Semantic and Poetic meaning
Kenneth Burke's Language as Symbolic Action from my rhetorical theory class has opened my eyes to understanding the idea of the concept which is semantic and poetic meaning in rhetorical diction. Semantic language is composed of statements which only work if they are logical. Poetic language isn't the opposite of semantic language in terms of being fully logical, but they have to have a degree of truthfulness to them. I wanted to compare poetic language to C.S. Lewis and myth because they all intertwine with each other. Poetic language and myths both provide a meaning to language. C.S. Lewis uses the poetic language throughout most of his works in order to emphasize his myths were full of purposeful substance to teach and learn from. The myths that C.S. Lewis writes explain Burke's point of everything can be interpreted as a symbol for something else; In The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe we see how Aslan is a symbol of Christ, in Out of the Silent Planet we see the Bent one as satan, and in Till We Have Faces we see the veil that Orual wears represents the erasing of identity. Burke and Lewis are completely different in their writings but they can relate in the sense of using poetic language to display symbolism.
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