Kognitywna analiza metafor życia i śmierci w poezji Wisławy Szymborskiej

• Authors: Dobrowolska Marta

Title variants

EN

Cognitive Analysis of Life and Death Metaphors in Poetry of Wisława Szymborska

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

The article presents a linguistic analysis of Wis³awa Szymborska selected poems in terms of the cognitive theory of metaphor. It is based on the works Lakoff and Turner (1989) who proved that literary metaphors, while original and inventive, are based on the same mental processes as everyday life expressions as conceptual metaphors are the basic schemata that organise our thinking and determine the majority of language phenomena. In Szymborska poems the metaphor EVENTS ARE ACTIONS functions as a personifying mechanism (i.e. images of death and the reaper) and justifies the importance of the tripartite cycle domain in the understanding of life and death target domains. The results of the research show that the uniqueness and potency of this Polish poet lies in creative utilisation and subtle elaboration on generic-level metaphors, that can be hard to decipher for the reader. Thank to this she introduces a different perspective of human beliefs about life and death and explains them in a seemingly simple language. The study proves that the theory of conceptual metaphor provides us with the tools appropriate for the exploration of subtle and ambiguous matter of poetic language.

Keywords

PL

metafora pojęciowa; językoznawstwo kognitywne; metafora poetycka

EN

conceptual metaphor; cognitive linguistics; poetic metaphor

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Warmińsko-Mazurski w Olsztynie
• Journal: Prace Językoznawcze
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 15/2
• Pages: 19-35

Contributors

author

Dobrowolska Marta

• Wrocław