Literacy and Penmanship, a Vanishing Form of Common Expression
By David Rodgers
In the new age of keyboards and touch screens, we have silently lost one of the most valued personal skills that has been honed and perfected since ancient times. The penman’s hand is now a strange curiosity that is occasionally encountered art faires or historic events. What was once practiced by men and women of obscurity to great fame throughout countless generations is now almost gone.
Along with the loss of writing skills, our literary practice is also on a decline. This is important to note that penmanship, poetry, and common prose are all inextricable from the influence of literacy. A 2013 study by the Pew Research Center revealed that 23% of the Americans they surveyed had not read a single book that year. Seven years earlier (2006), the sampling was 16%.
While technology is convenient and has greatly improved our quality of living on so many levels, we should always consider the cost paid in the pursuit of luxury and convenience. It is not an obtuse question to ask. I love innovation and progress. It allows us the ability to do so much more but if we are not careful, it may also strip us of the finer points that define our humanity. As the new generations prefer texting and social media over interpersonal contact, the opportunity to hone the social acuity needed to read and relate to one another fades. There is a correlation between “textese” used by younger generations and how it is being linked to poor reading and writing skills. It is even addressed by experts such as Crispin Thurlow in his work “From Statistical Panic to Moral Panic: The Metadiscursive Construction and Popular Exaggeration of New Media Language in the Print Media”.
This article is not meant to condemn technological progress, nor is it a rebuke to the generations of tomorrow. Rather, it is a call to any individual who reads this to realize that there is a beautiful seed within our being and it may be awakened so long as you would deem it necessary. Once this beautiful gift is allowed to take root, you will be able to cultivate it in ways that will greatly enrich your experience in this life. All of it begins with the stroke of a pen…
What You May Not Know About Traditional Penmanship
Not that many 19th Century Americans were Illiterate: Penmanship is often misunderstood. It was not a privilege reserved exclusively for “Lords and Ladies”; it also graced the hands and voices of “commoner” alike. According to the US Census of 1850, illiteracy of native-born white Americans was less than 5%. Despite the conditions in foreign lands and prohibitive efforts of antebellum slavery against literacy, the “free colored” and “foreign white” demographics of society were reported to have only an 8.24% level of illiteracy. While the quality of individual penmanship would have varied in quality form person to person, the pursuit of gaining sophistication in speech was considered a worthwhile endeavor.
It was a necessity to everyday life: There are countless documents and ledgers in existence that attribute to the importance of literacy. From a rich business owner to a common farmer, correspondence was maintained; contracts had to be understood; agreements had to be signed; business needed to be conducted and invoices paid. Amid a humble 19th century farmhouse on any given day, it would not have been an unusual sight for the housewife to be working busily at her desk writing letters, paying invoices, and “keeping the books” with the same proficiency as any corporate office worker today.
Penmanship served as a form of identification: In many old books and films, you may hear someone say “I have a letter here and it is written in his hand…” People then were not only capable of associating an individual with their particular writing style; they could tell if someone was attempting to fake another person’s hand as well. As you develop your own writing skills, you will naturally acquire a sense of being able to forensically determine a lot about another writer from the intricacies of his/her marks. This was a common skill that was necessary in the days before photo identification. Likewise, if you become known for having an extravagant writing style, it will be even more difficult for criminals to forge your signatures without being easily exposed upon closer examination.
In summary: Penmanship is part of a ritual designed to slow you down long enough to focus on your message at hand and convey it effectively. As with my previous generations, I take both pride and solace in the strokes and flourishes seen in a well written letter. Writing is no longer a hated chore but a soothing pleasure. I am certain my forbears would say the same.