The Poetics of Mind : Figurative Thought, Language, and Understanding

Rating:
Summary: Detailed treatment of metaphorical thinking.
Review: I approached this book looking for information to use in a university course aimed at finding out what poetry is about, really, in terms of perception,discovery, and knowledge. Gibbs' treatment of the various kinds of figurative language opened my eyes (to use a metaphor!) to the "approximation" or "fuzzy logic" nature of the langauge of poetry and of everyday life. By this I do not mean that Gibbs champions Deconstrucitve reductionism; rather, his many, well chosen examples empahsize the dynamic interaction of words and experience. This is a valuable, insighful work.