This complicated but stimulating article is "an attempt to explore some aspects of the preparation, 'specificity' and language of interpretations." Levin describes how metaphor helps the patient understand himself by creating bridges between various levels of the individual's psychic structure. He uses two diagrams which help the reader to understand his thesis. Although the concept of metapsychology is not used in this article, one might say that the author actually delineates a metapsychology of metaphor. He succinctly states the use of metaphors thus: "Their novelty is part of what evokes arousal; their familiarity is part of what evokes synthesis; and their relation to the transference is what makes the whole thing go."