Into the Pensieve (An Explanation)
A goal of mine for the new year is to write more loving, kind memories of those who surround me. I haven't yet attempted a post like that this year (it is, after all, less than two weeks in), but I thought I'd introduce the title of this new series. I've decided to call it Into the Pensieve.
All the Harry Potter fans will know exactly what I'm talking about with the word, pensieve. But if you haven't read the books or seen the movies, I might have to help you out a bit.
According to the Language Realm, a pensieve "is a magical repository for memories" that first appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We see it again later, in other books, and realize what an important tool it can be. (I don't want to spoil how it is used.)
But what is it? In most technical terms, the pensieve "is a stone bowl with runes on it, filled with a silvery white gaseous liquid (or viscous gas). The user extracts a memory from himself or someone else with a wand, then drops it in the pensieve for later retrieval. Dumbledore explains that it helps keep his mind from becoming too crowded with old memories, and to experience a particular memory again when needed."
Why is a pensieve so special? Because not only can a person walk down a lane in their own memory, but as we find out in the books (or the movie), a person can also walk down a lane in the memory of someone else. And that, my friends, is just so brilliant. (And a very imaginative way for an author to get across information that needs to be told.)
You're only one person, you say. And you can't really get into another person's memory. You're right, readers, but this is a blog and sometimes I embellish. Sometimes, even, I craft fictional stories. So it just might be a great exercise in writing to take a memory of my own but try to tell it from another person's point of view. We'll have to see what happens.
All the Harry Potter fans will know exactly what I'm talking about with the word, pensieve. But if you haven't read the books or seen the movies, I might have to help you out a bit.
According to the Language Realm, a pensieve "is a magical repository for memories" that first appears in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. We see it again later, in other books, and realize what an important tool it can be. (I don't want to spoil how it is used.)
But what is it? In most technical terms, the pensieve "is a stone bowl with runes on it, filled with a silvery white gaseous liquid (or viscous gas). The user extracts a memory from himself or someone else with a wand, then drops it in the pensieve for later retrieval. Dumbledore explains that it helps keep his mind from becoming too crowded with old memories, and to experience a particular memory again when needed."
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Why is a pensieve so special? Because not only can a person walk down a lane in their own memory, but as we find out in the books (or the movie), a person can also walk down a lane in the memory of someone else. And that, my friends, is just so brilliant. (And a very imaginative way for an author to get across information that needs to be told.)
You're only one person, you say. And you can't really get into another person's memory. You're right, readers, but this is a blog and sometimes I embellish. Sometimes, even, I craft fictional stories. So it just might be a great exercise in writing to take a memory of my own but try to tell it from another person's point of view. We'll have to see what happens.
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