The cornerstones of style

The word ‘style’ is quite popular as far as clothes are concerned. Each person has a particular style of dressing himself. Women are more conscious of style than men. They try out different styles of clothing to remain attractive. Style cannot be confined to clothes alone because there are different hairstyles as well. Writers also have a style which differs from person to person. William Shakespeare’s style is quite different from that of Francis Bacon.

Although style cannot be taught in a classroom, there are certain aspects of it which need to be studied. At prestigious universities, students are taught the rudiments of style and how to improve it. F.T. Lucas, the distinguished Fellow and lecturer of King’s College, Cambridge University, attempted to answer the question “What is style?” on many occasions. He said there are certain basic principles observed by many writers as far as style is concerned.

According to Prof. Lucas, the first principle of style is honesty. The writer should respect the truth and remain an honest person. He should also respect his readers. It is a matter of courtesy. The great Chinese philosopher Confucius said, “The gentleman is courteous, but not pliable: Common men are pliable, but not courteous.”

Miracles

Readers will not respect a writer who is not true to himself. There are some writers who write for money, giving a wrong message to readers. It is said that a popular leader of a religious cult in India had spent large sums of money to boost his ego. He had hired writers to popularise his miracles to unsuspecting members of the public. But sooner or later, such authors expose themselves to ridicule.

Writers who are after money cannot fool the people all the time. In writing, pretence does not work. When a writer distorts the truth and gives a rosy picture to the gullible reader, his false self is exposed. However, it is practically difficult to remain honest all the time. For instance, some writers use long, high-sounding words to impress the reader. Any observant reader will realise that such a style can only come from a charlatan. On the other hand, a writer will try to be eccentric to show readers that he is writing something original. Such attempts are futile. It is similar to wearing a wig to hide your age!

The second cornerstone of style is courtesy. In other words, the writer has to respect the reader. For instance, if your writing is not clear, you run the risk of being discourteous to the reader. If the reader finds it difficult to understand what he reads, he will give up reading anything offered by the writer. The writer should write in such a way that his readers will not misunderstand him. Once a message was sent by the king of England to the governor of a colony. It read, “Kill him not save.” The message was clearly ambiguous and the poor prisoner was put to death. However, it is said that the king wanted to save the prisoner’s life!

Changing style

Most well-known writers have tried their work on simple people to see whether they could understand it. For instance, Jonathan Swift read his writings to one of his domestics. If he did not understand, Swift would change his style of writing. Although eminent writers are so humble to do such experiments, bureaucrats issue press releases, memoranda and reports nobody can comprehend.

Brevity is another cornerstone of style. If a writer uses 100 words to convey a message which can be done with 10 words, the reader will not respect him. Brief statements can be understood easily. We still remember brief Latin sayings such as Vita brevis, ars longa (Life is short, art is long). A Scottish professor used to ask his students to tear out the first page of their assignments because long preambles were anathema to him.

At a local university, a professor waxed eloquent for two hours, but the students understood nothing. During the next session, a young assistant lecturer spoke for 15 minutes and students absorbed everything he said.

Spartans

Although there are certain areas which have to be explained at length, most writers and speakers beat about the bush. Such people can learn a lesson from Spartans. When Philip of Macedon wrote to the Spartans that if he came within their borders, he would leave not one stone of their city. Spartans wrote back the answer with one word: “If.”

Although honesty, courtesy, brevity and clarity are the cornerstones of style, you need a little bit of humour, variety and imagination to embellish your writing. Some writers such as James Thurber were born with such exquisite qualities. Others have to cultivate them.