Synaesthesia in description

[HareBrain]

Synaesthesia (rhetorical device) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I came across a comment below a YouTube article a while back which mentioned this as being potentially effective, and since I don't think I've ever seen it mentioned on here, I thought I'd share the idea. Basically this is to describe something that belongs to one sense by using terms that belong to other senses, often in similes. This, the comment claimed, and I agree, can makes the description stronger.

Some examples are so time-worn we barely seem them as synaesthesia: "The cry pierced her heart" describes sound in terms of touch.

"Its green soothed him like the hush of waves on a beach": visual in terms of sound.

One I used myself recently after thinking about this: "The song of the blackbird stitched like a silver needle through the dull hum of traffic from the bypass": sound in terms of visual (silver) and touch (needle, implying piercing).

Worth considering, I think, if you want a particular description to make an impact. Anyone got any good examples?

 

[Phyrebrat]

Interesting as I struggle explaining my internal world to some folk who can’t conceive of words, letters, numbers, things as colours.

I don’t know if this is the same, but there’s a line in TPP I used ‘the blackbird’s song entered the room like a hatful of stars’ which I always pat myself on the back for when I remember it

 

[HareBrain]

I don’t know if this is the same, but there’s a line in TPP I used ‘the blackbird’s song entered the room like a hatful of stars’

Yes, I think that counts.

Clearly there's something about blackbird songs!

 

[Phyrebrat]

Clearly there's something about blackbird songs!

How weird! I didn’t notice that till you pointed it out.

 

[msstice]

The cry pierced her heart

Its green soothed him like the hush of waves on a beach

The song of the blackbird stitched like a silver needle through the dull hum of traffic from the bypass

I'm not sold that the examples given should be described as synesthesia. The first is straight up description of feeling. The last two are similes.

Metaphors are closer to synesthesia, but still quite far from it.

Synesthesia is this weird condition where different modalities cross over and people hear sounds when they see colors, and perceive smells when they read words and it often doesn't make sense.

Seeing blue when you eat toast is neurologically fascinating but literary-wise a dud.

Perhaps the advice giver was simply saying that similes and metaphors spice up your writing, but they wanted to make it sound more sophisticated.

 

[HareBrain]

Synesthesia is this weird condition where different modalities cross over and people hear sounds when they see colors, and perceive smells when they read words and it often doesn't make sense.

That's the psychological/medical condition, but it's also used as the name for the rhetorical device. I linked to the Wikipedia article in my original post.

Perhaps the advice giver was simply saying that similes and metaphors spice up your writing, but they wanted to make it sound more sophisticated.

No, the advice was that using similes that cross over the sense involved adds another layer of depth.

 

[sknox]

Even the examples in the article weren't very good. Cutting the air like a dagger is in no way a reference to another sense. It would require something like, the sound blasted his flesh. Or, the sight of him filled her ears with a fading minor chord.

I dunno, it doesn't work all that well. Literary types do love to invent new terms, though, don't they?

One place where I do like jumbling the senses is when describing some sort of psychic crisis. Hexed by a wizard, say, or put under some alien tech ( the SF equivalent). One way to communicate the effects would be to have the character seeing smells or hearing heat. I'm pretty sure I've seen that done. Or maybe tasted? ;-)

 

[HareBrain]

Cutting the air like a dagger is in no way a reference to another sense.

The quote is "His words cut the air like a dagger", which is using touch (cut/dagger) to describe sound (words). It might not be a very good example, but it does do what the article claims.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Smell or taste fear? You may be able to see it or hear it, but you can't physically smell or taste it.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Came across this last night - the opening to Lost in the Garden

 

[The Big Peat]

In Andrea Camilleri's Montalbano series, the main character associates colours with smells in this manner, and here's an example:

"A smell of stale perfume, burnt straw in color"

 

[tinkerdan]

I don't want to start a discussion about religion:
However, I do want to point out that I see this type of description in the bible quite a bit.

 

[ColGray]

CS Lewis and HP Lovecraft used it regularly. It is a great vehicle to describe something unnatural and show a person struggling to make sense of what is innately nonsensical.

As the creature manifests into the room, walking through a doorway that seems obvious and inevitable despite its invisibility, a sense of peace and the scent of silence and classical music settle over you.

I've used the line, The sound burrowed into her back teeth, crimson and viscous.

 

[Oligonicella]

The quote is "His words cut the air like a dagger", which is using touch (cut/dagger) to describe sound (words). It might not be a very good example, but it does do what the article claims.

Disagree. It's pretty pedantic to think of touch when cutting the air. It's more the motion than touch, indicating hostility/danger bolstered by the weapon's presence. "His hand cut the air to stop any reply" doesn't carry the same threat. You do however, get the cross effect of words and motion. Comme ci, comme ça.

 

[Oligonicella]

Smell or taste fear? You may be able to see it or hear it, but you can't physically smell or taste it.

You exude ammonia when you're afraid.

 

[paranoid marvin]

You exude ammonia when you're afraid.

You may be able to smell the effects of fear on the human body (although you would have to have exceptional senses) , but not fear itself

 

[Oligonicella]

You may be able to smell the effects of fear on the human body (although you would have to have exceptional senses) , but not fear itself

In that case, you cannot see or hear it either, only the manner in which someone displays their fear. The end result being that you cannot detect fear at all, only its effects.

 

[HareBrain]

Disagree. It's pretty pedantic to think of touch when cutting the air. It's more the motion than touch

Disagree times infinity. That's assuming Wilde meant "the words cut the air like a dagger would cut the air", but that's not actually what he said. I'd suggest he meant simply "like a dagger would cut", i.e. to suggest wounding or sharpness (which is certainly touch), not just waving something about. That would make more sense to me. (Though "The words cut like a dagger" would have been clearer.)

 

[Phyrebrat]

All these posts about it not being accurate … correct me if I’m wrong (but no, don’t really) you do realise there’re two uses of the term and Harebrain is referring to the literary term in this thread.

 

[msstice]

You may be able to smell the effects of fear on the human body (although you would have to have exceptional senses) , but not fear itself