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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
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