Investigation and analysis of the conceptual metaphor of emotions in Ahmad Shamlou's poems (Relying on love, hope, despair and anger)

Subject Areas :

azita  moradi ¹ (Ph.D. Student in Persian Language and Literature, Ramhormoz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran.)
mansooreh  tadayoni ² (Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Ramhormoz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran)
masoud  pakdel ³ (Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Ramhormoz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran)
sima  mansouri ⁴ (Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Ramhormoz Branch, Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran)

Received: 2023-10-22 Accepted : 2024-01-06 Published : 2024-01-09

Keywords: Ahmad Shamlou, hope and despair, hatred, emotions, conceptual metaphor,

Abstract :

The new theory of metaphor interprets metaphor from a different angle in the light of cognitive semantics. This theory, proposed by Johnson and Lakoff, is more or less in line with some of Aristotle's statements about metaphor. In the present study, using the descriptive-analytical method, the conceptual metaphors of emotions (love, hope, despair, and anger) in the poems of Ahmad Shamlou have been investigated. The results show that one of the most important target areas in Shamul's poetry are "feelings and emotions", of which love, hope, despair, and anger are the most frequent. In order to express each of these emotions, from the primary areas such as building, light, heat, space, plants, living beings (birds and animals), water, music, food, business, treatment, power, all kinds of tastes (bitter and Shirin, etc.), keys, magic, alchemy, tools, secrets, objects (mirror, chains, etc.) have been used. Among these emotions, "love" has the most cases. Although Shamlou has used familiar things in many fields of origin, his mappings (phrases and poems) are such that he has created new correspondences in the field of conceptual metaphor. The domains that Shamlu used to materialize love are water and its metaphors (sea, river, spring, thirst, dew, river), light and its metaphors (fire, morning, sun, moon, star, dawn, flame, light), animals (horse, bird, butterfly, bee), plant and its metaphors (grass, tree, forest, branch), secret, key, music, nutrition , power, tool, peak, mirror, building, madness, travel, business and therapy.