The multiple readings of 'metaphor' in the classroom: co-construction of inferential chains

Abstract

This paper is part of a research project whose central aim is to empirically investigate the multiple readings of ‘metaphors’ in literary texts. The methodology employed is interpretive and the main research technique is the ‘Group-Think Aloud’. In this paper, the data discussed were generated by a group of readers engaged in the reading of ‘The Pulverized Mountain’, a poem by Drummond de Andrade. The analysis focuses on the interpretations of the final verses that, due to incongruities presented, constitute enigmas for the reader to decipher. Analysis has shown that the apparent data chaos and complexity has, in fact, an organization in inferential chains co-constructed by metonymic and metaphoric processes.