Three Articles on Metaphor

Society for Pure EnglishProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.6

Word count: 43K words
Chapters: 5

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Three Articles on Metaphor by Society for Pure EnglishAuthor: Society for Pure English,Language: English, Class: PE: Language and Literatures: English, Release Date: Aug 28, 2004

Editor's review

This book collects three articles by the Society for Pure English on metaphor as a rhetorical phenomenon, a short pamphlet within English language and rhetoric studies. Its value lies not in offering a systematic textbook of metaphor theory but in presenting early twentieth-century English scholarship's specific discussions of metaphorical usage, stylistic effect, and linguistic purity, bearing a distinct period academic flavor. For readers concerned with the English rhetorical tradition, philological method, or the history of English prose style, this slim volume offers primary material for understanding how scholars of the time viewed figurative language in everyday use. Readers should note the gap between its argumentative context and today's cognitive linguistics and stylistics frameworks; it is better suited as supplementary reading for specialized research than as an introductory guide. The electronic edition facilitates searching and excerpting, making it convenient for consultation while writing papers or preparing courses.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Students and scholars of English rhetorical history or the philological tradition
Paper writers needing insight into early English scholarship on metaphor
Advanced readers interested in the evolution of English style and prose

Not a good fit for

Beginners seeking a systematic textbook of metaphor theory
Readers expecting popular writing or a practical style guide
Learners whose English reading ability cannot yet handle academic prose

Reading tips

Skim the three article titles and main points of each paragraph, then closely read one article of interest.
Note the metaphorical usages exemplified in the text and compare them with contemporary corpora.
For papers, set the three articles' arguments alongside contemporary rhetorical works for comparison.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Is this book suitable for learning metaphor theory?

Not really as a theoretical primer. It is a collection of early twentieth-century society articles whose angle leans toward linguistic purity and stylistic criticism rather than a systematic account of metaphor's cognitive mechanisms. With some rhetoric background, it can serve as supplementary historical reading; to build a theoretical framework, choose a contemporary textbook instead.

What language level does reading this book require?

The original consists of academic English articles with fairly formal sentence structure and rhetorical terminology. A solid reading ability in English is recommended, sufficient to handle longer argumentative paragraphs, with reference works at hand for uncommon words and period background.

Are the three articles related?

All three center on metaphor but emphasize different aspects and can be read independently. The collection's value lies in showing one society's multi-angle discussion of a single topic; readers may excerpt individual articles rather than reading straight through.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Society for Pure English Author

Society for Pure English is an English-language body that appears under a collective name. Public information about it is limited, and its dates, nationality, and specific organizational history are not clearly recorded. Judging from the four works held in the collection, its writing centers on the purity and standardization of English, covering the anglicization of French words, the use of dialectal words, discussions of metaphor, and practical suggestions for language improvement, along with a preliminary announcement and a list of members. Its style is practical and argumentative, with clear views on language reform, often presented in short pieces, suggestions, and collected articles. These works reflect early twentieth-century concern with language standards and quality of expression, and are of some value for understanding the ideas behind the language-purification movement of the time.