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Article published In:
Scientific Study of Literature
Vol. 8:2 (2018) ► pp.293–312

Flat as a wall or flat as a butcher’s hand

The poetic simile and second-order semantic foregrounding

| Tel Aviv University
| Tel Aviv University

Foregrounding theory deals with the relation between deviant textual device (e.g., alliteration) and the effect on readers (e.g., high aesthetic evaluation). While previous research has tended to look at an array of devices together in longer stretches of text, we focus on an isolated, semantic foregrounding device, the closed simile. We introduce a distinction between the standard and non-standard simile, representing first- and second-order foregrounding, respectively, and test the idea that the more deviant version would yield higher ratings in terms of the aesthetic, cognitive, and emotive dimensions of text appreciation. Our first finding is that experts prefer the more foregrounded version whereas novices opt for the less foregrounded one. However, our second finding is that, when the novices are prompted to interpret the similes prior to rating them, the non-standard version yields higher ratings. We conclude by discussing some implications of the present research for foregrounding theory.

Keywords: simile, foregrounding device, semantic foregrounding, empirical study of literature, cognitive study of metaphor
Article outline
  • The simile as a foregrounding device
  • Experiment 1: Novice ratings
    • Participants
    • Materials
    • Procedure
    • Results and discussion
  • Experiment 2: Expert ratings
    • Participants
    • Materials and procedure
    • Results and discussion
  • Experiment 3: Novice ratings after interpretation task
    • Participants
    • Materials and procedure
    • Results and discussion
  • General discussion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 12 June 2019
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ssol.18010.tar
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Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Tartakovsky, Roi & Yeshayahu Shen
2019. Meek as milk and large as logic: A corpus study of the non-standard poetic simile. Language and Literature: International Journal of Stylistics 28:3 ► pp. 203 ff. DOI logo

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