ABSTRACT
In this chapter, the author sets out his text world theory. The theory is a model of discourse processing that resolves the problem of contextual knowledge: the author claims it is the text itself that determines those aspects of readerly knowledge that are drawn down for processing. The vegetation is depicted as having movement – but oddly enough, it has no colour, except by implication. It is the sky which is the repository of colour, which is presented as associated with divinity, hence presumably is a transcendental property. So the colour-scale adds an extra level, and subsequently follows the vitality scale. So, entities close to the earth have life, but lack power; entities closer to the sky have power, but lack life. Only the vegetation bridges the gulf between high and low: it combines life and power into vitality.
