![]() ![]() The Lost words is an illustrated book, currently topping the Sunday Times Children’s book list and also an exhibition of the original water colour painting and hand-printed spells, which is opening in Inverleith House in May. ![]() In addition to the above, the list of Lost Words includes kingfisher, willow, wren, ivy, acorn, heron and fern – in fact 21 of the 24 species have been seen in the RBGE during the regular wildlife walks conducted by Robert Mill and his team of nature spotters. The author Robert MacFarlane and author and illustrator Jackie Morris have produced a set of illustrated, spells celebrating 24 common plants and animals that have been dropped from the Dictionary. ![]() The Lost Words project is the antidote to the deep feeling of loss we experience on learning how these names have slipped out of common usage. ![]() Yet surely they need this vocabulary to understand and enjoy our heritage of poetry, stories and songs, stretching back through the generations? It may be true that children today rarely play conkers (too dangerous we are told), stain their bare knees yellow with dandelion flowers or gather brambles in late summer. The Lost Words exhibition at Compton Verney GalleryĬall me an incurable romantic if you must but I find it hard to accept that words of my childhood, and indeed my children’s childhood, words like conker, dandelion and bramble, are now used so infrequently they have been excised from the Oxford Children’s Dictionary to make way for new works like hashtag. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |