Synaesthesia

Literary/ Cultural Context Note

Litencyc Editors (Independent Scholar - Europe)
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  • The Literary Encyclopedia. WORLD HISTORY AND IDEAS: A CROSS-CULTURAL VOLUME.

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A technique common in Symbolist verse whereby the writer tries to bring many senses into play, for example describing sounds as colours, or colours as tastes. Whilst synaesthesia may be found occasionally in earlier writing, its programmatic use probably begins with Baudelaire's

Les Fleurs du Mal

(1857) and then radiates through Rimbaud and into English verse via Swinburne and Yeats. Here is an example from James Joyce's

Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man

(1916): “He listened to their cries: like the squeak of mice behind the wainscot: a shrill twofold note. But the notes were long and whirring, unlike the cry of vermin, falling a third or a fourth and trilled as the flying beaks clove the air. Their cry was

shrill and clear and fine and falling like threads of silken light

175 words

Citation: Editors, Litencyc. "Synaesthesia". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 01 November 2001 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=1084, accessed 19 March 2024.]

1084 Synaesthesia 2 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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