A Short History of Tropes
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Transcript of A Short History of Tropes
Metaphor, Metonomy, Synecdoche, Irony
A Short History of Tropes
Theory of LanguagePlato
Foundation of early Christian mysticism; includes theory of angels; resurgence in Renaissance
Aristotle
Rediscovered through Arabic tradition in the 13th century; inspired scholasticism
Classical cosmology
Platonic theory of the Universe translated throughAllegory.
Aristotle’s theory emphasizesLogic, order, rationalism
Confrontation with languagePlato leads to
exegeticsPlato rejects literal
force of language except as it impinges on unveiling the mystical
Aristotle leads to grammar and rhetoric
Theory of metaphor becomes a science
Plato and the vernacularTheory of Metaphor
as part of the great chain of being
IntegumentaVeiled metaphorsExegetics becomes
applied to vernacular texts (e.g. Virgil’s Aeneid)
Rose Window
Window becomes the allegory of the universe
Aristotle and RhetoricDevelops a system of
literary analysisExplains and
categorizes kinds of metaphors (tropes)
Development of semiotics and theory of understanding
Medieval Literary TheorySecular
commentariesRenewed interest in
vernacularEfforts to combine
exegetics and logicVernacular authority
Dante and AllegoryDivine ComedyVita NuovaConvivioDe MonarchiaLetter to Can GrandeSchool of the stil
nuovistsHermetic nature of
imagery and diction
Figure of Beatrice as supreme metaphorComplete identity
between Beatrice and miraculous salvation
Perfect eloquence between thought, word, and BEING
Literal SymbolNo reader can
understand the identity,
Beatrice becomes metonomy to the reader
Metaphor is identical
Metanomy is partial
Problem of movement between metaphor and metonomy
BoccaccioOne of the greatest
intellectual scholars of Europe
First Professor of Dante studies
Friend of PetrarchChampion of
VernacularDecameronGenealogy Gentile
Gods
Critique and Admiration of DanteAnxiety about
mysticism in post plague world
AntifeminismMore Ovidian than
VirgilianHistory and Ethical
burdens of literatureDifferent vision for
vernacular
Vico and the EnlightenmentDeveloped system of
trope, expanded by Kenneth Burke
MetaphorMetonomySynecdocheIrony(Note Parallel to
Plato’sCosmology)
Nineteenth CenturyRise of hermeneuticsPhenomenologyAesthetics (from
Kant)William JamesSchleimacherRomanticismVictorianism
20th Century StructuralismNew emphasis on
anthropology and culture
Combines with phenomenology
Combines with “grammar” of literary theory (sounds like Aristotle)
Levi-Strauss
And Roland Barthes
Formalism and New CriticismBakhtin and Russian Formalism
Eliot and New Criticism
Psychoanalytic CriticismJung, FreudTheory of Archetypes Narrating Ego
Lacan, Kristeva
DeconstructionYale SchoolHeidegger inspiredDerridaDeManJ. Hillis MillerGeoffrey HartmanHarold Bloom
Denies the stability of language and forces a reconsideration of all theories of literary language
Destruction of Aesthetic and Ethical Values to literature
Reaction to Holocaust
Complicity with Nazi agenda discovered in late ’80’s
Descent into cultural studies (Foucault)
Text as Trope: AllusionCultural
appropriatione.g. Greek into Roman
Ovid—MetamorphosesVirgil—Aeneid
Virgil and Dante Have mercy on me," cried I out
aloud, "Spirit! or living man! whate'er thou be." He answered: "Now not man, man once I was, And born of Lombard parents, Mantuans both By country, when the power of Julius yet Was scarcely firm. At Rome my life was past, Beneath the mild Augustus, in the time Of fabled deities and false. A bard Was I, and made Anchises' upright son The subject of my song, who came from Troy, When the flames prey'd on Ilium's haughty towers.
Dante and Virgil"And art thou then that Virgil,
that well - spring, From which such copious floods of eloquence Have issued?" I with front abash'd replied. "Glory and light of all the tuneful train! May it avail me, that I long with zeal Have sought thy volume, and with love immense Have conn'd it o'er. My master thou, and guide! Thou he from whom alone I have derived That style, which for its beauty into fame Exalts me. See the beast, from whom I fled.