Short Abstract

Shared sensory experiences create shared beliefs, but metaphor blurs the line between feeling *as* and feeling *with* the natural world, incorporating the environment as a co-producer of “common sense.” How can folk speech keep the naturalization of knowledge sharp on the tongue, fresh on the mind?

Long Abstract

Folk speech is rich with metaphorical and poetic language, appeals to the senses that are simultaneously visceral and traditional: girls white as snow and red as blood, rivers of milk and honey, hearts of iron, feet of clay. Their traditionality attests to the inexhaustible ability of folklore to enchant, shock, and transform: rather than being discarded as dull or cliche, they are honed by continual use, remaining sharp on the tongue. Kant’s notion of “sensus communis,” the “common sense” of discernment or judgment, links aesthetics with ethics– shared sensory experiences create shared values and beliefs. But metaphor blurs the line between feeling as and feeling with other-than-human entities, incorporating the environment as a co-producer of feeling, knowledge, even morality. What happens when the metaphorical birds are literally charmed from the branches and in turn charm the singer, contributing to the poetics of form and the phenomenology of what is deemed beautiful? How does the metaphorical and figurative challenge such intersubjectivities of the felt self in a world with feelingful others? We welcome papers on sensory language across genres– fairy tales, proverbs, ballads, curses, charms, and other verbal art forms– that examine the role the senses play in the “naturalization” of cultural values and beliefs. What do we take granted about the sharing of feelings? Whose experiences count towards the collective? How can traditional figurative speech continually sharpened by use keep the wounds open, resist moral closure, and invite us to reimagine what is common about common sense?