The Figuration of Time: Rhythm and Metaphor in Dramatic Language

This study starts with the classical questions on the reality, extension and continuum of the flux of time, and then turns to the creative use of language as a possible solution. It will focus mainly on dramatic language as a spoken language, which has an essential relation with the flow of time. It will look at the different elements in dramatic language such as meter, rhythm, rhetorical devices, and metaphor, etc. to see how language may response to the relation of tension in the structure of time, i.e. how it may, on the one hand, flow with time while, on the other hand, create permanent unities in this flow such as meaning and concept.