“Rain fell because suitable atmospheric conditions developed” is an ordinary causal account. “The cloud rained out of embarrassment before the patron’s generosity” invents a nonliteral but appropriate cause.
Simply producing an unusual explanation is not enough: the cause must be subtly related to the quality. Departing from factual causation is central to the figure, but a baseless statement without fitting connection does not qualify as effective literary attribution.
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The Dialectical Method and Elegant Causal Attribution: Proof and Four Modes of Ḥusn al-Taʿlīl
“Rain fell because suitable atmospheric conditions developed” is an ordinary causal account. “The cloud rained out of embarrassment before the patron’s generosity” invents a nonliteral but appropriate cause.
Simply producing an unusual explanation is not enough: the cause must be subtly related to the quality. Departing from factual causation is central to the figure, but a baseless statement without fitting connection does not qualify as effective literary attribution.