What’s a Meta For?

In April 2021, the Star-Splitters dove into the nature, power, and limits of metaphor (etymologically, "to carry across"). They investigated how metaphors can make more reality available to us and transform the way we see the world, and how they have been crucial to the discovery and communication of scientific thought.

Along the way, students tried their hands at their own metaphors, and utilized their analytical skills to write about the metaphors used by artists in the fields of science, literature, and film.

Course materials included

Alan Lightman’s essay “Metaphors in Science”

Matthew Walker’s metaphor-rich lectures on the science of sleep

Ray Bradbury’s novel Dandelion Wine

Clips from Zach Snyder's movie Justice League

Poems by William Wordsworth, Gregory Orr, Basho, Buson, and many others