Sort of a Journal

rant: 18th century writing and language

18th century letters are interesting. more often than not they use very frilly writing and are very long. i'm studying the way people spoke and wrote letters back then so that maybe i could replicate the common language used back in those days. i think that'd be good to study over spring break. i've taken notice that they tended to have used very verbose language to describe how they feel, and i can understand this in letters, but surely not when they actually orally spoke. well i was wrong about that! turns out they spoke how they wrote! now let me just add in that not everyone was as wordy, intelligent, or as bright as hamilton and not everyone had such writing skills so it's hard to say his letters and other documents written by him spoke for all of the 18th century style of writing. still, people did often speak in flowery language, and almost flirty language. take lafayette for example. we can't tell if his letters between hamilton and laurens were flirtatious or not because it's hard to understand the way they spoke. it's especially strange because ppeople just excused his romantic styled writing on his french style. we may never know, shall we? anyways, i think i went on a bit of a rant there. i'm going to include some love letters from that time so maybe you can get what i'm talking about a bit more if you'd like.

here is one i found on www.lucindabrant.com

Antonia, I love you. Three simple little words, and yet never uttered or inscribed in ink by me to another living soul, only to you. I will never love another as I love you. I will never cherish another as I cherish you. I will always love only you.

This is the happiest day of my life. For it is the first day of the rest of my life, with you. Not yesterday when we were married, with witnesses in attendance, up before parson and reciting what others have done before us and will do after us. Me nervous, and you serene and steadfast. I could not wait for the ceremony to be over with, and our guests to leave. Yesterday was still the getting there, but today, now, here, just the two of us, today I am your husband and you are my wife. It still leaves me dazed to write such words, for I truly believed I would never marry. And then into my life you stepped, or should I say twirled, in your whirlwind of silks and smiles...

You sleep peacefully in our bed, while I cannot sleep at all. I fear falling asleep and waking to find you gone, of finding myself alone. I am sure this apprehension will ease with every night we spend together as a married couple, until one night I will fall asleep with you in my arms, and wake to you still snuggled in my embrace, and think it the most natural state in all the world. But do not ever think for a moment I will take you or our marriage for granted. It is precious; henceforth I pledge to nurture our union for the rest of my days.

You told me that once we shared a bed you found you could no longer sleep without me. I can no longer live without you. For with you I am truly who I am meant to be. I wonder now if I have been walking about as one dead, or as a specter, with sight, hearing and touch, but without the ability to feel. It is as if I have floated through life without experiencing any of it. When did I become like this? How have I walked the halls of kings in such a paralyzed state: Eating without tasting, looking without seeing, touching without feeling. And all the time with a heart that was disdainful, and a soul that was wasted. Until you.

I have always considered my birthright a burden to be endured, and in the most arrogant of ways. I am well aware of my preeminent place in this world, and I own to being conceited and vain. I have often taken without a thought to the consequences to others, and without giving freely in return. I am by nature wary and reserved. All this you know and accept, and have never been in awe. Nor have you ever doubted my right to be as I am. You love me unconditionally, and for that alone I am blessed. You have given me a wondrous gift.

You have always been prepared to see the good in others, first and foremost, and only want the best for them. I marvel at how you find joy in living each day to the full. To look on you, to be with you, to experience life in your company, is to be complete.

For you alone I strive to be a better man; to live a better life; to know its joys and its pleasures; to never disappoint you; and never will I squander a single moment of the life that is left to me—with you.

With this letter I enclose some lines of verse, with apologies to the seventeenth century poetess for taking liberties with her prose.

You have my whole heart, my body, and my soul.

I am eternally yours,

Renard

here is another i found on the same website. 

Oft I've conjured thee to appear
By youth, by love, by all their powers,
Have searched and sought thee everywhere,
In silent groves, in lonely bowers:
On flowery beds where lovers wishing lie,
In sheltering woods where sighing maids
To their assigning shepherds hie,
And hide their blushes in the gloom of shades.
Yet there, even there, though youth assailed,
Where beauty prostrate lay and fortune wooed,
My heart, insensible, to neither bowed.

In courts I sought thee then, thy proper sphere,
But thou in crowds were stifled there,
Interest did all the loving business do,
Invite the lovers and maids too.
Thy mighty force through every part,
What god, or human power did thee create
In me, till now, unfacile heart?

Yes, yes, my love, I have found thee now;
And found to whom thou dost thy being owe,
'Tis thou the blushes dost impart,
'Tis thou that tremblest in my heart.
I faint, I die with pleasing pain,
My words intruding, sighing break
When e'er I touch thy beauteous form,
When e'er I gaze, when e'er I speak.
Thy conscious fire is mingled with my love,
As in the sanctified abodes
Forevermore...

these poems and letters really caught the idea of love. usually by using frilly, positive, lovey-dovey words, but also by using negative ideas to show to the receiver or reader of the letter the pain, anxiety, or torment one is willing to endure for their love. a good example of this is in letter #1 where he states "You sleep peacefully in our bed, while I cannot sleep at all. I fear falling asleep and waking to find you gone, of finding myself alone.". personally, i am quite fond of this style of writing, where one side worries about the other. i think that's sweet and is an effective way to win over someone's heart.

like i said before, i will do studying this spring break when i am at the beach with my family so that, i think, will provide a relaxing and good area to focus on my own studies that are not school related. i know i will not have "deciphered" the secret to writing in such old fashioned ways by the end of my break, but i still want to be productive even though i'm doing this for absolutely no reason. i guess it's just a good way to build up knowledge for my older years.

anyways, if you read through all that nonsense i practically vomited out, thank you. it's great to know i have someone who is willing to read my... rant? essay? thing... i'm not sure what to call it to be honest. but, nevertheless, thank you! i'll give updates

--cam signing out!