When Governor Mark Sanford ’s love letters were released earlier this week (remember that story?) the internet was quick to tear his letters apart, often with hilarious results . But honestly, can anyone write a love letter without sounding really, really silly? Love letters are a tricky business: they’re meant to be intense, personal, and as honest as possible. But the art of transferring love onto paper is a task that only a handful of people have mastered: the rest of us often sound like we’ve been crying for three days while listening to Disintegration (though that may very well be the case, depending on the type of love letter). As a very dramatic teenager, I used to actually write love letters and tack on one of Shakespeare’s most emo sonnets, Sonnet 65: Since brass, nor stone, nor earth, nor boundless sea, But sad mortality o’er-sways their power, How with this rage shall beauty hold a plea, Whose action …
