Metaphor and the Lyrical Self: A Cognitive–Semiotic Analysis of Vietnamese Thơ Mới and French Symbolism
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1606.05Keywords:
comparative poetics, Vietnamese Thơ mới, French Symbolism, lyrical selfAbstract
This study offers a comparative analysis of Vietnamese Thơ mới (New Poetry, 1932–1945) and French Symbolism (late nineteenth to early twentieth century), exploring how both traditions construct the lyrical self through the symbolic languages of nature, light, sound, and space. While earlier research has largely focused on stylistic parallels, this study advances the field by integrating conceptual metaphor theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), the poetics of space (Bachelard, 1994), and semiotic theory (Kristeva, 1980) into a unified interpretive framework. Through close textual and intertextual analysis, it demonstrates how Thơ mới transforms nostalgia and colonial dislocation into an introspective meditation on being, while French Symbolism reimagines perception through abstraction and musical rhythm, evoking a dreamlike consciousness. Despite their differing historical and cultural contexts, both traditions reveal poetry’s enduring capacity to reconcile fragmentation through symbolic imagination. The study’s transnational framework not only redefines the dialogue between local and global poetics but also proposes an inclusive methodology for comparative and world literature.
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