metaphorrich

Metaphorrich is a term used in literary and rhetorical studies to describe texts that contain a high density of metaphor and figurative language. As an adjective, metaphorrich characterizes a style, prose, or verse that relies extensively on metaphor to convey imagery, emotion, and abstract relations; as a noun, a metaphorrich work denotes such a text.

Origin and etymology: The word is a neologism formed from "metaphor" and "rich." It emerged in analytic criticism in the 21st century to distinguish texts that maximize figurative content from those with comparatively literal diction.

Usage and measurement: Metaphorrich is used to discuss stylistic variation, reader engagement, and cognitive effects of figurative language. Researchers may employ qualitative judgments or quantitative measures, such as metaphor density (the number of metaphor instances per 1,000 words) or diversity of metaphor types, to gauge metaphorrichness across corpora.

Domains and examples: Metaphorrich writing is often discussed in poetry, experimental fiction, fantasy prose, advertising copy, and political rhetoric. A metaphorrich passage tends to evoke multiple sensory domains—visual, tactile, temporal—through layered metaphors, such as describing time as a flowing river carrying memories downstream.

Criticism and relation: Critics caution that the notion can be subjective and dependent on cultural context. The concept overlaps with related ideas such as figurative language, imagery, trope, and allegory, and it is often used alongside qualitative literary analysis and cognitive stylistics.

See also: metaphor; figurative language; imagery; rhetoric; trope; allegory.