The Lost Words: Reviving Nature’s Language Through Art and Poetry
A spellbinding journey to reclaim vanishing nature words, blending poetry, art, and environmental wonder for all ages.
The Lost Words: Reviving Nature’s Forgotten Language
Once upon a time, certain words that described the great outdoors began to disappear from children’s everyday language. The Lost Words, crafted by writer Robert Macfarlane and illustrator Jackie Morris, responds to this alarming loss. This book stands as a beautiful, oversized spellbook, designed to reawaken wonder for the natural world through intricate poetry and vivid artwork. It’s more than a children’s picture book—it’s a celebration of nature, inviting readers of all ages to reclaim the language of the wild and rediscover the magic just outside their doorsteps.
Origins and Purpose: Why Words Were Lost
In 2007, the Oxford Junior Dictionary removed forty common nature words such as acorn, adder, bluebell, and dandelion, replacing them with words like blog, broadband, and voicemail. This change reflected the diminishing presence of the natural world in children’s lives, replaced by the indoor and virtual realms. For Macfarlane and Morris, this was more than linguistic evolution—it was a profound signal of childhood’s growing distance from nature. Thus, The Lost Words emerged, aiming not simply to teach vocabulary but to inspire reconnection through “spells” and stories that conjure the essence of twenty lost nature words.
A Spellbook in Form and Function
The book’s large format—twelve by sixteen inches—is as much a part of its experience as the words inside. Its scale invites slow, deliberate reading, encouraging children and adults to linger on each page, letting the poetry and illustrations reveal their secrets. The tactile, immersive design ensures the act of reading is a sensory experience, emphasizing that these words and the wonders they represent are worth cherishing and rediscovering.
- Oversized pages allow expansive illustrations alongside spell-poems.
- White space is used to symbolize absence, while subsequent pages explode with color and life.
- Each entry blends visual art and acrostic poetry, fusing the act of discovery with creative play.
Structure and Thematic Approach
The book uses a distinctive structure. Each segment begins with scattered letters hidden in watercolor landscapes, inviting the reader to locate the missing word. The following spreads pair a full-page illustration with an acrostic ‘spell’ that brings the subject—animal, plant, or phenomenon—back to life. In this way, each word is transformed into a puzzle, a poetic conversation, and a visual celebration. This playful approach deepens engagement and seeds curiosity.
- Letter hunting introduces each lost word.
- Acrostic spells conjure the essence of each subject.
- Full-color artwork portrays each word’s return.
- White space and absence set up vibrant reveals, emphasizing what’s been lost and found.
Highlighting Some Enchanting Words
The twenty chosen words cover a range of nature’s wonders—from the pond’s newt and the woodland acorn, to the wren, kingfisher, and bramble. Each poem is carefully crafted to evoke not just meaning, but mood and personality, often reflecting the character of the creature or plant itself.
| Word | Subject | Poetic Essence |
|---|---|---|
| Acorn | Tree / Seed | Potential, endurance, timelessness. |
| Newt | Pond Creature | Regal yet playful, ‘king of the pond’. |
| Raven | Bird | Swagger, ancient wisdom, raucous defiance. |
| Bramble | Wild Plant | Resilience, invasion, hidden treasures. |
| Wren | Bird | Energy, song, fleeting beauty. |
| Kingfisher | River Bird | Brightness, elegance, breathtaking speed. |
Spell-Poems: Not Just Poetry, But Incantations
What others are reading
Macfarlane has described these poems as “spells” rather than traditional verse. Each acrostic creation blends alliteration, onomatopoeia, and vivid imagery to capture the soul of the word. When read aloud, they invite the reader to participate in conjuring the subject back into awareness. The playful rhythms and rhyme schemes are especially accessible to children, making each reading both an educational and sensory experience.
- Use of acrostics to highlight each letter of the word.
- Alliteration and sound mimicry—imitating the creature’s calls or movements.
- Imagery intended to invoke curiosity and a sense of wonder.
- Spells “work” by re-establishing forgotten connections.
Example Spell: The Wren
Rapid wren is needle, rapid wren is pin… wren’s flight is dart-flight, flick-flight, light-flight—each wren etches, stitches, switches, glitches, yes—now you think you see wren, now you know you don’t.
Example Spell: Bramble
Bramble is on the march again, rolling and arching along the hedges, into parks on the city edges… Bramble has reached each house now, looped it in wire. People lock doors, close shutters. Little shoots steal through keyholes, to leave—bowls of bright blackberries where the light falls.
Visual Art: Jackie Morris’s Watercolor Magic
Jackie Morris’s illustrations are as vital as the poetry. The pages bloom with golds, blues, and verdant greens, bringing each animal and plant to life in both scale and intimacy. Her approach finds beauty in intricate detail, but also in generous, open landscapes where readers can imagine themselves wandering. The artwork is large, immersive, and often depicts its subject in vibrant abundance, fulfilling the “spell” cast by the preceding poem.
- Large illustrations make each creature or plant appear magnificent and inviting.
- Watercolors combine realism with fantasy—elevating the subjects to magical status.
- Absent spaces highlight disappearance, while bursts of color symbolize return.
Reading Experience: For Children and Adults
The Lost Words is designed to be shared. Its large size encourages group reading, whether in laps, classrooms, or libraries. The poems and art offer a gentle invitation to slow down, notice details, repeat words aloud, and discuss the feelings they evoke. Readers of all ages have responded to its interactive and meditative style, which honors both the material and the medium through which it is delivered.
- Ideal for family or classroom read-aloud sessions.
- Encourages discussion about the environment, conservation, and language.
- Interactive elements (letter hunts, anagrams) engage curiosity and play.
Absence and Return: Themes of Loss and Recovery
The book functions on the theme of absence—missing words, emptiness on the page—followed by dramatic reappearance. This narrative arc mirrors the disappearance of once-common nature experiences from childhood, and charts a possible journey back. As such, The Lost Words is not just a lament for what’s gone, but a call to action, suggesting that the lost can be found and cherished once more.
- White space represents gaps in memory and experience.
- Color reveals express hope and restoration.
- Spells and art encourage readers to participate in recovery, not just observation.
Impact and Reception: Rewilding Childhood
The Lost Words has become central to a grassroots movement to revitalize children’s engagement with nature. Educators, writers, and parents have used the book as a springboard for outdoor exploration, environmental activism, and artistic creation. Its influence now extends across Britain, North America, and Europe, spawning campaigns to “rewild” childhood and reintegrate nature into everyday life. The book has sparked new teaching guides, community readings, and outdoor games, all designed to deepen the bond between young people and the living world.
- Inspired school and library projects focused on outdoor discovery.
- Rekindled interest from community groups and environmental organizations.
- Revitalized conversations about the importance of language and experience in conservation efforts.
The Book’s Unique Features
- Beautifully oversized, evoking a sense of wonder.
- Rich interplay between words and images.
- Acrostic poems for each lost word.
- Letter hunts and anagrams enhance interactive reading.
- Accessible to all ages—children, families, educators, nature lovers.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Who are the creators of The Lost Words?
A: The book was written by Robert Macfarlane, a British author and nature writer, and illustrated by Jackie Morris, an acclaimed watercolor artist.
Q: What inspired the creation of The Lost Words?
A: The removal of forty nature-related words from a popular children’s dictionary was the key inspiration, as this reflected a broader loss of engagement with the natural world among children.
Q: What is the format of the book?
A: The Lost Words is an oversized hardback book, featuring acrostic ‘spells’ for each word and full-color, full-page illustrations designed to immerse the reader in the subject.
Q: How is absence depicted in the book?
A: Absence is reflected both in the poetry, which laments missing words and experiences, and in the artwork, which uses white space before revealing vibrant images of nature’s return.
Q: What are some examples of the ‘lost words’?
A: The book revitalizes words such as acorn, adder, bluebell, wren, dandelion, bramble, kingfisher, and raven, among others.
Q: Is The Lost Words only for children?
A: While designed with children’s literacy and engagement in mind, its poetry, artwork, and environmental message appeal to readers of all ages, including adults, educators, and nature enthusiasts.
The Lasting Message: Conjuring Wonder, Celebrating Nature
The Lost Words is both a celebration and a reminder: by restoring forgotten nature words to language, we can restore nature itself to our everyday consciousness. Through poetry and illustration, Macfarlane and Morris invite us to slow down, speak aloud, and cherish what remains of the wild. The book is a call to observe, name, and nurture the world around us—to believe that what was lost can become found when we listen and engage. Its spell-poems and artistry have already begun to rewild hearts and minds, reminding us that language shapes experience, and that both are required to reconnect with the urgencies and beauties of the natural world.
References
- https://www.whyte.org/post/book-review-the-lost-words
- https://www.penick.net/digging/?p=84751
- https://picklemethis.com/2018/01/26/picture-book-friday-the-lost-words/
- https://bookbunnies.blog/2024/11/16/marshmallow-reviews-the-lost-words-a-spell-book-by-robert-macfarlane-and-jackie-morris/
- https://extension.unh.edu/blog/2019/05/lost-words-nature-spell-book-kids-adults
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