Metaphor as change of representation

an interaction theory of cognition and metaphor

Bipin Indurkhya

pp. 95-150

in: Jaakko Hintikka (ed), Aspects of metaphor, Berlin, Springer, 1994

Abstract

Imagine a poet comparing hawthorn (a wild flower shrub) to water. What are the similarities between the two? Suppose someone tells you that the ocean is like a harp. What can she possibly mean? How can a harp be similar to the ocean? In each of these cases, there seem to be no similarities between the two objects. Yet, in the poem White Hawthorn in the West of Ireland, Eavan Boland boldly likens hawthorn to water: "I drove West// ... past splashes of coltsfoot,// I assumed// the hard shyness of Atlantic light// and the superstitious aura of hawthorn.// All I wanted then was to fill my arms with// sharp flowers,// to seem, from a distance, to be part of// that ivory downhill rush ...// ... So I left it// stirring on those hills// with a fluency// only water has. And, like water, able// to redefine land. ..."; and in his classic poem Seascape, Stephen Spender compares the ocean to a harp: "There are some days the happy ocean lies// Like an unfingered harp, below the land.// Afternoon gilds all the silent wires// into a burning music for the eyes." Each of these metaphors is quite unconventional and strikes a jarring chord when we encounter it at first. But after the metaphor is assimilated, we are left with beautiful, fresh and vivid imagery. In fact much of the beauty of these two poems comes from the novelty of their metaphors.