, Volume A. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 2006. 162-213.
“Style is how you write, and you write well when you are interested. A writer’s own interest in the story is the essential thing. If there is a flash of warmth in him it is repeated in the reader. The emotion is bigger than style.
Markman, Alan M. "The Meaning of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight." Modern Language Association 72.4 (1957): 574-86. JSTOR. Web. 11 Nov. 2013.
In William Zinnser’s essay “Simplicity” he states that “clear thinking becomes clear writing; one can’t exist without the other.” He believes that people speak more complexly then they have to and that the key to good writing and speaking is simplicity. In his argument he goes on to say that often writers are not careful enough. They know what they are trying to say but do not know how to put it down on paper. They assume that the reader will understand what they are thinking even though their writing is not obvious to others. He does make several suggestions for improvement. Very easily one could make their writing easier to understand by simple corrections.
Gomez, Sandra. "Community and relationships ." The Beloved Guide. N.p., 11 10 2008. Web. 14 Dec. 2013. .
...es is the only truly “competitor” of Russell’s theory and it is reasonable for Russell to only mention this view in his argument.