Thursday, June 30, 2011

'Letters to Elizabeth'

I have started writing my fictitious letters to a friend for this project.
It has been quite difficult because writing with an ink and quill is not only messy but it really hurts the wrist. I have only been able to write three so far and within the first five-thousand words there are nine letters to Elizabeth.
Each of the letters has been alluded to within the project so now I have to finish each letter.
What I have found is that when I write with the quill it is hard to keep the direction of my writing straight.
Paper in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries didn't have lines as such. Paper and ink was expensive and therefore they sometimes wrote on cloth.
I still think that I have been able to achieve some success with this art and that even though the writing is not neat and straight, it doesn't look that bad. Anyway, I have had fun doing it and I will continue to finish each of the letters. One of the other interesting developments is capturing the language. I have been able to develop my language skills and my vocabulary. I have learnt more about the way in which Jane Austen was able to write with such romantic notions because the language (the way they spoke and the use of manners) allows it to come through. I was able to capture as much of those romantic notions as I could without bringing too much of twenty-first century language into the letters.
I must say that this part of the project has been extremely worthwhile and I am enjoying it immensely.

1 comment:

  1. It looks really good to me! That fact about them writing on cloth was really interesting!
    You are doing a fantastic job! :)

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