Clarification of question

[Rickman112]

Hey guys,

Have to do this question for an extended essay based on the works of William Blake, can someone please clarify this question to me:

"Poetry is a response to the human need to create metaphor, to bring objects into relation with consciousness, to make the objective world cease to be 'other', to give the world meaning and warmth"

I have particular trouble understanding the " to bring objects into relation with consciousness, to make the objective world cease to be 'other' " part.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks :)

[Kafka's Crow]

I think the question is about the metaphor and in its use in Blake's poetry and the "objective co-relative" (T S Eliot), finding an objective equal in the external world to clarify an inner idea or thought. Incidentally I just finished reading Blake's The Reeds of Innocence before switching on the computer:

Reeds of Innocence
By William Blake
1757-1827

PIPING down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:

'Pipe a song about a Lamb!'
So I piped with merry cheer.
'Piper, pipe that song again;'
So I piped: he wept to hear.

'Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy cheer!'
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.

'Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book that all may read.'
So he vanish'd from my sight;
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.


You have to 'humanize' an idea in order to make it presentable to the world and the only way to do that is to use what is in the world (reed and clear water become metaphor for this, 'written language'). 'The song of Lamb' is The Song of Innocence, see how a metaphor makes an abstract noun concrete and adds all the religious connotations to it. God (an idea) made Himself manifest as Jesus (lamb, innocence). A metaphor is the shortest distance between two objects. Call it 'objective co-relative', call it 'negative capability' or whatever you may, it is the process that brings the external reality close to the inner feeling and concrete expression and enriches the meaning in the process. Have a look at your question from this angle.

[JBI]

Simply that which we cannot find words for we describe through metaphor. A raw feeling has no scientific vocabulary, and cannot be articulated, but it can be understood through comparison.

The pain of a knife to the chest - the pain is not actually a knife to the chest, but through comparing it to that, the intended meaning is articulated.

Language, theorists have argued, is a mix of metonyms and metaphors. I tend to agree, with put an association to the world around us, or else we compare it to previous associations. Metaphor, and poetic metaphor in general, in the romantic sense, is supposed to get to the root of the feeling, the closest to a mimesis any form can reach.

I of course do not buy it, but to understand Blake, you kind of have to believe he believed it.

[Snowqueen]

I recall objective correlative as an intriguing term, is it synonymous with negative capability? I think T S Eliot first used this term in his essay Hamlet.

[Kafka's Crow]

I recall objective correlative as an intriguing term, is it synonymous with negative capability? I think T S Eliot first used this term in his essay Hamlet.

http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Objective_Correlative.pdf