"It is not words only that are emblematic; it is
things which are emblematic. Every natural fact is a symbol of some spiritual
fact. Every appearance in nature corresponds to some state of the mind, and
that state of the mind can only be described by presenting that natural appearance
as its picture. An enraged man is a lion, a cunning man is a fox, a firm man is
a rock, a learned man is a torch. A lamb is innocence; a snake is subtle spite;
flowers express to us the delicate affections. Light and darkness are our
familiar expression for knowledge and ignorance; and heat for love. Visible
distance behind and before us, is respectively our image of memory and hope. .
. .
The world is emblematic. Parts of speech are metaphors, because the
whole of nature is a metaphor of the human mind."
(Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, 1836)
Do you ever look for metaphores in your photographs? Do you ever find metaphores in your photographs?
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