Cognitive Metaphor Theory And Realization Of Themes In Xin Qiji's Song Lyrics

Metaphor has widely been studied and discussed as the figure of speech for about 2,000 years in the world.In the West,Aristotle is referred to as the pioneer who studied and expounded metaphor systematically in his famous classics Poetics and On rhetoric,and he set the tone for the studies on metaphor in western rhetorical area in the following 2,000 years.In the 1980 s,the western linguists Lakoff and Johnson proposed that metaphor is a means for people to cognize the world.This viewpoint subverted the idea that metaphor was a rhetorical device,which had been taken for granted in the previous 2,000 years.Thus,the research on metaphor began to be involved in the cognitive domain and opened the door to the cognitive metaphor theory.It has been undergoing quite a long history to study metaphor in China;however,it's a tough task to figure out a precise definition of metaphor in Chinese ancient classics like the words given by Aristotle,Cicero and Quintilian in the West.In China,most scholars generally regard metaphor as just a branch of analogy;that is to say,it refers to simile without the comparative words “like” or “as”.Rarely do they conduct special discussions on metaphor,and they usually study it with simile as an equal below “Analogy”.On the technical level,however,the talented ancient Chinese poets applied metaphors to their works in a skillful way.Xin Qiji epitomized the skills of writing Song lyrics with gorgeous metaphors.As a talented scholar who left his birthplace during the South Song Dynasty,he wasn't entrusted with an important post all the time,and he felt deeply frustrated for all his talents.For this reason,his Song lyrics are mainly inclined to express his patriotism of restoring national unity,his grief and indignation about unrealized aspiration and his blame on the ruler's compromises.And he also wrote some chants about the mountains and rivers in his motherland.Xin Qiji's Song lyrics have a wider range in terms of themes,and he was specifically apt to apply previous literary quotations to expressing his own point of view and emotions,covering both the bold and generous heroic style and the graceful style.Xin Qiji applied abundant metaphors to his lyrics.This thesis is aimed at studying Xin's Song lyrics by virtue of cognitive metaphor theory which consists of three subordinate types of metaphors: structural metaphors,orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors.In addition,the appropriate analysis will be conducted to find out the relations between the application of metaphors and the realization of themes in Xin's Song lyrics.