A cognitive study of metaphors used in Emily Dickinson’s poems

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

TRINH THI THANH TAM

A COGNITIVE STUDY OF METAPHORS USED IN EMILY

DICKINSON’S POEMS

MASTER THESIS IN ENGLISH

Binh Dinh – 2021

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING

QUY NHON UNIVERSITY

TRINH THI THANH TAM

A COGNITIVE STUDY OF METAPHORS USED IN EMILY

DICKINSON’S POEMS

Field: English Linguistics

Code: 8220201

Supervisor: HA THANH HAI, Ph.D.

Binh Dinh – 2021

BỘ GIÁO DỤC VÀ ĐÀO TẠO

TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC QUY NHƠN

TRỊNH THỊ THANH TÂM

NGHIÊN CỨU TRI NHẬN VỀ ẨN DỤ ĐƯỢC SỬ DỤNG TRONG THƠ

CỦA NHÀ THƠ EMILY DICKINSON

Chuyên ngành: Ngôn ngữ Anh

Mã số: 8220201

Người hướng dẫn: TS. HÀ THANH HẢI

Bình Định - 2021

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STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I certify that the research entitled A Cognitive Study of Metaphors

Used in Emily Dickinson’s Poems is my own work.

Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis

contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in whole, or in part

from a thesis by which I have qualified for or been awarded another degree or

diploma.

No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement

in the thesis.

Quy Nhon, 2021

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this graduation thesis is the result of not only my

own efforts but also other assistance of organizations and individuals to

whom I would like to express my deepest gratitude.

First of all, I would like to express my endless thanks to my

supervisor, Dr Ha Thanh Hai for the generous and insightful guidance,

critical comments and precious advice that he has spared for me. His

encouragement and comments have significantly enriched and improved my

work. Without his motivation and instructions, the thesis would not have been

done effectively.

Secondly, my deep thanks come to all the lecturers at the Department of

Foreign Languages for generously supporting me and giving me permission to

carry out this thesis.

And last, my special thanks come to my beloved family and friends for

their endless love, care and motivations for the whole of my life. They have

given me strength to overcome all the troubles I encountered during the

fulfillment of this research.

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ABSTRACT

Metaphor in poetic texts has been discussed from different

perspectives. In cognitive linguistics, metaphor is not only confined to literary

studies but it has also become a commonality among all the sciences. The

present paper aims to shed light upon the cognitive metaphor and the implicit

meaning of metaphor in the poems by Emily Dickinson, published by the

Pennsylvania State University, Electronic Classics Series (2003). Moreover,

the research is focused on the contribution of metaphor on the poems.

In analyzing the data, the metaphor theory introduced by Lakoff and

Johnson (1980) has been used. Based on the theory, the metaphorical

expressions found in the data are classified into three types: Structural

metaphor, Orientational metaphor, and Ontological metaphor. The data

analysis shows that the most frequently used type of metaphor in Emily

Dickinson’ selected poems is ontological metaphor, while structural metaphor

ranks second, and in the least used is orientational metaphor.

Emily Dickinson is not only a great poet but also a skillful wielder of

words. She understands the metaphorical nature of our everyday language and

thought. She makes use of that knowledge to create poems that literally take

our breath away by disrupting our commonsensical and folk theory ways of

thinking about the world. She makes metaphorical comparisons between the

brain, the sea, and, sky, beauty and death. The way she expresses metaphor in

her poems is beautiful, unique, and worth further investigation in the field of

literature.

Emily Dickinson's poetry powerfully indicates values of society of the

time. It does this through its conciseness, its simplicity and its control. In her

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poems, she shows how society values the conformity of the whole

community.

From the results and discussion, the study puts forward some

implications for teaching and learning English to learners. Hopefully, the

result of the study can be somewhat beneficial for the teaching and learning of

English. This study may also be helpful for the readers of English.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ..............................................................i

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........................................................................ii

ABSTRACT.................................................................................................iii

LIST OF TABLES ....................................................................................viii

LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................... ix

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION................................................................ 1

1.1. Rationale ............................................................................................ 1

1.2. Aim and Objectives of the Study ...................................................... 4

1.2.1. Aim .................................................................................................................. 4

1.2.2. Objectives........................................................................................................ 4

1.3. Research Questions........................................................................... 4

1.4. Scope of the Study ............................................................................. 5

1.5. Significance of the Study................................................................... 5

1.6. Organization of Study....................................................................... 5

1.7. Summary .......................................................................................... 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................... 8

2.1. Literature............................................................................................ 8

2.2. Biography of Emily Dickinson........................................................... 9

2.3. Cognitive Linguistics........................................................................ 10

2.3.1. An overview of Cognitive Linguistics ............................................................. 10

2.3.2. Cognitive Semantics....................................................................................... 11

2.4. Metaphor Theory ............................................................................. 13

2.4.1. An Overview of Metaphor .............................................................................. 14

2.4.2 Traditional View of Metaphor......................................................................... 16

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2.4.3 Conceptual Metaphor...................................................................................... 16

2.5. Classification of Conceptual Metaphor........................................... 17

2.5.1. Structural metaphors...................................................................................... 17

2.5.2. Orientational metaphors................................................................................ 18

2.5.3. Ontological metaphors................................................................................... 19

2.6. Expression of Metaphor ................................................................... 20

2.7. Poetry ................................................................................................ 20

2.7.1. Definition of Poetry ....................................................................................... 20

2.7.2. Poetic metaphor............................................................................................. 21

2.8. Previous studies................................................................................ 23

2.9. Summary........................................................................................... 26

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ..................................... 27

3.1. Research Methods............................................................................ 27

3.2. Data Collection ................................................................................. 27

3.3. Data Analysis.................................................................................... 28

3.4. Summary .......................................................................................... 29

CHAPTER 4: RESULTS AND DISCUSSION........................................ 30

4.1. An overview of Conceptual Metaphor in Emily Dickinson’s Poems

.................................................................................................................. 30

4.1.1. General description........................................................................................ 31

4.1.2. Statistical analysis of conceptual metaphors ................................................. 32

4.2. Structural metaphor in Emily Dickinson’s Poems........................ 33

4.2.1. Occurrences of structural metaphor............................................................... 33

4.2.2. Linguistic expressions of Structural Metaphor ............................................... 35

4.2.3. The Contribution of Structural Metaphor in the Value of the Poem ................ 44

4.3. Orientational Metaphor in Emily Dickinson’s Poems ................... 46

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4.3.1. Occurrences of Orientational Metaphor......................................................... 46

4.3.2. Linguistic expressions of Orientational Metaphor.......................................... 46

4.3.3. The contribution of Orientational Metaphor in the Value of the Poem............ 47

4.4. Ontological Metaphor in Emily Dickinson’s Poems....................... 49

4.4.1. Occurrences of Ontological Metaphor ........................................................... 49

4.4.2. Linguistic expressions of Ontological Metaphor............................................. 51

4.4.3. The Contribution of Ontological Metaphor in the Value of the Poem ............. 63

4.5. Summary ......................................................................................... 65

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................. 67

5.1. Conclusion........................................................................................ 67

5.2. Limitations and Recommendations for Further Research ............ 69

REFERENCES............................................................................................. 2

English materials....................................................................................... 2

Vietnamese materials ............................................................................... 5

APPENDIX................................................................................................... 7

LIST OF POEMS........................................................................................ 7

RESEARCH TIMELINES ........................................................................ 34

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LIST OF TABLES

Table 4.1 Frequency of Conceptual Metaphor …………...…..…….…….32

Table 4.2 Frequency of structural metaphor ………………...…...….…..33

Table 4.3 Frequency of Orientational metaphor ……..………..…….…..46

Table 4.4 Frequency of Ontological Metaphor ……..……….…….....…49