Abstract:
The cognitive linguistic view of metaphor by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson showed that the metaphor is not the device of a language but a characteristic of human mind, human thought and reasoning. The main idea of the theory is that one conceptual domain – the target domain is understood in the terms of another one – source domain. One of the widely spread conceptual metaphors is LIFE IS A JOURNEY. In Giorgio Caproni’s poem Ceremonious Traveler’s Farewell (Congedo del Viaggiatore Cerimonioso) – the basic structural conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY is mapped in this way: source domain – journey target domain – life
to travel in a train => life passenger => person
the things in the suitcase => the values acquired during the lifetime
other passengers => other people a foggy view from the window => real life
the passenger waiting
in the corridor of the train => approaching death
the red disc
and the grinding of the brakes => directly approaching death
the destination place => death
We found the same conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY at the basis of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Crisp argues that allegory in the modern sense, when expressed by purely linguistic means, is based on a radical extension of linguistic metaphor. As a result, the metaphorical focus is elaborated to the point where the metaphorical frame is eliminated altogether (Crisp,2008:10).
In the first Canto of the Divine Comedy Dante finds himself in the dark wood, where his journey starts. At the basis of allegory is the main conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY extended into the LIFE IS A JOURNEY IN THE DARK WOOD.