Born on July 1, 1869, William Strunk was considered an expert in both classical and non-English literature. The Elements of Style remains his best-known book, but he worked on other things as well that showcase his knowledge and understanding of the English language—he published English Metres in 1922, a book that explained the poetical metric form. Critical editions written by Strunk of various works, such as plays of Shakespeare, works of Dryden, and many other editions, were compiled and published at this time. He even served as the literary consultant for the film Romeo and Juliet, a Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film, in 1936. The next year, he retired from his post at the Cornell University as an English professor, a job that he had held for forty-six years. William Strunk was diagnosed with senile psychosis when he suffered a mental breakdown in 1945. He died less than a year later, at the Psychiatric Institute in Poughkeepsie, New York.