What Is Style??

"Style" is a term that I believe allows for multiple interpretations and varying definitions. While Merriam Webster Online defines the term in regards to it's writing and speech relation as, "A distinctive manner of expression", I believe that the definition of "style" is in essence how one views it. To one person "style" may be just a manner of expression, while to another, "style" may be a mechanic or tool of writing/speech. While these two views of "style" may at first appear to be similar, I suggest the opposite. I feel that "style" as a manner of expression include the ways that one showcases their work (poems, journals, blogs, etc.), whereas "style" defined as tools or mechanics of a text include items writers utilize like literary devices (allusions, metaphors, etc.) or the way they structure their works (difference in meter in poems, the idea of iambic meter vs free verse, etc.).

While I mentioned before that "style" is something that varies from one person to another, there is one other thing I'd like to discuss. When I was chatting with my roommate the other day, he asked how my blog was going. I responded with the usual "Oh yea, its going good" answer, then he asked me what I was blogging about. As I explained that I was typing up my definition and view on "style" he simply looked at me and said, "Why don't you just look it up on-line and call it a day, I wouldn't put much effort into that." As he walked away it crossed my mind that my roommate's "style" may not help him get very far and from there I just smiled and kept typing...I found the irony in this situation humorous.