Read the Question carefully and choose the correct option.
The following lines are W.B. Yeats's metaphor for an old man:
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and
louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.
Here, the aged man is_____, and his “soul .. in its mortal dress,” is_____.
Understanding “tenor” and “vehicle” (I. A. Richards’s terminology)
In metaphor theory (particularly from I. A. Richards):
Tenor → the real subject being talked about; the underlying idea or entity.
Vehicle → the image or figurative expression that carries (or “conveys”) the meaning.
A metaphor = tenor (concept) + vehicle (image).
Example:
“He is a lion.”
Tenor: he (the man)
Vehicle: lion (the image used to describe him)
Yeats writes:
A tattered coat upon a stick, unless
Soul clap its hands and sing, and louder sing
For every tatter in its mortal dress.
What is the tenor?
The poet is describing an aged man.
The old man himself is the concept, the real subject.
Thus, the aged man = the tenor.
What is the vehicle?
Yeats uses the metaphor of:
“a tattered coat upon a stick” — for the physical body of the old man
“its mortal dress” — for the body as the garment enclosing the soul
These are images that convey what the old man’s body and condition are like.
Therefore:
The soul in its mortal dress is being expressed through an image (the dress or garment metaphor).
That image is the vehicle, because it carries the idea of the soul inhabiting a decaying body.
Thus, “mortal dress” = vehicle.
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