Workshop: Discover
Words That Sing
“…symbol is the small
puzzle that works its magic deep below the surface.” John Truby
Symbols as Images
As mentioned in the last section one way to build emotional
resonance is through art and music, which can reflect lost or forgotten
landscapes. When a character is in an unfamiliar external or internal
environment, music and or art can become a mirror, reflecting his or her
spiritual alliance to another place. It translates the character’s soul
landscape for them. Our words sing heart to heart.
John Ciardi, when defining imagery, states that, “We think in pictures; when we put our
thoughts into words, it is natural and efficient to express them in figurative
language, or figures of speech.” Like words, he says, images are used for
identification and for their emotional connotations. “Images also have
histories.”
Poet C. Day Lewis says the
nature of poetic sympathy is revealed in images, whether in verse or prose.
He describes a concord between image and theme as the principle that organizes
and reveals. He quotes Rilke for a description of the imaginative process that
brings about ‘soul’ connections.
“‘Only when thy have turned to blood within
us’—first the sympathy that makes an object memorable; then the breadth of
experience to gather a multiplicity of memories; then the patience which allows
the memories to mature deep within, to form their associations, and to assume
the nature of images….”.
Those images in verse or prose also extend to other insights
with photographs and paintings, geographic settings, and music, towards overall
atmosphere. All contribute to build ongoing theme threads and analogies.
Action Steps:
1. Choose a song that is familiar
to you from your childhood. Hum the melody. What memories does it raise?
2. Now choose an instrument that
is familiar in your story world and give your character your emotions. Does it
give him strength or sorrow?
Share: What special images from your past give you hope?
Read deep, marcy
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