metaphoric criticism essay example

Metaphoric Criticism

From digitalrhetoriccollaborative, [ edit ] introduction.

In straightforward, elementary terms, a metaphor is a comparison to some unrelated thing without using "like" or "as." This basic understanding of metaphor is addressed and refuted by Lakoff and Johnson in their essay, “Metaphors We Live By” (1980). They argue that metaphors are not merely figures of speech, but subconscious mental processes that help us make sense of our surroundings. Essentially, metaphors do more than describe some objective definition of reality. Metaphors allow us to create our own social reality – the way we perceive the world around us. Moreover, metaphors are a particularly powerful tool in rhetoric because we are often compelled to take some sort of action based on the metaphors we create. [1] The process of analyzing the effectiveness of metaphors in rhetoric is known as metaphoric criticism.

[ edit ] Artifact Analysis

To illustrate metaphoric criticism, we can analyze one of the preeminent speeches of the 20th century: Franklin D. Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address, delivered in 1933. This speech is perhaps most famous for the line, “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself.” Roosevelt had just defeated Herbert Hoover in a landslide election, fueled by the apex of the Great Depression and Roosevelt’s plans for a New Deal. [2] A transcript of the address can be found here: http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/

Metaphoric criticism begins with the comparison. In Roosevelt’s speech, the United States is fighting a war . Of course, the United States was not actually fighting a war in 1933, but therein lies the comparison. While many texts have isolated metaphors, limited to the context of a sentence or two, Roosevelt’s address fully employs the metaphor throughout the entirety of the speech. Immediately after the famous line, Roosevelt describes fear as, “…nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.” [2] Like a general commanding troops, Roosevelt uses warlike terminology to inspire America to halt its “retreat” from the events of the time. His audience was compelled to assume the role of active participants in a battle against economic conditions, instead of passive onlookers.

Roosevelt goes on to identify several policy initiatives, intended to reduce corruption in banking and put Americans back to work. He summarizes these proposals, saying, “There are the lines of attack” and, “…that if we are to go forward, we must move as a trained and loyal army willing to sacrifice for the good of a common discipline.” [2] Typically, one would believe an American soldier is the only citizen who must truly sacrifice for their country, but Roosevelt seeks to empower all Americans with the metaphor. He instructs the people to support his efforts by prioritizing the needs of the country above personal needs. Roosevelt once again creates a new social reality for the United States, calling all Americans to respond to personal and collective challenges as one would during a war.

Roosevelt, undoubtedly aware of his role in the newly created wartime reality, declares, “I assume unhesitatingly the leadership of this great army of our people dedicated to a disciplined attack upon our common problems.” [2] The metaphor is concluded with Roosevelt at the forefront of the army. Perhaps the effectiveness Roosevelt’s First Inaugural Address lies in the overt use of the overall metaphor. If the war metaphor was only used once, it would be categorized as a figure of speech, designed to emphasize a single sentence. However, by repeatedly integrating the metaphor at strategic moments in the speech, it becomes the social reality described by Lakoff and Johnson. Roosevelt’s speech foreshadowed his New Deal, a radical and influential Presidential endeavor by any standard. The American people, confident in General Roosevelt, would go on to elect President Roosevelt three more times, cementing his status as one of the iconic Presidents in American history.

[ edit ] Additional Resources

Suzanne M. Daughton (1993) Metaphorical transcendence: Images of the Holy War in Franklin Roosevelt's First Inaugural, Quarterly Journal of Speech , 79:4, 427-446 [1]

Robert L. Ivie (1987) Metaphor and the Rhetorical Invention of Cold War “Idealists”, Communication Monographs , 54:2, 165-182 [2]

Michael Leff (1983) I. Topical Invention and Metaphoric Interaction, Southern Speech Communication Journal , 48:3, 214-229 [3]

[ edit ] References

↑ Lakoff, George and Mark Johnson. “Metaphors We Live By.” The Production of Reality: Essays and Readings on Social Interaction. Ed. Jodi O’Brien. Thousand Oaks, CA: Pine Forge Press, 2005. Print. 102-114.
↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 ""Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself": FDR's First Inaugural Address." History Matters. George Mason University, n.d. Web. < http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/ >.

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Rhetorical Criticism with Dr. Guler – Spring 2018

Post #6: Pentadic Criticism, Selections for Critical Essay #2

Due by the class period on Monday, April 5th

Post your responses to the following in your own blog, and be ready to share your responses during our upcoming class meetings.

Find an artifact that you could use in your Critical Essay #2 and identify its pentadic elements. Then conduct a brief pentadic analysis (ratios, dominant element, etc); use the textbook reading on the steps of performing a pentadic analysis.

*This is just a preliminary analysis. Just identify the pentadic elements, run the ratio analysis, and find the dominant term. Then a write a paragraph (or more, if you want) about the possible implications of your findings/observations (about the elements, ratios, dominant element, etc).

2. Make sure to incorporate relevant media — embedding videos, providing links to the artifacts, or images, etc — into your posting.

3. As part of this posting, I’ll also ask you now to make sure you have determined your artifact and method of analysis for Critical Essay #2. What is your selected artifact? Provide some background information about its rhetorical situation: rhetor, message/argument/text, audience, purpose, context. What is your selected method to analyze the artifact? Why did you choose this artifact, and how is the method appropriate to analyze it?

Post #5: Metaphoric Criticism

Due by the class period on Tuesday, March 27th

All language has metaphorical aspects. Just think about everyday texts that construct our thinking from the early years of our childhood, and explore the possibility of using metaphoric criticism as a lens to a text of your choosing in the Critical Essay #2. Respond to the following based on your reading of our textbook and our class discussions. You are allowed to use a text that you’ve used for another blog posting (except the one you have used for Neo-Aristotelian criticism) and keep exploring it as a possibility for Critical Essay #2. Enumerate your responses.

Examine your artifact for a general sense of its dimensions and context. This step will help you and us get the big picture and try to understand the context. Write a few sentences presenting your findings about the artifact’s rhetorical situation.
Next try to isolate some metaphors that emerge from the discourse in the artifact. Note that the text might include explicit and implied metaphors.
Sort some of the metaphors you’ve found into groups according to vehicle and tenor. Look for patterns; focus; themes. What are the vehicles? How do they relate?
Discover an explanation for the artifact (ideology, assumptions, etc). You will use the principles of frequency and intensity to discover significance. For now, just write a few sentences that reflect your preliminary thinking about the implications of your findings.
Post #4: Ideological Criticism and Peer Response

Post #4 is due by the class period on Tuesday, March 13th. Peer response on others’ blog is due by the end of the class period on Thursday, March 15th.

Based on your reading and our class discussions of ideological criticism:

1) Locate an artifact that (or a series of related artifacts) that’s somehow unique, original, and/or significant and that communicates to its readers/viewers a clear message. The artifact should come from a clear source and present clear verbal and/or visual content. You might choose one or a few representative examples of the following artifacts: public service announcements, movies, TV programs, songs, TV commercials, print advertisements and/or other print materials from a particular campaign, brochures, websites, public speeches, cartoons, comic strips, etc. Give some information about the rhetorical situation of this artifact (its rhetor, message/argument, audience, purpose, context). Post a link to the artifact, if possible.

2) Once you have identified the artifact(s), perform a preliminary ideological criticism of it by examining its content to identify and make a list of the following:

a) Presented Elements

b) Suggested Elements

3) Then, write down a few statements which begin to formulate an ideology evident in your selected artifact(s). Use the questions in our textbook (page 247) to guide you in formulating the ideology: you may just choose a few relevant questions from the list on p. 247 which you can answer in relation to your artifact(s).

4) Once you have made your own blog posting, you should go to at least three other classmates’ blogs to respond to their posting (try to respond to the peers who haven’t gotten any responses yet; if everybody has received a response already, you can respond to anyone). Read the posting and explore any links provided with it. Your response could be in the form of questions, comments, and suggestions. You may ask a clarifying question to make your peer further think about aspects of their selected rhetorical artifacts? You may make a comment about what you think about their analysis (what is good/interesting about your peers’ observations), about anything that personally resonates with you, etc. You may make suggestions for further development, should your peer choose to continue their preliminary analysis in their Critical Essay #2. The suggestions can include research-related suggestions (sources to look into for developing an analysis, etc).

Post #3: Generic Criticism

Due by the class period on Thursday, February 22th

Generic criticism is one of the methods you may choose to use in your second major critical essay. Based on your reading and our class discussions of generic criticism, practice generic criticism on selected artifacts of interest you (that you could potentially use for your second essay), by doing one of the following:

1) Find at least two artifacts that you feel might comprise of a genre (generic description);

2) Or one particular artifact to assess whether it fits in an existing genre (generic participation);

3) Or one artifact that appears to be part of a genre but might digress from it in interesting ways, etc (generic application).

In other words, the artifacts should be linked in such a way that you can make a case for an “emerging” genre OR whether the artifact participates in an “existing” genre or not. Whether you decide to perform a short generic criticism of your artifact(s) generic description, generic participation, or generic application, don’t forget to name the genre you’ve identified/established for your artifact/s. An example in terms of “generic description could be “wedding-themed comedies”; but, you should produce a name of your own that may be fitting. For other/existing genres, you can do some research to find out their accurate names.

Once you know your answers to the prompts above, create a posting that briefly clarifies that you have chosen to criticize [insert your artifacts] through [your selected type of generic criticism]. Next, briefly explain the selected type of generic criticism (for example, define what generic description/application/participation is). Finally, follow the rest of the procedures to conduct a preliminary analysis of your artifact(s).

This will just be a preliminary analysis and the resulting posting can be 300-500 words. This preliminary analysis doesn’t have present all findings or discuss their implications, although you are encouraged to do that to some extent. You may just use the observation sheet delivered in class to analyze each artifact and then identify the commonalities between the artifacts OR identify the qualities that make an artifact participate in a genre OR qualities that make it digress from an existing genre, etc (post some of your notes here). Make sure to include a list of the “organizing principles” for your analysis (see the sample essays in the textbook to get ideas for generating possible organizing principles in a generic analysis).

Post #2: Neo-Aristotelian Criticism

Due by 5 p.m. on Wednesday, February 7th

“The School of Athens”, Raphael, 1509-1511

For your first formal critical essay in our class, you will use the rhetorical method of Neo-Aristotelian criticism to discover and write about the available means of persuasion in a speech of your choice. Please follow our class meetings and assigned readings on the steps for writing a Neo-Aristotelian criticism. Also, please be patient and make sure to read and learn from the model essays discussed during the class period before selecting your own rhetorical artifacts.

For this posting, locate a speech for your analysis. You are free to locate a speech from any media, and the speech can be either a fiction or nonfiction one. For example, the speech can be an actual presidential or political address which can help you make a case for a certain type of leadership rhetoric and its possible effect on audiences. Or you can find a movie, a TV program, or another mediated text that features the delivery of a speech and analyze it in relation to a certain issue (identity, race, gender, morality, or another everyday exigency). Ideally, for this posting, the full transcript or a portion of your selected artifact should be available online so that you can include its link in your posting. If not, find another way to describe the speech and include portions in your posting.

In your posting, describe the rhetorical situation (rhetor, audience, topic, purpose, and context) of your selected artifact (2-3 paragraphs); the more details you can provide to inform us about your selected artifact, the better.

We will build on this posting during our class on Thursday, February 8th (see the course schedule). Therefore, your posting by the due date of 5 pm on February 7th (for instructor review) is essential.

Feel free to discuss your ideas with me inside or outside of the class period.

Post #1: Introducing your Blog

Due by 11:00 a.m. on February 1

You were previously given an in-class tutorial on how to create a Longwood blog. Now is the time to make your first blog post! The main purpose of your first post is to clarify the rhetorical situation of your blog for readers who might stumble upon it. For example, why does your blog exist? The elements of a rhetorical situation include the following: writer, purpose, message, audience, context.

-Who is the writer/blogger (e.g., brief info about you)?

-What is the purpose of your blog (include the course information but you may also include a purpose of your own)?

-What will the writer be writing about on this blog?

-Who is your intended audience (write one or two sentences about who might make use of this blog or would like to check it out, etc)?

-What is the context of this blog (you can think about the classroom and beyond)?

Since in your response to some of these questions you will want to mention our Rhetorical Criticism course, it is also appropriate to give some information about your major/specializations, reasons for taking the class, any past rhetoric/writing classes you have taken, etc.

Be flexible and use your creativity while making sure you address all writing prompts in detail. Please make all your postings more colorful and interesting with media (images, video, etc); cite your images and try to use ones that are in the public domain (not copyrighted), but you should be fine sharing any YouTube videos. You may also create your own images (take photos, etc) and add them to your blog, too. (Sample source for high quality free images: pixabay.com)

Painting: The Weimarer’s Courtyard of the Muses , Theobald von Oer, 1860

Welcome to ENGL 301: Rhetorical Criticism!

Welcome to our course blog! This blog will serve as a medium for us to communicate about our course, which will allow you to study various methods of rhetorical criticism and use them to examine examples of verbal and nonverbal communication.