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1、TheFunctionofMetaphorRonBontekoeInthePoeticsAristotlesaysofmetaphorfirst,thatit"consistsingivingthethinganamethatbelongstosomethingelse"'andsec-ond,thatforthepoetitisthegreatestandmostdifficultthingbyfartohaveacommandof.^Whyisit,wemightask,thattheinappropriateattributionofaname—some
2、thingthatlooksremark-ablylikethecommissionofanerror—shouldbesuchadifficultthingtodo?Theanswer,ofcourse,isthatitisnotatalldifficulttodoifweintendtobesatisfiedwithjustanyinappropriatenaming,butthatifweexpectourmetaphortosomehow"makesense"inspiteofthe"error"involvedinitsconstruction,av
3、eryspecialtalentisrequiredofus—theabiUtytorecognizeresemblanceswhichordinarilypassunnoticed.Whiletheimportanceofthisca-pacityforrecognizingsimilaritieshasbeenagreeduponbyalmosteveryonewhohaswrittenonthesubjectofmetaphorsinceAris-totle,considerabledifferencesofopinionhavearisenconcem
4、ingthewayinwhichtheserecognizedsimilaritiesarebroughtintoplayinmetaphor.Therehasbeen,inotherwords,alongdebateoverhowsuccessfullymetaphormanagestoconveymeaning.Itisnotthepurposeofthispapertoenterintothatdebateinanybutthemostindirectofmanners.RatherIproposetofocusupontheworkofcertaint
5、hinkerswhohaveimplicitlyassumedthatingivinganaccountofhowmetaphormeanstheyhavealsoprovidedananswertothemoregeneralquestion:Howdoesmetaphorwork?Atfirstglanceitmayappearthatnothingcouldbemorenaturalthantoequatethesetwoquestions.Metaphor,afterall,isaphenomenonoflanguageandlanguage'sfir
6、sttaskistomakepossiblecommunication.Thusinsofarasmetaphorsucceedsinmeaning,itspurpose,surely,mustbetheconveyingofmeaning.Theproblemwiththislineofreasoningisthatitconsidersmeta-phorintheabstract,divorcedfromthesettinginwhichitismosttypicallyfoundifitisstillinnovativeandalive—thepoem.
7、Thepoemtooisaphenomenonoflanguage.Inspiteofthis,however,itisaworkofartbeforeitisapieceofcommunication.WemustPhilosophyandRhetoric,Vol.20,No.4,1987.PublishedbyThePennsylvaniaStateUniversityPress,UniversityParkandLondon.209210RONBONTEKOEconsiderthen,whethermetaphor,asoneofthedistincti
8、vefeaturesofpoetry,
