The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.0134 Monday, 24 January 2005
From: Douglas Galbi <
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Date: Friday, 21 Jan 2005 12:17:28 -0500
Subject: Re: Shakespeare and the Invention of Metaphor and Language
>PROFESSOR VS RAMACHANDRAN: Our language is replete with what we might
>call synaesthetic metaphors, where you are sort of linking different
>sensory systems in metaphorical usage. As, for example, you say loud
>shirt. My shirt's not making any noise, why do you call it loud shirt,
>you instantly understand what I'm talking about. It heightens your
>appreciation of its vivid colour. Or when you say cheddar cheese is
>sharp. Obviously, cheese isn't sharp, if you rub it on your skin it's
>soft but then you say well no no no, I mean it tastes sharp but there's
>a circularity and we're using a tactile adjective to describe a taste.>>
>
>Tim Carroll believes the genius of Shakespeare comes when he goes
>beyond [synaesthetic] sense metaphors to ones which involve links to
>more abstract ideas.
While Shakespeare undoubtedly had an individual, biological genius, the
particular process discussed has a strong connection to general currents
of sixteenth-century English history. Relationships among the senses
were a matter of intense political, cultural, and religious controversy.
For a presentation and analysis of some of the relevant political,
cultural, and religious history, see http://www.galbithink.org/sense-s5.htm
Douglas Galbi
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