Blogging: The spontaneous flow of emotion

So, it took me about an hour to write my first post on this blog . . . When I told my friends to go and read what I'd written they said that it sounded a little too proper for a blog post. It's true though, I spent half my time editing and re-writing certain words and sentences in order to get some witty remarks in there. I was pretty positive that I am not the only one who edits their posts and that they were overreacting to my editing.

However, the other day in my English class a girl did a presentation on blogging in which she talked about how blogging is supposed to come straight from the heart; it's supposed to be unaffected and unedited. She also found that blogging improves a person's writing abilities because they know that they are writing for an audience. So, there's a trade off between edited writing and natural flow; there are benefits in each area for a person's writing.

This natural flow of writing reminds me of Wordsworth's idea of the spontaneous flow of emotion in the preface to Lyrical Ballads.In this preface, Wordsworth discusses the "correct way" to write "true" poetry. "He sees poetry as acting like Nature, which touches all living things and inspires and delights them. Wordsworth calls for poetry to be written in the language of the "common man," and the subjects of the poems should also be accessible to all individuals regardless of class or position. Wordsworth also makes the points that 'poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility'" (151). (http://www.wdog.com/rider/writings/wordsworth_and_coleridge.htm)


This idea applies to blogging as well. Blog so that people can understand what your saying! Blog about things that everyone can relate to! Blog for the natural man! Blog for ya life! So, I tried writing this post without editing . . . (I may have tweaked a sentence or two), but how did I do with the whole "spontaneous flow" thing?