The Heresy of Paraphrase by Cleanth Brooks

Cleanth Brooks in this essay the “Heresy of Paraphrase” tries to put forward is that any reductionist attempt to transform poetic meaning to a prose statement such as descriptive or thematic interpretative is to do injustice to a poem. It is one's failure to recognize the poem as a poem.

Brooks distinguishes scientific statement from poetic one and claim that the scientific statement cannot be paraphrasable.

In a poem, form and content are inseparable, that is why, poem cannot be reduced to a prose. However, Brooks is not completely against the fact that we need some discursive paraphraseable statements to understand in classroom about the meaning or theme of the poem.

Brooks thinks that a poem is not a scientific proposition. It is a structure of gesture and attitude, it is wrapped in emotions, and it has its own poetic universe constituting its romantic structure. Therefore, poem’s meaning is revealed just like dramatic effect, not like logical abstraction.

Meaning as dramatic effect is produced by setting its tensions in motion. It is not through logical formula, discourse propositions, and abstraction symbol but through irony, ambiguity and paradox a poem comprises its meaning.

Irony is created by the gap between what one says and what he/she intend to say. Brooks says that irony is the chief organizing principle that creates structure of a poem.

Context produces ironic effect upon us. Brooks further says, "Even the meaning of any particular item is modified by the context".

Brooks classifies two types of irony: verbal and dramatic. Verbal irony appears in words. If we say "your skin is white" for black people it creates verbal irony.

Dramatic irony is produced through a person who involves in action but does not know what is going on him but the audiences know. For example, the case of king Oedipus in Sophocles Oedipus Rex.