Many of my readers are also distinguished MRA Bloggers in their own right. The following letter by the great English poet John Keats gives many clues to the writing of a great Blog post that 'strikes the reader true'. Although he is describing poetry, many of the same principles apply:
I think Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity — it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance — Its touches of Beauty should never be halfway thereby making the reader breathless instead of content: the rise, the progress, the setting of imagery should like the Sun come natural to him — shine over him and set soberly although in magnificence leaving him in the luxury of twilight — but it is easier to think what Poetry should be than to write it — and this leads me on to another axiom. That if Poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.
Letter to John Taylor (February 27, 1818)
These principles have always been close to my heart whenever I write a post, and I apply them thus:
I think a great Blog post should surprise by a wealth of arguments and not by singularity — it should strike the reader as a wording of his own finest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance — Its touches of Truth should never be halfway thereby making the reader breathless instead of content: the rise, the progress, the setting of the arguments should like the Sun come natural to him — shine over him and set soberly although in magnificence leaving him in the luxury of twilight — but it is easier to think what posts should be than to write them — and this leads me on to a final axiom. That if a Blog post comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree it had better not come at all.
Anglobitch Blog Post (January 7, 2010)
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