In rhapsodizing about the RV dump in Quartzsite recently, I finally decided that it affected me so strongly because the metaphor of a shadowy netherworld symbolized the importance of how much truth is omitted or hidden, in the normal day-to-day world. I doubt that the internet has changed this fact of human existence all that much.
Reading Addison & Steele again, I found this quote from Dryden:
This is an example of the real value of poetry. It lies not in prettiness or entertainment, but in poets' skill as metaphor-smithies.
Reading Addison & Steele again, I found this quote from Dryden:
Errors, like Straws, upon the Surface flow;Shame on the readers of the post for not disinterring this for me.
He who would search for Pearls must dive below.
This is an example of the real value of poetry. It lies not in prettiness or entertainment, but in poets' skill as metaphor-smithies.
Comments
I personally remember an "aha" moment for myself as a young adult when I came across the expression "don't throw pearls before swine." It was a moment when this metaphor caused me to "get it".....I benefited from someone else's hard-learned experience to protect one's heart, one's vulnerability, from an asshole for an asshole can only do what an asshole does and the best one can do is walk on by.
It was the power of metaphor that did it.
I like your quote from Dryden. Reminds me of this from "The Little Prince:"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly. What is essential is invisible to the eye."
And this one from Helen Keller: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched-they must be felt with the heart."
"I am a philosopher; I write novels only on the weekends," Eco told Britain's Guardian newspaper last year. "As a philosopher I am interested in truth. Since it is very difficult to decide what's true or not I discovered that it's easier to arrive at truth through the analysis of fakes."
He taught semiology.
Chris
I interpreted it to mean conventional versus unconventional, polite versus brutally true.
Here is another example of what I call a pearl which I personally hear in the Dryden quote. This, by MLK: There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies."
This also comes to mind for me with your Dryden quote because we tend to vilify our enemies and elevate our own selves. Black and white thinking instead of shades of grey. It takes some courage to look in the mirror and see the worst in oneself. Many things can come to mind for the pearls are indeed under the surface and finding (or stumbling upon them) is a true joy.