Metaphor expresses nuances for which no standard vocabulary exists, and entices readers to think in abstract ways. One effect of metaphor is to make writing memorable. Making language more colourful and interesting, it has the effect of charming, or pleasing, or entertaining the reader, making them see something in a whole new light. By allowing the writer the possibility of stronger descriptions, metaphor has the effect of creating writing with strong impact and a lasting impression.
Using metaphor allows a writer to create images related to dreaming, and use words to beautiful effect.
Metaphors are often rich In symbols, complex and full of meaning. They come from the unconscious and describe In full detail that unconscious experience. They carry Information between symbols and the meanings symbols. Each symbols can be unique to that Individual experience as seen here In each poem. The Importance of Metaphors in Poetry By bigness suggests that the one acts like the other in some way.
Metronome cutting the air. The title of the poem supports the idea off repeated metaphor related to music. Swan is known to sing Just before it dies. It is also en said that a swan song is the farewell appearance of a performer who is retiring.
Eve taken each poem and given us information with which he compared what was happening with the look of the surroundings. They are full and rich in information which is needed to fully understand the experience of what is happening in each poem.
Metaphors are often rich in symbols, complex and full of meaning. Our daily language is full of metaphors we all day unthinkingly use for regular communication purposes. Cell phone. Light bulb. Love affair. War on Terror. Most great thinkers, philosophers, literary theorists, and writers have eventually turned their thoughts to the question of metaphor and how it determines our basic structures of language, thought, perception.
Of course metaphor is a particular concern of writers and literary theorists. Almost all of them have something to say on the subject. Metaphor is everywhere in literature, from the interrelations among its smallest words, images, figures of speech to its largest characters, plot, narrative elements. Beyond the most basic assumptions about metaphor — that it has a primarily decorative purpose, to make writing more "exciting" or "beautiful;" or that it helps the reader "visualize" images; or that it serves to highlight and heighten important themes — lie great areas of thinking about metaphor, that can help deepen and clarify our understanding of literature, art and life.
Why do writers use metaphor? What, actually, IS a metaphor? What are the many and various ways metaphors function in literature? What kind of knowledge is only possible through metaphor? And perhaps most important , how can we read and understand and analyze the metaphorical elements of a work of literature without destroying what is mysterious and essential?
To paraphrase Frost, how far should we ride the metaphor, and when should we be ready to accept where it breaks down, what its limits are?
And what lies beyond those limits? These and other questions are what we will be considering together as a class. This seminar course will be a sustained collective exploration of metaphor in literature. We will read and discuss the books for the course, talking about how they work, what we can learn from them, and particularly how metaphor within them functions.
In addition, we will consider other texts — philosophy, literary criticism, science, etc. Our goals also include understanding together how people have thought about metaphor throughout history.
Ultimately, ideas about metaphor are intimately related to ideas about the purpose of literature and its relationship to the world it depicts, reflects and transforms. Hopefully our discussions of metaphor in the texts we are reading, and in general, will help us understand better how we read literature, experience other forms of art, and understand the world. Since this course is a seminar, each class will be organized around a student presentation.
Each student will present once during the course of the semester, beginning with the third week. The purpose of the presentation will be to guide us through questions, careful close readings, and observations about micro and macro elements of the text into deeper readings and understandings of the book before us.
Focus should be particularly, but not exclusively, on how metaphor functions in the book. Concretely, presenters will be required to create two physical objects for the benefit of the rest of the class. First, you will create and duplicate for the class a packet of outside materials that will help us better understand the book we are reading. I want the making of this packet to be essentially a creative act: one should be guided by a sense of personal idiosyncratic enthusiasm and a spirit of sharing.
Dread in making of the packet is a sign that one is not on the right track. The packet can consist of such elements as: historical documents and testimonies; scientific explications of objects or processes; biographical or personal information about the author; maps; other literary works or works of art or photographs closely or loosely related to the book at hand; explicatory drawings; esoteric source texts mysteriously related to elements of the text; and so on.
Be guided by your particular interests and fascinations, as well as by a spirit of relating metaphorically to the book through which you are guiding us. Second, students should write and duplicate for the class a short page explication of how a particular background text helped with the reading of the book.
Below is a list of suggested background material on metaphor: please feel free to search for other resources, and use anything you think would be helpful for us as readers. After your presentation, I will work with you on this paper, and you will submit a revised version to me by the end of the semester. At the end of the course, I will distribute to each of you all of the papers written for the course, which will give us along with the packets a fine and exciting compilation of materials about metaphor that we can use subsequently in our own critical, creative and pedagogical work.
I will be available in office hours to guide you with all of this.
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