CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS FOR IMAGES OF LOVERS IN ENGLISH AND VIETNAMESE POEMS AND SONGS

Tóm tắt

A variety of images of people in love are described in music and poetry through metaphors. In poetry and music, the role of metaphors is much more important because without these stylistic devices, poetry were not as smooth and romantic as it must be; music could not as easily go into listeners’ souls as it has done. In such a case, how could we touch the beauty of these images? Based on the theory of cognitive semantics and conceptual metaphors raised by Lakoff and Johnson [2] as well as investigating about 350 English and Vietnamese love songs and poems, we find out 14 groups of images which are metaphorically used to describe lovers. By analyzing these groups of images, the paper points out the similarities and differences between them. Also in this investigation, readers may get more understanding of the beauty and the interest in English and Vietnamese love poems and songs through realizing metaphorical device. Finally, this study will make us be more aware of understanding and translating metaphorical phenomena in the languages involved.