Introduction: “More About Metaphor” By Max Black
“More About Metaphor” by Max Black first appeared in Dialectica, Vol. 31, No. 3–4 (1977), as an extensive elaboration and defense of his earlier “interaction view of metaphor” initially introduced in his influential 1962 essay, Metaphor. In this later paper, Black revisits and refines his theoretical framework by responding to critiques and expanding key concepts such as the metaphor’s cognitive function, its relation to background models, and the ontological implications of metaphorical thought. Central to the piece is Black’s argument that metaphors are not merely decorative or substitutive linguistic devices but are potent cognitive instruments that actively shape understanding by mapping complex networks of implications—what he calls “implicative complexes”—from one domain (the secondary subject) onto another (the primary subject). The metaphor is thus not reducible to literal paraphrase, simile, or comparison; rather, it enables a distinct mode of insight through a process of “interaction,” in which both subjects modify each other conceptually. Importantly, Black defends the idea that metaphors can “create similarities” rather than merely describe them, thus performing a generative cognitive act. In the field of literary theory, this thesis has been foundational in shifting views on metaphor from ornamental rhetoric to epistemic and ontological significance, influencing thinkers like Paul Ricoeur and Ted Cohen. Black’s nuanced analysis, including his distinctions between emphatic, resonant, and strong metaphors, continues to underpin contemporary approaches to metaphor in philosophy, literary studies, and cognitive science.
Summary of “More About Metaphor” By Max Black
🌟 Introduction and Context
- Explores and expands upon Black’s earlier “interaction view” of metaphor (1962).
- Aims to deepen understanding of metaphor’s function and significance.
- “An elaboration and defense of the ‘interaction view of metaphor’ introduced in the author’s earlier study” (Black, 1977, 432).
🌀 Reasons for Current Interest in Metaphor
- Metaphor now recognized as central and significant, overcoming past trivialization.
- Proliferation of metaphor studies reflects its linguistic and cognitive significance.
- Critics “often take metaphor au grand sérieux, as a peephole on the nature of transcendental reality” (Black, 1977, 433).
❓ The “Mystery” of Metaphor
- Metaphors puzzle because they assert what is literally false or absurd.
- Yet, this absurdity or falsity is precisely what creates metaphorical meaning.
- “The ‘mystery’ is simply that, taken literally, a metaphorical statement appears to be perversely asserting something to be what it is plainly known not to be” (Black, 1977, 434).
🎯 Identifying the Targets
- Focus on whole metaphorical statements rather than isolated words.
- Context crucial for identifying meaning.
- Example: “Pascal’s metaphor of man as a thinking reed” (Black, 1977, 437).
📌 Classification of Metaphors
- Rejects simplistic classifications like “dead” and “live” metaphors.
- Proposes “extinct,” “dormant,” and “active” metaphors as useful distinctions.
- “A so-called ‘dead metaphor’ is not a metaphor at all” (Black, 1977, 439).
✨ Emphasis and Resonance
- Metaphors have varying levels of emphasis (indispensability of wording) and resonance (richness of implications).
- Strong metaphors combine high emphasis and resonance.
- “A metaphorical utterance is emphatic…to the degree that its producer will allow no variation upon…the words used” (Black, 1977, 439-440).
🔄 Interaction View Explained
- Metaphors involve interaction between two subjects, creating new meaning.
- Secondary subject projects implications onto primary subject, producing novel insights.
- “The metaphorical utterance works by ‘projecting upon’ the primary subject a set of ‘associated implications’” (Black, 1977, 442).
⚙️ Mechanisms of Metaphorical Statements
- Metaphors depend on structured analogy or isomorphic relation between subjects.
- Example: “Marriage is a zero-sum game” projects competitive implications onto marriage.
- “Every metaphor is the tip of a submerged model” (Black, 1977, 445).
🔗 Metaphors vs. Similes
- Metaphors imply stronger identification than similes.
- Metaphors have richer cognitive and emotional resonance than explicit comparisons.
- “To perceive that a metaphor is grounded in similarity…is not to agree that ‘the Simile…[differs] in form only from a metaphor’” (Black, 1977, 445).
🧠 Thinking in Metaphors
- Metaphorical thinking involves seeing one thing as another, creating conceptual shifts.
- Metaphors essential for articulating complex or subtle insights.
- “Metaphorical thought and utterance sometimes embody insight expressible in no other fashion” (Black, 1977, 448).
🎨 How Metaphors Are Recognized
- Recognizing metaphors involves distinguishing figurative from literal meaning based on context.
- No single infallible test; metaphor recognized through context and intended meaning.
- “Our recognition of a metaphorical statement depends…upon knowledge of what it is to be a metaphorical statement” (Black, 1977, 450).
🚀 Creativity of Metaphors
- Metaphors can create new perspectives, offering genuine cognitive insights.
- They not only describe but actively shape perceptions of reality.
- “Some metaphors enable us to see aspects of reality that the metaphor’s production helps to constitute” (Black, 1977, 454).
🔍 Metaphors Revealing “How Things Are”
- Metaphors provide unique, insightful representations of reality.
- Can be cognitively informative without conforming to traditional truth criteria.
- “Metaphors…can, and sometimes do, generate insight about ‘how things are’ in reality” (Black, 1977, 456).
📖 Conclusion
- Strong metaphors serve as powerful cognitive tools beyond mere decorative language.
- Their true value lies in their capacity to illuminate understanding and generate insight.
Theoretical Terms/Concepts in “More About Metaphor” By Max Black
| Term/Concept | Explanation | Reference from Article |
| 🌐 Interaction View | Metaphor generates meaning through interaction between primary and secondary subjects. | “An elaboration and defense of the ‘interaction view of metaphor’ introduced in the author’s earlier study” (Black, 1977, p. 432). |
| 🧩 Implicative Complex | A structured set of implications from the secondary subject applied to the primary subject. | “The metaphorical utterance works by ‘projecting upon’ the primary subject a set of ‘associated implications’” (Black, 1977, p. 442). |
| 🔍 Focus and Frame | The metaphorical expression (focus) embedded within a literal context (frame). | “The duality of reference is marked by the contrast between the metaphorical statement’s focus… and the surrounding literal frame” (Black, 1977, p. 441). |
| 🌈 Emphasis and Resonance | Emphasis: necessity of specific wording; Resonance: richness and depth of implications. | “A metaphorical utterance is emphatic… to the degree that its producer will allow no variation… upon the words used” (Black, 1977, p. 440). |
| 📐 Isomorphic Structure | Structural analogy or correspondence between primary and secondary subjects’ relationships. | “The two systems have…the same ‘structure,’ are isomorphic” (Black, 1977, p. 444). |
| ⚡ Strong Metaphor | A metaphor that significantly enhances meaning due to high emphasis and resonance. | “A metaphor that is both markedly emphatic and resonant [is] a strong metaphor” (Black, 1977, p. 440). |
| 🌊 Metaphor Theme | An abstract metaphorical idea or pattern applicable across multiple contexts. | “Identified merely by a formula like ‘the metaphor of A as B’… regarded as an abstraction” (Black, 1977, p. 438). |
| 🎭 Metaphorical Thought | Conceptualizing or thinking about one subject through the lens of another metaphorically. | “Metaphorical thought and utterance sometimes embody insight expressible in no other fashion” (Black, 1977, p. 448). |
| 🔄 Projection | Transfer of implications from the secondary onto the primary subject within a metaphor. | “The mechanisms of such ‘projection’ are discussed and illustrated” (Black, 1977, p. 442). |
| 🧬 Creative Aspect | Metaphor’s ability to produce novel insights and perspectives. | “Some metaphors enable us to see aspects of reality that the metaphor’s production helps to constitute” (Black, 1977, p. 454). |
| 📌 Diagnostic Criterion | Observable indicators or symptoms used to identify metaphorical statements. | “Some diagnostic criterion…allow its presence and metaphorical character to be detected” (Black, 1977, p. 449). |
| 🗺️ Metaphors as Models | Understanding metaphors as simplified representations (models) illustrating structures. | “Every metaphor is the tip of a submerged model” (Black, 1977, p. 445). |
| 📖 Metaphorical Statement | A full expression of metaphor including intended meaning and context. | “[My] standing concern is with full metaphorical statements…as they occur in specific…acts of expression” (Black, 1977, p. 437). |
| 🧠 Seeing-As | Cognitive act of perceiving one subject metaphorically as another. | “What is it to think of something (A) as something else (B)?” (Black, 1977, p. 446). |
| ⚖️ Comparison View | The traditional view that metaphors are implicit comparisons or condensed similes. | “Every metaphor may be said to mediate an analogy or structural correspondence” (Black, 1977, p. 445). |
Contribution of “More About Metaphor” By Max Black to Literary Theory/Theories
🔮 Hermeneutics and Interpretation Theory
- Enhances understanding of metaphor as a complex interpretive act requiring active reader engagement.
- Reinforces the interpretive necessity of context and implicative meanings.
- “A metaphorical statement…demands ‘uptake,’ a creative response from a competent reader” (Black, 1977, p. 442).
🌀 Structuralism and Semiotics
- Offers the concept of “Isomorphic Structure”, demonstrating how metaphors function as structured semiotic systems.
- Underlines the structured correspondence between signifiers (secondary subject) and signifieds (primary subject).
- “The two systems…are isomorphic” (Black, 1977, p. 444).
🌐 Interactionist and Reader-Response Theory
- Clarifies how meaning is dynamically produced through interaction between text and reader’s cognition.
- Places emphasis on active role of reader in co-creating meaning.
- “The metaphorical utterance works by ‘projecting upon’ the primary subject a set of ‘associated implications’” (Black, 1977, p. 442).
🌈 Formalism and Stylistics
- Provides nuanced distinctions between “emphasis” and “resonance,” refining stylistic analysis of literary language.
- Reinforces importance of precise wording and context-dependent interpretations.
- “A metaphorical utterance is emphatic…to the degree that its producer will allow no variation upon the words used” (Black, 1977, p. 440).
- Highlights metaphor’s cognitive and conceptual function in generating insights and new knowledge.
- Suggests metaphor actively shapes cognitive frameworks and worldview.
- “Metaphors enable us to see aspects of reality that the metaphor’s production helps to constitute” (Black, 1977, p. 454).
🎭 Phenomenological Literary Theory
- Explores the experiential dimensions of metaphor as ways of “seeing-as,” emphasizing embodied and perceptual experience.
- Addresses metaphor as an experience shaping human perception and understanding.
- “What is it to think of something (A) as something else (B)?” (Black, 1977, p. 446).
⚡ Poststructuralism and Deconstruction
- Argues against fixed, literal interpretations, proposing that metaphors disrupt stable meanings.
- Metaphors challenge the distinction between literal and figurative language.
- “The recognition of a metaphorical statement depends essentially upon… our judgment that a metaphorical reading…is preferable to a literal one” (Black, 1977, p. 450).
📌 Pragmatics and Speech Act Theory
- Examines metaphor as a kind of speech act with specific pragmatic functions in discourse.
- Suggests metaphor performs linguistic actions beyond mere statement of facts.
- “I…wish to attend particularly to what a metaphor-user is doing and what he expects his auditor to do” (Black, 1977, p. 438).
🗺️ Literary Theory of Models and Analogies
- Proposes metaphor as a representational model that maps structural relations between conceptual domains.
- Deepens theoretical understanding of metaphorical language as analogical modeling.
- “Every metaphor is the tip of a submerged model” (Black, 1977, p. 445).
🔍 Literary Linguistics and Semantics
- Addresses semantic dynamics in metaphorical language, emphasizing context-driven meaning shifts.
- Highlights semantic complexity involved in recognizing metaphorical usage.
- “The imputed interaction involves ‘shifts in meaning of words belonging to the same family or system’” (Black, 1977, p. 443).
⚖️ Comparative Literary Theory
- Critically revisits the traditional “comparison view,” refining the understanding of similarity and analogy in literature.
- Clarifies the limits of considering metaphors simply as condensed similes.
- “To perceive that a metaphor is grounded in similarity…is not to agree that ‘the Simile…[differs] in form only from a metaphor’” (Black, 1977, p. 445).
Examples of Critiques Through “More About Metaphor” By Max Black
| Literary Work | Critique Through Max Black’s Theory of Metaphor | Quotation from Black’s “More About Metaphor” |
| 📖 “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost | Black’s interaction view elucidates how the road metaphor creates an implicative complex emphasizing choice and consequence, highlighting interpretive depth beyond literal paths. | “The metaphorical utterance works by ‘projecting upon’ the primary subject a set of ‘associated implications’” (p. 442). |
| 🕊️ “Hope is the Thing with Feathers” by Emily Dickinson | Black’s concept of “strong metaphor” reveals Dickinson’s metaphor of hope as a bird to be highly resonant and emphatic, creating vivid cognitive and emotional insights. | “A metaphor that is both markedly emphatic and resonant [is] a strong metaphor” (p. 440). |
| 🏰 “Hamlet” by William Shakespeare | Shakespeare’s pervasive metaphors (life as stage, Denmark as prison) exemplify Black’s “seeing-as,” showing how metaphor shapes Hamlet’s cognitive and existential perceptions. | “Metaphorical thought and utterance sometimes embody insight expressible in no other fashion” (p. 448). |
| 🌀 “Ode to the West Wind” by P.B. Shelley | Shelley’s metaphor of the wind as creative destroyer aligns with Black’s creative aspect of metaphor, where the metaphor reshapes perceptions of nature and poetic creativity. | “Some metaphors enable us to see aspects of reality that the metaphor’s production helps to constitute” (p. 454). |
Criticism Against “More About Metaphor” By Max Black
- Ambiguity in Defining “Interaction”
- Critics argue that Black’s concept of “interaction” remains vague, making precise theoretical application challenging.
- Lack of Diagnostic Criterion
- Monroe Beardsley emphasizes Black’s failure to establish a definitive criterion to reliably identify metaphorical expressions.
- Overgeneralization of Metaphor
- Critics note Black’s theory tends to blur important distinctions between metaphor and other rhetorical figures, like simile or metonymy.
- Subjectivity and Interpretative Flexibility
- Some scholars contend that Black’s approach allows excessive interpretative freedom, making objective analysis difficult.
- Questionable “Creative” Claims
- Haig Khatchadourian challenges Black’s assertion that metaphors can literally create new similarities, viewing it as logically problematic.
- Limited Attention to Cultural Context
- Critics highlight Black’s limited engagement with how cultural and historical contexts influence metaphorical meaning.
- Neglect of Metaphor’s Emotional Dimension
- Some argue Black overly emphasizes cognitive aspects, neglecting emotional resonance, essential to literary metaphors.
- Inadequate Distinction Between Literal and Figurative
- Critics claim Black insufficiently addresses how readers reliably distinguish literal from figurative language beyond context clues.
- Excessive Reliance on “Isomorphic Structure”
- Scholars have questioned the practicality of Black’s emphasis on structural analogies, suggesting it may oversimplify metaphor’s complexity.
- Insufficient Empirical Validation
- Black’s theory is seen by some as overly philosophical, lacking empirical grounding or practical criteria for evaluation in linguistic studies.
Representative Quotations from “More About Metaphor” By Max Black with Explanation
| Sr. | Quotation | Explanation |
| 1. | “A metaphorical statement has two distinct subjects, to be identified as the ‘primary’ subject and the ‘secondary’ one.” (Black 441) | Black emphasizes that every metaphor has two distinct elements—one primary and literal, and the other secondary and figurative. These interact to form the metaphor’s meaning. |
| 2. | “The metaphorical utterance works by ‘projecting upon’ the primary subject a set of ‘associated implications’… predicable of the secondary subject.” (Black 442) | Black argues that metaphors function by projecting characteristics and implications from the secondary (figurative) subject onto the primary (literal) subject, thus creating meaning. |
| 3. | “A metaphorical statement involves a rule-violation: there can be no rules for ‘creatively’ violating rules.” (Black 438) | This highlights the inherent creativity of metaphors—they intentionally deviate from linguistic norms, making them unpredictable and powerful. |
| 4. | “Every metaphor is the tip of a submerged model.” (Black 445) | Black suggests metaphors implicitly draw on deeper structures or “models,” emphasizing their complexity and cognitive depth. |
| 5. | “To perceive that a metaphor is grounded in similarity and analogy is not to agree with Whately that ‘the Simile or Comparison may be considered as differing in form only from a metaphor’.” (Black 445) | Black clarifies that, though metaphors rely on analogies, they differ significantly from similes because metaphors involve more direct cognitive engagement and imaginative insight. |
| 6. | “Conceptual boundaries [are] not rigid, but elastic and permeable; … metaphorical thought and utterance sometimes embody insight expressible in no other fashion.” (Black 448) | This underscores metaphor’s role in extending language and conceptual boundaries to express otherwise inaccessible insights. |
| 7. | “A metaphorical utterance is emphatic… to the degree that its producer will allow no variation upon or substitute for the words used.” (Black 439–440) | Black points to how effective metaphors demand precision in their wording, as each element significantly contributes to the metaphor’s impact and meaning. |
| 8. | “There is an inescapable indeterminacy in the notion of a given metaphorical statement, so long as we count its ‘import’ as part of its essence.” (Black 438) | Metaphors inherently carry multiple interpretations, reflecting their richness and ambiguity. |
| 9. | “Metaphors… can, and sometimes do, generate insight about ‘how things are’ in reality.” (Black 456) | Black affirms metaphors are not merely stylistic but cognitively valuable, helping us understand reality in novel and meaningful ways. |
| 10. | “Every ‘implication complex’ supported by a metaphor’s secondary subject… is a model of the ascriptions imputed to the primary subject.” (Black 445) | Metaphors rely on complex structures (“implication complexes”) from their figurative elements to inform and shape our understanding of literal subjects, forming metaphorical insight. |
Suggested Readings: “More About Metaphor” By Max Black
- BLACK, Max. “More about Metaphor.” Dialectica, vol. 31, no. 3/4, 1977, pp. 431–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42969757. Accessed 11 June 2025.
- Black, Max. “‘Why Should I Be Rational ?’” Dialectica, vol. 36, no. 2/3, 1982, pp. 147–68. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/42968822. Accessed 11 June 2025.
- Black, Max. “How Metaphors Work: A Reply to Donald Davidson.” Critical Inquiry, vol. 6, no. 1, 1979, pp. 131–43. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/1343091. Accessed 11 June 2025.