September 30, 2025

Metaphors of Mind: An Eighteenth-Century Dictionary

24 minutes

Explores the pervasive use of metaphors related to the mind, soul, and human experience in eighteenth-century literature and thought. The author details their methodology for compiling a dictionary of these metaphors, emphasizing the use of digital humanities tools and a "desultory reading" approach to sift through vast amounts of text. Key thematic entries discussed include animals, coinage, empire, legal judgment, interiority (rooms), impressions, and writing, each illustrating how figurative language shaped understanding of the self, society, and abstract concepts during the period. The text also touches upon the tension between literal and figurative meanings, and the impact of changing social and technological contexts on metaphorical expression.

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