Grammatical Conceptualization as a Poetic Strategy in E. E. Cummings' yes is a pleasant country
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.26754/ojs_misc/mj.200310398Keywords:
conceptual projections, mental spaces, conceptual integration, blending, metaphor, knowledge domains, blended space, composition, completion, elaborationAbstract
This article applies the theoretical principles of cognitive linguistics to E.E. Cummings’ poetic composition yes is a pleasant country. It combines the perspectives of conceptual metaphor theory, blending theory and the conceptual integration network model to show how grammatical conceptualization may be used as a poetic strategy, due to the semantic potential of grammar, which, as cognitive linguistics contends, is meaningful and symbolic in nature. The article also shows how CIN proves to be a valid model of analysis for poetic works given the highly concentrated and involved type of conceptualization they tend to use. Furthermore, it demonstrates that metaphorical mappings and blending are different and combinable mental operations which form a part of the intricate projections found in complex conceptual networks.
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