Metaphoric Criticism

1
Metaphoric Criticism

• Based primarily on Rhetorical Criticism
• by Sonja Foss

2
Classical Treatment of Metaphor As Decorative

• Aristotle
• Gives clear this, charm, and distinction to
  style
• Cicero
• There is no mode of embellishment . . . That
  throws a greater luster are upon language

3
Classical Treatment of Metaphor as Extraordinary
Language

• Aristotle
• create an unusual element in the diction by
  their not being in ordinary speech
• Metaphor should not be ridiculous, to
  grand, too much in the vein of tragedy, or
  our far fetched.
• Cicero
• The metaphor should bear some resemblance to
  what it pictures, and it should give clarity to a
  point rather than confuse it.

4
Contemporary, Expanded View of Metaphor

• Friedrich Nietzsche metaphor is a process
  whereby we encounter our world.
• Kenneth Burke metaphor plays an important role
  in the discovery and description of our world.
• Max Black metaphor is a screen for structuring
  and organizing our view of the world.

5
Contemporary Ideas About Metaphor

• Create our experience of reality
• Prescribe our action
• Tenor Vehicle (my roommate is a pig)

6
Metaphor and Argument

• Seen as decoration, metaphor plays no role in
  argument.
• Seen as a way of knowing, metaphor has a
  particular relationship to argument.
• metaphor does not simply support and argument
  the metaphor itself is an argument.
• if the audience finds the characteristics
  acceptable and sees the appropriateness of
  linking the two characteristics, they will
  accept the argument.

7
Procedures for Metaphoric Criticism

• Examination of the whole (context and text)
• Isolation of individual metaphors
• Sorting of metaphors into groups
• Analysis of metaphors

8
Analysis of Metaphors

• What ideas are highlighted? What ideas are
  hidden?
• What images are conveyed?
• What do metaphors suggest about the world view of
  the speaker or writer?
• Do the metaphors help or hinder the
  accomplishment of the goal?
• What attitudes and values underlie the metaphors?

9
Analysis of Metaphors (Cont.)

• Are the metaphors internally consistent?
• How are the metaphors organized? Does one
  metaphor dominate because of its placement in the
  act?
• Do a speakers metaphors change over time?
• How do the metaphors corroborate or are they
  inconsistent with other rhetorical acts of the
  speaker?