Poetic Effects

A relevance theory perspective

Author

Adrian Pilkington | Royal Holloway University of London

Hardbound – Available

ISBN 9789027250902 (Eur) | EUR 105.00

ISBN 9781556199226 (USA) | USD 158.00

Paperback – Available

ISBN 9789027250919 (Eur) | EUR 38.00

ISBN 9781556199233 (USA) | USD 57.00

e-Book –

ISBN 9789027298980 | EUR 105.00/38.00*
| USD 158.00/57.00*

Poetic Effects: A Relevance Theory Perspective offers a pragmatic account of the effects achieved by the poetic use of rhetorical tropes and schemes. It contributes to the pragmatics of poetic style by developing work on stylistic effects in relevance theory. It also contributes to literary studies by proposing a new theoretical account of literariness in terms of mental representations and mental processes.
The book attempts to define literariness in terms of text-internal linguistic properties, cultural codes or special purpose reading strategies, as well as suggestions that the notion of literariness should be dissolved or rejected. It challenges the accounts of language and verbal communication that underpin such positions and outlines the theory of verbal communication developed within relevance theory that supports an explanatory account of poetic effects and a new account of literariness. This is followed by a broader discussion of philosophical and psychological issues having a bearing on the question of what is expressed non-propositionally in literary communication. The discussion of emotion, qualitative experience and, more specifically, aesthetic experience provides a fuller characterisation of poetic effects and ‘poetic thought’.

[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 75] 2000. xiv, 214 pp.

Publishing status: Available

https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.75

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements | p. ix

Introduction | p. xi

1. Literary studies and literary theory | p. 1

2. Theories of literariness, language and communication in literary studies | p. 15

3. Pragmatic Theory | p. 51

4. Metaphor | p. 85

5. Schemes and verse effects | p. 123

6. Emotion, attitude and sentimentality | p. 141

7. Varieties of affective experience | p. 163

8. Conclusion | p. 189

Index of Names | p. 203

Index of Subjects | p. 207

“This book draws upon several years' experience in the theoretical grounding of literary comprehension and its subtle reader-oriented effects. Not only does the book provide a convincing picture of what really goes on in the reader's mind when interpreting literary texts, but also addresses the difficult issue of how (subtler) nonpropositional feelings and emotions are felt by the reader. This scientific insight goes well beyond former purely intuitive views of literature and beyond sterile debates on where the 'intentio' of literary textis supposed to lie. To ignore the reader's mind in literary analysis is to miss the chance to coherent view of literature as text to be consumed cognitively.”

Francisco Yus, University of Alicante in Journal of Pragmatics 34 (2002)

Cited by

Cited by 98 other publications

Order by:

Allott, Nicholas

2013. Relevance Theory. In Perspectives on Linguistic Pragmatics [Perspectives in Pragmatics, Philosophy & Psychology, 2], ► pp. 57 ff.

Athanasopoulos, Panos & Emanuel Bylund

2020. Whorf in the Wild: Naturalistic Evidence from Human Interaction. Applied Linguistics 41:6 ► pp. 947 ff.

Averintseva-Klisch, Maria

2022. The linguistics of reading literature. Pedagogical Linguistics 3:1 ► pp. 29 ff.

Bambini, Valentina, Paolo Canal, Donatella Resta & Mirko Grimaldi

2019. Time Course and Neurophysiological Underpinnings of Metaphor in Literary Context. Discourse Processes 56:1 ► pp. 77 ff.

Bambini, Valentina, Donatella Resta, Mirko Grimaldi & Francesco Di Russo

2014. A Dataset of Metaphors from the Italian Literature: Exploring Psycholinguistic Variables and the Role of Context. PLoS ONE 9:9 ► pp. e105634 ff.

Blakemore, Diane

2008. Apposition and affective communication. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 17:1 ► pp. 37 ff.

Blakemore, Diane

2009. Parentheticals and point of view in free indirect style. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 18:2 ► pp. 129 ff.

BLAKEMORE, DIANE

2010. Communication and the representation of thought: The use of audience-directed expressions in free indirect thought representations. Journal of Linguistics 46:3 ► pp. 575 ff.

Boase-Beier, Jean

2004. Saying what someone else meant: style, relevance and translation. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 14:2 ► pp. 276 ff.

Boase-Beier, Jean

2011. Translating Celan’s poetics of silence. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 23:2 ► pp. 165 ff.

Boase-Beier, Jean, Lina Fisher & Hiroko Furukawa

2018. Introduction. In The Palgrave Handbook of Literary Translation, ► pp. 1 ff.

Carston, Robyn

2010. XIII-Metaphor: Ad Hoc Concepts, Literal Meaning and Mental Images. Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society (Hardback) 110:3pt3 ► pp. 295 ff.

Carston, Robyn

2010. Explicit Communication and ‘Free’ Pragmatic Enrichment. In Explicit Communication, ► pp. 217 ff.

Castiglione, Davide

2019. New Coordinates of Difficulty: An Interdisciplinary Framework. In Difficulty in Poetry, ► pp. 65 ff.

Castiglione, Davide

2019. Genes of Difficulty: The Indicators. In Difficulty in Poetry, ► pp. 95 ff.

CHAN, BRIAN HOK‐SHING

2009. English in Hong Kong Cantopop: language choice, code‐switching and genre. World Englishes 28:1 ► pp. 107 ff.

Clark, Billy

2009. Salient inferences: Pragmatics and The Inheritors. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 18:2 ► pp. 173 ff.

Clark, Billy

2019. Chapter 7. “Lazy reading” and “half-formed things”. In Pragmatics and Literature [Linguistic Approaches to Literature, 35], ► pp. 140 ff.

Clark, Billy

2020. Identity inferences: Implicatures, implications and extended interpretations. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 29:4 ► pp. 424 ff.

de Saussure, Louis

2021. An experiential view on what makes literature relevant. In Beyond Meaning [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 324], ► pp. 99 ff.

Dominicy, Marc

2019. Metaphor, Metonymy, and Personification in the Language of Robotics. In Wording Robotics [Springer Tracts in Advanced Robotics, 130], ► pp. 33 ff.

Dunn, Jonathan

2015. Three Types of Metaphoric Utterances That Can Synthesize Theories of Metaphor. Metaphor and Symbol 30:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Eder, Thomas

2012. Kognitive Literaturwissenschaft. In Handbuch Literatur und Philosophie, ► pp. 311 ff.

Fabb, Nigel

2017. Linguistics and Literature. In The Handbook of Linguistics, ► pp. 463 ff.

Feng, Zongxin

2023. Textual Emotivity and Literary (Im)Politeness. In Advancing (Im)politeness Studies [Advances in (Im)politeness Studies, ], ► pp. 115 ff.

Frühbeck Moreno, Carlos

2020. El correlato objetivo desde la teoría de la relevancia: una lectura de El niño que bebió agua de brújula, de Julio Mas Alcaraz. Neophilologus 104:3 ► pp. 353 ff.

Frühbeck Moreno, Carlos

2023. Pragmática y simbolización. Revue Romane. Langue et littérature. International Journal of Romance Languages and Literatures 58:2 ► pp. 185 ff.

George, Elizabeth Jasmi & Radhika Mamidi

2020. Towards Computing Inferences from English News Headlines. In Computational Linguistics [Communications in Computer and Information Science, 1215], ► pp. 439 ff.

Gibbs, Raymond W.

2001. Authorial Intentions in Text Understanding. Discourse Processes 32:1 ► pp. 73 ff.

GIBBS, RAYMOND W. & MARKUS TENDAHL

2006. Cognitive Effort and Effects in Metaphor Comprehension: Relevance Theory and Psycholinguistics. Mind <html_ent glyph="

amp;" ascii="&"/> Language 21:3 ► pp. 379 ff.

Giora, Rachel, Ofer Fein, Ann Kronrod, Idit Elnatan, Noa Shuval & Adi Zur

2004. Weapons of Mass Distraction: Optimal Innovation and Pleasure Ratings. Metaphor and Symbol 19:2 ► pp. 115 ff.

Grada, Hector Luis

2020. Relevance theory and poetry: An inferential analysis of Philip Larkin’s “Mr Bleaney”. In Znaki czy nie znaki? Tom 3. Struktura i semantyka utworów lirycznych,

Gutmann, Thomas

2023. Die rechtliche Autonomie der Literatur. In Lizensur [Literatur und Recht, 7], ► pp. 225 ff.

Gutt, Ernst-August

2005. On the Significance of the Cognitive Core of Translation. The Translator 11:1 ► pp. 25 ff.

Hamblin, Jennifer L. & Raymond W. Gibbs

2003. Processing the Meanings of What Speakers Say and Implicate. Discourse Processes 35:1 ► pp. 59 ff.

HIGASHIMORI, ISAO

2003. Relevance-Theoretic Objections to Levinson's GCI Theory (S. C. Levinson, Presumptive Meanings: The Theory of Generalized Conversational Implicature). ENGLISH LINGUISTICS 20:1 ► pp. 225 ff.

Phillip Sidney Horky

2019. Cosmos in the Ancient World,

Ifantidou, Elly & Anna Piata

2021. Metaphor and mental shortcuts. Pragmatics & Cognition 28:2 ► pp. 299 ff.

Jeffries, Lesley

2022. Alluding: Implying and Assuming in Poems. In The Language of Contemporary Poetry [Palgrave Studies in Language, Literature and Style, ], ► pp. 169 ff.

Jones, Francis R.

2014. Poetry translators and regional vernacular voice. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 26:1 ► pp. 32 ff.

Keller, Stefan D.

2010. Combining Rhetoric and Pragmatics to ReadOthello. English Studies 91:4 ► pp. 398 ff.

Khushu-Lahiri, Rajyashree & Urjani Chakravarty

2014. Performing India in America through Pragma-Cultural Markers. Comparative American Studies An International Journal 12:1-2 ► pp. 25 ff.

Kolaiti, Patricia

2017. The curse of the perceptual: a case from kinaesthesia . Journal of Literary Semantics 46:1 ► pp. 47 ff.

Kolaiti, Patricia

2019. The Limits of Expression,

Kolaiti, Patricia

2020. Perceptual relevance and art: Some tentative suggestions. Journal of Literary Semantics 49:2 ► pp. 99 ff.

Lancaster, Mason D.

2021. Metaphor Research and the Hebrew Bible. Currents in Biblical Research 19:3 ► pp. 235 ff.

Lugea, Jane

2017. The year’s work in stylistics 2016. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 26:4 ► pp. 340 ff.

Ma, Zuqiong

2018. English Stylistics in a Chinese-English literary translation classroom. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 12:4 ► pp. 406 ff.

Macrae, Andrea

2022. Making (and Un-making) Meaning in Alejandro Zambra’s Multiple Choice. English Studies 103:3 ► pp. 447 ff.

Mateo, José

2009. Contrasting relevance in poetry translation. Perspectives 17:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

Okaura, Yoshiyuki

2008. Relevance-theoretic Approach to Characteristic Grammatical Constructions and Usages in 50-Word English Essays by Japanese Students. Asian Englishes 11:2 ► pp. 46 ff.

O’Donoghue, Josie

2021. ‘Poet as Conscience’: Mutual Manifestness in the Poetry of Seamus Heaney. In The Relevance of Metaphor, ► pp. 229 ff.

O’Donoghue, Josie

2021. Introduction: Communicating Metaphor. In The Relevance of Metaphor, ► pp. 1 ff.

O’Donoghue, Josie

2021. Relevance. In The Relevance of Metaphor, ► pp. 17 ff.

O’Donoghue, Josie

2021. Metaphor. In The Relevance of Metaphor, ► pp. 69 ff.

Padilla Cruz, Manuel

2016. Three decades of relevance theory. In Relevance Theory [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 268], ► pp. 1 ff.

Piata, Anna

2021. Conceptual mappings and contextual assumptions. In Beyond Meaning [Pragmatics & Beyond New Series, 324], ► pp. 79 ff.

Pignocchi, Alessandro

2014. The intuitive concept of art. Philosophical Psychology 27:3 ► pp. 425 ff.

Piskorska, Agnieszka

2021. The internet and social media as a theme and channel of humor. Internet Pragmatics 4:1 ► pp. 12 ff.

Pollaroli, Chiara & Andrea Rocci

2015. The argumentative relevance of pictorial and multimodal metaphor in advertising. Journal of Argumentation in Context 4:2 ► pp. 158 ff.

Ruiz-Moneva, Maria Angeles

2020. Chapter 12. Humour and irony in George Mikes’ How to be a Brit. In Relevance Theory, Figuration, and Continuity in Pragmatics [Figurative Thought and Language, 8], ► pp. 327 ff.

Ruiz-Moneva, María Angeles

2019. Ironie, umor și cultură în How to Be a Brit de George Mikes: perspective teoretice ale relevanței. Diacronia :10

Ruiz-Moneva, María Angeles

2019. Irony, humour and culture in George Mikes’ How to Be a Brit: relevance-theoretical perspectives. Diacronia :10

Salley, Keith

2011. On the interaction of alliteration with rhythm and metre in popular music. Popular Music 30:3 ► pp. 409 ff.

Sasamoto, Ryoko, Minako O’Hagan & Stephen Doherty

2017. Telop, Affect, and Media Design: A Multimodal Analysis of Japanese TV Programs. Television & New Media 18:5 ► pp. 427 ff.

Scarinzi, Alfonsina

2016. Going Cognitive in der Themenforschung. Orbis Litterarum 71:3 ► pp. 189 ff.

Sellevold, Kirsti

2010. Quotation in Montaigne'sEssais: communication across time and contexts – A case study. Symbolae Osloenses 84:1 ► pp. 148 ff.

Semino, Elena & Jonathan Culpeper

1995. Stylistics. In Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 513 ff.

Semino, Elena & Jonathan Culpeper

2022. Stylistics. In Handbook of Pragmatics [Handbook of Pragmatics, ], ► pp. 1345 ff.

Semino, Elena & Gerard Steen

2008. Metaphor in Literature. In The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ► pp. 232 ff.

Sperber, Dan & Ira A. Noveck

2004. Introduction. In Experimental Pragmatics, ► pp. 1 ff.

Sperber, Dan & Deirdre Wilson

2008. A Deflationary Account of Metaphors•. In The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought, ► pp. 84 ff.

Stachó, László

2018. Mental virtuosity: A new theory of performers’ attentional processes and strategies. Musicae Scientiae 22:4 ► pp. 539 ff.

Steen, Gerard

1989. Metaphor and literary comprehension: Towards a discourse theory of metaphor in literature. Poetics 18:1-2 ► pp. 113 ff.

Steinbach, Markus, Ruth Albert, Heiko Girnth, Annette Hohenberger, Bettina Kümmerling-Meibauer, Jörg Meibauer, Monika Rothweiler & Monika Schwarz-Friesel

2007. Linguistik und Literatur. In Schnittstellen der germanistischen Linguistik, ► pp. 257 ff.

Trabado Cabado, José Manuel

2016. Metapoesía y niveles enunciativos en Jenaro Talens. Revista de literatura 78:155 ► pp. 181 ff.

Turbanti, Giacomo

2022. Relevance Theory. In Philosophy of Communication [Palgrave Philosophy Today, ], ► pp. 95 ff.

Uchida, Seiji

2020. Chapter 10. Another look at “Cat in the rain”. In Relevance Theory, Figuration, and Continuity in Pragmatics [Figurative Thought and Language, 8], ► pp. 291 ff.

Utsumi, A.

2002. IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man and Cybernetics, ► pp. 6 ff.

Utsumi, Akria

2005. The Role of Feature Emergence in Metaphor Appreciation. Metaphor and Symbol 20:3 ► pp. 151 ff.

Vande Wiele, Héloïse

2016. The loss of poetic effects: From indeterminate to conventionalised meaning. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 25:1 ► pp. 54 ff.

Viaggio, Sergio

2006. Translation, Interlingual, Mediation and the Elusive Chimera of Equivalence. FORUM. Revue internationale d’interprétation et de traduction / International Journal of Interpretation and Translation 4:2 ► pp. 163 ff.

Walker, Callum

2021. Style, Stylistics and the Literary Experience. In An Eye-Tracking Study of Equivalent Effect in Translation, ► pp. 71 ff.

Weber, David J.

2005. A Tale of Two Translation Theories. Journal of Translation 1:2 ► pp. 35 ff.

Wenger, Rachelle

2021. When Words Are Rolled into a Ball: Translating Figurative Language in Africa. Journal of Translation 17:1 ► pp. 13 ff.

Wharton, Tim

2021. Relevance. Pragmatics & Cognition 28:2 ► pp. 321 ff.

Wiland, Signe Mari

2019. PhD revisited: Poetry: Prima Vista. In English Didactics in Norway, ► pp. 274 ff.

William Pinder, Daniel

2022. Typographical iconicity and the communication of impressions: A relevance-theoretic perspective. Lodz Papers in Pragmatics 18:1 ► pp. 1 ff.

WILSON, DEIRDRE & ROBYN CARSTON

2006. Metaphor, Relevance and the 'Emergent Property' Issue. Mind <html_ent glyph="

amp;" ascii="&"/> Language 21:3 ► pp. 404 ff.

Wilson, Deirdre & Robyn Carston

2007. A unitary approach to Lexical Pragmatics: Relevance, Inference and Ad hoc concepts. In Pragmatics, ► pp. 230 ff.

Xie, Chaoqun

2003. Review of Noh (2000): Metarepresentation. A Relevance-theory Approach. Studies in Language 27:1 ► pp. 171 ff.

Yus, Francisco

2016. Propositional attitude, affective attitude and irony comprehension. Pragmatics & Cognition 23:1 ► pp. 92 ff.

Yus, Francisco

2023. Contextual Constraints on Internet Humour. In Pragmatics of Internet Humour, ► pp. 79 ff.

[no author supplied]

2002. References. In Thoughts and Utterances, ► pp. 384 ff.

[no author supplied]

2004. Reviews. jlse 33:1 ► pp. 83 ff.

[no author supplied]

2006. Bibliography. In The Handbook of Pragmatics, ► pp. 742 ff.

[no author supplied]

2017. Multimodal Metaphor and Metonymy in Advertising [Figurative Thought and Language, 2],

[no author supplied]

2018. The Poetics of Time – Metaphors and Blends in Language and Literature [Figurative Thought and Language, 3],

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 13 november 2023. 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.

Subjects