Part of what we know !

I would like to start from the very last line of the essay ‘we are also a part pf what we know’, and just say that Northrop Frye’s ‘The Motive for Metaphor’ for me is described perfectly by that very last line. It is a beautifully written essay that portrays in a very simple yet eloquent way the real essence of ‘literature’ as a whole. Frye’s essay is well connected in terms of the flow of each of the topics and the 6 talks he covered. he starts of with questioning the real purpose of literature and the language ‘English’ and goes on with explaining different ways it is used. He states that the use of literature depends and changes according to your region or country or continent. It also depends on the context of the use and also the way people from different territories react to each situation or observation differently. 

He then describes the three levels of mind and the three different languages associated with each of them. the language of self-expression is used in the state of ‘me and everything else.’ The next level of mind is the level of social participation which requires language with more of practicality in it. And the last level is the imaginative level which uses more of a poetic language. The languages are not different in reality but only different in terms of the words used.

Art and science since the ancient times have been considered as the two sides of the same coin. They are of the very same foundation to a certain extent but yet are different in terms of usage. One requires a rational mind whereas the other requires a more imaginative mind. 

Frye ends the essay on the strongest part where he actually sums it all up and also at the same time makes the title all the more clear to us.