Lehi's Use Of Synaethesia

[Warship]

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is a teacher and head of the Decathlon program at Dobie H.S., he will be leading Dobie to a hopeful 2nd place win in the State competition soon, I wish him luckâ?¦but to the point, we were going over a list of literary devices when the device synaethesia caught my attention. I knew that synaethesia was a physical condition wherein the bodyâ??s senses are confused and one might see sounds or hear colors for example, but I had not realized it could be employed as a literary deviceâ?¦

Synaesthesia

A literary device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another. (Then the saxes' melodies began doing the same figure eight over and over again. â??John Updike, Rabbit, Run)

I immediately realized that Lehi had employed this literary device in a chiasm I had identified. In the first C element Lehi sees taste when he â??beheldâ? the fruit was â??sweetâ?. The second C element also seems to use synaethesiaâ?¦but there is some other device being employed also. The fruit is transubstantiated and fills not Lehiâ??s stomachâ?¦but his soul with joy. I personally feel this is more a device dealing with transubstatiation than synaethesia but my friend emailed an English teacher he works with and she seems to feel it is probably synaethesiaâ?¦so Iâ??m calling it transubstantial synaethesia. I think this transubstantial synaethesia has parallels in the Eucharist, this would make sense since the tree is identified as Jesus.

The synaethesia is bolded and italicized below....

A. And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.

....B. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof;

.........C. and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted

...................D. a. Yeah, and I beheld

.............................b. that the fruit thereof was white

...................D.......b. to exceed all the whiteness

.......................a. that I had ever seen.

..........C. And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy;

.....B. wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also;

A. for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.

[jadams_4242]

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is a teacher and head of the Decathlon program at Dobie H.S., he will be leading Dobie to a hopeful 2nd place win in the State competition soon, I wish him luckâ?¦but to the point, we were going over a list of literary devices when the device synaethesia caught my attention. I knew that synaethesia was a physical condition wherein the bodyâ??s senses are confused and one might see sounds or hear colors for example, but I had not realized it could be employed as a literary deviceâ?¦

Synaesthesia

A literary device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another. (Then the saxes' melodies began doing the same figure eight over and over again. â??John Updike, Rabbit, Run)

I immediately realized that Lehi had employed this literary device in a chiasm I had identified. In the first C element Lehi sees taste when he â??beheldâ? the fruit was â??sweetâ?. The second C element also seems to use synaethesiaâ?¦but there is some other device being employed also. The fruit is transubstantiated and fills not Lehiâ??s stomachâ?¦but his soul with joy. I personally feel this is more a device dealing with transubstatiation than synaethesia but my friend emailed an English teacher he works with and she seems to feel it is probably synaethesiaâ?¦so Iâ??m calling it transubstantial synaethesia. I think this transubstantial synaethesia has parallels in the Eucharist, this would make sense since the tree is identified as Jesus.

The synaethesia is bolded and italicized below....

A. And it came to pass that I beheld a tree, whose fruit was desirable to make one happy.

....B. And it came to pass that I did go forth and partake of the fruit thereof;

.........C. and I beheld that it was most sweet, above all that I ever before tasted

...................D. a. Yeah, and I beheld

.............................b. that the fruit thereof was white

...................D.......b. to exceed all the whiteness

.......................a. that I had ever seen.

..........C. And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy;

.....B. wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also;

A. for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit.

I do agree with the that the tree is something to do with Gods word, covenants,ordinances, obeience of all these Equate to the fruit of the tree of life.

[California]

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is a teacher and head of the Decathlon program at Dobie H.S., he will be leading Dobie to a hopeful 2nd place win in the State competition soon, I wish him luckâ?¦but to the point, we were going over a list of literary devices when the device synaethesia caught my attention. I knew that synaethesia was a physical condition wherein the bodyâ??s senses are confused and one might see sounds or hear colors for example, but I had not realized it could be employed as a literary deviceâ?¦

Synaesthesia

A literary device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another. (Then the saxes' melodies began doing the same figure eight over and over again. â??John Updike, Rabbit, Run)

I'm an English major finishing up my BA right now and I am familiar with that term, but I had never thought it applied to Lehi's dream, I think because the scriptures and Christian thought and culture are replete with those kinds of amorphous, though gorgeous, descriptions of things. To see things with our spiritual eyes, for example, , or to feed each other spiritually, or to hunger and thirst after righteaousness, or know something with every fibre of your being, are just part of the language. Maybe that is why I didn't notice it. Very intersting and beautiful!!! Thank you!

[California]

I was recently talking with a friend of mine who is a teacher and head of the Decathlon program at Dobie H.S., he will be leading Dobie to a hopeful 2nd place win in the State competition soon, I wish him luckâ?¦but to the point, we were going over a list of literary devices when the device synaethesia caught my attention. I knew that synaethesia was a physical condition wherein the bodyâ??s senses are confused and one might see sounds or hear colors for example, but I had not realized it could be employed as a literary deviceâ?¦

Synaesthesia

A literary device whereby one kind of sensation is described in the terms of another. (Then the saxes' melodies began doing the same figure eight over and over again. â??John Updike, Rabbit, Run)

I hadn't noticed that! Thank you!!

I think we skim over it first of all, because we aren't taught literary theory in Sunday school, and secondly because Christian thought and the scriptures are replete with amorphous descriptions like the above. For example:

- hungering and thirsting after righteousness

- feeding each other spiritually

- knowing something with every fibre of our being

The way these things are explained you'd think somewhere deep inside we know that there's more solid understanding available to us in this life than through our bodies.

[California]

I hadn't noticed that! Thank you!!

I think we skim over it first of all, because we aren't taught literary theory in Sunday school, and secondly because Christian thought and the scriptures are replete with amorphous descriptions like the above. For example:

- hungering and thirsting after righteousness

- feeding each other spiritually

- knowing something with every fibre of our being

The way these things are explained you'd think somewhere deep inside we know that there's more solid understanding available to us in this life than through our bodies.

It is interesting that we use bodily ways of knowing to try to come to an understanding of spiritual truths. Trying to reconcile the two, or make them work together.... we apply them to each other. It makes sense that we come to understand the Gospel better in coming to this Earth and experiencing mortality.

[Warship]

California,

Thank you.

I think we skim over it first of all, because we aren't taught literary theory in Sunday school, and secondly because Christian thought and the scriptures are replete with amorphous descriptions like the above. For example:

- hungering and thirsting after righteousness

- feeding each other spiritually

- knowing something with every fibre of our being

I think the pervasiveness of amorphous body/spirit descriptions such as you pointed out is why I had not really noticed it beforeâ?¦the scriptures are so poetically and elegantly written that one often forgets the impressive sophisticated literary features operating almost ubiquitously throughout.

It is interesting that we use bodily ways of knowing to try to come to an understanding of spiritual truths. Trying to reconcile the two, or make them work together.... we apply them to each other.

I completely agree and think it also interesting that this is a widespread human phenomenon, in that it does not seem exclusive to Judeo-Christian thought and many cultures link the body and spirit in strange waysâ?¦but I doubt any have developed this in literature as extensively as the authors of the scriptures or those influenced by them(directly or indirectly).

Good luck with finishing your English B.A.

[danpont]

Steve Pinker's books on how humans have developed language, and how individuals learn it, parallel the devices you talk about. For instance, our brains use the transmutation of concrete concepts such as carrying, loading, filling, etcetera, to understand more abstract concepts like carrying a tune, or loading our schedules or filling our hearts with love. We can hardly avoid using such literary devices, given that we depend on them to understand our world and to express ourselves. I find them beautiful too.

[consiglieri]

I think this to be an interesting insight and worthy of approbation.

The example of this type that I do remember immediately recognizing is not in the Book of Mormon, but in Joseph Smith's King Follett Discourse, in which he talks about truth as "tasting sweet." You can taste it and so can I.

Now, obviously an abstract concept such as truth can have no real "taste," but describing it in such a way has a tendency, I think, to make it less abstract a concept, and allow it to enter into our physical world in a more concrete manner.

All the Best!

--Consiglieri