How ever do you manage to coherently analyze the *structure* of the letter without completely melting into a puddle of goo, Deborah? ;P

One of the things I love about Persuasion is that it does NOT disappoint. It continuously builds up feelings of love, pain, desperation, hope and The Letter is the unexpected, *splendid* culmination of these feelings.

You say that by the end of the letter, CW becomes in "perfect unison with her", parallel to the "arc" of the main story. I heartily agree (have I already said it was a beautiful analysis? ;), but I think that the end of letter is not only a parallelism of the bigger story. For me, the end of the letter is also the point of the bigger story/arc where CW becomes in perfect unison with her.

He's made reflections and realizations back in Lyme and Shropshire; but overhearing Anne's love and constancy caps his knowledge of her. It is at this point, where he writes "Too good, too excellent creature!" where he *completely* understands Anne's worth. Hence, it is at this point where he becomes in perfect sync with her. For me, it is this specific point, where they finally, totally understand each other, where the reader can say without a doubt, they will truly be happy together.