Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Department
Language, Literature and Writing
Abstract
Metaphor strikes at the essential, though ambiguous truth involving the subject’s inability to speak directly about those intimations which are most significant. Metaphors, whether linguistic or aesthetic, are necessary distortions inextricably bound to human subjectivity and expression. Metaphor strikes at the very space of “X” within subjectivity which analytic understanding cannot reach. From the impossible weightiness of that which cannot be said, metaphor emerges. The Motive for Metaphor captures the movement toward and away from the “vital, arrogant, fatal, dominant X” of self. A metaphor of metaphors, the poem defies explanation while pointing toward the existential conditions which gave rise to it. It alludes to its own subjective, authorial origins while embracing the impossibility of witnessing or knowing them fully.
Recommended Citation
Brock, Kate, "Metaphors of Trauma: An Excavation" (2018). Honors Projects and Presentations: Undergraduate. 41.
https://mosaic.messiah.edu/honors/41
