ABSTRACT
A metaphor is not necessarily verbal. Sometimes semiotic textures assist readers to visualise an entire picture. According to Jakobson, in the works of Romanticism and Symbolism, the Freudian dream symbols and Surrealist painting all belong to the metaphor. (Barthes. 1970)
2.3 The power of a visual metaphor
Rather than being a distinct comparison, the meaning of a metaphor is usually implied. Some scholars argue about whether a rhetorical metaphor is equal to a visual metaphor. Most of them believe that iconographies (or images) still require the same process we use to understand a rhetorical metaphor, such as if X is Y, Y is used to enhance the “meaning” associated with X.
