"By these Allusions [similitudes, metaphors, and allegories] a Truth in the Understanding is as it were reflected by the Imagination; we are able to see something like Colour and Shape in a Notion, and to discover a Scheme of Thoughts traced out upon Matter"
— Addison, Joseph (1672-1719)
Author
Place of Publication
London
Date
Thursday, July 3rd, 1712
Metaphor
"By these Allusions [similitudes, metaphors, and allegories] a Truth in the Understanding is as it were reflected by the Imagination; we are able to see something like Colour and Shape in a Notion, and to discover a Scheme of Thoughts traced out upon Matter"
Metaphor in Context
The Pleasures of the Imagination are not wholly confined to such particular Authors as are conversant in material Objects, but are often to be met with among the Polite Masters of Morality, Criticism, and other Speculations abstracted from Matter; who, though they do not directly treat of the visible Parts of Nature, often draw from them their Similitudes, Metaphors, and Allegories. By these Allusions a Truth in the Understanding is as it were reflected by the Imagination; we are able to see something like Colour and Shape in a Notion, and to discover a Scheme of Thoughts traced out upon Matter. And here the Mind receives a great deal of Satisfaction, and has two of its Faculties gratified at the same time, while the Fancy is busy in copying after the Understanding, and transcribing Ideas out of the Intellectual World into the Material.
Categories
Provenance
Reading Wasserman. Found again searching "as it were" in Chadwyck-Healey's Literary Theory Database
Citation
Addison, Joseph, and Richard Steele. Selections from the Tatler and the Spectator. Ed. Robert J. Allen. Second ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, Inc., 1970.
Date of Entry
09/19/2006
Date of Review
06/26/2007
