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Conceptual metaphors in Donne's 'Death, be not proud'

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80 2019 International Conference on English Language and Culture (ICELC 2019)

Conceptual Metaphors in Donne’s “Death, Be Not

Proud”
Ismail Abdulrahman Abdulla1 and Abbas Fadhil Lutfi2
1
Department of Translation Techniques, Erbil Administrative Technical Institute, Erbil Polytechnic University,
Erbil, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
2
Department of English, College of Languages, Salahaddin University, Hawler, Iraq

Abstract—There has always been a widely held view among transfer or transferring a word from its literal meaning
literary and linguistic circles that poetic language and naturally (Skeat, 1993, p. 28; Cruse, 2000, p. 202; Partridge,
occurring language represent two quite different registers; hence, 1966/2006, p. 1972). Technically speaking, there is no
they can by no means be subjected to treatment through the same
general consensus about the definition of metaphor (Abrams
rout of analysis. Another problem is that poetic language is said to
utilize some special figures as meaning construction devices that and Harpham 2012, p. 212); and scholars maintain that it
are called meaning devices, which are purely literary devices and is easier to illustrate metaphor than to define it (Childs and
have little value outside literature. This paper aims at analyzing Fowler 2006, p. 138). The majority of the sources dealing
poetic language in terms of the renowned cognitive semantic model with metaphor, first, give an example about metaphor then
known as conceptual metaphor theory which was first prosed for the they define it. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines
analysis of everyday language and cognition. Another aim this study metaphor as “the use of words to indicate sth [=something]
is to prove the fallacy of the traditional view that treated metaphor
different from the literal meaning.” Such a definition, as
as an ornamental literary device and one source of linguistic or
semantic deviation. Adopting the conceptual metaphor theory, the Cruse (2000, p. 202) maintains, “is not very enlightening:
present research hypothesizes that the conceptual metaphor theory is Since it does not even hint at any rationale for such a curious
applicable to the poetic language as well. It is also hypothesized that practice, it makes metaphor seem, at best, carelessness, and,
traditional view toward metaphor is completely false. To achieve the at worst, perversity.” A better definition of the term metaphor
above aims and check the hypotheses, the researchers have analyzed might be what Knowles and Moon (2006, p. 2) write: “The
one the most renowned metaphysical poems by John Donne, titled use of language to refer to something other than what it was
“Death, Be Not Proud.” Through the analysis, it has been concluded originally applied to, or what it “literally” means, to suggest
that the conceptual metaphor theory is applicable to poetic language
as it is to everyday language and the conceptual metaphors are
some resemblance or make a connection between the two
basic, rather than ornamental, for understanding poetry, and for the things.” Britannica Concise Encyclopedia (2006, p. 1244)
meaning construction in poetic language as they are in nonpoetic one. considers metaphor as a trope “in which a word or phrase
denoting one kind of object or action is used in place of
Index Terms— Cognitive semantics, Conceptual metaphors, another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them.”
John Donne. Until the 1980s, the majority of the studies pertinent to
metaphors had been revolving around one main idea that
metaphor is a rhetorical device; it is only used in poetic
I. Introduction language and it was regarded as a cause of linguistic or
A. An Overview of Metaphor semantic violation (Leech, 1969, pp. 48-49). The publication
of Lakoff and Johnson’s Metaphors We Live by in 1980
Metaphor or metaphorology has a long history. Its history
goes back to Aristotle’s time. Since then, rhetoricians marked a turning point in the history of metaphorology. It
and critics, and recently linguists, have been dealing with is regarded as the cornerstone of cognitive semantics. The
metaphors. Etymologically the word metaphor is a French above-provided definitions of metaphor are all in the light
word derived from the Greek, metaphora, which means of the traditional counts of metaphor, according to which
metaphor was considered merely linguistic and it was a
English Language and Culture Conference | Koya University rhetorical trope and believed to be found only in literary
ICELC 2019, Article ID: ICELC. 187, 9 pages texts, in general, and poetry, in particular. Metaphor has a
DOI: 10.14500/icelc2019.lin187 different interpretation of cognitive semantics. The heart of
Received 31 May 2019; Accepted 21 June 2019 metaphor, according to Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 5), is
Conference paper: Published 22 February 2020
to understand or experience one thing in terms of another.
Conference track: Linguistics
Corresponding author’s e-mail: [email protected] The cognitivists define metaphor as, in addition to its being
Copyright © 2019. Ismail Abdulrahman Abdulla and Abbas Fadhil linguistic (Evans and Green, 2006, p. 38), a cognitive process
Lutfi. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, p. 6). Lakoff and Johnson argue
Commons Attribution License. that “human thought processes are largely metaphorical”

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2019 International Conference on English Language and Culture (ICELC 2019) 81

(1980, p. 6). According to them, as Evans (2007, pp. 136 ff.) The baseline of this theory was laid by Lakoff and Johnson
explains, metaphor is the mapping of an object in a domain in their Metaphors We Live By (1980) and further explained
onto another object in another domain. For instance, in LIFE by Lakoff (1987). Lakoff and Turner’s (1989) work is about
IS A JOURNEY conceptual metaphor; we have the concept the conceptual metaphor theory in poetry. Other scholars,
of LIFE being understood in terms of a JOURNEY.1 for example, Dancygier and Sweetser (2014); Gibbs (1994);
and Kövecses (2002), have contributed to the development
B. Literature Review of the conceptual metaphor theory.2 To Lakoff and Johnson
As mentioned earlier, studying metaphor has a long (1980, p. 5) “[t]he essence of metaphor is understanding
history, thus numerous linguistic and literary studies have and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another.”
been conducted in different fields of inquiry. However, to the The conceptual metaphor theory has been considered as the
best of the current researchers’ knowledge, so far no research cornerstone of the cognitive semantics and it has “provided
has been previously conducted regarding the application of much of the early theoretical impetus for this approach (that
conceptual metaphor theory to the metaphysical poems by is, cognitive semantics) to the relationship between language,
Donne or any other metaphysical poets, in general, and the mind and embodied experience” (Evans, 2007, p. 34; cf.
selected poem, in particular. Thus, the present research is Evans and Green, 2006, p. 286). By the same token, Croft
an attempt to fill in this gap or it can even be considered a and Cruse (2004, p. 194) maintain that metaphor has been
breakthrough in that its insights provide a cognitive semantic a primary “preoccupation of cognitive linguists” in general;
account to the metaphors in the selected poem or in the to a degree that some people wrongly assume that cognitive
metaphysical poetry in general. linguistics is only about metaphor (Hilpert, 2015)!
Unlike the previous metaphor theories, conceptual
metaphor theory holds the pervasiveness and ubiquity of
II. Data and Methodology metaphor “in everyday life not only merely in language
The text which is analyzed in the present paper is a well- but also in thought and action” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980,
known metaphysical poem by Donne (b1572-d1631/2002) p. 3). Lakoff and Johnson also hold that “[o]ur ordinary
under the rubric of “Death, Be Not Proud.” This poem has conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act,
been taken from a well-known anthology of metaphysical is fundamentally metaphorical in nature” (1980, p. 3).
poetry edited by Negri (2002, pp. 51-52) One of the most Lakoff and Johnson’s conceptual metaphor is a conceptual
important characteristics of metaphysical poetry, to which mapping from a familiar conceptual domain, called a source
John Donne is regarded the leader of the School, is the domain, onto a less familiar conceptual domain, known as
overuse of far-fetched metaphors or conceits (Burns and a target domain (Hurford et al., 2007, p. 331). For instance,
McNamara, 1983, pp. 36-37; Negri, 2002, pp. v-vi). The when we say LIFE IS A JOURNEY, the conceptual mapping
cognitive semantic model according to which this poem between the source domain, JOURNEY, and the target
is analyzed is the renowned model known as Lakoff and domain, LIFE, shows that there is a correspondence, that
Johnson’s (1980) conceptual metaphor theory. In the is, link, between the elements of both domains, and thus,
following subsections, a detailed account of this adopted JOURNEY is concrete, whereas LIFE is less concrete or
model and its relevant problems are under scrutiny. rather abstract.
This theory differentiates between the conceptual
A. Conceptual Metaphor Theory metaphors and the metaphorical linguistic expressions. By
conceptual metaphors, we mean the conceptual, abstract
Conceptual Metaphors
cross-domain mappings between a source domain and the
According to Lakoff and Johnson, as well as their
target domain, whereas by the metaphorical expressions we
followers, metaphor is conceptualizing and experiencing one
mean the surface linguistic realizations that manifest the
domain, called target domain, in terms of another, known
conceptual metaphors. That is, the real expressions (such as
as source domain. Lakoff and Johnson’s monograph is also
the words, phrases, and sentences; this is the subject matter
regarded as the birth date of cognitive linguistics or cognitive
of the traditional theories of metaphor) that mirror the inner
semantics. Cognitive semantics has been reinforcing the fact
part of the conceptual metaphors cross-domain mapping (cf.
that metaphor is pervasive and it is a cognitive problem, and
Lakoff, 1993, p. 203). As Lakoff and Turner (1989, p. 3-4)
the nature of human conceptual system is metaphorical in
expound, human embedded knowledge of the structure of
both thinking and acting. The evidence for the pervasiveness
LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor means having knowledge
of metaphors and metaphoricity of human thinking and
about a set of correspondences such as:
acting is reflected in language and many, if not all, linguistic
The person leading a life is a traveler.
expressions are based on these conceptual metaphors (Lakoff
His purposes are destinations.
and Johnson, 1980, pp. 3-4).
The means for achieving purposes are routes.
Difficulties in life are impediments to travel.
1 Following Lakoff and Johnson (1980), the present paper uses BLOCK Counselors are guides.
CAPITALS to refer to the conceptual metaphors. It should be noted that
the conceptual metaphors are concepts expressed in the form of sentences
otherwise they are not found in language. They only underlie the semantic 2 The conceptual metaphors found in this paper have been very frequently
structure of the linguistic expressions. cited in the works of these cognitive semanticists.

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82 2019 International Conference on English Language and Culture (ICELC 2019)

Progress is the distance traveled. the employees, workers, taxi drivers, etc., is according to
Things you gauge your progress by are landmarks. the time spent in performing the work. Furthermore, we talk
Choices in life are crossroads. about phone call costs according to the minutes we spend
Material resources and talents are provisions. when are calling others. That is, the cost of the calls is
In Croft and Cruse’s (2004, p. 196) term, the sort of measured according to time spent in the telephoning. Thus,
knowledge required for these correspondences between the all the italicized vocabulary above manifests the metaphorical
source and target domains is encyclopedic in nature. If we structuring of the concept of time in terms of expressions
take one of the above items, say the person leading a life which are literary used for the concept of money. This way
is a traveler; we can notice that there is a link between the of conceptualizing, that is, conceptualizing TIME in terms of
person who has a life and traveler. The link between the two, MONEY is tied to the modern English culture; the concept
or the mapping, is one of the triggers of the existence of the of time might be reified differently in another culture (Lakoff
LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor. As we can see, the mapping and Johnson, 1980, p. 9).
has a multidimensional structure from the domain of journey Orientational metaphors
corresponding to the multidimensional structure of concept of Contrasting with the structural metaphors, there are other
life. This sort of “multidimensional structures characterize” metaphors in which not only one concept is structured in
what Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 81) call “experiential terms of another but also instead they organize an entire
gestalts, which are ways of organizing experiences into system of concepts with respect to one another. Lakoff and
structural wholes.” Accordingly, in our conceptual metaphor Johnson (1980, p. 14) call such metaphors orientational
LIFE IS A JOURNEY, the gestalt for LIFE is structured metaphors as most of them are intensively related to the
through some selected elements of JOURNEY gestalt. spatial orientations such as in-out, up-down, on-off, and deep-
According to this theory, the metaphor is not in the shallow. Simply, there is a spatial relationship between each
linguistic expressions we use – it is rather in the concept pair of poles, UP-DOWN, IN-OUT, etc. These orientational
of life; it is epistemic. The conceptual metaphors are metaphors are based on the fact that humans have upright
formula on the basis of which the linguistic expressions bodies acting in the physical environment. Depending on
gain their metaphoricity. That is, the conceptual metaphors this, they provide a concept with a spatial orientation as
are underlying abstract concepts that are realized by the in HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN metaphors. These two
surface linguistic metaphorical expressions (cf. Kövecses, conceptual metaphors have become the bases for the English
2002, p. 4). Accordingly, metaphors have two layers: metaphorical expressions found in the following sentences:
Conceptual layer and linguistic layer. The traditional theories She’s is feeling up today.
of metaphor were only concerned with the linguistic layer, After they were defeated in the match, the players were
whereas the conceptual layer of metaphor is central in the down in depression.
The use of these orientations as metaphors is not random,
conceptual metaphor theory. The language we use to express
as Lakoff and Johnson maintain (1980, p. 14), they are based
this metaphoric concept is not a poetic or literary language; it
on physical as well as cultural experience. Despite the fact
is purely literal (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, p. 5).
that the up-down, front-back, and in-out polar orientations
Classification of conceptual metaphors are physical in nature, but their uses differ from culture
In conceptual metaphor theory, metaphors are divided into to culture. In Kurdish, Arabic, as well as English cultures,
three major classes: (1) Structural metaphors; (2) orientational future is front and past is behind, whereas the opposite is the
metaphors; and (3) ontological metaphors. case in Chinese (Gu et al., 2016) and Aymara cultures (Núñez
Structural metaphors and Sweester, 2006; for a contradictory case in English see
Lakoff and Johnson (1980, p. 14) define structural Lakoff and Johnson 1980, pp. 41-2). Let us see some further
metaphors as those metaphors in which “one concept is orientational metaphors with their linguistic metaphorical
metaphorically structured in terms of another.” There are realizations (based on Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp.15-17):
many metaphorical linguistic expressions that realize the CONSCIOUS IS UP; UNCONSCIOUS IS DOWN
concepts structuring our everyday activities, the conceptual Get up.
metaphor TIME IS MONEY is obviously reflected in the Wake up.
following expressions (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp. 7-8): I’m already up.
TIME IS MONEY Sue fell asleep.
You’re wasting my time. The above examples are all based on the physical fact
I don’t have the time to give you. that humans lie down when sleeping and stand up when
How do you spend your time these days? awakening. When humans are healthy and alive they are
You’re running out of time. standing upright, but when they are ill or dead they are
Thank you for your time. physically lying down.
In the English culture, the concept of time is considered GOOD IS UP; BAD IS DOWN
something valuable through which one can achieve his life Our business hit a peak last month, but it is being downhill
goals. The fact that time is treated as money is more evident ever since.
in the present-day technological developments. For instance, Things are at all-time low.
the money, that is, the salaries, wages, fees, rents, paid to My boss never does low-quality work.

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All the physical, social, and personal well-beings like He broke under cross-examination.
happiness, health, life, and control are all UP. Similarly, She is easily crushed.
human by their experience know that The above-italicized expressions are literally used for
MORE IS UP; LESS IS DOWN delicate objects rather, but here they are metaphorically
The population of Erbil is going up. used to refer to human mind. Thus, we can say they are
My brother’s income rose this year. representing MIND IS BRITTLE OBJECT metaphor.
Each of the spatial terms mentioned so far provides a rich Container metaphors are also based on our physical contact
foundation for understanding many concepts in orientational and experience with own bodies and our surroundings.
terms. These orientational terms and concepts are all based Humans are containers in the sense that they have their own
on our physical, cultural, and social experiences (Lakoff and bodies which have a skin on the outer part protecting what
Johnson, 1980, p. 25; see also Stockwell, 2002, p. 109). is inside. Our bodies as containers have vessels that contain
Ontological metaphors blood and have intestines inside bellies that contain food
Human experience of physical objects is another rich and other substances. We consider other physical things as
source for understanding concepts. The metaphors that help containers. Buildings, for example, are containers for rooms;
humans structure the understanding of abstract concepts and rooms are containers for our bodies and home appliances. This
experiences, events, actions, statuses, etc. in terms of physical is why we talk about being inside or outside a building or a
objects are known as ontological metaphors. Hence, in room. Such a physical experience provide the basis for our
ontological metaphors, the abstract concepts are either reified cognitive processes for understanding other concepts as being
(=objectified as concrete) entities, substances, and containers containers, otherwise we can make a clear sense of them.
or personified as human beings (Dancygier and Sweetser, Abstract concepts such as vision, activities, sports, and
2014, 62). Each of these three is based on our experience love can be treated as containers. The following sentences
with physical entities, substances, containers as well as contain metaphors of that sort (based on Lakoff and Johnson,
human characteristics. One example on each of subcategories 1980, pp. 30-32):
of ontological metaphors will clarify them better. For the first The ship is coming into view. (VISON IS A CONTAINER.)
subtype let us take the concept of inflation which is abstract Are you in the race on Sunday? (SPORTS ARE CONTAINERS)
and not well understood until we use it in the following In washing the window, I splashed water all over the floor.
English expressions (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, p. 26): (ACTIVITES ARE CONTAINERS)
Inflation is lowering our standard of life. They are in love. (LOVE IS A CONTAINER).
If there is much inflation, we will never survive.
He entered into a state of euphoria. (A STATE IS A
We need to combat Inflation.
CONTAINER)
Buying land is the best way of dealing with inflation.
Personification metaphor, as another subtype of ontological
Inflation makes me sick.
metaphor, is where the objectification of abstract concepts
In these metaphorical expressions, there is one ontological
further specified as being persons. Personification metaphors
conceptual metaphor: INFLATION IS AN ENTITY. In
help us understand a wide arrange “of experiences
addition to structuring our understanding of the abstract
with nonhuman entities in terms of human motivations,
concept of inflation such metaphors perform many other
characteristics, and activities” (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980,
various functions. Looking at inflation as an entity (in the
p. 33). The following metaphorical expressions are based on
above expressions, successively) helps us to refer to it, show
personification:
its quantity, highlight a typical aspect of it, and look at as a
This theory tells us that the earth is round.
cause for something; so on.
Another ontological metaphor is found in the following Her love has cheated him.
expressions (based Lakoff and Johnson, 1980, pp. 27-8): Inflation is eating our profits.
We’re still trying to grind out the solution to this question. Currently, our biggest enemy is inflation.
My mind just isn’t operating. Our religion tells us not to tell lies.
Boy, the wheels are turning now! Each of the above italics is originally a vocabulary
I’m little rusty today. which is literally used for human beings, but they are here
We’ve been working on this problem all day and now we’re metaphorically used to personify each of the concepts:
running out of steam. Theory, love, inflation, and religion.
Each of the above italics shows that the concept of mind has
been treated as a machine. Grind out, operating, wheels turning, B. Conceptual Metaphors in Poetry
and little rusty are machine terms but metaphorically used for In our discussion of the conceptual metaphors, we said
mind. These metaphorical uses originate from our experience that the metaphors are conventional and omnipresent. The
with the physical machines humans use in their everyday conventional conceptual metaphors (namely, structural,
life. Lakoff and Johnson term this metaphor as MIND IS A orientational, and ontological) are normally in our
MACHINE metaphor. The metaphor the MIND IS A MACHINE conventional conceptual structure system and widely realized
can be further expanded in the following manifestations: in everyday language. They are conventional in the sense
Her ego is very fragile. that they are automatically, effortlessly, unconsciously used,
You’ve to handle him with care since his wife’s death. and understood.

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However, there are cases in which these conventional these conceptual metaphors by the poet. Let us consider
metaphors are manifested unconventionally. That is, they are the following lines by Catullus (cited in Lakoff and Turner,
evinced on the linguistic level with unfamiliar expressions. 1989: p. 69):
Hence, they both share identical underlying conceptual Suns can set and return again,
mapping (cf. Stern 2000, p. 177). Various alternative labels But when our brief light goes out,
have been given to this phenomenon; poetic metaphors, there’s one perpetual night to be slept through.
creative metaphors, and novel metaphors are some them. Here, the common conceptual metaphors that underlie
Literature and politics are fertile for those metaphors. These these three lines are LIFETIME IS A DAY and DEATH
metaphors are abundant in literature and other discourse types IS NIGHT, however, the poet calls the validity of these
(Croft and Cruse, 2004, p. 204; Steen et al., 2010, p.47). conceptual metaphors into question in that when or night
Perhaps there may appear metaphors which are novel through comes there will be no other new day after that – that is, to
and through, in the sense that they are neither familiar to the him, there is no other new day as his night will be for good.
conceptual system of the English speaking people nor are Composing
they commonly realized by linguistic expressions in daily The most attention-grabbing technique in showing the
interactions. That is, they are unconventional on both levels poetic power of conceptual metaphors is by combing two
of thought and language. Understanding the creative use of or more metaphors in one sentence, paragraph, passage,
poetic metaphors requires understanding the conventional or, as in the case of poetry, a stanza. These conventional
conceptual metaphors we have discussed so far. This is metaphors comprise a composite body of metaphor which
because, as Lakoff and Tuner (1989) concentrate, they are is rare in everyday language. The following extract from
deep rooted in the conceptual metaphors. As Lakoff and Shakespeare’s sonnets contains at least six conceptual
Turner (1989, p. xi) maintain, “great poets…use basically the metaphors (Kövecses, 2002, p. 49; Lakoff and Turner,
same tools (such as metaphor, metonymy, and personification) 1989, p.70):
we use; what makes them different is their talent for using In me thou seest the twilight of such day
these tools, and their skill in using them, which they acquire As after sunset fadeth in the west;
from sustained attention, study, and practice.” In addition to Which by and by black night doth take away,
this, poets use one of the following techniques when they Death’s second self that seals up all in rest.
use conceptual metaphors as poetic metaphors. They extend, The composing conceptual metaphors in the above-quoted
elaborate, combine, or question the conceptual metaphors. quatrain are the following:
Extending LIGHT IS A SUBSTANCE
One of the mechanisms by which the realm of poetic EVENTS ARE ACTIONS
metaphors is distinguished from ordinary everyday metaphors LIFE IS A PRECIOUS POSSESSION
is that the poets extend the conventional metaphors in a A LIFETIME IS A DAY
way that they surpass the normal boundaries of the source LIFE IS LIGHT
domain elements by extending them to source domain terms DEATH IS NIGHT
which are somewhat related but unfamiliar. For instance, it is As Lakoff and Turner (1989, pp. 70-71) interpret it, the
widely known that we have DEATH-AS-SLEEP metaphor in single clause black night doth take away [the twilight] can
English language and culture, but Shakespeare in Hamlet’s be understood as embracing all the six conceptual metaphors
monologue, as Lakoff and Turner (1989, p. 67) quoted, mentioned above.
extends death from sleeping to dreaming: Hence, all in all, though there are some unconventional
To sleep? Perchance to dream! Ay, there’s the rub; metaphors which are said to be new in the sense that they
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come? are not used in everyday thinking and linguistic interactions,
Elaborating still it has come out that even these metaphors are not
In contrast to the forgoing mode of poetic thought, this through and through novel as they are derivative from the
technique means to elaborate on an existing element in conventional conceptual metaphors (Gibbs, 2008, p. 5; Katz,
the source domain in an abnormal style (Kövecses, 2002, 1998, p.4).
p. 47). For instance, DEATH IS DEPARTURE is known as
a conventional metaphor in a cognitive semantic perspective.
However, when a poet describes death as “eternal exile of the III. Conceptual Metaphors in Donne’s “Death, Be Not
raft”, the concept of death is conceptualized by elaboration Proud”
from the writer and reader’s side as an exile and one can say A. Finding and Discussions
that the vehicle for the departure is a raft which is risky and In the whole poem, as the title suggests, Donne addresses
unstable; the return possibility in this exile is zero (Lakoff death. Talking to an inanimate being is known as an
and Turner, 1989, pp. 67-8). apostrophe. The scene we experience here is that the poet
Questioning talks to death, which is an abstract concept as if it were
Another mechanism by which poetic thought is present in front of him. Hence, the poet is the addresser and
unconventionalizing the ordinary conventional metaphors death is the addressee. This poem is based on a conceptual
is by questioning the appropriateness and the validity of metaphor known as personification. The personification of

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death is reflected everywhere in the poem. In addition, there gift from the Almighty Allah to them to get rest from the
are some other conceptual metaphors contributing to the burdens of life. Here, the phrase our best men is metonymic
meaning construction on the part of the poet and the meaning and standing for all good-doing people, or in the case of a
perception on the reader’s or listener’s part. Let us examine Christian poet like Donne, all the good Christians, or in my
the metaphors in each pair of lines Muslim case all the good Muslims. The verb phrase do go
1. “Death, be not proud,” though some have called thee realizes another set of well-known conceptual metaphors:
2. Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; LIFE IS PRESENCE HERE; DEATH IS DEPARTURE;
Personification is one of the powerful devices which DEATH IS A JOURNEY.
laymen and poets utilize in constructing the meaning they Regarding the first metaphor in do go, we can say that as
want to convey. Conventionally, the personification of when someone comes to being, s/he is present here with us
death is found in three conceptual metaphors: DEATH IS and when s/he dies, they will no longer be with us; they go
A REAPER; DEATH IS A DEVOURER; DEATH IS AN and leave us. In the same fashion, this can be the interpretation
ADVERSARY. The personification found in the first two of the second metaphor; DEATH AS DEPARTURE, departing
lines reflects the DEATH AS ADVERSARY metaphor, as from this world. As for the DEATH AS JOURNEY metaphor,
death is considered by some people as being powerful and one can say that the dying person is seen a traveler who is
terrible. The two attributes represented by the adjectives, starting his journey toward a destination, in our case, to
proud and dreadful are all human attributes given to death paradise, as in the case of the best men.
here. They are usually used for negative descriptions of an DEATH being conceptualized as a JOURNEY is also
enemy namely, death. Death’s being mighty conventionally evident in the poet’s choice of the word delivery which
speaking and according to the conceptual metaphor POWER relates to a woman giving birth to a child. This is another
IS UP (Dancygier and Sweetser, 2014, p. 166) is questioned clue for the conceptual metaphor of Death as the beginning
here in line 2 and an alternative description is provided in of a second life, that is, a second journey. With their death,
lines 9-10. the good men are born (delivered) or born anew. In rest of
The conceptual metaphor DEATH IS AN ADVERSARY is their bones, soul’s delivery we have another underlying
also reflected in lines 3-4. conceptual metaphor; BODY IS A CONTAINER, here bones
3. For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow metonymically stand for the whole body.
4. Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. The body is understood in terms of a container holding the
The verb think is also evident for the personification of soul: The soul is contained in the body. This same phrase,
death; as think necessitates a human agent. Furthermore, rest of their bones, represents another conceptual metaphor
the verbs overthrow and kill prove death’s being a foe. One that reads LIFE IS BURDEN. Hence, from a Christian
can hold that in addressing death we have the well-known as well as an Islamic perspective, good people will get rid
conceptual metaphor ARGUMENT IS WAR. The poet of all the burdens of life as soon as they die. Religiously
argues his opponent, death, and belittles it as if death cannot speaking, the death of a person takes place by the soul’s
overthrow nor kill him. As referred to earlier, the poet strips being extracted from the body. In this poem, particularly in
off attributing death as being mighty or fearful; this also example (13), lines 7 and 8, death, to the soul, is a birth; in
manifests the ARGUMENT IS WAR metaphor. This sort of which death is understood in terms of the body of the mother
fighting tone is present throughout the poem. We will come who gives birth to the child, who stands for the soul. There
to this in the last line of the poem. In lines 5-6, the poet is another conceptual metaphor here, namely the DEATH IS
bases his ideas on another couple of conceptual metaphors: BIRTH metaphor.
5. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, According to this and Marvell’s “A Dialogue between the
6. Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow, Soul and the Body” poems, THE BODY IS A JAIL to the
In these two lines, the poet tells death – personification is soul (see section 6.4). Hence, this can be clearly seen in the
again evident – that it is just such as rest and sleep which use of “soul’s delivery.” Therefore, the soul will be set free
are two sources from which human pleasure is flowed. The from jail when it comes of the body.
conceptual metaphors reflected in lines 5 and 6 are DEATH The personification of death goes on in the poem, but
IS REST and DEATH IS SLEEP. We can say that the poet, this time with a diving shift in a way that minimizes the
especially in line 6, extends these two metaphors by saying mightiness and dreadfulness of death to an extent that is at
that there is much happiness in death than in rest and sleep. odds with usual descriptions of death. Again to have these
The orientational metaphors HAPPY IS UP and MORE IS new definitions of death he resorts to metaphor.
UP can also be inferred from much pleasure…from thee 9. Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
much more must flow. This inference links us to the next 10. And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
couplet. In the light of Lakoff and Turner’s poetic techniques,
7. And soonest our best men with thee do go, (14) has questioning. Donne has an alternative description
8. Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery. for death; to his death is not a reaper; death is not mighty;
It is common sense in English and Kurdish cultures that death is not scaring; death has no power on us, and so
the good people do not live long; they have an early death. forth. All the false descriptions, to Donne, that are given to
This is linguistically reflected in Donne’s use of the adjective death have been refuted in (14) lines 9-10 to the end of the
soonest, in example (13), line 7. It is believed that this is a poem. Hence, in the eyes of the laypeople, death has control

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86 2019 International Conference on English Language and Culture (ICELC 2019)

and power over people, but here the poet denies this false conceptual metaphor here is again DEATH IS SLEEP. This
familiar attitude toward death. We see here that death is same metaphor is well reflected in the last couplet of the
underestimated and even enslaved by fate, chance, king, and sonnet.
hopeless men. Again here personification is evident. Death 13. One short sleep, we wake eternally,
is personified as a footman or slave to chance. Hence, the 14. And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!
concept of chance, which is abstract, has been conceptualized The conceptual metaphors DEATH AS SLEEP and
as being the master of death. In the same mode, abstract DEATH IS NIGHT are evident here in these two closing
concepts such as fate and chance are also personified as lines of the Holy Sonnet 10. The holiness of the poem is
mastering death, by being the real cause of death. Another evident again. Understanding death as sleep and night is
conceptual metaphor in these two lines is EVENTS ARE rooted in a Christian religious background. For our Islamic
ACTIONS. This conceptual metaphor is generic and can be culture, the same holds true. The Muslims believe that the
utilized in analyzing many events. Almighty Allah is the one who takes the soul away during
According to the description given to death, death is death and during sleep. Hence, in Islam, death and sleep are
powerful and causes humans to die, but here it is clarified closely related; sleeping is a small death, whereas the real
that it is not death, but chance, fate, kings, and hopeless dying is a big death (’Ali, 2001, pp. 1192-1193).
people cause death to occur. Hence, death is not the agent, The second clause, we wake eternally, has also a religious
who kills people, it is others who cause death. The poet base. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, it is a doctrine that
further minimizes the role of death by stating that death lives after their death, people will be resurrected. In this verse,
(dwells in Donne’s terms, which is again personifying death resurrection is conceptualized in terms of waking from a short
as being alive,) with sickness, poison, and war. One can say night’s sleep. The notion of eternal waking is something that
that Donne says: Death is not you who kills but sickness, can be regarded as an extension mode of DEATH AS SLEEP
war, and poison that causes death. metaphor. It is an extension of the conventional metaphor in
One can say that in this couplet we have another the sense that it includes the waking or the rise from sleep.
orientational conceptual metaphor: BEING CONTROLLED Again the second life’s immortality is understood from a
IS BEING KEPT DOWN (cf. Lakoff and Turner, 1989, religious standpoint. The belief that there is no death after
p. 149). Here, the poet tells us that death is controlled by the resurrection is a basic dogma in all the monotheist
fate, kings, etc. Hence death is not mighty (that is, UP); it is communities. In Islam, for example, there is a Hadith of
DOWN. The minimization of the role of death goes on in the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be Upon Him) saying that
coming couplet: after all the paradise and hellfire dwellers entered into their
11. And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well dwellings, death will be animated in the shape of a ram, and
12. And better than thy stroke: Why swell’st thou then? it will be slaughtered in a place between paradise and hellfire;
The DEATH AS SLEEP metaphor underlies the conceptual then, it will be announced that there will be an everlasting
structure of lines 11–12 cited in example (15). These two life – no death – for both dwellers of paradise and hellfire.
lines also contain the EVNTS AS ACTIONS metaphor, Furthermore, conceptualizing DEATH AS SLEEP and the
which is a generic level metaphor. The event of dying, fact that after this sleep, there is another life, is based on a
metaphorically expressed as “sleeping,” is a metaphoric sleeping supplication in Islam which reads “Oh, Allah, in Thy
agent that performs an action, causing one to die. The same Name I die (that is, sleep) and resurrect (that is, wake up or
holds true for poppy and charms; Donne compares death to rise).” The waking up supplication is “All praises are due to
the loss of consciousness caused by poppy and charm; he Allah Who resurrected (that is, woke) us after He deadened
further reduces the role of death by stating that the effect of us (that is, put us to sleep).” This religious doctrine is clearly
poppy and charm is better and more powerful than death’s reflected in the last line of the poem when the poet declares
effects. The last rhetorical question in line 12 also contains triumph on the enemy, that is, death, by a superficial paradoxical
personification as it talks to death as well as it describes the device, death’s inevitable dying. Again this is a personification;
human trait, feeling proud, swell’st in the poet’s terms. The death is treated as being alive, addressed, and dying.
phrase stroke contains a metaphor. One of the dictionary In addition to the poetic techniques (namely, extending
meanings of stroke, as given in Oxford Advanced Learners’ and questioning) that are used in constructing the meaning
Dictionary, is “the act of moving your hand gently on a of the poem, composing is also a powerful technique found
surface, usually several times.” Hence, it is in the semantic throughout the poem. For instance, in the first couplet there
domain of touching, a gentle touch. For example, James are two metaphors combined: The POWER IS UP metaphor
always gives his cat a stroke before sleep; and my wife puts and the DEATH IS AN ADVERSARY metaphor. By the
my son into sleep by giving him a stroke. Hence, the stroke same token, the composing technique is found in the next
to my child is a physical lullaby. In this poem, the better couplet wherein the DEATH AS DEPARTURE metaphor and
stroke is also related to the domain of TOUCHING, but the the LIFE AS BURDEN metaphor are married.
poppy (that is, heroin) and charms (that is, magic) and, of
course, death are being treated as having physical hands by
which they lull their victims to sleep (that is, die). Hence, the IV. Conclusion
effect of these three which is metaphorically termed as their The poem is metaphorical. The metaphors were both
stroke(s) is understood as making us sleep. The underlying conventional, in the sense that they were effortlessly and

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2019 International Conference on English Language and Culture (ICELC 2019) 87

immediately understood and novel. The conceptualization of Hilpert, M. (2015) Cognitive Linguistics: Metaphor [Video file]. Available
the whole poem, on the poet’s part, as well as the reader’s from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0BYLpwSM6E. (Accessed: 26
February 2015).
part, was based on cultural as well as religious backgrounds.
Hence, as stated earlier, culture and personal experience play HurFord, J.R., Heasley, B. and Smith, M.B. (2007) Semantics: A coursebook.
key roles in the embodiment of abstract concepts such as 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
death and sleep in “Death, Be Not Proud.” Katz, A. (1998) Figurative language and figurative thought: A review.
In: Katz, A., Cacciari, C., Gibbs, R. and Turner, M., (eds.), Figurative language
and thought. Oxford: Oxford, University Press, pp. 3-43.
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Appendix
Death, Be Not Proud by John Donne

1. Death, be not proud, though some have called thee

2. Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so;
3. For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow
4. Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
5. From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be,
6. Much pleasure, then from thee much more must flow,
7. And soonest our best men with thee do go,
8. Rest of their bones, and soul’s delivery.
9. Thou’rt slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate men,
10. And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell;
11. And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well
12. And better than thy stroke: why swell’st thou then?
13. One short sleep, we wake eternally,
14. And death shall be no more: Death, thou shalt die!

(Source: Negri, P. (Ed.) 2002. Metaphysical Poetry: An

Anthology. Dover Publications New York pp. 51-52)

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