For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you…: on conceptual metaphors in the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran

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(1)2009:122. MASTER'S THESIS. For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you… - on conceptual metaphors in the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. Emma Andersson Palola. Luleå University of Technology D Master thesis English Department of Language and Culture. 2009:122 - ISSN: 1402-1552 - ISRN: LTU-DUPP--09/122--SE.

(2) For even as love crowns you, so shall he crucify you… ~ on conceptual metaphors in the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran . Emma Andersson Palola . Luleå University of Technology Department of Language and Culture English D Supervisor: Cathrine Norberg 2009 .

(3) Abstract The purpose of this study has been to investigate the conventionality of the conceptual metaphors concerning the subjects of life, death and love in Kahlil Gibran’s literary work The prophet. The conceptual metaphors found have been compared to Anglo-American contemporary conventional conceptual metaphors studied by Gibbs (1994), Kövesces (1986, 2002) and Lakoff and Turner (1989). The analysis shows that Gibran predominantly uses unconventional conceptual metaphors in his description of life, death and love. He also uses a few conventional conceptual metaphors, both those which he has developed by elaboration, extension and composition as well as those which he has not developed at all. The extent of unconventional metaphors found in Gibran’s work may be due to the author’s cultural and religious background as well as his wish to create an understanding between, and for, different religious beliefs. Keywords: metaphors, conceptual metaphors, conventional metaphors, unconventional metaphors, literary analysis, Kahlil Gibran, the Prophet..

(4) The greatest thing by far is to be master of metaphor. Aristotle, Poetics (1450).

(5) Table of contents Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................ i 1. Introduction............................................................................................................... 1 1.1. Aim ....................................................................................................................... 1 1.2. Method and material............................................................................................. 2 1.2.1. Scope......................................................................................................................... 2. 2. Conceptual Metaphor Theory ................................................................................. 3 2.1. The cognitive function of conceptual metaphors ................................................. 5 2.2. Conventional and unconventional metaphors ...................................................... 6 2.3. Conventional conceptual metaphors in literature and poetry............................... 8 2.4. Unconventional conceptual metaphors in literature and poetry......................... 10 2.5. The importance of studying literary and poetic metaphors................................ 11 3. Analysis .................................................................................................................... 12 3.1. Gibran’s metaphors on life and death................................................................. 12 DEATH IS A JOURNEY ......................................................................................................... 12 DEATH IS A SEA/OCEAN and LIFE IS A RIVER/STREAM ........................................................ 15 DEATH IS A MOTHER and LIFE IS A CHILD....................................................................... 16 LIFE IS SOWING and DEATH IS HARVESTING....................................................................... 18 LIFE IS A JOURNEY (TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL) .............................................................. 19 LIFE IS TO WORK (TOGETHER TO REACH A COMMON GOAL)............................................ 21 LIFE IS A GIVER and LIFE IS A RECEIVER ............................................................................ 23 LIFE IS DARKNESS/LIGHT and DEATH IS LIGHT................................................................... 25 LIFE IS WINTER and DEATH IS SPRING ............................................................................ 28 DEATH IS FREEDOM ............................................................................................................ 30 LIFE AND DEATH ARE ONE .................................................................................................. 31 DEATH IS AN HONOUR and LIFE IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE ................................. 32 DEATH IS ECSTASY ............................................................................................................. 33 LIFE AND DEATH ARE RECURRING EVENTS ......................................................................... 35 3.1.1 Summary of analysis................................................................................................ 36. 3.2. Gibran’s metaphors on love................................................................................ 37 LOVE IS A JOURNEY and LOVE IS A GUIDE .......................................................................... 37 LOVE IS A SOVEREIGN and LOVE IS A GARDENER/FARMER/BAKER ..................................... 38 3.2.1. Summary of analysis............................................................................................... 39. 4. Summary and Conclusion ...................................................................................... 40 Bibliography ................................................................................................................ 42.

(6) Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Cathrine Norberg, for having faith in my initial and vaguely defined plans for this thesis. You have kept a perfect balance between helping me and letting me find out things on my own, and that balance is exactly what defines a good teacher. I also want to thank my beloved fiancé, Mark Robinson, for support, engouragement and help throughout the work with this thesis. I admire the patience you have shown me since I started writing. I wish I will be able to be just as patient and helpful when it comes to me helping you with your interests. Lastly, I want to thank my children, Jenny and Rebecka. The thesis would not have been possible without your existence.. i.

(7) 1. Introduction Cognitive linguistics is a relatively new branch of linguistics which concerns the study of the relationship between language and mind (Ortony, 1993:1-16; Steen, 1994:3-4). This essay is anchored in an area of research within cognitive linguistics called Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT). As the name suggests it deals with the concept of metaphorical language. Lakoff and Johnson ([1980] 2003) were among the first to study just how entrenched metaphorical expressions are in everyday language and how they affect the way we think about and conceive our world. The everyday metaphors which we use are called linguistic metaphors by cognitive linguists. They are overt manifestations of underlying conceptual metaphors which are used to structure and understand the world around us. Among the different classifications of linguistic and conceptual metaphors, the major one concerns conventionality. Linguistic metaphors which are conventional are used in everyday conversations without reflection, while linguistic metaphors which are unconventional are novel and thus conspicuous. The underlying conceptual metaphors, which the linguistic metaphors stem from, can also be categorized according to their conventionality (Lakoff & Johnson, [1980] 2003:141). The reason that unconventional conceptual metaphors exist is due to the fact that not everyone’s perception of the world conforms to the general way of thinking. Occasionally, a concept needs to be explained from a new and different perspective and unconventional conceptual metaphors serve this purpose (Kövecses, 2002:32; Lakoff and Johnson, [1980] 2003:139-140). In recent years there have been a number of studies carried out which attend to the subject of how linguistic and conceptual metaphors are used and understood in literature and poetry (Kövecses, 2002:53). Turner (2000:9-16) states that it is of the utmost importance to take metaphors into consideration when analysing literary works. He claims that the study of literature is the study of the human psyche and that literature is powerful because authors know how to use linguistic resources in order to stimulate and challenge our cognition. In order to fully understand the intentions of the author, one has to analyse the use of his or her linguistic metaphors and find the underlying conceptual metaphors as they reveal how the author understands reality and conveys his or her conclusions about it.. 1.1. Aim The primary aim of the essay is to analyse the conceptual metaphors in Kahlil Gibran’s literary work the Prophet in order to find out if the metaphors used are conventional or 1.

(8) unconventional. If the conceptual metaphors turn out to be conventional, my object is to show how they have been developed upon by Gibran. The conceptual metaphors of interest are those which concern the areas of life, death and love. The reason for choosing these themes is that they are the core subject matters of life and because of this they are probably the most studied conceptual metaphors in the English language. With the essay, I hope to shed more light on the usage of conventional and unconventional conceptual metaphors in literature and poetry. In addition, the analysis may reveal Gibran’s own view on the themes studied.. 1.2. Method and material The primary source of the essay is The Prophet written by the Lebanese-American author Kahlil Gibran, born in 1883. Gibran’s literary work mostly consists of poetic literature regarding religion and philosophy. His most famous work The Prophet was written in 1923 and is a story about the man Almustafa who is about to leave the village where he has lived for many years to return to the land of his birth. Before leaving he shares his spiritual wisdom about life with the townspeople. The secondary sources consist of literature on contemporary CMT written by Freeman, Gibbs, Kövecses, Lakoff, Ortony, Steen, Turner, Lakoff and Johnson, and Lakoff and Turner. My study has been carried out within the theoretical framework of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. I compare the conceptual metaphors found in The Prophet to the Anglo-American conceptual metaphors studied by Gibbs (1994), Kövecses (1986, 2002) and Lakoff and Turner (1989) in order to find out if Gibran’s conceptual metaphors are conventional or unconventional in Western culture. Due to the scope of the subjects studied, i.e. life, death and love, I have worked with a selection of metaphors which are directly connected to the subject areas in question.. 1.2.1. Scope Conceptual metaphors perform different cognitive functions, which means that metaphors are structured in different ways in order for humans to make sense of the world around them. There are three different categories according to the function of metaphors: structural, ontological and orientational (Kövecses, 2002:32-33). In this essay, only structural metaphors. 2.

(9) together with personification, which is a subcategory of ontological metaphors, will be analysed. In the essay I will adopt the established way to distinguish linguistic metaphors from conceptual metaphors. Linguistic metaphors are thus within quotations marks, e.g. “He had a head start in life”, while conceptual metaphors are written with small capitals, e.g.. LIFE IS A. JOURNEY.. 2. Conceptual Metaphor Theory Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) is an area of research which deals with the concept of metaphorical language. Up until the 1980’s, metaphors were thought of as imaginative and creative linguistic expressions used to enhance poetry and literary texts as well as rhetorical language. However, with their study Metaphors we live by ([1980] 2003), Lakoff and Johnson showed that metaphors are not only used for ornamental function but that they are also deeply rooted in human language to the point that metaphorical expressions are accepted and thought of as normal, everyday language. Lakoff and Johnson ([1980] 2003:3-6) further asserted that since ordinary language is highly metaphorical in a natural way, then our thoughts and actions, which are based on the same conceptual system as our language, are also extensively metaphorical in nature. Thus, the study of linguistic metaphorical expressions reveals the underlying conceptual system which structures and defines our reality and in this way guides us through the world and our daily lives (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:3-6). Lakoff and Johnson ([1980] 2003) showed that there is a deeper meaning behind the use of metaphors and that the majority of them are so well-established and conventionalized in everyday language that they are not readily recognized as metaphorical expressions at all. One of the examples which they give in support of their assertion is the way argument is talked about as war. Some of the most common, everyday metaphorical expressions we use to talk about arguments are for example, the following sentences: Your claims are indefensible. He attacked every weak point in my argument. His criticisms were right on target. I demolished his argument. I’ve never won an argument with him. (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:4). 3.

(10) When analysing the sentences above, we find that we talk about argument in terms of war. The reason why we do this is because we try to understand the abstract conceptual domain of argument by mapping the concrete conceptual domain of war onto it (Kövecses, 2002:4). In other words, English-speaking people understand and conceive argument as war. Moreover, we also live by the metaphor in the way that we literally wage war when we argue, even if it is a verbal war instead of a physical one. For instance, we win and lose arguments, we attack and defend positions, we plan strategies and our opponent may demolish our argument (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:4). The mapping of the two domains “argument” and “war” creates a conceptual metaphor, in this case. ARGUMENT IS WAR.. The conceptual metaphor is the base for the metaphorical. linguistic expressions which come from it, i.e. the way of talking about someone’s claims as indefensible or demolishing someone’s argument. Linguistic metaphors are thus overt manifestations of conceptual metaphors, which in other words means that behind every linguistic metaphor, there is a conceptual metaphor (Kövecses, 2002:4-5). Conventional conceptual metaphors, such as ARGUMENT IS WAR, LOVE IS A JOURNEY, IDEAS ARE FOOD, THEORIES ARE BUILDINGS, etc., are deeply entrenched ways of thinking about or understanding an abstract domain, while conventional metaphorical linguistic expressions are well worn, cliched ways of talking about abstract domains. (Kövecses, 2002:30) [Italics by author.] Abstract domains are understood with the help of concrete domains, in the example above for instance, argument is understood through our general notion of war. The domain which one wishes to understand is the target domain and the domain which aids to the understanding of it is the source domain (Kövecses, 2006:116-117). Comprehension is based on a number of systematic correlations of concepts, so called mappings, between the source and target domain (Kövecses, 2002:29). To exemplify this, Kövecses (2002:122-123) and Lakoff (1993:206-207) mention the conceptual mapping LOVE IS A JOURNEY, which has given rise to expressions like “look how far we’ve come”, “we may have to go our separate ways” and “our relationship is off the track” (Lakoff, 1993:206). The set of mappings between the domains can be illustrated in the following way: Source: JOURNEY travelers vehicle destination. Target: LOVE Æ Æ Æ. lovers love relationship purpose of the relationship 4.

(11) Æ Æ. distance covered obstacles along the way. progress made in the relationship difficulties encountered in the relationship. (Kövecses, 2006:123) The mappings between the domains are only partial. An entire source domain is never completely mapped onto an entire target domain (Kövecses, 2002:79). Lakoff and Johnson ([1980] 2003:139) explain it this way: “they [metaphors] provide coherent structure, highlighting some things and hiding others”. The highlighting and hiding are clarified by the following sentences taken from Kövecses (2002:80): AN ARGUMENT IS A CONTAINER: Your argument has a lot of content. /.../ AN ARGUMENT IS A JOURNEY: We will proceed in a step-by-step fashion. /.../ AN ARGUMENT IS WAR: He won the argument. /.../ AN ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING: She constructed a solid argument. /.../ As can be seen, a target domain can be structured by several source domains (Kövecses, 2006:121). The expressions in question emphasize different aspects of an argument. Argument can thus be seen in terms of a container, a journey, a war or a building. However, when using for example the AN. ARGUMENT IS A BUILDING. metaphor, the feature of. construction is highlighted while the other aspects, i.e. objectification, progress and conflict of an argument are hidden (Kövecses, 2002:80).. 2.1. The cognitive function of conceptual metaphors Conceptual metaphors are structured in different ways in order for humans to make sense of the world around them. The majority of conceptual metaphors fall under the category of structural metaphors. Mappings of several units from a clearly delineated source domain structure the target domain in a way that the target is understood in terms of the source (Kövecses, 2002:32-33). One example is the previously mentioned mappings between the source domain. JOURNEY. and the target domain. LOVE. (Lakoff, 1993:207). The. conceptualization and concretion of a majority of abstract domains like life, death, love, time or anger would be difficult if they were not structured in this systematic way (Kövecses, 2002:34).. 5.

(12) Personification is another kind of cognitive function of metaphors which is used in everyday situations as well as in literature and poetry. It is a kind of ontological 1 metaphor where human characteristics are assigned to nonhuman entities (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:33) (Kövecses, 2002:35). The following expressions are common linguistic metaphors which make use of specifying objects and entities as human beings: Life has cheated me. Inflation has robbed me of my savings. (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:33) The computer went dead on me. (Kövecses, 2002:35) In the expressions above, life, inflation and computers are assigned human characteristics such as cheating, robbing and dying (Kövecses, 2003:35). As these linguistic metaphors are grounded in ourselves and our own human traits and actions, it makes them easier to understand (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:33; Kövecses, 2002:35). The underlying conceptual metaphor for “inflation has robbed me of my savings” is not simply A PERSON,. INFLATION IS. but also the more definite INFLATION IS AN ADVERSARY. Inflation is thus thought of. and treated as something which can steal from us, as well as attack us and hurt us (Lakoff & Johnson, ([1980] 2003:33-34).. 2.2. Conventional and unconventional metaphors According to Kövecses (2006:127), there are different classifications of metaphors, amongst which is the scale of conventionality. As mentioned above, “He had a head start in life” is a conventional linguistic metaphor (Kövecses, 2002:30). It is deep-rooted in the English language, i.e. conventionalized, to the point that it is not readily conceived as a metaphor at all. This is the normal and accustomed way for English-speaking people to talk about life (Kövecses, 2002:30). The American poet Robert Frost’s expression “Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference”, on the other hand, is an unconventional linguistic metaphor. It is a novel construction which is not used in everyday speech and is thus perceived as rare and unusual. However, the conceptual metaphor underlying both the conventional and unconventional expression is highly conventionalized and also one and the same: LIFE IS A JOURNEY (Kövecses, 2002:31). 1. “Ontological metaphors /…/ enable speakers to conceive of their experiences in terms of objects, substances, and containers in general, without specifying further the kind of object, substance, or container” (Kövecses, 2002:251).. 6.

(13) Conceptual metaphors can also be conventional or unconventional.. LOVE IS MADNESS,. for. example is a conventional conceptual metaphor in Anglo-American culture, giving rise to linguistic metaphors like “I’m crazy about her” and “She’s driving me wild” (Lakoff & Johnson, [1980] 2003:141). These metaphors are highly conventionalized, i.e. this particular conceptualization of love is used naturally and without effort in everyday speech (Kövecses 2002:30). The conceptual metaphor LOVE IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK OF ART, however, is not conventional. It is novel and creative and therefore it is neither clichéd nor conventionalized in the English conceptual and linguistic system. The conventional conceptual metaphor LOVE IS MADNESS. describes passivity and lack of control while the new and creative metaphor LOVE. IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK OF ART. describes love as controllable and action-oriented.. Obviously, a person living by the first conceptual metaphor has a different perspective on what love is and how it works than a person living by the other (Lakoff & Johnson, [1980] 2003:141). If. LOVE IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK OF ART. had been conventionalized in English, we would. probably think about love in a very different way than we do. This conceptual metaphor would have yielded other kinds of linguistic metaphors, for example expressions based on concepts like “love is work”, “love is active”, “love requires cooperation”, “love requires dedication”, “love requires compromise”, etc. (Lakoff & Johnson, [1980] 2003:139-140). If love had been looked upon in this way, the partners in the relationship would have a common goal to work towards, they would have responsibilities which entail cooperating with each other, and the success of their relationship would require mutual commitment and collaboration. Unfortunately, Lakoff and Johnson ([1980] 2003) do not provide any overt linguistic metaphors which originate from. LOVE IS A COLLABORATIVE WORK OF ART,. something which may be proof of the unconventionality of the metaphor and that there simply are no expressions which derive from it (Kövecses, 2002:32). Just as with conventional metaphors, the unconventional ones structure our experiences in the world (Lakoff & Johnson, [1980] 2003:139). The most common way of conceptualizing love, as for example madness is so deeply entrenched in the English language that Anglo-American people conceive love and even live their relationships of the heart in accordance with these conceptual metaphors. For them, the source domain of madness is a widely recognized and generally accepted conceptualization of love. Nevertheless, sometimes someone’s perception and conception of the world differ from ordinary conceptualizations which results in the use 7.

(14) of more unconventional concrete domains. As Kövecses (2002:32) and Lakoff and Johnson ([1980] 2003:139-140) point out: one of the reasons for using unconventional conceptual metaphors is to explain a conceptual domain from a new and different perspective.. 2.3. Conventional conceptual metaphors in literature and poetry The common view on the use and creation of new metaphorical expressions be they linguistic or conceptual, is that they originate from literature and poetry (Kövecses, 2002:31-32). The innovative and imaginative metaphors that authors and poets create are often seen as groundbreaking and original, something which they as “creative geniuses” either with or without effort arrive at. Nevertheless, evidence suggests that the relationship between the metaphors used in ordinary language and those used in literature, including poetry, is very close (Kövecses, 2002:43-44). Studies of literary and poetic metaphors have surprisingly revealed that these expressions have everyday conventional metaphors as their basis. Hence, the creativity of authors and poets stems to a large extent from everyday metaphorical concepts which all of us use (Kövecses, 2002:46). A question which arises from these findings is why metaphors in literature, and especially poetry, are more difficult to understand than everyday metaphorical expressions (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:53). Lakoff and Turner (1989:67-71) as well as Kövecses (2002:47-49) point out that authors and poets use a number of techniques to develop on ordinary metaphors. There are basically four methods used to form new linguistic metaphorical expressions from conventional conceptual metaphors: 1. Extension. A conventional conceptual metaphor may be extended. An example is the metaphor. DEATH IS SLEEP,. which normally includes lack of perception, passivity, the. act of lying down, etc. It does not ordinarily include the activity of dreaming. Shakespeare, however, extends this metaphor to include dreaming in Hamlet: “To sleep? Perchance to dream! Ay, there’s the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come?” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:67). Kövecses (2002:47) describes this technique as employing “an unused element of the source”. 2. Elaboration. The ordinary metaphorical way to perceive death is as a final and definitive departure from this world, where the dead person is taken on a journey, often in some kind of vehicle. Unlike extending a metaphor, which involves using other mappings from the source domain than the usual ones, elaborating involves using the mappings which already exist, but enhancing them with uncommon attributes. One example is the Roman poet Horace who wrote about death as the 8.

(15) “eternal exile of the raft”. Horace describes death in an unusual manner here: as an exile. He also adds an unconventional vehicle for this departure without return: a raft. (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:67-68.) 3. Questioning. The adequacy of a conventional conceptual metaphor may be called into question. Lakoff and Turner (1989:69) exemplify this by mentioning a passage from Shakespeare’s Othello, where Othello has a monologue by a lit candle about taking Desdemona’s life: If I quench thee, thou flaming minister, I can again thy former light restore, Should I repent me; but once put out thy light, Thou cunning’st pattern of excelling nature, I know not where is that Promethean heat That can thy light relume. (Quotation from Lakoff & Turner, 1989:69) The conceptual metaphor called into question is. LIFE IS A FLAME.. Othello asks how. life can be a flame when it is not possible to bring a dead person back to life the same way it is possible to relight a candle. 4. Composition/Combining. As already mentioned, a target domain is often structured with the help of several source domains. For instance, life is commonly seen as both a day as well as a precious possession. Combining two or more conceptual metaphors in the same sentence or passage is one of the most powerful tools used by authors and poets when creating novel metaphors. An example of this comes from Shakespeare’s sonnet seventy-three: In me thou seest the twilight of such day As after sunset fadeth in the west; Which by and by black night doth take away, Death’s second self that seals up all in rest. (Quotation from Lakoff & Turner, 1989:70) This passage, consisting of only four lines, contains at least the following five conceptual metaphors: LIGHT PRECIOUS POSSESSION,. A. IS A SUBSTANCE,. LIFETIME IS A DAY,. EVENTS. and LIFE. ARE ACTIONS,. IS LIGHT. LIFE. IS A. (Lakoff & Turner,. 1989:67-71). Lakoff and Turner (1989:70-71) consider the line “black night doth take away [the twilight]” as particularly interesting as it reveals how life and death are looked upon by the character. Blended together, the conceptual metaphors reveal the. 9.

(16) idea that night (death) takes away the precious possession of light (life) (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:71).. 2.4. Unconventional conceptual metaphors in literature and poetry Even if the majority of literary and poetic metaphors derive from ordinary conventional conceptual metaphors, there is also a minority which derives from unconventional conceptual metaphors (Kövecses, 2002:43). The latter often catch the eye because they are distinct and unusual. Gibbs (1994:261) brings up an example of this from Gabriel García Márquez’s novel Love in the Time of Cholera: Once he tasted some chamomile tea and sent it back, saying only, “This stuff tastes of window.” Both she and the servants were surprised because they had never heard of anyone who had drunk boiled window, but when they tried the tea in an effort to understand, they understood: it did taste of window. (Quotation from Gibbs, 1994:261) The author of the passage has created a metaphor which gives us a new way of perceiving reality. When reading it, one obviously wonders what window tastes like. Another example of an unconventional conceptual metaphor is given by Janicki (1997:129): VEHICLES.. PEOPLE ARE. The expressions emanating from this metaphor are, for instance, “she is a real. Mercedes”, “he is just a Fiat”, “she is like a truck” and “he is like a double-decker”. Kövecses (2002:43) and Janicki (1997) claim that unconventional metaphors are less clear in meaning than conventional ones. Janicki even goes as far as saying that unconventional metaphors cause misunderstandings because of their ambiguity of interpretation. Nevertheless, both linguists acknowledge the fact that unconventional metaphors certainly have their place in literature where they add more substance and novel meaning to concepts (Kövecses, 2002:43; Janicki, 1997:135). Kövecses (2002:250) writes that authors and poets generally use unconventional linguistic metaphors which originate from conventional conceptual metaphors, but seldom make use of linguistic metaphors which originate from unconventional conceptual metaphors. According to Gibbs (1994:7), the reason for this is that the human conceptual system functions as a motivator as well as an impediment when it comes to creativity. Obviously, metaphors help us perceive things from a new perspective, but Gibbs (1994:7-9) argues that the metaphorical conceptualizations in our minds limit our imaginativeness and thus our chances to express ourselves creatively both in everyday life and in literary situations. To illustrate his point, Gibbs (1994:8-9) writes that when we refer to “getting angry” it is highly unlikely that we 10.

(17) would use expressions related to “mowing lawns” or “buying apples”. Instead we use expressions like “blowing stacks”, “getting hot under the collar”, “exploding”, etc. as we metaphorically conceptualize anger as. ANGER IS HEATED FLUID IN A CONTAINER. (Gibbs,. 1994:8-9). Since our perception of the world is based on our bodies and the way they function, there is a physical reason behind the fact that we express ourselves metaphorically the way we do (Lakoff & Johnson ([1980] 2003:14). Thus, at the same time as metaphors spring from our understanding and perception of the world, they also decide the way we conceive it (Eaglestone, 2000:97; Gibbs, 1994:7; Lakoff & Johnson ([1980] 2003:3, 5).. 2.5. The importance of studying literary and poetic metaphors In recent years there have been a number of studies carried out which attend to the subject of how linguistic and conceptual metaphors are used and understood in literature and poetry (Kövecses, 2002:53). Turner (2000:9-16) states that it is of the utmost importance to take metaphors into consideration when analysing literary works. He claims that the study of literature is the study of the human psyche; therefore literature is one of the best sources for explaining how the human mind and cognition work. The literary subtleties which authors use arise from their cognition of their language. The power of literature is related to the knowledge authors have of how to use these linguistic resources in order to stimulate and challenge our cognition. In order to fully understand the intentions of the author, one has to analyse the use of his or her linguistic metaphors and find the underlying conceptual metaphors as they reveal how the author understands reality and conveys his or her conclusions about it. Nevertheless, human cognition constrains which metaphors an author may or may not use (Turner, 2000:9-16). As cognitive linguists consider metaphors to be of paramount importance when analysing literature and poetry, they have taken a critical stance on traditional literary criticism. Literary critics base their analyses on different literary theories, be they sociological, psychological, historical, etc. which often results in a number of contrasting interpretations of one and the same text. Moreover, critics accept the interpretations as they are, without taking any further steps to analyse why they differ or how to unify these differences into one theory. Adopting a metaphorical view on literature, on the other hand, facilitates achieving a more coherent theory of analysis of literary texts and poems (Freeman, 2003:253).. 11.

(18) 3. Analysis In this chapter examples of linguistic metaphors from the Prophet will be analysed and an explanation of their origin, i.e. which conceptual metaphors they originate from, will be presented. In addition, the conceptual metaphors will be categorized as either conventional or unconventional. Gibran’s metaphors will be compared with contemporary Anglo-American conceptual metaphors which have been taken from The poetics of mind (Gibbs, 1994), Metaphors of anger, pride and love (Kövecses, 1986), Metaphor – a practical introduction (Kövecses, 2002) and More than cool reason – a field guide to poetic metaphor (Lakoff and Turner, 1989). These can be considered the most comprehensive studies at present of contemporary Anglo-American conceptual metaphors. This chapter is divided into sections with the names of the conceptual metaphors studied as titles. The sections contain excerpts from the Prophet as well as analyses of the conventionality of the conceptual metaphors studied. Since the subject areas of life and death are closely connected, they are analysed and discussed together. Love, however, is analysed separately. Passages which are numbered are those which are referred to more than once in the analysis.. 3.1. Gibran’s metaphors on life and death DEATH IS A JOURNEY The first chapter of the Prophet deals with the metaphorical concept of DEATH AS A JOURNEY: Almustafa, the chosen and the beloved, who was a dawn unto his own day, had waited twelve years in the city of Orphalese for his ship that was to return to bear him back to the isle of his birth. And in the twelfth year, on the seventh day of Ielool, the month of reaping, he climbed the hill without the city walls and looked seaward; and he beheld his ship coming with the mist. /---/ But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart: How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city. /--/ Yet I cannot tarry any longer. The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark. /---/ Sons of my ancient mother, you riders of the tides, how often have you. sailed in my dreams. And now you come in my awakening, which is my deeper dream. /---/ And you, vast sea, sleeping mother, who alone are peace and freedom to the river and the stream, only another winding will this stream make, only another murmur in this glade, and then I shall come to you, a boundless drop to a boundless ocean. (Pp.1-4) Passage 1. Almustafa, the protagonist of the book, is leaving the city in which he has resided for twelve years. The journey he is about to embark on is a voyage and the vehicle of departure is a ship. 12.

(19) However, Gibran is not talking about any kind of physical journey; he is talking about a journey to death. Why do we interpret this passage as DEATH. IS A JOURNEY?. Firstly,. Almustafa is returning to the isle of his birth. For most of us, birth and death are equally mysterious as nobody really knows what happens, i.e. where our soul is, before we are born and after we die. The place we are at before birth and the place we are at after death is sometimes considered to be one and the same. Therefore dying is like returning to the place of one’s birth. Lakoff and Turner (1989:14) express similar thoughts when they write “There are many possible final locations, some of which are conceived of as places from which one began. One such place of beginning and final return is home. We come, almost literally, from our mother’s lap, and we also come from earth. Dying, then, can be returning to earth, and metaphorically to one’s mother’s lap.” Even though I agree with the idea of returning in itself, I do not agree with the concept of arriving and returning from our mother’s lap and hence from earth. Criticism of this idea will be presented in the next section. Secondly, returning to one’s place of birth will bring back memories of one’s childhood, maybe even recollections of one’s whole life up to the present moment. This can be compared with the moment before dying, when people generally are thought to reminisce over their lives. Therefore, going back to the isle of one’s birth is reminiscing about one’s life, which implies that one is getting closer to death. Even if Almustafa has been waiting for the ship, i.e. been prepared to die, he cannot leave the city, his life, without suffering emotionally. This is a common feeling one experiences when departing on a journey. Almustafa has already begun his journey towards death, thus DEATH journey, thus DEATH. IS DEPARTURE.. IS GOING TO A DESTINATION.. He also has a destination for his. These two conceptual metaphors are. constituents of the encompassing conceptual metaphor DEATH IS A JOURNEY. Emily Dickinson expresses a similar opinion towards the notion of death in her poem “Because I could not stop for Death” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:5). The person in the poem is taken on a journey to death, and even though she does not reminisce in detail about her life, she briefly reviews the different stages of life, from childhood to old age. In addition, the character is so busy with her life that she feels that she does not have the time to stop her activities to go on the trip, even though she knows the inevitability of the journey: “Because I could not stop for Death– He kindly stopped for me–” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:4-5). Moreover, Dickinson personifies death in her poem (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:4), as does Gibran. The sailors of the ship, which Almustafa calls “sons of my ancient mother”, have come to take him back with them. They are personifications of death, summoning Almustafa to escort him to the isle of his birth. 13.

(20) Conventionality of DEATH IS A JOURNEY, DEATH IS DEPARTURE and DEATH IS GOING TO A DESTINATION. The conceptual metaphor DEATH IS DEPARTURE is a conventionalized metaphor in the AngloAmerican culture (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:1). Lakoff and Turner (1989:68) write: “According to the conventional metaphor of death as departure, we conceive of death as departure away from here, without the possibility of return, on a journey, perhaps in a vehicle. The conventionalized metaphor is no more specific than that.” This means, that as soon as an author adds additional information to this structure, they are developing it. In AngloAmerican literature and poetry, common attributes of DEATH. IS DEPARTURE. are departure. points, e.g. a door, vehicles of departure, e.g. ships or rafts, and a particular kind of departure, e.g. a final departure (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:11). Gibran uses the harbour as a departure point and a ship as the vehicle of departure, which means that he uses elaboration as a technique. However, the examples of the technique are similar, if not the same, as those used by other Anglo-American authors and poets. In other words, Gibran’s use of DEATH DEPARTURE. IS. is completely conventional.. Additionally, Lakoff and Turner (1989:4, 7) write that the Anglo-American conventional conceptual metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY has a natural stopping point, which happens to be the departure point of death. Death may therefore also be seen as the beginning of a journey to a final destination. Common linguistic metaphors for this destination are, for example: “the great beyond”, “a better place” ”our final resting place” and “the last roundup” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:4). Gibran writes that Almustafa is going to the isle of his birth, which is an elaboration of the DEATH. IS GOING TO A FINAL DESTINATION. metaphor. As stated above, in. Anglo-American culture, home may be considered to be a place at the beginning of life as well as the destination one returns to in death, whether it is referred to as one’s mother’s lap or the isle of one’s birth. However, even if Gibran uses a conventional conceptual metaphor to describe this idea, he uses an elaboration of it to create a novel linguistic metaphor: the isle of his birth. Furthermore, Lakoff and Turner (1989:68) explain that the conventionalized destination of the journey to death is a final one, as shown in the Anglo-American conceptual metaphor DEATH IS GOING TO A FINAL DESTINATION.. “We conceive of death as something to which we are all. subject. Death is inevitable and final. /.../ ...the Death is departure metaphor does not fix the details of how one departs: for example, one may depart in a carriage, a boat, or a chariot. But 14.

(21) since one inevitably dies, so the metaphorical departure is inevitable, as is the final state to which it leads” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:7). At first sight, it is easy to conclude that Gibran uses the same conceptual metaphor. However, even if Passage 1 suggests that Almustafa may be embarking on a final journey, it does not necessarily need to be so. Almustafa can return to the isle of his birth, which means that he can certainly also return to Orphalese. There is nothing which suggests that he is on a one-way journey. The subject of a final departure is something which will be further discussed in the analysis of the conceptual metaphor LIFE AND DEATH ARE RECURRING EVENTS.. According to Lakoff and Turner (1989:15-16) there are three types of personifications of death within Western culture. The first of which is death as an assistant, who helps the traveller, i.e. the dying person, to reach the goal of their journey. This assistant acts with civility and courtesy. The other personification is of death as an executor, who puts to effect the sentence of death. The third way to personify death is as an adversary, who we have to compete against in order to stay alive. Gibran’s personification of death as a sailor is in accordance with the first of these three examples of conventional conceptual metaphors.. DEATH IS A SEA/OCEAN and LIFE IS A RIVER/STREAM In Passage 1, Gibran talks about DEATH AS A SEA OR A BOUNDLESS OCEAN and LIFE AS A RIVER AND A STREAM.. Where lies the resemblance between life and a river, death and a sea? Well,. rivers are easily observed from their banks. We can see the life the river holds and carries in it and its waves, ripples and flowing movement. Also, we can swim and bathe in the river. The sea, on the other hand, is only visible to the horizon and after that it is unknown. We cannot see further into the sea itself before we are already there, and even if it is true that we can explore the sea to a certain extent as we can swim in it, just as we can swim in the river, the depths of the sea are not as easily explored as the usually shallower river. The same is true about life and death. We can observe and understand life when alive, death, on the other hand is something unknown to us. We do not know much about death in life, and it is not until we are dead that we can explore death in greater depth. It is true that in real life we can explore the sea further when travelling on it by boat, but then, from a metaphorical perspective, we are already dead. Almustafa says “Yet I cannot tarry any longer. The sea that calls all things unto her calls me, and I must embark.” He implies that it is death which calls him, for when death calls, we cannot struggle to stay alive, but we have to let go of life and leave it. Our experience of the 15.

(22) physical world and of death tells us that people who die do not come back, and that all living things eventually die. Further on in the book, Gibran comes back to describing life as a stream: In your longing for your giant self lies your goodness: and that longing is in all of you. But in some of you that longing is a torrent rushing with might to the sea, carrying the secrets of the hillsides and the songs of the forest. And in others it is a flat stream that loses itself in angles and bends and lingers before it reaches the shore. (p.84). Gibran says that the stream on the way to the sea or the shore symbolizes people leading their lives towards the moment of dying and death. He explains that we return to death just like the river returns to the sea, and that the current can be either rapid or slow depending on the variation of personalities and the different intentions of the people leading their lives. Gibran implies that people are boundless drops in life as well as in death. When we die we merge with the other drops of the boundless ocean. The boundlessness refers to the belief that all of us are intimately connected to one another in life as well as in death. Death as a sea is also seen from another perspective in the following line where the villagers talk to Almustafa: “Let not the waves of the sea separate us now, and the years you have spent in our midst become a memory” (p.9). People are separated by life and death, just as waves of the sea separate ships from land, or land from land. Dead people become memories as there is often nothing else that vividly will bring their presence back to those who are still alive. DEATH IS A MOTHER and LIFE IS A CHILD Gibran describes DEATH. AS A MOTHER.. As previously stated, life is seen as a river and a. stream, and death as a sea. If death then is also considered a mother, then life must be a child of death. Thus, LIFE IS A CHILD. Mothers are known for their nurturing, their maternal instinct and as a source of wisdom. Children can always come back to their mother to seek comfort, just as the river and the stream always run back to the sea. Gibran writes at the end of the book: “And these my mariners, who have heard the choir of the greater sea, they too have heard me patiently. Now they shall wait no longer. I am ready. The stream has reached the sea, and once more the great mother holds her son against her breast.” (p.120). In a utopian way, a mother is seen as somebody one can go to to have a moment of peace and freedom from the world outside, thus death is also equated with peace and freedom, the latter of which I will return to further on in the essay. Moreover, the playful currents, mischievous ways and 16.

(23) splashing water of a river and a stream can be compared with the liveliness of a child, whereas the calmness of a sea can be compared with a mother. Lakoff and Turner express birth as coming from our mother’s lap and hence from earth, and death as returning to the same as we are buried in earth. The underlying belief here is Mother Earth. Gibran’s perspective is slightly different as his underlying belief is Mother Sea. He also sees birth as coming from our mother’s lap but he focuses on the amniotic fluid which we live in prior to our birth. Strangely, there is one element missing from each of these points of view. Just as Lakoff and Turner’s explanation of being born from earth may seem strange, it could be argued that Gibran’s conception of death as returning to the sea is equally strange. As we start our life surrounded by amniotic fluid in our mother’s womb and take our final rest buried in the soil of a cemetery, logically we come from the sea and proceed to earth, not the other way around. Conventionality of DEATH IS A SEA and LIFE IS A RIVER, DEATH IS A MOTHER and LIFE IS A CHILD. Gibran points out that just as there is a strong connection between seas and rivers, mothers and their children, so there is a strong connection between life and death. Within Western culture, death is not seen as something positive and is considered to be a state which should be delayed for as long as possible. As previously explained, Westerners personify death as either an assistant, an executor or an adversary. Gibran, on the other hand, personifies death as a mother and life as a child. Even if mothers can be considered assistants to their children, they do play many more roles in their children’s lives. A mother is, for instance, also a guide and a counsellor. The relationship between a mother and her child is also more profound from an emotional perspective, than the relationship between an assistant and a receiver. Thus, Gibran elaborates the conventional conceptual metaphor where death is seen as an assistant, as he enhances the conventional mappings with an uncommon attribute. In Western culture, life is never personified, which makes Gibran’s metaphor of LIFE. AS A CHILD. entirely. unconventional. DEATH IS A SEA and LIFE IS A RIVER are unconventional conceptual metaphors within AngloAmerican culture as there are no conceptual metaphors in the secondary literature which resemble the metaphors that Gibran uses. While Gibran emphasizes the connection between life and death by comparing them to the river and the sea, Anglo-American culture 17.

(24) emphasizes the lack of resemblance between the two. Lakoff and Turner (1989) give the following examples of life as opposed to death: LIFE IS LIGHT and DEATH IS DARKNESS as well as LIFE IS A BURDEN and DEATH IS A DELIVERANCE.. LIFE IS SOWING and DEATH IS HARVESTING In passage 1, Almustafa is returning during Ielool, the month of reaping, which suggests that he is about to reap what he has sown in life, i.e. he will get the reward (or the punishment) for the thoughts he has had and the actions which he has performed. Thus, LIFE IS SOWING and DEATH IS HARVESTING. This thought is exemplified once more further on in the same chapter: “If this is the day of my harvest, in what fields have I sowed the seed, and in what unremembered seasons?” (p.7) Death is the time when one reaps what one has sown in life. Events are remembered and one’s experiences of love, fear, happiness, sorrow, etc. will be dealt with and processed. Even that which one does not remember will be recalled and contemplated over. It is hence the experiences and actions of life which are sown and reaped, thus PEOPLE’S ACTIONS ARE PLANTS and dying involves reaping these plants. Conventionality of LIFE IS SOWING and DEATH IS HARVESTING LIFE IS SOWING and DEATH IS HARVESTING are conventional conceptual metaphors. Lakoff and Turner (1989:41) mention two metaphors which are common within Western poetry which are close to the concepts of LIFE IS SOWING and DEATH IS HARVESTING: PEOPLE ARE PLANTS and DEATH IS A REAPER. In Anglo-American culture, plants or parts of plants correspond to people, and the lifetime of a plant corresponds to the different stages of human life, “a young sprout”, for instance, describes a child and “a plant withering away” describes someone who is nearing death (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:8). As already mentioned, Gibran focuses on the people themselves as active participants in life, who do the sowing. They are also the ones who bear the consequences of their earlier behaviour when reaping the plants of their actions. PEOPLE’S ACTIONS ARE PLANTS is thus an extension of the PEOPLE ARE PLANTS metaphor. In Western culture death is personified as a reaper who harvests the plants when their time is up (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:41). In Gibran’s perspective, it is the people themselves who do the reaping of the plants, i.e. take the consequences of their earlier behaviour. Even though the DEATH. IS HARVESTING. metaphor is mutually used, the interpretation of “harvest” varies. between Gibran’s concept and the Anglo-American one.. 18.

(25) LIFE IS A JOURNEY (TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL) It is when your spirit goes wandering upon the wind, That you, alone and unguarded, commit a wrong unto others and therefore unto yourself. And for that wrong committed must you knock and wait a while unheeded at the gate of the blessed. Like the ocean is your god-self; It remains forever undefiled. And like the ether it lifts but the winged. Even like the sun is your god-self; It knows not the ways of the mole nor seeks it the holes of the serpent. But your god-self dwells not alone in your being. Much in you is still man, and much in you is not yet man, But a shapeless pigmy that walks asleep in the mist searching for its own awakening. And of the man in you would I now speak. For it is he and not your god-self nor the pigmy in the mist that knows crime and the punishment of crime. Oftentimes have I heard you speak of one who commits a wrong as though he were not one of you, but a stranger unto you and an intruder upon your world. But I say that even as the holy and the righteous cannot rise beyond the highest which is in each one of you, So the wicked and the weak cannot fall lower than the lowest which is in you also. And as a single leaf turns not yellow but with the silent knowledge of the whole tree, So the wrong-doer cannot do wrong without the hidden will of you all. Like a procession you walk together towards your god-self. You are the way and the wayfarers. And when one of you falls down he falls for those behind him, a caution against the stumbling stone. Ay, and he falls for those ahead of him, who, though faster and surer of foot, yet removed not the stumbling stone. (Pp.50-54). Gibran speaks of crime and punishment in this chapter, which is why he starts out by explaining that human beings are composed of three different parts: the shapeless pygmy, the man and the god-self. He implies that the shapeless pygmy searching for its own awakening is that part of every person which is longing to break the fetters to enjoy the greater freedom of being human, just as the human part of us longs to break the fetters to enjoy the greater freedom of being the god-self. This is explained in other terms further on in the book: “And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light. And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter to a greater freedom” (pp.93-94). According to Gibran, the shapeless pygmy represents the more primitive part of ourselves while the god-self represents the more developed and enlightened part. The part of us which Gibran refers to as “man” stands between these two opposites. It could be argued that one of the purposes of the journey of life is to free ourselves of our more primitive characteristics and the goal of the journey is to merge with our god-self. The procession towards the goal is a mass procession: all people are on the way towards the same destination. Life is thus not only a journey, but also a journey towards a common goal. 19.

(26) Gibran writes that on the road of life there are impediments which people might stumble on. Impediments on the road are symbols for difficulties in life. However, it is indicated that human beings are not only those who travel on the road, but they are also the road itself (!). Gibran explains that the impediments on the road represent problems which we create both for ourselves and for others, but in the same way that we create the bumps on the road, we create its smoothness. He states that we are all responsible for helping our fellow men on the road of life. We have to eliminate the causes to the problems which we ourselves have encountered, so that other people will not have to experience the same difficulties. And when we happen to have problems, we involuntarily warn others of making the same mistakes. Gibran believes that people on the road of life are intimately connected to one another. It is by no means possible that someone can do something wrong without the acceptance of the others. We consist of both good and bad parts, and all of us have the responsibility of turning ourselves and others into the god-self. In another passage of the book, Gibran writes: “And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?” Here, “the holy city” is the goal of the journey, i.e. the goal of life. The pilgrims are the people travelling on the road of life towards the goal. The dog is also travelling towards the goal, but he is busy burying bones which he thinks he will find and gnaw at later. Gibran advices us to concentrate on what is important here: to keep on the road, and travel on it in order to reach the “holy city”. We should not act like the dog, which focuses on petty things. Conventionality of LIFE IS A JOURNEY (TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL) LIFE IS A JOURNEY is a conventionalized conceptual metaphor within Anglo-American culture. We use linguistic metaphors such as “He’s without direction in life”, “I’m where I want to be in life” and “I’m at a crossroads in my life” (Kövecses, 2002:3). The journey of life involves travellers who are the people leading their lives. The journey has a beginning, which corresponds to birth, and an end, which corresponds to death. The road travelled on is the equivalent of the duration of a life, which leads to the destination, the goal, of the journey. The destinations correspond to purposes in life, the paths of the destinations are ways to achieve our purposes, and crossroads are choices of paths we can take (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:3-4, 61). Different paths can be taken, which lead to different destinations, either in life or in death (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:9). There may also be impediments on the road, which stand for difficulties and problems in life. Also, one may have a burden to carry, which 20.

(27) hinders the course of the journey (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:25). Some journeys have a clear destination while others do not (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:3-4, 61). If we do not have a purpose in life, this can be described as being lost, as we cannot find the direction or the path we are supposed to walk (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:9). In Western, and Christian-based, culture the difference between the paths is often the difference between good and evil, and here God is seen as a guide while the threat of death is hanging over us (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:10). The progress we make in life corresponds to the distance travelled on the road and the landmarks are measurements of progress (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:3-4). In Gibran’s view, people are travellers on the road of life. He does not reveal anything about the beginning of the journey, but the end of the journey involves the fusion with the god-self, and the arrival at the holy city. The road travelled on is at least a lifetime, but may also be more than a lifetime. There is only one destination, and therefore only one goal in life. Because of this there is only one road to take, there are no crossroads, and as a result all of us travel on the same road. There are many similarities between Gibran’s conceptual metaphor and the Anglo-American equivalent as can be seen from the analysis. There are however some differences. In contrast to the Anglo-American conceptual metaphor of LIFE. IS A JOURNEY,. Gibran says that people. are not only those who travel on the road, but that they also are the road itself. Gibran uses elaboration as a technique, as he uses the already existing mappings between the domains but equips them with unusual attributes. In Western culture, people only travel on the road, but they are not the road itself. The other difference is that in Gibran’s perspective, there is only one road to travel, whereas from an Anglo-American point of view, there are various paths one can take to reach the goal. In Western culture, there may even be several different goals. This outlook resembles real life, where there are roads which lead to different destinations, and where there are also crossroads. Gibran uses a reversed elaboration technique here as he reduces the attributes of the mappings between the domains. LIFE IS TO WORK (TOGETHER TO REACH A COMMON GOAL) You work that you may keep pace with the earth and the soul of the earth. For to be idle is to become a stranger unto the seasons, and to step out of life’s procession that marches in majesty and proud submission towards the infinite. When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?. 21.

(28) Always you have been told that work is a curse and labour a misfortune. But I say to you that when you work you fulfil a part of earth’s furthest dream, assigned to you when that dream was born, And in keeping yourself with labour you are in truth loving life, And to love life through labour is to be intimate with life’s inmost secret. But if you in your pain call birth an affliction and the support of the flesh a curse written upon your brow, then I answer that naught but the sweat of your brow shall wash away that which is written. You have been told also that life is darkness, and in your weariness you echo what was said by the weary. And I say that life is indeed darkness save when there is urge, And all urge is blind save when there is knowledge. And all knowledge is vain save when there is work, And all work is empty save when there is love; And when you work with love you bind yourself to yourself, and to one another, and to God. (Pp.35-37) Passage 2. In the previous section we saw that Gibran conceives life as a journey, with the destination of the journey as a common goal for everyone. In the passage above, he speaks about work as one of the most important purposes for reaching that goal. In other words: the goal of the journey of life is to merge with the god-self, and this is done through working. Gibran explains how we have been indoctrinated to believe that work is a curse and a misfortune. However, he also explains that it is one’s own outlook on work which decides the way one experiences it. If one thinks that work is a misfortune, then nothing will make it less than a misfortune. Those who do not work at all are not participating in “the fulfilment of the destiny of earth”, which means that they are not working in unity with the rest of us. Gibran asks who would not want to be a part of that work and procession when everyone else participates. Each of us has a specific task to carry out during our lifetime and this task should be performed with love. Through work we love life. If we cannot work with love, we will have to learn the lesson through working very hard. Thus, life is a journey and that journey involves work. Conventionality of LIFE IS TO WORK (TOGETHER TO REACH A COMMON GOAL) LIFE. IS TO WORK (TOGETHER TO REACH A COMMON GOAL). is an unconventional metaphor in. Anglo-American culture. There are no similar Anglo-American metaphors to be found in the secondary literature and because of this Gibran’s metaphors add a new perspective to the concept of life. Together with the LIFE IS A JOURNEY (TOWARDS A COMMON GOAL) metaphor, Gibran creates a composition between the two source domains. When these two domains are. 22.

(29) put together, they reveal that Gibran conceptualizes life primarily as a journey filled with work.. LIFE IS A GIVER and LIFE IS A RECEIVER You give little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. For what are your possessions but things you keep and guard for fear you may need them tomorrow? And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city? /---/ There are those who give little of the much which they have – and they give it for recognition and their hidden desire makes their gifts unwholesome. And there are those who have little and give it all. These are the believers in life and the bounty of life, and their coffer is never empty. There are those who give with joy, and that joy is their reward. And there are those who give with pain, and that pain is their baptism. And there are those who give and know not pain in giving, nor do they seek joy, nor give with mindfulness of virtue; They give as in yonder valley the myrtle breathes its fragrance into space. Through the hands of such as these God speaks, and from behind their eyes He smiles upon the earth. /---/ And is there aught you would withhold? All you have shall some day be given; Therefore give now, that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritor’s. You often say, ‘I would give, but only to the deserving.’ The trees in your orchard say not so, nor the flocks in your pasture. They give that they may live, for to withhold is to perish. Surely he who is worthy to receive his days and his nights is worthy of all else from you. And he who has deserved to drink from the ocean of life deserves to fill his cup from your little stream. And what desert greater shall there be, than that which lies in the courage and the confidence, nay the charity, of receiving? And who are you that men should rend their bosom and unveil their pride, that you may see their worth naked and their pride unabashed? See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving. For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness. And you receivers – and you are all receivers – assume no weight of gratitude, lest you lay a yoke upon yourself and upon him who gives. Rather rise together with the giver on his gifts as on wings; For to be overmindful of your debt is to doubt his generosity who has the freehearted earth for mother, and God for father. (Pp.26-31) Passage 3. The key to understanding this section lies in the lines: “For in truth it is life that gives unto life – while you, who deem yourself a giver, are but a witness.” Life bestows its gifts onto life, thus LIFE IS A GIVER. Furthermore, life gives in order to be able to continue to live, for life that does not give dies, thus KEEPING IS DYING. Life gives as well as it receives, therefore LIFE IS A RECEIVER.. 23.

(30) People who are alive are filled with life. Since life is both a giver and a receiver, people become instruments through which the force of life flows. Therefore, PEOPLE INSTRUMENTS OF GIVING AND RECEIVING.. ARE. Gibran says that we should neither be afraid of. giving, nor ashamed of receiving. This is further exemplified in two other passages in the book: You are good when you strive to give of yourself. Yet you are not evil when you seek gain for yourself. For when you strive for gain you are but a root that clings to the earth and sucks at her breast. Surely the fruit cannot say to the root, ‘Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving of your abundance. For to the fruit giving is a need, as receiving is a need to the root. (Pp.82-83) Go to your fields and your gardens, and you shall learn that it is the pleasure of the bee to gather honey of the flower, But it is also the pleasure of the flower to yield its honey to the bee. For to the bee a flower is a fountain of life, And to the flower a bee is a messenger of love, And to both, bee and flower, the giving and receiving of pleasure is a need and an ecstasy. (p.94). Giving and receiving are hence two sides of the same coin. Without giving there is no receiving and without receiving there is no giving. Neither the fruit, nor the flower would exist without their respective counterparts. In passage 3, Gibran goes to great lengths to demolish societal attitudes and rituals of giving and receiving. He explains how most of us have ulterior motives when giving. As people are used as instruments for the transactions of life, the giving is done in various different ways. Life can give for recognition, a concrete example is giving non-anonymously to charity. Life can also give with mindfulness of virtue, i.e. following society’s rules or the guidelines of a religion. It can also give with joy; when a gift is given through joy the pleasure of the giver lies in the knowledge that the person receiving the gift will appreciate it. When a gift is given with pain, the regret and angst of having to give will remain after the gift has been delivered. The emotions we experience when giving are important lessons that we learn from. In this way, life gathers knowledge about itself (see Passage 5). The best gift is to give of ourselves, and the best way to give is to accept that anyone can be receivers of our gifts. Gibran says that we should be like the myrtle, the cattle and the fruit-trees, which do not care if they give to the deserving or undeserving. Life gives regardless of who or what is the receiver, since all that lives deserves to be a receiver. As soon as we decide who is more deserving of our gifts, then we are automatically imposing the burden of debt onto the receiver. Gibran explains how the receiver should be able to accept the gift without any of the negative emotions which would 24.

(31) be included if the gift were given with ulterior motives. He expresses how we in receiving should share the confidence and courage of the bee, without feeling indebted to the giver, knowing that we too are beneficial to the giver. Gibran advices us not to keep things because we think we might need them tomorrow. It is better to give now in the present, instead of waiting and letting our heirs give instead. In death all of our worldly possessions change ownership, which means that keeping them during our life is purposeless. “And tomorrow, what shall tomorrow bring to the over-prudent dog burying bones in the trackless sand as he follows the pilgrims to the holy city?” Gibran likens people who save and hoard things to dogs who think they are clever, but who will never have any use for the things they bury. The sand is time which hides the things wanted before, and as sand can hide things, so can time make things useless and unwanted, even forgotten. This passage also deals with the conceptual metaphor of LIFE IS A JOURNEY, which was discussed in a previous section. Conventionality of LIFE IS A GIVER and LIFE IS A RECEIVER The conceptual metaphors LIFE IS A GIVER and LIFE IS A RECEIVER are unconventional in the sense that they are not readily recognized as conventional conceptual metaphors in the AngloAmerican world. The same applies to the conceptual metaphors KEEPING IS DYING and PEOPLE ARE INSTRUMENTS OF GIVING AND RECEIVING.. As unconventional metaphors, they add new. meaning to already existing concepts as Kövecses (2002:43) and Janicki (1997:135) state. To the best of my knowledge and according to the secondary literature, there are no conceptual metaphors in Anglo-American culture which can be compared to Gibran’s metaphors on giving and receiving, it is obvious that he offers a new perspective on the subject in question. What Gibran wants to say is that it is much easier to give of oneself and of one’s possessions if we think of them as merely tools that we are caretakers over during our life.. LIFE IS DARKNESS/LIGHT and DEATH IS LIGHT In Passage 3, Gibran uses the metaphor LIFE. IS DARKNESS. to describe life: “...life is indeed. darkness save when there is urge...” In the very same line, Gibran states that life can be light as well. The question whether life is light or darkness depends on one’s own outlook. In order for life to be perceived as light, there are certain prerequisites which have to be met: the work we carry out in life has to be based on knowledge and a strong need. It also has to be performed with love. In other words: to be able to see life as light, one has to have a purpose 25.

(32) in life. Gibran returns to the metaphor of life as darkness in another passage further on in the book: This would I have you remember in remembering me: That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined. Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened the structure of your bones? And is it not a dream which none of you remember having dreamt, that builded your city and fashioned all there is in it? Could you but see the tides of that breath you would cease to see all else, And if you could hear the whispering of the dream you would hear no other sound. But you do not see, nor do you hear, and it is well. The veil that clouds your eyes shall be lifted by the hands that wove it, And the clay that fills your ears shall be pierced by those fingers that kneaded it. And you shall see And you shall hear. Yet you shall not deplore having known blindness, nor regret having been deaf. For in that day you shall know the hidden purposes in all things, And you shall bless darkness as you would bless light. (Pp.118-120) Passage 4. Here, Gibran writes that life is darkness and death is light. The blindness and deafness of life is contrasted to the clarity of vision and hearing of death. To Gibran, life is being visually and auditorily restricted. When we die, we will be able to see and hear clearly, but until then we will remain in darkness. Gibran says, however, that once we can see and hear, we will still not regret having been blind and deaf since when we die, the purpose of our temporary limitations during life will be revealed to us. LIFE IS DARKNESS and DEATH IS LIGHT are closely connected to DEATH IS A DAWN/DAY, which is another conceptual metaphor used by Gibran. In passage 1, it says that Almustafa was a dawn unto his own day. At the beginning of the book it is not clear how a dawn and a day can be connected to death. However, in the same passage, Almustafa is talking about dying, so there can hardly be another interpretation of ‘dawn’ and ‘day’ than that they are connected to death. This interpretation is supported further on in the same chapter: “And he heard their voices calling his name, and shouting from field to field telling one another of the coming of his ship. And he said to himself: Shall the day of parting be the day of gathering? And shall it be said that my eve was in truth my dawn?” (Pp.4, 6.) People who know that someone is dying gather around that person to hear what they have to say or just to be around as support as well as bidding farewell. The people of the village understand that Almustafa is leaving the physical world and in their eyes, the onset of death is seen as an evening, thus DEATH IS AN EVENING.. In Almustafa’s perspective though, the onset of death is a dawn, thus DEATH IS A 26.

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