The Art of Letter Writing

I hope isn't dead. I think about letters received and written and the most poetic of words stem from passion, love and loneliness. It reveals feelings so deep that perhaps one may not be able to string such words together when face to face. 

It's true, (Ms. Doyle) that in the digital age the act of pen to paper is far more meaningful. Perhaps (unlike the book) we don't use words that were thrown around in the 1750s in a letter to a loved one these days. Despite this, language is so important, I sure hope the words we use on paper are far better than a lyric from a basic pop/cheesy RnB song from the last decade or so.

I picked up "Love Letters Of Great Men" today. The words between Denis Diderot and Sophie Volland are some of my favorite at first glance Here's two excerpts:

First from Diderot, 1759

"I am wholly yours - you are everything to me; we will sustain each other in all the ills of life it may please fate to inflict upon us; you will soothe my troubles; I will comfort you in yours...

Never was a passion more justified by reason than mine...

 I am as happy as a man can be in knowing that I am loved by the best of women"

pg. 30-31

From Volland, 1759

"... your very presence would not have delighted me more than your first letter did. How impatiently I waited for it! I am sure my hands trembled when opening it. My countenance changed; my voice altered...

My affection for you is ardent and sincere. I would love you even more than I do, if I knew how."

pg.31