It is no secret that today’s society does not use letter
writing as a form of communication as often as previous times did. However,
this does not lessen the importance of them or the importance of knowing the
history of letter writing. Letters in the medieval time period “might be more
informal and intimate than public documents and orations, but given the high
cost of acquiring literacy and preparing and preserving writing materials,
letter were never tread quite so casually as they are today” (p.492).
The anonymous author of The
Principles of Letter Writing, spent a majority of this piece on salutations
and the different (most appropriate) ones to use based on the writer’s
audience. I know that I have not written a letter with paper and pencil for a
long time, but I do find myself writing emails to various people which, I
think, counts as a form of letter writing for today’s world.
Today, people are, most likely, not writing letters to the
Pope, an Emperor, Monk, Nobleman, etc. where salutations such as “allegiance of
due servitude” (p.498, column 2), or “uninterrupted affection with unceasing
good wishes” (p.500, column 1) would be used, but a form of respect is seen
within all of the examples of salutations, even when writing between friends:
“bound to one another by a mutual union of affection” (p.500, column 1). Understanding
the history and role salutations played in medieval rhetoric can apply to
rhetoric today by making sure a writer is addressing their audience with a
correct salutation. Salutations may not be as elaborate as they once were, but they
are still used in almost all letter writing and respect between individuals can
still be seen.
Jennie, I thought the salutations part was also fascinating. It seemed like much of their approach to letter writing was based upon marking respect and even adoration prior to asking for something or getting into their discussion. I believe it is one way in which one can define their character and demonstrate their appeal to the audience to see them as a "good man (or woman)" speaking well.
ReplyDeleteI think your point about the emergence of email as a form of correspondence requiring rhetorical skill is an important one. Although letter writing is far from dead (part of my job involves sorting mail for young college students, and the number of letters some of them get is obscene), I think there are interesting things happening in the digital and multimodal world with technologies that involve, for example, salutations, especially if we stick to The Principles of Letter Writing definition of a salutation as "an expression of greeting conveying a friendly sentiment" (497 5.1). Emails certainly involve such greetings, but what about modes of communication like messaging (especially in a professional context) and introductory notes attached to artistic fan pieces (depending on the site)? Electronic communications like these can also include greetings to readers. If you accept that this is the case, salutations are still an important part of the way we communicate even with modern technology and among friends. And I doubt they are going anywhere anytime soon.
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