The Art of Letter Writing

The art of letter writing

Some of us will have written and received Christmass cards this year. Often people will write a little letter to include with the card letting the recipient know what has been going on over the last 12 months. While I joyfully receive any card, it is the ones with an epistle inside that gives me a special joy.

Letters make us pause and imagine the lives behind the letters and the circumstances of their origin. They help deepen our understanding of these inspiring artefacts of the human condition. They are windows into the love, beauty, pain, and humour of their creators and recipients.

And these are not the only types of letters we write. Letters of complaint, job applications, thank you letters, letters requesting changes or making suggestions — the list goes on and on.

But the thing that really moves me when I receive a written letter or card is that at some level I am aware that the sender actually sat down and physically wrote this letter. Their hands touched the card I am now holding. The words on the page are in their own handwriting. They moved the pen over this card, they sealed the envelope and posted it by hand. And no matter the content, no matter how glib or trite or illegible the writing, there is a very real sense in which the sender has offered me a small part of themselves. A glimpse into their life and a physical, tangible, re-readable artefact of themselves.

Emails may connect us in a shiny, slick way but there is something more heartfelt and beautiful in a written card or letter than words on a screen. Maybe in a world that has failed to connect, we might rediscover the art of letter writing which can connect us all.