Multimodality of Metaphor in Old Greek Comedy
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Anna A. Novokhatko
Abstract
Can the study of multimodal metaphor in ancient Greek comedy provide new insights or shed new light on the material? Greek comedy combined action, text, music, dance, props, and costumes. It involved a variety of modes on stage, with all those involved in the performance process, including the playwright, the director, the actors, the characters, and the audience, experiencing different kinds of bodily action rooted in the experience and imagination. In this paper I argue that without an appreciation of the cognitive and semiotic capacities of multimodal metaphor it is difficult to interpret and analyse how all this would have worked. A multimodal metaphor consists of an association or blending of domains from different modes, such as visual and verbal, or verbal and auditory, or olfactory and visual. Where the verbal element limits the interpretation, the multimodal element enriches it. The study of multimodal metaphors, then, opens up new perspectives when it comes to determining the full, combined potential of metaphors in Greek drama.
Abstract
Can the study of multimodal metaphor in ancient Greek comedy provide new insights or shed new light on the material? Greek comedy combined action, text, music, dance, props, and costumes. It involved a variety of modes on stage, with all those involved in the performance process, including the playwright, the director, the actors, the characters, and the audience, experiencing different kinds of bodily action rooted in the experience and imagination. In this paper I argue that without an appreciation of the cognitive and semiotic capacities of multimodal metaphor it is difficult to interpret and analyse how all this would have worked. A multimodal metaphor consists of an association or blending of domains from different modes, such as visual and verbal, or verbal and auditory, or olfactory and visual. Where the verbal element limits the interpretation, the multimodal element enriches it. The study of multimodal metaphors, then, opens up new perspectives when it comes to determining the full, combined potential of metaphors in Greek drama.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- A Very Brief Introduction to CMT and the Classics 1
- Through the Lens of Science: A Typology of Metaphors in Ancient Literature based on Scientific Modelling 15
- Homeric Gravity and Getting Lost in Orientational Metaphor 39
- The Construal of Heroic Anger in the Iliad 61
- Multimodality of Metaphor in Old Greek Comedy 93
- Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Greek Representations of Metempsychosis before Plato 117
- Metaphors for Death in Horace’s Odes 157
- Biting Animals and Human Bites: Embodied Metaphors and Experiences in Latin Elegy 185
- Dolor Metaphors in Latin: What a Corpus-Based Approach to Ancient Sources Can (and Cannot) Tell Us 215
- Peace of Mind is Space: An Application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to Seneca’s Ideal of Tranquillitas 245
- Coda: The Case of “Bold Metaphors” and the Limits of CMT 269
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 291
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Foreword V
- Contents VII
- A Very Brief Introduction to CMT and the Classics 1
- Through the Lens of Science: A Typology of Metaphors in Ancient Literature based on Scientific Modelling 15
- Homeric Gravity and Getting Lost in Orientational Metaphor 39
- The Construal of Heroic Anger in the Iliad 61
- Multimodality of Metaphor in Old Greek Comedy 93
- Conceptual Metaphor Theory and Greek Representations of Metempsychosis before Plato 117
- Metaphors for Death in Horace’s Odes 157
- Biting Animals and Human Bites: Embodied Metaphors and Experiences in Latin Elegy 185
- Dolor Metaphors in Latin: What a Corpus-Based Approach to Ancient Sources Can (and Cannot) Tell Us 215
- Peace of Mind is Space: An Application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to Seneca’s Ideal of Tranquillitas 245
- Coda: The Case of “Bold Metaphors” and the Limits of CMT 269
- List of Contributors 289
- General Index 291
