Synaesthesia

Synaesthesia is a figure of speech that blends sensations from different senses by describing one kind of experience in the language of another. A poet might give sound a color, a taste a shape, or a smell a texture, as in "cold voice" or "sweet light." It is usually a sensory metaphor, not a literal claim about the senses crossing.

Example

The trumpet wore a bright red cry
across the darkened room;
her footsteps left a dusty sound
that drifted like perfume.
4 Jon On Our 22nd Wedding Anniversary


Your love is
quite sensational –

Your laughter tastes
like spring-time rain

Your tears smell
like sweet lemon flower petals

Your voice looks
so
deeply
majestic

Your heart sounds
like exquisite violin and harp concertos

And your eyes!

Your eyes feel
like early autumn sunset’s amber-gold lengthening glow

Oh, my love, your love
is entirely, completely,
embracingly

Sen-sational!

Copyright © 2007 Rev. Rebecca Guile Hudson 

Related Definitions

[n] a sensation that normally occurs in one sense modality occurs when another modality is stimulated

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Synonyms

synesthesia

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