Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? :: Poetry Poem Poet Metaphor Papers

Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? The poet Willis Barnstone begins a poem with this eminence Why must I incessantly reveal the death in things? My poem would begin, Why must I always see the simile in things? If I fool any knowing strength it is in seeing connections betwixt unlikely ideas, theories, and concepts. I drive in classes, in front of the television, in front of books and my brain constantly tries to see how what I dont understand re belateds to, is like, compares to things I already know both(prenominal). damp of the poetic process is to be on the observation tower constantly for these illustrations, these comparisons between unlike things constantly, as (in a metaphorical sense) a mechanic power hear a car coming d take the street and from the hoo-hah of the engine discern a frame of inexplicable knowlight-emitting diodege, an awareness, that is lost on early(a) hearers. The strong arm of metaphor has led to contestations like, Thats wherefore schema th eory is a variety of Swiss army knife or using consultation is like deciding whether to fix your own transmission. Also good teaching is genuinely often about finding metaphors that give students another way of relating saucy material to what they abide already more or less experienced. The other day I was trying to explain how I expected a paper to be structured, and I found myself saying, Remember when you came situation late from a appointment and you built an argument to show your parents that coming home late was a perfectly reasonable, even inevitable occurrence wedded the circumstances? plane telling stories about my teaching is a chassis of metaphor that is, Im saying that my experience as a white mannish teaching in a small lofty school result be like the experience of my students. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) spend more than of their book lecture about where metaphors come from, how they function in conversation, what their fetter to underlying cordial structu res might be. However, I read the book hungrily looking for some information about why metaphors serve a purpose that nothing else seems to for me. Finally, near the end I found this statement The reason we take a shit focused so much on metaphor is that it unites reason and imagination. Reason, at the very least, involves categorization, entailment, and inference. Imagination, in one of its many aspects, involves seeing one kind of thing in terms of another kind of thingwhat we have called metaphorical thought.Why Must We Dream in Metaphors? Poetry poetry Poet Metaphor PapersWhy Must We Dream in Metaphors? The poet Willis Barnstone begins a poem with this line Why must I always see the death in things? My poem would begin, Why must I always see the metaphor in things? If I have any intellectual strength it is in seeing connections between unlikely ideas, theories, and concepts. I sit in classes, in front of the television, in front of books and my brain constantly tries to se e how what I dont understand relates to, is like, compares to things I already know about. Part of the poetic process is to be on the lookout constantly for these metaphors, these comparisons between unlike things constantly, as (in a metaphorical sense) a mechanic might hear a car coming megabucks the street and from the noise of the engine discern a kind of secret knowledge, an awareness, that is lost on other hearers. The strong arm of metaphor has led to statements like, Thats why schema theory is a kind of Swiss army knife or using consultation is like deciding whether to fix your own transmission. Also good teaching is very often about finding metaphors that give students another way of relating new material to what they have already more or less experienced. The other day I was trying to explain how I expected a paper to be structured, and I found myself saying, Remember when you came home late from a date and you built an argument to show your parents that coming home late was a perfectly reasonable, even inevitable occurrence given the circumstances? Even telling stories about my teaching is a kind of metaphor that is, Im saying that my experience as a white male teaching in a small high school will be like the experience of my students. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) spend much of their book talking about where metaphors come from, how they function in conversation, what their tie to underlying social structures might be. However, I read the book hungrily looking for some information about why metaphors serve a purpose that nothing else seems to for me. Finally, near the end I found this statement The reason we have focused so much on metaphor is that it unites reason and imagination. Reason, at the very least, involves categorization, entailment, and inference. Imagination, in one of its many aspects, involves seeing one kind of thing in terms of another kind of thingwhat we have called metaphorical thought.