Cover not available
Part of
Drawing Attention to Metaphor: Case studies across time periods, cultures and modalities
Edited by Camilla Di Biase-Dyson and Markus Egg
[Figurative Thought and Language 5] 2020
► pp. 207–228

Is all poetic metaphor deliberate?

Exploring the relationship between verbal creativity and deliberateness

| Swiss Center for Affective Sciences & University of Neuchâtel
The present study focuses on poetic metaphor with the aim to explore the relationship between verbal creativity and deliberateness. It has been suggested that novel metaphors are typically deliberate, although this does not mean that all conventional metaphor is necessarily non-deliberate (Steen, 2010). In this study, I examine metaphors of time that appear in poetic texts and are linguistically and conceptually conventional, showing that they can nevertheless be used deliberately via the linguistic and textual context(s) in which they are embedded. They are thus endowed with new, enriched contextual meanings, thereby inviting readers to revise their existing conceptualisations. I finally conclude that deliberateness can serve as an overarching framework for identifying poetic metaphor and distinguishing it from metaphor in poetry.
Keywords: poetic metaphor, deliberateness, conventionality, verbal creativity, time.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Deliberate vs. non-deliberate metaphor
  • 3.Poetic metaphor, verbal creativity and deliberateness
  • 4.What is poetic metaphor?
  • 5.Concluding remarks
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.5.09pia
References (20)
References
Boroditsky, L. (2000). Metaphoric structuring: Understanding time through spatial metaphors. Cognition, 75, 1–28. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Casasanto, D., Fotakopoulou, O. & Boroditsky, L. (2010). Space and time in the child’s mind: Evidence for a cross-dimensional asymmetry. Cognitive Science, 34, 387–405. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fauconnier, G. & Turner, M. (2002). The way we think: Conceptual blending and the mind’s hidden complexities. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
(2008). Rethinking metaphor. In R. Gibbs (Ed.), The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 53–66). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gentner, D. (2001). Spatial metaphors in temporal reasoning. In M. Gattis (Ed.), Spatial schemas and abstract thought (pp. 203–222). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Keeley, E. & Sherrard, P. (1992). C.P. Cavafy. Collected poems. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1993). The contemporary theory of metaphor. In A. Ortony (Ed.), Metaphor and thought (2nd ed.), (pp. 202–251). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
(1999). Philosophy in the flesh. New York: Basic Books.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. & Turner, M. (1989). More than cool reason. A field guide to poetic metaphor. Chicago: Chicago University Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Müller, C. (2008). Metaphors dead and alive, sleep and waking. London: University of Chicago Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piata, A. (2016). Genre ‘out of the box’: A conceptual integration analysis of poetic discourse. In N. Stukker, W. Spooren & G. Steen (Eds.), Genre in discourse and cognition: Concepts, models and methods (pp. 225–250). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.Google Scholar
(2018). The poetics of time: Metaphors and blends in language and literature. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Piata, A. & Pagán Cánovas, C. (2017). Powerful rhyme and sluttish time: A cross-linguistic study of time personification in poetic discourse. Language & Literature, 26(1), 18–33. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Radden, G. (2006). The metaphor time as space across languages. In E. Górska & G. Radden (Eds.), Metonymy – metaphor collage (pp. 99–120). Warsaw: Warsaw University Press.Google Scholar
Steen, G. (2008). The paradox of metaphor: Why we need a three-dimensional model of metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol, 23(4), 213–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2010). When is metaphor deliberate? In N.-L. Johannesson, C. Alm-Arvious & D. C. Minugh (Eds.), Selected papers from the Stockholm 2008 Metaphor Festival (pp. 43–63). Stockholm: University of Stockholm.Google Scholar
Steen, G. J. (2013). Deliberate metaphor affords conscious metaphorical cognition. Journal of Cognitive Semiotics, 5(1–2), 179–197.Google Scholar
Steen, G. J., Dorst, A. G., Herrmann, J. B., Kaal, A. A., Krennmayr, T. & Pasma, T. (2010). A method for linguistic metaphor identification. From MIP to MIPVU. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Stockwell, P. (2006). Schema theory: Stylistic applications. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language and linguistics (2nd ed.), (pp. 8–13). Oxford: Elsevier. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (1)

Cited by one other publication

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 15 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.