2 - Dead metaphor and normal usage
from Part I - introduction
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 31 January 2025
Summary
Inasmuch as all imagery embodies the temporary displacement of the terminology ’at issue’ in favour of ’extraneous’ terminology, all imagery embodies a deviation from the terminological norm, albeit a familiar kind of deviation. Metaphor alone has the distinction of achieving this deviation through a simultaneous departure from the normal usage of the language as a whole. This, as is well known, is precisely what the so-called ’dead’ or ’faded’ or ’linguistic’ metaphor does not do. Tree in a family tree, for instance, is a ’dead metaphor’ and involves no departure from normal usage.
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- Information
- Interaction in Poetic ImageryWith Special Reference to Early Greek Poetry, pp. 27 - 56Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025