ON LETTER WRITING

                                                                                                           -Alpha of the plough

Alpha of the plough was the pen name of A.G. Gardiner. He was one of the finest essayists. In this essay "On Letter Writing" he talks about the lost art of letter writing.

The essay opens with the conversation between two soldiers Bill and Sam. They find it very difficult to write letters.

A.G. Gardiner says that letter writing is not practised by many people now-a-days. They do not have the gift of self-expression. They are not able to condense the atmosphere into concrete word.

The art of letter writing was killed by penny post and modern hurry. The poor people could not enjoy the luxury of letter writing. In those days a letter was an important event.

The art of letter writing is not practiced in our age. This is because of the advent of the penny post. Letter writing has become very cheap. So people do not bother to write good letters. Moreover the telephone, the telegraph and the type writer has destroyed  the art of letter writing.

Modern people do not write literary letters. They are not able to put the great things that happened in their life into words. The secret of letter writing is intimate triviality and through such trivialities a living picture  should be presented.

In short, a good letter should be written in a light and casual way. It should be simple and perfect. It should be personal and not abstract. It should not be orderly, stately and elaborate like a good essay. It should be written in a familiar tone.

        

     Thus A.G. Gardiner advices the readers to review the art of letter writing by constant practice.