Date of Award
May 2019
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts
Department
Philosophy
First Advisor
Peter Van Elswyk
Committee Members
Rachel Goodman, Joshua Spencer
Keywords
Metaphor, Poetry, Pragmatics, Semantics
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to explain why the leading theories of metaphor fail when applied to metaphors which appear in poems. The ability to understand the true meaning of a metaphor in conversations relies on understanding speaker intention and extralinguistic context. This paper argues that because such material is not available to the reader of a poem, theories which rely heavily on pragmatics to explain metaphors cannot be successfully applied to metaphors which appear in poems. This paper makes use of the views on metaphor by John Searle and Paul Grice, and discusses how meaning is constructed in poetry, and in particular the sonnet, through Nelson Goodman’s theory of symbol systems.
Recommended Citation
Marciezyk, Savannah, "Poetics, Not Pragmatics: Understanding Metaphors in a Poetic Context" (2019). Theses and Dissertations. 2221.
https://dc.uwm.edu/etd/2221