ART HISTORY ADVENT CALENDAR - DAY 21

 Week of Creativity

21st of December - The Dreams of Reason Spawn Monsters

Have you ever put your reason to sleep,

letting strong drink or other substances

usurp her rightful throne?

If that is so, think of all the monsters

and all the outrageous visions

that unfold before your eyes,

until banished reason claims 

her rightful throne!

The BEST of life is but intoxication,

it lets us come closer to chaos

and makes us dance with the Universe!

THE EVOLUTION OF A METAPHOR

-- Scientific truth:
Ethanol depresses the central nervous system.

-- Anonymous, Emaré, 14th century (a messenger gets drunk, he is drugged in that manner, and he is unconscious): loss of reason / theft of reason:

He made hym well at ese and fyne,   
Bothe of brede, ale and wyne,
And that berafte hym hys reson.    (took away from him his reason)
                                                                       (or: stole his reason) 
When he was on slepe browght...
In modern English:
He was well at ease with bread, ale, and wine,
and lost his senses.
And when he was asleep...


-- William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Othello, 17th century (a young lieutenant falls from grace, having drunk too much on duty): theft of reason:

CASSIO:  I remember a mass of things, but nothing distinctly;
a quarrel, but nothing wherefore. O God, that men
should put an enemy in their mouths to steal away
their brains!

-- Eliza Cook, "The Sacrilegious Gamesters", 19th century (a young gambler is suddenly awakened from his intoxication): dethroning and reinstatement of reason:

But now the charm hath lost its spell, 
The heated fumes have passed; 
And banished reason to her throne, 
Usurped, advances fast.

- Anonymous, "The Student's Fall", 19th century (a lightweight young student is coaxed by his friends to drink): also dethroning of reason:

At length, by the persuasions of one of his dearest friends, he took the first glass, and finding that his spirits became more buoyant, he took another and another, until Alcohol usurped the throne from which Reason had fled abashed... and the proud scholar fell drunk upon the floor.



-- Sandra Dermark, "Star-Crossed Lieberecht", 21st century (a young Prussian lieutenant, prisoner of the Austrians, is given brandy as a truth drug and betrays state secrets): dethroning of reason by force, violently:

His sight was clouded, and the effect of liquor quenched the firelight of his reason. A coup d'état had taken place within his system.

--Sandra Dermark, "The Tragedy of Othello," 21st century (a young lieutenant falls from grace, having drunk too much on duty): dethroning of reason by force, violently:

CASSIO (doubtfully sipping):
This real amber nectar of a liquor
will thrust bright reason off
her rightful throne!

ANALYSING METAPHORS

tenor, vehicle, and ground: These are traditional terms referring to elements of the structure of a metaphor.

The word used metaphorically is the vehicle. Its metaphorical meaning is the tenor (sometimes called the topic). The ground represents the resemblances or analogies which justify the metaphor. 


AUFGABE:
Analyse the following metaphors. What are their tenor, vehicle, and ground?

The storm in Snoilsky's Lützen.
Tenor: "war, battle". Vehicle: "thunderstorm". Ground: both scenarios have got a few traits in common: chaos, noise, violence.

"Wallflower".
The tenor of this expression is an "overlooked, anonymous person, without anything special." The vehicle is "a small and modest flower which is usually overlooked".

Eliza Cook: "And banished reason to her throne,/usurped, advances fast".
Tenor: "an intoxicated person regains consciousness". Vehicle: the realm is that person's system as a whole, the throne room would be the cortex, reason is the rightful ruler, ethanol is the usurper who claimed the throne. Ground: liquor deprives one of logical reason and takes over one's body and psyche.

Let the cat out of the bag.
Tenor: explain something, especially a secret. Vehicle: the cat is the secret, the bag is the concealment of said secret. Ground: the cat is hidden in the bag, just like the secret as long as it's kept.

"It was the season of light, it was the season of darkness."
Tenor: a good time, a bad time. Or a time of knowledge/intelligence, a time of ignorance. Vehicle: "light" for knowledge/intelligence or good, "darkness" for ignorance or evil. Ground: when it's completely dark and there's no light, everything appears black and impossible to distinguish.

Computer mouse.
The vehicle is the "rodent". The tenor is the "device". The ground: similar shape and size.

To wear one's heart upon one's sleeve.
Tenor: to express oneself freely. Vehicle: the heart, as seat of emotions, and the sleeve, which is visible. Ground: one can't see a person's heart in his/her chest, while it could be seen if it had been worn upon a sleeve. Plus,  the heart, as seat of emotions.

image metaphor In the Conceptual Metaphor Theory, image metaphors are metaphors in which the source domain and the target domain are equally well structured, conceptually, in their own right (Her eyes were dark holes, Icicles bared long teeth from the eaves – both from the novelist Patricia Cornwell). In this, they differ from many conceptual metaphors (for instance, life is a journey), in which an abstract, less structured domain borrows structure from a more concrete, familiar and well-structured domain. Image metaphors are therefore less important as aids to reasoning and tend to have more of an aesthetic role, adding colour and feeling and moulding perception. Many literary metaphors are of this type. 

Many idioms are ‘frozen metaphors’, that is to say, metaphors that have become conventionalised and established: all over the place, fall into place, have one’s heart in the right place, know one’s place, a place in the sun, keep someone in his place, go places, have friends in high places.

 One indication that blending has occurred is the presence of so-called ‘emergent’ features of meaning – features observable in a combination AB which cannot be attributed to A or B separately. An example is the metaphor That surgeon is a butcher, which strongly suggests that the surgeon in question is incompetent, although this is not a conventional characteristic either of surgeons or butchers and is thus an emergent feature. Briefly, the explanation is that in interpreting That surgeon is a butcher, we extract relevant features from both the concept surgeon and the concept butcher, and then elaborate these on the basis of our knowledge of the world to form a ‘blend’. We infer that the butcher-surgeon is incompetent because we picture him in the operating theatre cheerfully wielding his instruments with the degree of delicacy and control of a butcher tackling a carcass, and with the same level of concern for the patient that a butcher has for his meat.

Conceptual Metaphor Theory This is a theory of metaphor developed by Lakoff. The basic idea is that metaphor is essentially a relation between conceptual domains, whereby ways of talking about one domain (the ‘source domain’) can be applied to another domain (the ‘target domain’) by virtue of ‘correspondences’ between the two. Typically, the source domain is relatively familiar and conceptually well-structured, and the structures are used to articulate the target domain. In the case of well-established metaphors, the correspondences are held to be permanently laid down in the cognitive system. By this theory, metaphor is not tied to particular linguistic expressions: a given conceptual metaphor can in principle underlie any number of metaphorical expressions, some of which may be conventionalised, others not. An example of a conceptual metaphor is life is a journey. Here, the source domain is that of journey and the target domain – what the metaphorical expression refers to – is that of life. The following are some of the relevant correspondences between these domains:

journey                                                         life

beginning of journey                                  birth

end of journey                                            death

reaching destination                              achieving aim                     

crossroads                                            point of choice

going uphill                                            finding life difficult
obstacles                                                 difficulties
fellow-travellers                                partners, colleagues, friends

These correspondences allow expressions such as the following to be interpreted:

My son is just beginning life’s journey. 


The effect of this is to highlight some aspects of the situation and play down others. Metaphors start their lives as fresh creations. As time passes, however, they may settle down and become established in the language as conventionalised or ‘frozen’ metaphors. A novel metaphor is usually recognised as such by the fact that its literal interpretation is in some way odd, and this triggers a search for a figurative interpretation. Conventional metaphors typically do not have to be processed in a special metaphorical way – their ‘metaphorical’ meanings are permanently stored alongside their literal meanings and simply have to be ‘looked up’ in the mental lexicon. Metaphor is probably the most important aspect of the flexibility and creativity of language.

metaphorical entailments This term is used in Conceptual Metaphor Theory to refer to patterns of reasoning in the source domain of a metaphor which carry over into the target domain. Take the conceptual metaphor "argument is war", which underlies expressions such as to attack/undermine/shoot down one’s opponent’s arguments. In a war, if one manages to put all the enemy’s armaments out of action one wins the war; likewise, if one demolishes all of one’s opponent’s points in an argument, one wins the argument. Or take the "linear scales are paths" metaphor, which allows us to say, for instance, that team A is ahead of team B in a league table, meaning that it has more points. Several aspects of the logic of paths carry across in the metaphor. For instance, if A is ahead of B on a path, then B can overtake A but not vice versa. Likewise, if Team A has more points than team B, then B can overtake A but A cannot overtake B. Similarly, if A is ahead of B on a path and B is ahead of C, then it follows that A is ahead of C. The same logic applies to the metaphorical path of the league table.

THE SACRILEGIOUS GAMESTERS

THE SACRILEGIOUS GAMESTERS
By Eliza Cook

This is an alleged legend that there happened in an English village about some gamblers who lived there.

A stranger journeyed through our town, 
One dark and wintry night; 
And, as he passed the ivied church, 
He marked a flitting light. 

It shed a restless waving gleam 
Through the Gothic window pane 
And now it vanished for a space, 
And now it came again. 

He stood, and thought it wondrous strange 
That such a scene should be; 
He stood, and now the pale red beam 
Shone strong and steadily. 

He looked around; all else was dark, 
Not e'en a star was left; 
The townsfolk slumbered, and he thought 
Of sacrilege and theft. 

He roused two sleepers from their beds, 
And told what he had seen; 
And they, like him, were curious 
To know what it should mean. 

They hied together to the church, 
And heard strange sounds within 
Of undistinguishable words, 
And laughter's noisy din! 

The window's high; a ladder, quick, 
Is placed with stealthy care, 
And one ascends — he looks below; 
Oh! what a sight is there! 

The white communion-cloth is spread 
With cards, and dice, and wine; 
The flaming wax-lights glare around, 
The gilded sconces shine. 

And three of earthly form have made 
The altar-rail their seat, 
With the Bible and the books of prayer 
As footstools for their feet. 

Three men, with flashing bloodshot eyes 
And burning fevered brows, 
Have met within those holy walls 
To gambol and carouse. 

But the darkest work is not yet told: 
Another guest is there, 
With the earth-worm trailing o'er his cheek 
To hide in his matted hair! 

He lifted not the foaming cup, 
He moved not in his place; 
There was slime upon his livid lips, 
And dust upon his face. 

The foldings of a winding-sheet 
His body wrapped around, 
And many a stain the vestment bore 
Of the clay from the charnel ground. 

A rent appeared, where his withered hands 
Fell out on the sacred board; 
And between those hands a goblet stood, 
In which bright wine was poured. 

Oh! he was not like the other three, 
But ghastly, foul, and cold; 
He was seated there a stiffened corpse 
All horrid to behold. 

He had been their mate for many a year, 
Their partner many a game; 
He had shared alike their ill-got gold 
And their deeply tarnished fame. 

He had died in the midst of his career, 
As the sinful ever die, 
Without one prayer from a good man's heart, 
One tear from a good man's eye! 

He had died a guilty one, unblessed, 
Unwept, unmourned by all; 
And scarce a footstep ever bent 
To his grave by the old church wall. 

The other three had met that night, 
And revelled in drunken glee, 
And talked of him who a month ago 
Formed one of their company. 

They quaffed another brimming glass, 
And a bitter oath they swore 
That he who had joined their game so oft 
Should join their game once more. 

And away they strode to the old church wall, 
Treading o'er skull and tomb, 
And dragged him out triumphantly, 
In the midnight murky gloom. 

They carry him down the chancel porch, 
And through the fretted aisle, 
And many a heartless, fiendish laugh 
Is heard to ring the while. 

They place him at the hallowed shrine, 
They call upon his name, 
They bid him wake to life again, 
And play his olden game. 

They deal the cards: — the ribald jest 
And pealing laugh ring on. 
A stroke — a start — the echoing clock 
Proclaims the hour of one! 

And two of the three laugh louder still, 
But the third stares wildly round: 
He drops the cards, as if his hand 
Were palsied at the sound! 

His cheeks have lost their deepened flush, 
His lips are of paler hue, 
And fear hath fallen on the heart 
Of the youngest of that crew! 

His soul is not yet firmly bound 
In the fetters of reckless sin! 
Depravity hath not yet wrought 
Its total work within! 

The strong potation of the night 
Drowned all that might remain 
Of feeling; and his hand shrunk not 
While madness fired his brain! 

But now the charm hath lost its spell, 
The heated fumes have passed; 
And banished reason to her throne, 
Usurped, advances fast. 

He rises — staggers — looks again 
Upon the shrouded dead! 
A shudder steals upon his frame: 
His vaunted strength is fled! 

He doubts — he dreams — can, can it be? 
A mist is o'er his eyes; 
He stands aghast. — " Oh! what is this? 
Where? where? " — he wildly cries. 

" Where am I? — see the altar-piece — 
The holy Bible: say — 
Is this the place where I was brought 
A tiny boy to pray? 

" The church — the church-yard too — I know 
I have been there to-night; 
For what? Ha! mercy! see that corpse! 
Oh, hide me from the light! 

" I have been deemed a profligate, 
A gamester, and a knave, 
But ne'er was known to scoff at God 
Or violate the grave! 

" I've long been what man should not be, 
But not what I am now. 
Oh help me! help! My tongue is parched! 
There's fire upon my brow! 

" Oh save me! hide me from myself! 
I feel my pulses start: 
The horror of this drunken crime 
Hath fixed upon my heart! 

" Again! I feel the rushing blood! 
I die! — the unforgiven! 
Again, it comes; all — all is dark — 
I choke — Oh! mercy, Heaven! " 

One struggling groan — he reels — he falls — 
On the altar-steps he lies; 
And the others gasp with fear, for now 
Two corpses meet their eyes! 

But, hark! swift footsteps echo round: 
Encircled now they stand: 
Surprised, detected, they are seized 
By many a grappling hand. 

And soon the dreadful tale is spread, 
And many a finger raised 
To point them out; while the listening one 
Looks fearfully amazed. 

They are shunned by all; the son, the sire, 
The heedless and the gay; 
Their old associates leave their side, 
And turn another way. 

Hate, shame, and scorn, have set a mark 
Upon them. One by one, 
Of all they knew, forsakes their path, 
Till they are left alone. 

And they have sought another land, 
And breathe another clime; 
Where men may deem them fellow-men, 
Nor hear their blasting crime! 

And gossips, in their native town, 
Even now are heard to tell 
Of the sacrilegious crew that turned 
The old church to a hell.