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Single Idea 12162

[from 'Public Text and Common Reader' by Roger Scruton, in 21. Aesthetics / B. Nature of Art / 5. Art as Language ]

Full Idea

In literary contexts semantically equivalent words cannot replace each other without loss of literary meaning.

Gist of Idea

In literature, word replacement changes literary meaning

Source

Roger Scruton (Public Text and Common Reader [1982], p.25)

Book Reference

Scruton,Roger: 'The Aesthetic Understanding' [Methuen 1983], p.25


A Reaction

The notion of 'literary meaning' is not a standard one, and is questionable whether 'meaning' is the right word, given that a shift in word in a poem is as much to do with sound as with connotations.