Examining and Comparing Head and Heart Conceptualization in Shah Nameh (Book of Kings), Khosro-Shirin of Nezami and Shams' Ghazals (Sonnets) in the Cognitive View

The cognitive view considers metaphor a verbal-conceptual device that humans employ to recognize and express the concepts in their environment. Based on this theory, humans make many concepts understandable through metaphors. The present study is a descriptive-analytical research that relies on a cognitive approach to investigate and compare “head and heart” conceptualizations in Shah Nameh, Ghazaliyat-e Shams and Nezami's Khosrow and Shirin. The study, more specifically, seeks to answer the following questions: (1) What are the primary concepts used by the afore-mentioned poets in this mode of conceptualization? (2) What are the cognitive mechanisms used in these literary works to distinguish their poetic language from ordinary, everyday language? The findings of the present study indicate that the head and the heart were conceptualized in most metaphors through more objective entities such as “humans”, “animals”, “plants”, “container metaphors” and “objects.” Furthermore, although the poets in some cases used similar metaphors in accordance with their literary traditions, linguistic conventions, and cultural roots, they drew on such cognitive mechanisms as extending, negating and combining, while deviating from some linguistic rules, to create innovative images and contribute to the distinction of their conceptualizations.