Letters

There are two letters by John Keats in the module. The first one is for his beloved Fanny Brawne, and the other is to his poet friend, Shelly.

Letter writing was an art form at one time. Letters reveal much about the writers. But nowadays, few people write letters. Emails are probably more popular and common. Most people enjoy sending emails. Since emails are functional, people can make use of the extra features like adding pictures, songs and greeting cards. Email is one of the easiest and fastest ways of interaction. Although email is becoming wider these days, writing letters did not lose its originality. Generally letters are used to convey state of being as well as to share ideas, thoughts and emotions. A friendly letter is a way of communicating between two people who are usually well acquainted.

I used to write letters before. When I first transferred to Kuching in 2003, I received many letters from my students in primary school. They wrote to tell me about their new life in secondary school. They shared their experience as well as problems. In return I gave my advice or opinions to them. Normally I received a letter a month from them. After three years, there were only two girls continue the journey of letter-writing. I am happy because they still remember me and willing to connect with me. They are now in colleagues. Although I do not receive their letters for a year now, I could still connect with them through email and facebook. I do appreciate the modern technology that provides another platform for our interaction. However, I like the surprise feeling when I saw letters lying in the mailbox. Moreover, I miss the step of opening the letters and read it aloud of what my students wrote to me.