Some thoughts on penmanship
Sunday, January 25, 2009 at 09:45AM Thanks to everyone who participated in National Handwriting Day on Friday! It was great fun to see everyone's handwriting samples.
As a calligrapher, you may think that my interest in regular good old penmanship has mainly to do with form and style. However, it is the personal nature of the written hand that fascinates me.
One's handwriting is intensely personal; it is an intimate possession of every person as well as an intimate expression of personality. As such, it is a very powerful voice, as individual as the spoken voice. Immediately recognizable to those who know and love you, a handwritten note received in the mail carries a bit of you along with the message it contains.
Whether your handwriting is breathtakingly beautiful, full of expressive flourishes; neat, tidy and utilitarian; or merely jots and smears, everytime you put pen or pencil to paper you leave a little of yourself on that page.
Have you ever seen a handwritten letter from person of historical significance? I have, and there is such a feeling of closeness--the strong sense of 'this was/is a real person, like me.'
When we were visiting Gettysburg, I saw a letter written by Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain to his wife, telling her of the commendations he had received as a result of his heroic leadership in the defense of Little Round Top in the Battle of Gettysburg. I'll never forget standing in the little antique shop in downtown Gettysburg, reading the letter displayed behind the counter. It was like standing in the presence of a hero.
Last summer our family toured the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. There were many handwritten songs displayed there. Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start the Fire", written on pages torn from a spiral notebook, strike outs and revisions, marginal notes and all; a note from John Lennon to his son, Julian; handwritten lyrics and childhood drawings by Jimi Hendrix. Each sample of handwriting exhibited a personal authenticity that spoke clearly, if only from a distance.
Personal pensmanship is not only becoming a lost art, it is in danger of being lost altogether. It is possible today to survive quite easily without ever putting pen or pencil to paper other than the occasional signature required on legal documents. We type our engagements into the calendar on our computers, we send emails and text messages to stay in touch, we pay our bills online.
So what's the big deal? What does it matter if we no longer write things out by long hand? Actually, it can matter. Handwritten documents are easier to authenticate. Studies show that students who never become proficient in cursive writing are less able to express themselves and rely upon less complex sentence structures in their compositions. There is a sophisticated connection between the flow of thought and the flow of writing.
Deep down, I think we all value handwriting. We treasure those handwritten notes from our children, we display their work on our refrigerators, we have a shoe box full of notes and letters from our loved ones.
So, write a note to someone today. Say "I love you." Put it in an envelope. Stamp it and stick it in the mail. Send a permanent expression of your love in your own handwriting to someone you love. I'm going to.
Reader Comments (3)
Interesting thoughts, Kim. I love to see the handwritten documents of our founding fathers. It's fascinating.
Where I live there's a museum - the old home of our national poet J.L.Runeberg. In there you can see the handwritten lyrics for the Finnish national anthem - from year 1848 ! (here, if you're interested to read more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maamme)
Also, a couple of years ago they were renovating the museum and found Runeberg's wife's old recipe book! Now it's published as a printed book and it contains also photos of the handwritten pages of the original book. It's a fascinating publication!
As for the modern day - on Saturday morning I found a handwritten note at the side of my coffee mug saying "Mom is the best mom in the world!" :)
Wow, Kim, I hadn't really thought about penmanship this way. My handwriting has many different "faces." It seems that over the years I've tried to shape my writing in the same ways I've tried to shape my personality...and as it turns out, they go "hand in hand." XO