Examples
Thinking in Poetic Terms 2
Examples
Some of the characteristics of thinking " poetically" are easily seen in the texts which we call poems and which are governed by certain conventions, but they are not confined to poems.
Some Examples
"Meltdown Monday"
This phrase described the stockmarket crash in the late eighties; and by combining "meltdown" with "Monday" suggested both dissolution and D-day, while conjuring an image of money being melted down.
"The theory of evolution" and "family trees"
Both these concepts are usually shown as tree diagrams, i.e. representations of the structure of a tree. Most theories can be seen as extended images or myths, which can be tested and proved more or less useful. The ability to construct or visualise such a basic image can be applied to all sorts of raw material. Such theories stress that the resulting patterns emerge from the raw material itself, not from human desire or fear. Literary myths tend to offer structures for exploring what sort of sense things make in human terms.
Ordinary conversation
Sarcasm, satire, irony and wit are some of the most common devices used in everyday speech. In an interview on TV, for example, an astronomer referred to planets in the "Goldilocks zone", meaning planets which are not too hot or too cold, too this or too that, to sustain life.
"Lateral thinking"
What is described as lateral thinking makes unlikely connections in order to produce something new and workable in much the same way as poems connect disparate elements. Small examples are the use of zippers to close bags of rice; waterproofing to wrap bundles of hay; and broken teapots to house plants.
