conceptual metaphor in Mir Nowruz Divan

In their contemporary theory of metaphor Lakoff and Johnson do not consider metaphor just linguistic and lexical. Instead they insist on the processes of human thinking which is fundamentally metaphorical by referring to the notion of conceptual metaphors. They divide conceptual metaphors in existential and structural counterparts. Lakoff and Johnson believe that all metaphors as they apply the principle of mapping to model the structures are structural and they are existential as they always create other entities within the realm of the destination. In this sense metaphors of Mir Nowruz divan have been investigated due to the nature of them in terms of territory of origin (in the traditional expression in terms of the nature of the vehicle) which can be divided into the categories of object, material, container etc. The findings of this study show that the poet has applied the directional metaphor to explain his abstract and subjective components. Metaphors which mainly originates from spatial orientations such as up, down, in, out, close, deep, shallow by demonstrating the notions of quantity, quality, joy, sorrow, death, and life. Through this analysis, by referring to the poems of Mir nowrouz, this study also scrutinizes the poetic fragments that are representative of the mentioned features.