William Strunk Jr.
William Strunk Jr. (
July 1,
1869,
Cincinnati, Ohio—
September 26,
1946,
Ithaca, New York) was Professor of
English at
Cornell University and is best known as the author of the first editions of
The Elements of Style, a guide to
English usage, which he had printed privately in
1918 for the use of his students. It became a classic on the local campus, known as "the little book".
In the original edition, Strunk describes the purpose of the book as follows: :"It aims to lighten the task of instructor and student by concentrating attention ... on a few essentials, the rules of usage and principles of composition most commonly violated."
The original was revised in
1935 by Strunk and Edward A. Tenney and published under the title
The Elements and Practice of Composition. After Strunk's death, it was again revised by
E.B. White, an editor at
The New Yorker who had been one of Strunk's students. The
1959 edition of
The Elements of Style (often referred to as "Strunk and White") became the companion of most
American writers as well as most
college freshmen.
Strunk earned a bachelor's degree at the
University of Cincinnati in 1890 and a Ph.D. at Cornell University in 1896. He taught English at Cornell for forty-six years. The only other book Strunk wrote was
English Metres, published locally in 1922. Better known as an editor, Strunk edited works by important authors including
William Shakespeare,
John Dryden, and
James Fenimore Cooper. He served as a literary consultant to the 1936
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film version of
Romeo and Juliet.
Strunk married Olivia Emilie Locke in 1900, and they had two sons and a daughter.
* The full text of Strunk's original
Elements of Style from
Bartleby.com* The full text of the updated E.B. White version
Elements of Style
