Abstract
In recent years Text World Theory has emerged as a powerful technique for exploring the cognitive interactions of the reader with literary texts. In the essay that follows, Text World Theory is outlined and used to analyse the pattern of world switches which the reader undergoes as they move through Heaney's poem Squarings: Lightenings VIII. The essay also examines the various mechanisms by which those mental switches are instigated. Through this analysis, it is shown how Heaney's metaphorical representations are constructed and maintained by the reader, and inferences are drawn about the importance of cultural knowledge, and the pragmatic interpretation of utterances in relation to the type of deictic and modal world switches the reader experiences in the poem. The analysis also generates some difficulties for Text World Theory as it currently stands, and attempts to resolve these.
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