Imagism's metaphors - a test case

Abstract

Imagism is centered on the image metaphor, and so is a valuable resource for studying this kind of metaphor. Image metaphor raises questions for any theory that sees metaphor as something conceptual. Such theories entail the rejection of truth-conditional semantics and are thus rejected by proponents of truth conditionalism, such as Donald Davidson. Imagism embodies an extreme form of image metaphor that avoids generating any clear propositional entailments. The problem it poses for conceptual theories of metaphor is thus considerable. The solution lies in the concept of the image schema as the basis of propositional reasoning. Image metaphor can be seen as displaying the matrix out of which conceptual metaphor proper itself develops. Image metaphor shows that matrix to be bound up with the nature of aesthetic affect. It thus points the way to a view of poetry that does justice to its aesthetic passion without opposing it in some absolute way to the rationality of logic and science.

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