Symmetric and asymmetric relations, and the aesthetics of form in poetic language

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Fabb, Nigel (2009) Symmetric and asymmetric relations, and the aesthetics of form in poetic language. European English Messenger, 18 (1). pp. 50-59.

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Abstract

This article asks how the properties of symmetry and asymmetry, as aesthetic properties, are realized in literary language. I will argue that language makes available many kinds of asymmetry, and that the asymmetry often holds between two elements which are at the same time in a symmetric relation. This coincidence of an asymmetric and a symmetric relation between the same linguistic elements may be one source of the aesthetics of literary language.

ORCID iDs

Fabb, Nigel ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4820-7612;
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)