E. B. White

E. B. White (1899-1985), American writer, famous for his essays and children's literature. His light verse is also notable for its wit and perfection of form. Elwyn Brooks White was born in Mount Vernon, New York, and educated at Cornell University. He joined the staff of the magazine The New Yorker in 1926, when it had just been founded, and remained a regular contributor for many years. In 1929 he married Katherine Angell, the magazine's first fiction editor. From 1938 to 1943 White was also associated with Harper's magazine, for which he wrote a widely read monthly column entitled “One Man's Meat.” White's elegantly written essays gently satirize the complexities and difficulties of modern civilization. Besides his verse, his writings include the collected essays One Man's Meat (1942) and The Points of My Compass (1962); the children's books Stuart Little (1945), Charlotte's Web (1952), and The Trumpet of the Swan (1970); and a tribute to New York City, Here Is New York (1949). His revised edition of The Elements of Style (1959, originally published, 1918) by his former professor William Strunk, Jr., has become a fundamental work on the use of the English language. The Letters of E. B. White, published in 1976, was followed by The Essays of E. B. White in 1977.