Language That Moves

Tyler Meier has posted an interesting piece on the Kenyon Review blog about figurative language and its role in making writing 'move' and especially the way it seems to have become more 'extreme' in the twenty-first century. Meier is responding to an essay by D.A. Powell on the same topic entitled 'The Great Figure: On Figurative Language'. In his essay Powell argues that 'If rhythm is the heart and breath of poetry, then surely figurative language is its beguiling and sexy skin and musculature.' But times have changed. Simple similes, Meier says, are impossible these days:

Can you get away with a simple simile these days? I suppose the mitigating factors are too complex to get a straight answer, but suffice it to say (as Powell suggests) that unless irony is your goal, you are using something of a relic from the 20th century, and would do well to acknowledge that fact (and, one would suppose, the baggage and risks.)

The whole post is well worth reading. Here's the link.

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