Strunk and White First Impressions…
15 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
I read Strunk and White my senior year of high school for a creative writing class, so no impression was necessarily made on me. However, since I have not read this book in a few years, it was nice to look through it again and review some key points.
I think that as a student, Strunk and White is very useful. There are many examples in the book of good writing techniques, but many of the techniques are something that writers have already learned. So although this book is useful as a writer and a student, much of it is just a review. Don’t get me wrong, I find it very helpful, because some things that I’ve learned as a writer I tend to forget. Strunk and White is a nice reminder of those devices that can be used for good writing.
I like that this book is more of a manual than an actual essay or article like the other pieces we have read. This “manual” style of writing makes it an easy and fast read.
The section that I found particularly useful was the chapter entitled “An Approach to Style” (66). Until I took this class, I never really focused much on style. I usually tended to think more about grammar and usage of words in my writing, and how everything fit together. I’ve come to realize now that style has everything to do with good writing, and this chapter helped to remind me of some useful techniques and ideas about style in writing.
The section that was not useful to me was “Elementary Principles of Composition” (15). I felt like any writer should know these things prior to writing something. The title of the chapter kind of lays it out for me…”elementary”…many of the things mentioned in this chapter are things you might learn in elementary school…things that perhaps a good writer should never forget. I feel that this section of the book would not be useful to many writers, because many of them, and hopefully all of them, would already know and understand the principles of composition.
Overall, I enjoyed reading this book. It was a fast read, and quite easy to understand. The manual style of it kept my attention and it was interesting to review some of the things that I’ve already learned as a writer.
