ABSTRACT
A more promising approach is to suggest that what is distinctive about the art of literature is its use of language, a mode characterised among other qualities by the pervasive use of metaphor. Of all literary forms poetry is the one in which metaphor plays the most conspicuous role. It is reasonable to begin by considering the operation of metaphor in poetry, and to start by looking at one of the earliest theorists, yet one who is very influential, namely Aristotle. Contemporary theorists of course acknowledge that Aristotle’s work established the foundation for what is sometimes called the common-sense view of metaphor, but they contend that he failed to reach the heart of the matter, and that it is necessary to go well beyond his formulation. The problem with metaphor can be restated as that of determining the connection between the utterance meaning and the sentence meaning when these stand in such an unusual relationship to each other.
