The Meaning of ‘Meaning’
This chapter considers whether one can think of the semiotic or ‘musical’ elements in language, particularly in poetry, as meaning-laden in their own terms. The previous chapters have shown how abstract formal elements such as texture and formal proportion can supplement literal, denotative meaning. They have also revealed how a richer sense of ‘meaning’, and richer meanings, can be found in discourses such as poetry, which try to harness the semiotic elements in language, than in those such as instruction manuals, that do not. A distinctive characteristic of the semantic in language is the syntactic relationship it makes with the objects of experience. This orderly sense-making turns out to be the engine of denotation, and it is the very element of language that this chapter explores.