1. Some refs on metaphor classification
* "A Grammar of Metaphors", C.Brooke-Rose (classification by grammar
rather than ideas or content: includes a swipe at Aristotle, I seem
to recall).
* "More than Cool Reason", G. Lakoff and M. Turner ("We have now
identified the following sources of power of metaphor: The power to
structure... The power of options... The power of reason... The power
of evaluation... The power of being there")
2. "Is ... a phrase which offers more possible readings than another ...
a "better" phrase than one with fewer possible interpretations?" -
Doug.
It may not be better, but the reader may treat it more seriously (e.g.
reading it as if it were poetry rather than prose :-)). In "Relevance",
Sperber and Wilson describe "poetic effect" as "the peculiar effect of
an utterance which achieves most of its relevance through a wide array
of weak implicatures."
3. "Do modern experimental techniques get clear of metaphor?" - Doug.
I think metaphor is a sufficiently flexible tool to be of use to
anyone (except the pure L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets? Does metaphor require
syntax?).
Taking as samples (not entirely at random) the 1st and last poems
in the latest Stand mag:
* Elena Rivera was at a BARQUE reading. Her "Disturbances in the Ocean
Air" includes much use of (non-dead) metaphor and simile.
Across the border/soft sadness feathers//A blue way/
an icy improvisation
[...]
Scarlet/Scar//Imagine the peeling bark/of a madrona
* Richard Kell's "To Jon Silkin" uses metaphor too, half way through
saying that "you know how hard it is to find a perfect metaphor".
In "old-fashioned" ("traditional Brit") poems it's usually clear
that part of the simile is [merely] decorative. When Raine compares
cobblestones to blackberries, the reader knows that cobblestones are
in the scene the poem is describing, and blackberries aren't.
4. "What constitutes an overdone use of metaphor, according to listees
personal tastes as at present operative?" - Doug.
Well, friends of mine dislike metaphors which disrupt the perceived
unity of the poem. e.g.
* when a difficult metaphor is alone in the middle of simple poem
(though in other situations the metaphor may indeed be "a rich
source of satisfaction to the hearer, and pride to the speaker.")
* when a poet uses a metaphor to make the reader "see afresh" in
a poem where the reader hasn't been encouraged to "see".
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