What, Really, Is A Blog? A Look At The History Of Writing PT. 1

What, really, is a blog?

Is it a switch with which we flog?

A cry for help?

A recipe on how to best prepare kelp?

 

A political hivemind?

Here’s ten things you didn’t know about pig rinds! 

Yes! Yes! It’s all of those!

It can even include prose!

 

Oh, but who’s to say?

What a blog is today?

I know the answer not!

Maybe the answer is best left to rot!

 

The truth of blogs is left in deep fogs

A question that will forever turn our cogs

Alright! Hello! That was “Blog Sonnet” by me. This time, I’m going to be explaining the poem! That’s what this blog is going to be! Are you ready? Definitely not going to be a deep psychological study into the human mind and a history of how different writing forms came to be, leading up eventually to the creation of “blogs”. That would be weird, and absolutely not something I would do.

So, stanza one. Let’s start there. This stanza is me talking about the different types of blogs, whether they be blogs berating other people, people begging for assistance whether for themselves or others, and of course, food blogs. The switch, which could be replaced with the word “whip”, represents the harsh words that these blogs can use, flogging being the writing of the blog. 

Stanza two now. This one is very simple and to the point. Blogs can be spaces for political opinions that may or not be true, but are likely to be believed by the masses. In fact, I bet you can think of one right now! Blogs can also just be casual “fun fact!” informative blogs that, while have information to be shared, aren’t always the most fascinating or useful. Of course, blogs can use prose. A good example is that my blogs tend to use prose, as I write in a motion of thought, writing down what I’m thinking.

Stanza three, oh gee. The exact definition of a blog is hazy, nobody really knows why blogs are, without a doubt, blogs.  Even the author of the blogs, the one who came up with the idea (sometimes), may not really have any idea what makes what they’re writing a blog! I, personally, believe that there is real reason in finding the definition for a blog. It’s not like it matters much anyway. For now, a blog can be whatever you want to call a blog. So, it’d be up to the writer, right?

Number four. I don’t have something funny to say that rhymes with it. Alright, so this one is basically just reinforcing the idea that nobody knows for sure what a blog is. I use the “fog” to represent the mystery surrounding the definition of a blog. I also, in the final line of the sonnet, use “cogs” to represent the human mind, and how we think. This is a common analogy, that can be observed in many different writings. So, yeah. There you go. That’s the poem explained.

But, wait a minute, how did blogs come to be? Could the answer lie in the history of writing itself? Could it? Would it? Oh surely it might! No, it must! I’ll find it! I’ll leave you all in the dust! The blog expert, become I must!

Okay, let us begin. Beyond blogs, beyond books, beyond poems. What is the beginning of writing? Writing, supposedly, began with the Sumerian Civilization. They began the development of writing around 3400 B.C. According to History.com, more specifically Evan Andrews, writer of the article “What is the oldest known piece of literature”, this began as documentation of economic and government information. Eventually, sometime between the years 3000-2001 B.C, other forms of literature appeared. Such as poems, essays, and even myths.

Here’s an example of a Sumerian poem, specifically a love poem:

Bridegroom, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet,
Lion, dear to my heart,
Goodly is your beauty, honeysweet.

Bridegroom, let me caress you,
My precious caress is more savory than honey,
In the bedchamber, honey-filled,
Let me enjoy your goodly beauty,
Lion, let me caress you.

My precious caress is more savory than honey.
Bridegroom, you have taken your pleasure of me,
Tell my mother, she will give you delicacies,
My father, he will give you gifts.

You, because you love me,
Give me pray of your caresses,
My lord god, my lord protector,
My SHU-SIN, who gladdens ENLIL’s heart,
Give my pray of your caresses

The author of this poem is unknown, as is the title. It’s absolutely fascinating, ancient literature. Other examples of ancient writings would be Egyptians and Mesopotamians. Though these are much more common knowledge. Over time, other civilizations came to have their own written languages. One example, one you might know quite well, are the Ancient Greeks. Good examples of these would be works such as “The Odyssey”, an Epic (type of poem) by Homer. The Odyssey tells the story of Odysseus, hence the name of the poem. Another of Homer’s works is “The Iliad”, which tells the tales of The Trojan War. 

Meanwhile, in the east, written languages had popped up all over the place. Eventually, this led to the creation of a type of poem we now call Haiku. It consists of 17 syllables, first line has five, second has seven, and the third had five again. One example of a haiku would be Kobayashi Issa’s haiku about wrens, a type of bird. It goes:

The wren
Earns his living
Noiselessly.

Though it does not seem to follow the five seven five pattern, this is only because it was originally written in Japanese. Which, sadly, I could not find a translation for and I don’t want to use google translate, as it may not give a proper translation. 

While all this happened, different languages also began to produce their own written religions, one that is still prominent today being Judaism, the foundation for Catholicism and Christianity. 

Alright. Romans. They’re a thing. Conquerors of all of Europe, a great and mighty empire. One of the largest libraries in history, which was burnt to ash. Through conquering, the Romans took pieces of other cultures and added them to their own. Sadly, the Romans were not meant to last, and fell to their enemies. The Roman language, Latin, became the foundation for many European languages. These include French, Spanish, Italian, and English. Though Latin is not the only language that contributed to these, it was the most prominent. 

So, a bunch of super interesting history stuff happens. I’d tell you about it but I’m not writing a novel here. Not this time, at least. Eventually, we arrive at The Renaissance. Art is booming in Europe. Sciences from around the world are pushing the continent into unseen territory of knowledge and curiosity.  Nearing the end of this era, however, a certain man is born. William Shakespeare! One of the most famous playwrights to ever live! He invented the Shakespearian sonnet, which is the type of sonnet that was written at the beginning of this blog. He also revolutionized theatre, writing works that are still performed to this day.

Now, the part I want to get to next is The American Revolution. Particularly Alexander Hamilton, the man who wrote a majority of The Federalist Papers, and who was also the first treasurer of the United States. Soon after the United States’ revolution, the French Revolution began, which inspired the author Charles Dickens, also well known for “A Christmas Carol” and “Oliver Twist”, to write the novel “A Tale Of Two Cities”. 

The 1800s, a fascinatingly intense century for literature, with works such as “Dracula” by Bram Stoker, “Pride and Prejudice” by Jane Austen, “Frankenstein” Mary W. Shelley, and many others. Charles Dickens is also a very notable name for literature at the time, though his contributions to the literary world are far too numerous to cover in this.

Here comes the 1900s! 20th century baby! Now, comes one of the most influential books in the Fantasy genre. The Hobbit/Lord of The Rings, written by J.R.R Tolkien. This series told the story of a land known as “Middle Earth”, and of the adventures of heroes who saved it. However, from the 1900s, something else began.

Justin Hall, a student at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. He begins writing a diary of sorts online, talking about his day, his thoughts, and more. He referred to this as his “personal homepage”. Eventually, this form of writing became known as “blogging”.  

So, that’s what a blog is. Like a personal narrative of sorts, or a diary. You can publish your thoughts and ideas online, and let people see and interact. But, really, that doesn’t really mean there are specific rules to what is and what isn’t a blog, does it? A blog is just the miscellaneous category of internet articles. It can be whatever the writer wants it to be. They can pour as much or as little of themselves into it. 

Now, that brings us to this. Is THIS a blog? Something similar to a research article on the entire history of writing that’s condensed by a lot, and covering what I believe are the most important bits? Well, sure! It’s a blog! Why? Because I said so. It’s as simple as that. The author decides the genre of their piece, and the true meaning behind it. So, as such, writers get to decide whether or not they are blogging. 

I’m certain I’m going to be doing more research on this subject. I might do some blogs about specific time periods and their writings. Maybe even just focus on specific books in general, and explain my thoughts on them, or the history behind them. So, with that said, this is the end of this blog. Oh! Also! This blog is, in fact, not part of my little game. I just thought this was interesting so I wrote about it.

Also, my sources are:

History.com

Wikipedia (mostly)