| Metaphor study has attracted wide attention among many linguistic scholars. Traditionally,metaphor has been regarded as a mere matter of language, a pure rhetorical device used as thedecoration of languages. While for cognitive linguistics, it is viewed not only as a linguisticphenomenon, but also as a common cognitive phenomenon. The Conceptual Metaphor Theoryproposed by Lakoff&Johnson in1980holds that the essence of metaphor is to understand andexperience one kind of thing in terms of another. According to Lakoff&Johnson, metaphor, asa cross-domain mapping between source domain and target domain, is a cognitive toolgrounded in human bodily experiences and persuasive in daily life and languages. However,metaphor is often studied as an aesthetic device used in poems. This paper chooses a new angle,the perspective of cognitive linguistics, for studying FLOWER metaphors used in poems.This thesis is an attempt to make a contrastive study of FLOWER metaphors in Englishand Chinese poems within the framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and theory ofcognitive categorization. Large amounts of flower images are chosen from400English poemsand400Chinese poems as the research data for a systematic analysis of the cross-domainmappings of FLOWER metaphors, the similarities and differences of FLOWER metaphorsbetween English and Chinese poems, and the corresponding causes.The result of this study shows that1) FLOWER metaphors play significant roles in theconceptualization of concrete objects, abstract concepts, or even human beings. Thus they arepervasively used both in English and Chinese poems. With the help of FLOWER metaphors,the learning and understanding of abstract concepts, such as the emotion of sorrow and love,will be easy and effective.2) Both similarities and differences of FLOWER metaphors exist inEnglish and Chinese poems. When flowers are mapped onto human beings, English andChinese poems share the target domains of appearances, life and youth. But different flowersare used in the mapping process of English and Chinese poems. Rose, lily, daisy and violet areoften used as the source domains, while in Chinese poems, peach blossom, lotus, pear blossom，peony and other flowers are often utilized.3) Influenced by the traditional Chinese philosophy“nature and man as a whole”, Chinese poems employ more flower images in theconceptualization of abstract concepts than English poems. The HOPE IS FLOWER metaphoris unique in English poems, and Chinese poems are more inclined to use flowers to denotecharacters of human beings. The similarities and differences are respectively resulted from thecognitive universality and cultural variations.This thesis, which is a contrastive and cognitive study of FLOWER metaphors in Englishand Chinese poems, provides cross-language and cross-cultural evidences for the Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the theory of cognitive categorization. Furthermore, the present studywill be beneficial to better learning and understanding of English and Chinese poems. |
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