A Cognitive Linguistics Analysis of Conceptual Metaphors in Li Bai’s Landscape Poetry
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1609.05Keywords:
Li Bai’s landscape poetry, conceptual metaphor, cognitive linguistics, translation strategy, Xu Yuanchong’s Selected Poems of Li BaiAbstract
The landscape poetry of Li Bai (701–762), China’s revered “Poet Immortal,” is not only a cornerstone of classical Chinese literature but also a profound manifestation of his romanticism and unique cognitive worldview. While previous scholarship has predominantly analyzed his poetic imagery from rhetorical or literary appreciation perspectives, systematic investigations using cognitive linguistics remain scarce. This study applies Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), as proposed by Lakoff and Johnson, to analyze metaphorical constructions within Li Bai’s landscape poetry. A corpus of 20 classic landscape poems was selected, and the Metaphor Identification Procedure (MIP), supplemented by manual verification, was employed to identify and categorize the underlying conceptual metaphors. The analysis identified 72 distinct conceptual metaphors, which were classified into three primary types: ontological metaphors (n=28, including entity, container, and personification metaphors), structural metaphors (n=39), and orientational metaphors (n=5). Among these, personification, container metaphors, and structural metaphors are frequently employed to represent the grandeur of the natural landscape. Conversely, entity and substance metaphors, as well as orientational metaphors, are predominantly utilized to express Li Bai’s abstract aspirations and emotional states. This study not only offers a new cognitive linguistic lens for interpreting Li Bai’s work but also uncovers the profound cognitive mechanisms that underpin his enduring artistic genius, laying a foundation for future research in cross-cultural translation and communication.
References
Aristotle. (1954). Rhetoric and poetics. The Modern Library.
Gao, Y. (2011). The evolution of love metaphors in romantic poetry. Journal of Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, 22(5), 56–63.
Geng, Z. (1993). Metaphor. Oriental Press.
Hu, Z. (2003). Poetic metaphor. Shandong Foreign Language Teaching Journal, (1), 46–50.
Kövecses, Z. (2010). Metaphor: A practical introduction. Oxford University Press.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago Press.
Lakoff, G., & Turner, M. (1989). More than cool reason: A field guide to poetic metaphor. University of Chicago Press.
Lan, C. (2005). Cognitive linguistics and metaphor studies. Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
Lan, C., & Bai, Y. (2023). The Ontological and Appraisal Metaphors on Poetry in Shipin: A Cognitive Approach from the Perspective of the Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Contemporary Rhetoric, (3), 48-60.
Pragglejaz Group. (2007). MIP: A method for identifying metaphorically used words in discourse. Metaphor and Symbol, 22(1), 1–39.
Qian, Z. (2022). A brief discussion on the stylistic types, origins, and evolution of Li Bai’s immortal-wandering poetry. Literary Heritage, (4), 92–104.
Shu, D. (2000). On the poetic function of metaphor. Journal of PLA Foreign Languages University, 23(6), 12–16.
Steen, G. (1994). Understanding metaphor in literature. Longman.
Stockwell, P. (2002). Cognitive poetics: An introduction. Routledge.
Xia, X. (2016). A study of color terms in Li Bai’s poetry from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. Journal of Xi’an International Studies University, (4), 49–52.
Xiao, K., & Wen, X. (2023). Cognitive operations of reconceptualization in translation: Taking English translations of classical Chinese poetry as examples. Chinese Translators Journal, (1), 154-162.
Yan, M. (2002). Universal metaphors in poetry and poetry translation. Foreign Languages and Their Teaching, (10), 43–46.
Zhan, F. (2020). The tradition and modernity of “life consciousness” in ancient Chinese literature: A discussion centered on the study of Li Bai’s poetry. Literary Heritage, (5), 172–180.
Zhang, J., & Liu, Y. (2018). A corpus-based comparative study of metaphorical and metonymic representations of “sadness”: A case study of Goethe’s and Li Bai’s poetry. Foreign Language Teaching, 39(4), 46–51.
Zhou, H. (2019). Cultural attributes of imagery in Chinese poetry and the limitations of its translatability from a cognitive perspective. Foreign Language Research, 36(4), 74-79.
