Words With Impact: Deepen Vocabulary with Dreams

Workshop: Discover Words That Sing

“All this time the Guard was looking at her, first through a telescope, then through a microscope, and then through an opera glass.”                                   Lewis Carroll

One year my grandson’s class did an art project studying Chagall. It was fascinating to see the images these six year-olds chose to reflect in their emerging sense of self-portrait and what they remembered as being important to them. And satisfying to see that almost every child chose some depiction of home or school as being a safe place. This is the age to be able to dream big dreams, to become someone new every day and learn to stretch their imagination into possibilities.

For some, this season can become a root of direction. Perhaps not the actual future vocation, but the essence of value begins to come to light. For others, it’s a long journey. For all of us at any age it’s a struggle to know when to pursue a dream, and when it needs to be altered.

One little girl splashed dance all over her portrait, basically ignoring all the other categories suggested as possibilities. Motion and movement poured out of her. Will she become a dancer—only time will tell if that dream is a concrete reality—but somewhere music will likely be a large part of her life.

Most childhood dreams fade with laughter, however some fade leaving behind a dark shadow when a piece of us become cut away along with the dream. Or dismissed as being irrelevant—impossible—irresponsible.

Maybe for ourselves, and our characters, we need to stop, reflect, remember our own dream of our self-portrait and see if we’ve forgotten something important that needs to be refreshed. Langston Hughes captures that essence in his poem, which I have shared in an earlier blog.

Dreams by Langston Hughes

                        “Hold fast to dreams

                        For if dreams die

                        Life is a broken-winged bird

                        That cannot fly

                        Hold fast to dreams

                        For when dreams go

                        Life is a barren field

                        Frozen with snow”

Action Steps:

1. Two prominent images here are the broken-winged bird and the barren field. What are some feelings you associate with these images?

2. What two or three words would your character use to remember a broken dream?

3. Which of Langston’s words connect with Carroll’s lens in the opening quote?

Share: One image you chose and your reason why.

Read deep, marcy