Dwelling in the Ruins - Recovering Student Use of Metaphor in the Posthistorical University - Article

Oct 15, 2026

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Dwelling in the Ruins: Recovering Student Use of Metaphor in the Posthistorical University argues that rhetoric and composition has focused on metaphor’s role in its own practices while insufficiently addressing how students actually use metaphor in contemporary higher education discourse. Drawing on Lakoff and Johnson’s metaphor theory, it proposes pedagogical strategies to make metaphor learning more inclusive. It frames student metaphors as a necessary bridge for classroom practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages15

Reading Time38 min

AccessFree to download

Composition Forum 37, Fall 2017

Dwelling in the Ruins: Recovering Student Use of Metaphor in the Posthistorical University

Abstract

Metaphor, writing instruction, and student experience

Bridging the gap between teacher and student metaphors

Teacher metaphor self-centeredness

Why teachers love metaphors

Current Issue From the Editors Weblog Editorial Board Editorial Policy Submissions Archives Accessibility Search Composition Forum 37, Fall 2017 Dwelling in the Ruins: Recovering Student Use of Metaphor in the Posthistorical University Daniel P. Richards Abstract: This article argues that the field of Rhetoric and Composition has long harnessed the active potential of metaphor to change its own practices but has considerably overlooked student use of metaphor—a particularly urgent oversight given the metaphorical battleground that constitutes the discourse of contemporary higher education. Using this exigency, the article 1) explains how a more thorough reading of Lakoff and Johnson’s popular work on metaphor theory can re-energize Rhetoric and Composition to be more inclusive of student experiences in classroom coverage of metaphor and 2) offers imaginative but concrete pedagogical approaches and activities aimed at facilitating student learning of metaphor in the context of a consumer-based“University of Excellence.” “Only if we are capable of dwelling, only then can we build.” —Martin Heidegger (1971) Let’s begin with a little literary humor: You see, that’s the whole problem. Writing is a lasagna to me. There are layers and you have to put them together carefully and then you are done. But you keep saying that I have to narrow my focus. You are trying to turn my lasagna into a meat loaf and I don’t like meat loaf. (455) Taken from a student reflection in Lad Tobin’s article “Bridging the Gaps: Understanding Our Students’ Metaphors for Composing,” this excerpt uncovers the notion that metaphor provides an accessible, safe, almost playful way to talk openly with students about the nature of writing processes. Students are comfortable with metaphors of writing. They can understand paragraphs as sandwiches, introductions as V’s, and editing as polishing the paint on a vehicle. The above excerpt, however, can also be interpreted another way—that, in fact, lurking beneath the seeming playfulness of the student’s comparison of lasagna and meatloaf is the notion that students don’t always find writing teachers’metaphors familiar, productive, or even particularly useful. And why would they? Since metaphors arise from having to make sense of our interaction with our physical environment (Lakoff and Johnson), there is a sort of pedagogical malpractice in what Tobin might call the “thoughtless unilaterality” with which we apply metaphor without considering first the experiences of our students. And this is precisely why Tobin was writing: to admonish writing teachers and the field generally to address how to bridge the gap between our own metaphors and those of our students so as to avoid the type of clear, palpable frustration felt by the student above. The conflict here is conceptual, but it is also experiential, and this poses a problem. Making students see writing as a meatloaf, while seemingly playful, is a coercive act that can play a significant part in hindering our ability to succeed in teaching writing. So much for humor. Tobin’s contention was that even though Rhetoric and Composition had up until his point in writing in 1989 acknowledged the active role of metaphor in writing practices, the field had not parlayed that understanding to students, had not studied the metaphors students were using to write with, and had not considered how our metaphors were emplacing students in conceptual paradigms unfamiliar to them or outside their realms of experience. Tobin positioned metaphor as a productive means to access underlying assumptions students had about writing and as a way to challenge teachers to explore and make apparent the disjunct between our metaphors and those of our students. It has been almost three decades, however, since Tobin challenged a field of writing teachers to “bridge the gap” and learn more about our students’ metaphors. Over the last three decades or so, how much more have

FAQs

What central issue does the article raise about metaphor in rhetoric and composition?

The article argues that the field has largely overlooked student use of metaphor, despite metaphor being a key component of contemporary higher education discourse.

How does the author use Lakoff and Johnson’s work in the argument?

The author uses Lakoff and Johnson’s metaphor theory to re-energize rhetoric and composition so classroom coverage becomes more inclusive of student experiences with metaphor.

Why does the article discuss the lasagna vs. meatloaf student reflection?

The excerpt illustrates how students may find teachers’ metaphors unfamiliar or unhelpful, highlighting the need to bridge the gap between teachers’ and students’ metaphor frameworks.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by jay