Just what is a spell? Merriam-Webster defines it as “a spoken word or form of words held to have magic power,” “a state of enchantment,” and also “a strong compelling influence or attraction.” A very satisfactory definition indeed. For myself, I have long considered a spell very much akin to a prayer, for in the words of both is contained the desire for an effect to be achieved by the words employed. Some may, of course, quibble with this from opposing perspectives, declaring variously that a prayer is asking a deity or greater power to bring about an effect in something while a spell is intended to employ one’s own power to cause the change, or alternately that a spell is a positive affirmation of individual will to bring about an effect while a prayer is the statement of a wish to a deity or greater power for something that may or not be granted. To me, such is a splitting of hairs; both draw upon the power of words uttered, written, or silently thought to make something happen that might not otherwise occur. However these two concepts are defined, both rely upon the potency of words.
Back in 2017, Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris, seeking to amend what they, and tens – perhaps even hundreds – of thousands of others, saw as a serious error in judgement by the editors of the Oxford Junior Dictionary in their removal of dozens of words that describe the natural world from the 2007 edition of that book – words such as acorn, fern, newt, and willow – due to what the editors stated was the lack of common use of such words by young people in the modern world, brought out what became a best-selling book containing vividly illustrated presentations of the removed words that inspired a veritable movement: The Lost Words.
Then, in 2020, the team of Macfarlane and Morris joined together once again, seeking to bring the deeper magic of the lost words to the world by assembling them into evocative, beautifully illustrated verses about plants and animals that not so long ago would have been commonly known to most people but that are now too often becoming lost in the increasingly artificial, technology-blinkered, alienated-from-nature modern world. Titled The Lost Spells, this new book from Macfarlane and Morris generously offers their readers not only the power of knowing the words that describe the simple delights to be found in nature, it presents them – empowers them – with the spells by which to conjure these plants and animals in their mind, if not in actual physical presence.
The principle behind the magic is simple yet profound. One cannot come to know, and from knowing come to love, what one doesn’t know exists, and one cannot comprehend the existence of something without being able to describe it. The Lost Words sought to provide the words that had been lost from one of the most popular English language dictionaries used by young people. Once the words had been secured, life could be breathed into what they represented by the greater magic of such words working together in The Lost Spells to evoke images, movements, sounds, and actions.
Colorfully brought to life by Ms. Morris’ exquisite watercolor illustrations that gently flow around the words of each spell (poem, in case that hasn’t yet been made clear), spilling over the page edges and making this almost pocket-sized, superbly bound hardcover book seem much larger than it is (also aligning it with the expansive potential it harbors), the words evoke the spirits of their subjects not only through their meanings but also their sounds and inter-relationships with one another.
J-J-J-J-Jackdaw
Circling the back door,
Showing of your knack
For letting rip that high caw
For anyone who has ever heard the call of the Jackdaw, these few words cause them immediately to materialize in the mind’s eye, and for those not yet having encountered them in the physical world, the chattering J’s, “knack,” “rip,” and “caw” contain in them all that is needed for recognition of these birds the moment one is first heard.
Careful attention to detail has also been given to the way in which each spell is contained within double page spread illustrations of its subject. Before discovering the words that will conjure swifts, or Grey Seals, or an oak, or Thrift, one sees their image only, preparing the way for the spell to be spoken. And then once spoken, the spell is closed by another silent depiction of them, setting them once again free.
The Lost Spells is commonly described as being appropriate for readers of ages eleven and up, and indeed, I have seen it referenced as a book for children. Both these things are true as far as they go, but to them I would add elaboration. While a young person of eleven years should be able to read The Lost Spells unaided, their magic should not be withheld from those younger, for the delight of words – particularly words that have the power to conjure the wonders of nature through their very sounds – should be cultivated in all those for whom their wonder is fresh and new, making it all the more likely to remain as they grow.
And while it is unquestionably a book that should be read by and to young people, The Lost Spells is also a book that should likewise be the companion of those farther along in life’s journey. Would that I could I would place this book into the hands of adults of all ages, going to and from their daily jobs, on the tables in their homes, in their laps while sitting on a park bench. I would hear them reciting from it along a woodland path, along their neighborhood streets, or even more so on a bus or train in the depth of the largest city for that is where such spells are most deeply needed to ensure that connection with the natural world upon which we all depend and from which we derive comfort and solace in even the most difficult of situations is not lost but found.
Through The Lost Spells may we all become delightfully and joyously spellbound by nature.
Title: The Lost Spells
Authors: Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris
Publisher: House of Anansi (US); Penguin (UK)
Imprint: House of Anansi (US); Hamish Hamilton (UK)
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 120 pages pp. w/ extensive color illustrations
ISBN-10: 1487007795
ISBN-13: 978-1487007799
Published: October 2020
In accordance with Federal Trade Commission 16 CFR Part 255, it is disclosed that the copy of the book read in order to produce this review was provided gratis to the reviewer by the publisher.
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