On Metaphor

Someone (wonder who it could be?) has affirmed the power of metaphor to outstrip the range of literal expression;

as we strain at language we resort to the emotive i.e. metaphor

the emotive stresses the capacity of metaphors to evince or arouse feelings, as distinct from conveying information;

 so is there a formula  for specifying in literal terms the meanings of metaphorical expressions,
(don't think so)

metaphorical effects are released through the blocking of normal interpretations;

when we strain for meaning and draw on metaphor there is the resulting interaction
of two thoughts of different things active together and supported by a single word or phrase,(the metaphor)  whose meaning is a result of their interaction.

Source: The Language-Makers by Roy Harris





Duckworth, 194 pp, £15.00, April 1980, ISBN 0 7156 1430 4

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