Brown proposes a theory of poetic metaphor that attempts to account for literature's complex role in the discovery and creation of significant patterns within both language and life. He shows that while poetic and conceptual modes of discover are different, they are nevertheless mutually interdependent. In particular, Brown offers a new view of the way in which theological and metaphysical concepts grow out of, and are transfigured by, metaphoric expression. This view is expressed in a detailed and original analysis of the structure and dynamics of T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets that lies at the heart of the study.

Originally published in 1983.

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