An Analysis Of The Conceptual Metaphor Of The Pond In Walden

Thoreau's masterpiece,Walden,is a great work of transcendentalism in the 19~thh century.It is an exquisite work that comprehensively shows Thoreau's spiritual world.Thus,it has greatly attracted the attention of scholars from all over the world.Walden focuses on the pond,reflecting Thoreau's deep thinking,which is about the destiny of human existence,and the pursuit of the spiritual world.In the essay,Thoreau uses a large number of images,in which the description of the pond image is of rich metaphorical meaning.Up to now,the researches on Walden have mainly focused on the aspects of ecocriticism,religion,and the comparison of Chinese and Western cultural traditions,etc.However,the conceptual metaphor system of the pond has rarely been studied by scholars.Metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon,but also a human cognitive phenomenon.It is embodied and systematic.In the essay,the pond image constituting the center of the world is used to express the theme of the essay.Therefore,based on the conceptual metaphor theory,the author of this paper carefully analyzes the metaphorical expressions of the pond in Walden,and then summarizes the conceptual metaphor system,which is hidden behind the lines.Besides,the author of this paper also explores the empirical basis of the essay and the function of the conceptual metaphor system.Through a careful analysis of the language data in Walden,the following conclusions are drawn from this study:1.In Walden,there are lots of metaphorical expressions,and there exists one principal target domain,the pond and two sources domains,the material world and human's spiritual world.2.This study has revealed the conceptual metaphor system of the pond behind the lines.It is THE POND IS THE CENTER OF THE WORLD.3.By analyzing the empirical basis of the conceptual metaphor system from three aspects:the pond,the material world and the spiritual world,the research finds that the conceptual metaphor system is influenced by Thoreau's personal experience and the social historical background of the United States.After building the conceptual metaphor system---“THE POND IS THE CENTER OF THE WORLD”,Thoreau successfully expresses his theme of the essay---The pond is where his spirit and soul are placed.This study confirms the main view points of the conceptual metaphor,that is,the metaphor is embodied and systematic.What's more,this study is also a meaningful attempt to examine the Walden under the framework of cognitive linguistics.Finally,the author hopes that this study can provide reference for the prose cognition.