This essay addresses the recent visual turn in communication research by exploring metaphors simply and directly as a visualization technique used by rhetors to engage audiences and induce cooperation. Treated as representative of poetic wisdom in contrast to scientific knowledge, metaphors serve well to bridge the gap between verbal rhetoric and visual rhetorics. Drawing on Lakoff & Johnson, Ricœur, Vico and Aristotle, the author emphasizes the experiential and sociocultural characteristics of metaphors, which are highly relevant to our bodily existence and daily life. Then the significance of visualization in rhetorics and the role
of both visual and verbal metaphors in the process are discussed. To enhance understanding of rhetorics as perception-based, the author refers to Gestalt psychologist Rudolf Arnheim for his rich study on visual thinking and expression creativity, thereby demonstrating that metaphors are not only at the core of communication competence but also are essential to multimedia literacies in the present network era.