ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the metaphorical reading in order to examine the detail of some science fictional poetry and poetics. The discussion of forms of metaphor has been applied to other text- types by Goatly. Brooke-Rose's work was a pioneering study of the range of possible surface realisations of metaphor, and the more recent discussion by Goatly is largely based on her work. Goatly's framework, however, takes a more rigorous linguistic approach. He adds similes to his scale, and one way of distinguishing between simile and metaphor proper is by seeing the former as syntactic rather than semantic, with the same underlying proposition. The chapter explores the form of metaphor was discussed in the context of its reading, and the cultural factors carried by texts and readers. Linked to this is what might be called a conceptual consensus on the way perceive our world, that is constituted by biology and experience as well as culture.
