In this chapter 5 “ Rhetoric, Poetics, and Poetry” one of the techniques that culler has described in the chapter that I found most interesting is the metaphor because this is one of the basic uses in language, is also treated as respectable. As culler states “A metaphor treats something as something else.” this means that we have the opportunity to describe something by comparing it with similar things which make the poem or the text more interesting. Culler said that metaphor is commonly used to provide a vivid visual image to the reader through an instance of example. This means that according to Chapter 5 Culler says that metaphor as well as one of the basic uses in language, is also treated as respectable by connecting the knowledge which readers have already known or experience. I believe that they use metaphor so that the readers can easily understand the situation of what they are reading or put themselves into the image(72). This helps shape the meaning of the poem because, in the poem “The sea is history” written by Derek Walcott, the author implies that time locks the history up because of the African people about the monuments, struggle, martyrs, and their tribal memory. This means that he wanted to know about African people’s history and cultures which are undiscovered. After all, he ends answering himself that the Sea has locked all those history, language, and cultures inside it. 

In my opinion, metaphor is important because it helps the author express his/her purpose in the text or poem. The metaphor also helps the reader to imagine what is the meaning, and the message that is behind what he/she is reading from different aspects. 

In chapter 4 of “Literature, meaning, and interpretation” by Johnathan Culler, the relationship between language and meaning is that language is when we use language to express our feelings and thoughts, and meaning is to provide largely by context and experience. This means that meaning is basically a message of something that someone expresses about something or anybody. Also, what I found more interesting regarding the relationship between language and meaning is “Language and Thought” because it talked about various ways language has an impact on everything. He said that “Different languages divide up the word differently.” This means that the language we use influences our surroundings. Another thing that caught my attention is the determination of our thoughts based on the language we speak because as English is my second language some words are written the same, but the structure and rules are entirely different in the way that the sentences are written, and the way that most of them are expressed may not have the same feeling when I say it in my native language (Spanish) than when I say it in English.

Culler came up with five points theorists about the nature of literature as well as the literature as the foregrounding of language, literature as the integration of language, literature as fiction, literature as aesthetic object, and literature as intertextual. I found the most interesting and useful is “Literature as fiction,” as the book states that “The literary work is a linguistic event which projects a fictional world that includes speaker, actors, events, and an implied audience.” meaning that the audience is who takes shape through the work’s decisions about what must be explained and what the audience presumed to know. In my opinion, the literature as fiction is what refers to imaginary scenarios which are not limited to characters and events. Also, I think that the fiction writers do a great literature work, by letting them develop their experience of thinking into the imaginary world. Finally, as I said before they create events, actors, audiences, and places in the perfect organized unreal society that is not related to historical events. 

After reading the chapter What is literature and does it matter? By Jonathan Culler, he defines literature in many ways as well as when he said that “literature comes in all shapes and sizes, and most of them seem to have more in common with works that aren’t usually called literature”. Which means that literature is not only the words that are simply written but it has a separate quality which makes it different and valuable attention. One example of this can be the good literature ‘My  Love is like a red, red rose’ a poem by Robert Burns, and ‘Hamlet’ a play by William Shakespeare that distinguishes from songs, transcriptions of conversations, and autobiographies. Something that I learned was that literature helps you to do many things as well as write in a professional way and do a good job. Also, literature has the quality of encouraging creative thought that makes people educated to continue a life as a good professional and more important literature can help people understand and express their thoughts to everybody any time they feel like it. 

The question that stayed with me as I was reading this chapter was, Can people ignore literature?