Steer Clear of Adjectives

There is an ancient piece of classroom wisdom that is not entirely misguided when it states: steer clear of adjectives! Editors are unlikely to grumble about a missing adjective, but they will use up their pencils crossing out superfluous ones. When in doubt, leave it out. The critic Wolf Schneider provides an excellent illustration: “If the author of The Linden Tree had written—instead of ‘By the well, before the gate, stands a linden tree’—‘By the tumbled-down well, in front of the dilapidated, vine-clad gate, stands a gnarled old linden tree,’ his poem would not have been set to music by Schubert.” Quite so. Once the right verb and the right noun have been found, the writer has a full load and can set out for home (or embark on a Winterreise). That is the approach of the adjective skeptic. In the words of the poet-diplomat Paul Claudel, la crainte de l’adjectif est le commencement du style—fear of the adjective is the beginning of style.

MICHAEL MAAR