A Cognitive Approach To The Conceptual Metaphors In The Book Of Songs

Based upon Conceptual Metaphor Theory,the present paper conducts a study on The Book of Songs from the cognitive linguistic perspective,with an aim to find the metaphorical expressions and the conceptual metaphors behind in the three components of The Book of Songs,i.e.Feng,Yd,and Song.The major findings are:1)There are in total 497 metaphorical expressions found in The Book of Songs-they occur 229,244 and 24 times in Feng,Ya and Song respectively.These metaphors do not only exist in poems which are traditionally associated with the use of Bi(comparison)and Xing(affective image),but also in those with the use of Fu(narration).2)The metaphors found in Feng,Yd and Song have similarities and distinctions and they are in close connection with the main themes of the three components.A great majority of the metaphors found in Feng,Ya and Song can be categorized into the Great Chain of Being metaphor system while the Event Structure metaphors are only found in Feng and Yd.Some metaphors share the features of both the Great Chain of Being metaphor and the Event Structure metaphor.3)Of the 497 metaphors,a large part of them are on two target domains,i.e.HUMAN and LOVE;Yet in Feng LOVE specifically refers to the emotion between lovers while in Ya LOVE extends to the relationship between brothers,friends,battle companions,official colleagues and between the emperor and his ministers.4)Context plays a crucial role in the identification and interpretation of metaphors in The Book of Songs.The physical,social and cultural experience of the Zhou people also provides the basis for the construction of the metaphors in The Book of Songs.