2009:122 master's thesis for even as love crowns you, so shall he
TRANSCRIPT
2009:122
M A S T E R ' S T H E S I S
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
2009
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
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.
The greatest thing by far is to be master of metaphor.
Aristotle, Poetics (1450)
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
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
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
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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
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)
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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 Target: LOVE travelers lovers vehicle love relationship destination purpose of the relationship
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distance covered progress made in the relationship obstacles along the way 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).
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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 ontological1 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 INFLATION IS
A PERSON, 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
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
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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 ground-
breaking 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
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“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 IS A SUBSTANCE, EVENTS ARE ACTIONS, LIFE IS A
PRECIOUS POSSESSION, A LIFETIME IS A DAY, and LIFE IS LIGHT (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
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): PEOPLE ARE
VEHICLES. 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
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).
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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.
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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 IS DEPARTURE. He also has a destination for his
journey, thus DEATH IS GOING TO A DESTINATION. 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.
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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 Anglo-
American 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 Anglo-
American 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 IS
DEPARTURE 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
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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
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
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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 Anglo-
American 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
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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.
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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.
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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
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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?
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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
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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.
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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 ARE
INSTRUMENTS OF GIVING AND RECEIVING. 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
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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 Anglo-
American 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
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
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DAWN. At dawn, the day starts anew, which suggests that Gibran looks upon death as a
beginning. This is exemplified further on when Almustafa is talking about death:
There are no graves here. These mountains and plains are a cradle and a stepping-stone. Whenever you pass by the field where you have laid your ancestors look well thereupon, and you shall see yourselves and your children dancing hand in hand. Verily you often make merry without knowing. (p.113)
Gibran denies that graves exist. Death is a beginning for him; it is a cradle where we are born
again. It is also a stepping-stone for the next level of our progression. We should not look at
our ancestors’ graves with heavy hearts, but instead rejoice in the knowledge that they gave us
and our children life.
Closely connected to the conceptual metaphors of LIFE IS DARKNESS and DEATH IS LIGHT are
the conceptual metaphors LIFE IS A DREAM, DEATH IS A DEEPER DREAM and DEATH IS AN
AWAKENING which are employed in Passage 1, where Almustafa talks to the sailors of his
ship: “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.” Once again
Gibran connects life to night and death to dawn. We wake up in the morning, at the dawn of
day and sleep and dream at night. As Gibran connects life and night, it is not surprising that
he then sees life as a dream. Dreams are often confusing and difficult to understand and they
need a certain amount of interpretation in order to become clearer. Death, on the other hand, is
to wake up and see things clearer since with death comes enlightenment and awareness. We
go from one clarity to another, since when life is over, we wake up in the lucidity of death.
However, Gibran says that our awakening is a deeper dream than the dream of life, which
seems to be a contradiction. The explanation lies in the fact that the villagers do not possess
the same profound understanding of the subject in question as Almustafa. Because of this he
tries to explain it in a way that will make them understand; If life is a dream, then death must
logically be a deeper dream, even though it is an awakening. Almustafa wonders if the people
of Orphalese will understand this. Obviously, Gibran could see the clash between his own
perspective of life and death and the potential reader’s perspective.
Conventionality of LIFE IS DARKNESS/ LIGHT and DEATH IS LIGHT
Life in Anglo-American culture is usually described as light, and death as darkness. In the
Prophet, Gibran uses both the unconventional conceptual metaphor LIFE IS DARKNESS and the
conventional LIFE IS LIGHT. Death, however, is always described as light by Gibran. The
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unconventionality of DEATH IS A DAWN and DEATH IS A DAY is obvious, as Almustafa
wonders if the people will understand his unusual view on death. DEATH IS AN EVENING,
however, is very close to the conventional metaphor DEATH IS A NIGHT, which is a common
view of death in Anglo-American culture (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:89). The DEATH IS AN
EVENING metaphor is nevertheless something which Gibran does not subscribe to but
something which he implies is the belief of the villagers.
Lakoff and Turner (1989:6) write that in the conventional Anglo-American metaphor A
LIFETIME IS A DAY, the day is perceived as warm and the night as cold. In daytime, the sun
shines and warms the earth, while in the evening it gets colder as the sun sets. The same is
true of the temperature of a person who is alive; she is warm, while a person who is dead is
cold. The warmth of the day is thus superimposed on the warmth and vitality of a living
person and the cold of the night is likewise superimposed on the coldness of a dead person:
“Metaphorically, death’s coldness is night’s coldness, since death is night” (Lakoff &
Johnson, 1989:6).
In Anglo-American culture, LIFETIME IS A DAY and DEATH IS NIGHT, LIFE IS HEAT and DEATH
IS COLD, LIFE IS LIGHT and DEATH IS DARKNESS, DEATH IS SLEEP AND REST (Lakoff & Turner,
1989:89) are prevalent conceptual metaphors. The physical characteristics of nights as cold
and dark and the fact that we are inactive and sleep at night correlate with the physical
characteristics of a dead person: they are cold and they do not move. Thus, our general
knowledge of how the world and our bodies function creates the metaphors we use (Lakoff &
Turner, 1989:89).
LIFE IS WINTER and DEATH IS SPRING
The metaphors of this section are connected to the conceptual metaphors of the previous
section and the notion of light/dawn/day and darkness.
In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond; And like seeds dreaming beneath the snow your heart dreams of spring. Trust the dream, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. (p.101)
In Gibran’s perspective life is the season of cold and darkness. During autumn the plants wilt
and the trees shed their leaves and, so, in winter the landscape is desolate. The winter is often
perceived as long because of the cold weather and darkness. Winter is the season when trees,
plants and animals gather strength for spring and the next surge of life. Spring, in contrast to
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winter, is the season when light and warmth return. Nature awakens and the plants and
animals, which have been dormant, start to fill up with new energy. Spring symbolizes the
first step of a natural cycle, where nature is revived after apparently having been “dead”. This
is the season of optimism and hope. Gibran conceives DEATH AS SPRING. This is further
exemplified at the end of the book:
And like the seasons you are also, And though in your winter you deny your spring, Yet spring, reposing within you, smiles in her drowsiness and is not offended. (p.111-112)
When alive, we feel immortal and do not want to waste our time thinking about death. Death
is something which happens to other people, not to us. In other words, we deny the fact that
we will one day die. However, Gibran says that death is not offended by this.
Conventionality of LIFE IS WINTER and DEATH IS SPRING
The unconventionality of the conceptual metaphors LIFE IS WINTER and DEATH IS SPRING are
obvious. Lakoff and Turner (1989:18) explain that the conceptualization of death is winter
and life is spring belongs to “a very natural metaphoric conception of life and death, since
spring is the season in which new plant and animal life emerge while winter signals the
dormancy or hibernation of plants and animals” (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:18). Again, it is our
common knowledge of the world and our bodies which creates the metaphors we use (Lakoff
& Turner, 1989:89). As already mentioned, we connect spring and light to each other as
spring is the season when light and warmth return. In the same way we connect winter and
darkness, as that is the time of the year when it is darker than usual. In the following passage,
the reason behind Gibran’s belief that life is darkness and death is light is explained.
You are not enclosed within your bodies, nor confined to houses or fields. That which is you dwells above the mountain and roves with the wind. It is not a thing that crawls into the sun for warmth or digs holes into darkness for safety. But a thing free, a spirit that envelops the earth and moves in the ether. (Pp.117-118)
Gibran explains that we are not our bodies. Our bodies are used in order for us to be able to
materialise on earth, the machine through which we perform all the actions we have come
here to perform. That which is us, i.e. our true selves, is the soul. Gibran exemplifies this in
another part of the book: “Your body is the harp of your soul” (p.94). This is why Gibran does
not liken death to darkness, sleep, winter, etc. His view on the human body and soul, and what
happens to them after death, is firmly established: the soul is separated from the body and
continues its journey to the afterlife. The Anglo-American metaphors, on the other hand, are
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based on what we as human beings can perceive. For example, when a person dies, we cannot
perceive anything other than a lifeless body, which does not move and which seems to be
asleep (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:18-19). We are, however, aware of the idea that the body may
or may not contain a soul, which either dies with the physical body or continues to live
outside of, and separated from, the body after physical death. Nevertheless, this notion does
not come across in the metaphors we use.
DEATH IS FREEDOM The conceptual metaphors LIFE IS A DREAM, DEATH IS A DEEPER DREAM and DEATH IS AN
AWAKENING of Passage 1 can be analysed further when talking about the concept of DEATH
AS FREEDOM. Apart from the brief presentation of the concepts in Passage 1, they are partially
explained further on in the book, where Almustafa is talking about freedom: “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). Death is seen as freedom, but life is also seen as freedom, though a more
restricted one. When the fetter of life breaks, i.e. when one dies, the bigger fetter of death
takes over. In addition, Gibran explains death as freedom in two other passages in the book. In
the first chapter he writes “And you, vast sea, sleeping mother, who alone are peace and
freedom to the river and the stream /---/” (p.4) where he outright assigns death the
characteristics of peace and freedom. At the end of the book he explains: “And what is it to
cease breathing but to free the breath from its restless tides, that it may rise and expand and
seek God unencumbered?” (p.102). Dying is then to free oneself in order to seek the company
of God.
Conventionality of DEATH IS FREEDOM
DEATH IS FREEDOM is a conventional metaphor in Anglo-American culture. Two metaphors
which are mentioned by Lakoff and Turner (1989:23-25) are LIFE IS BONDAGE and DEATH IS
DELIVERANCE. Within Anglo-American culture, the soul of a person is seen as being trapped
within the physical body. The soul is imprisoned in the body and can only be released when
the body dies (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:23). From the Anglo-American point of view, death is
the ultimate liberation. In contrast, Gibran’s view is that death is just a step in the direction
towards more freedom. Nowhere does he imply that death is the ultimate freedom even
though he describes it as paradise (see Passage 6). In spite of this minor difference, Gibran’s
metaphor DEATH IS FREEDOM is a conventional conceptual metaphor.
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LIFE AND DEATH ARE ONE You would know the secret of death. But how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day cannot unveil the mystery of light. If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, open your heart wide unto the body of life. For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. (p.101)
Once again, Gibran compares life to darkness and death to light; life to a river and death to a
sea. Gibran explains that life and death are two sides of the same coin. Just as light and
darkness are connected to each other so are life and death. The transition between light and
dark is very subtle; at what point does light become darkness and when does darkness become
light? Exactly when is the river still a river and not the sea? Even in what we call darkness,
there may still be a bit of light, just as there may be a bit of darkness in what we call light.
The river and the sea blend into each other at the estuaries and so life and death also blend.
In the passage, Gibran compares the owl’s knowledge about darkness to our knowledge about
life. Gibran writes that the owl’s inability to perceive light is similar to our inability to
understand what death is about. In order for us to comprehend death we need to expand our
conceptual and perceptual boundaries, just as the owl needs to expand its physical boundaries
to be able to perceive light. There is, however, a breaking point between the balance of light
and darkness as one state goes over to the other. Because of this, there is only so much light
that the owl can conceive before being blinded, just as we are restricted from fully
understanding death while alive.
Conventionality of LIFE AND DEATH ARE ONE
Gibran writes that even if life and death are different from each other, they are still closely
connected. The Anglo-American conception of life and death are that they always contrast.
Whenever life is considered positive as in LIFE IS LIGHT, then death is considered negative as
in DEATH IS DARKNESS. The same is true the other way around: Whenever life is considered
negative as in LIFE IS A BURDEN (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:25), then death is considered positive
as in DEATH IS DELIVERANCE. According to Kövecses (2002) and Lakoff and Turner (1989),
life and death are opposites and there is nothing which connects one to the other. Because of
this, Gibran’s conceptual metaphor LIFE AND DEATH ARE ONE is unconventional in Western
culture.
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DEATH IS AN HONOUR and LIFE IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE
Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honour. Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, that he shall wear the mark of the king? Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? (Pp.101-102)
Gibran sees death as the ultimate promotion. Death is likened to a king and the dying person
to a shepherd, which means that just as the king reigns over the lives of the shepherds, so does
death reign over the lives of people. Gibran puts across the thought that we should not look
upon death as a tragedy, it is an experience we should look forward to and be grateful for.
However, even if the dying person is about to receive a reward, he or she still recognizes, and
also focuses on, their fear of dying. Nevertheless, to be chosen for death is an honour and we
should receive the honour with gratitude. The mark of the king can be interpreted as a token
of the shepherd’s courage of journeying through life as the goal of the journey is to be
rewarded by death. Thus all of our steps on the road of life are towards the promotion of
death, in which lies the recognition of the accomplishments in our lives. One of these
accomplishments is the gathering of knowledge, as explained in the following passage:
Wise men have come to you to give you of their wisdom. I came to take of your wisdom: And behold I have found that which is greater than wisdom. It is a flame spirit in you ever gathering more of itself, While you, heedless of its expansion, bewail the withering of your days. It is life in quest of life in bodies that fear the grave. (Pp.112-113) Passage 5
The phrase “life in quest of life” symbolizes the gathering of knowledge and the curiosity and
search for knowledge. Hence, one of the purposes of life is the accumulation of knowledge:
LIFE IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE. Almustafa says that knowledge is greater than
wisdom. Wisdom is stagnated knowledge which does not gather more of itself while
knowledge, and the search for knowledge, is an ever expanding quest. Gibran further explains
this concept in another passage:
You have given me my deeper thirsting after life. Surely there is no greater gift to a man than that which turns all his aims into parching lips and all life into a fountain. And in this lies my honour and my reward, - That whenever I come to the fountain to drink I find the living water itself thirsty; And it drinks me while I drink it. (p.114)
Gibran likens life to water which implies that LIFE IS A FLUID WHICH CAN BE DRUNK. This is
the same as the metaphor LIFE IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE discussed above as life and
32
knowledge are equated. In the same way as Almustafa shares his knowledge with the villagers
(i.e. drinks the water) so do they share their knowledge with him (i.e. they drink him). The
goals in life and the curiosity and search for knowledge are likened to parching lips. To find
the same curiosity and search for knowledge aimed at yourself is an honour and a reward.
However, since we cannot readily understand the gathering of knowledge, we focus on our
growing older and the approaching moment of death, which is something that we would like
to avoid altogether. Nevertheless, in afterlife death needs the knowledge that we have
gathered during life (see chapter 3.2). Knowledge is what we drink and take with us, thus LIFE
IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE.
Conventionality of DEATH IS AN HONOUR and LIFE IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE
LIFE IS THE GATHERING OF KNOWLEDGE is an unconventional conceptual metaphor within
Western culture. According to Lakoff and Turner (1989:36-37), life is seen as a (precious)
possession which is slowly taken away by time and finally taken altogether by death as in the
linguistic metaphor “He lost his life in an accident”. In Western thinking, life is equated with
beauty, strength and youth (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:36). This stands in contrast to Gibran’s
belief that life is the accumulation of knowledge and a possession we need to take with us to
afterlife. The Anglo-American metaphor, on the other hand, focuses on the loss of life as a
possession being taken away from us by death.
DEATH IS AN HONOUR is likewise unconventional as there are no Anglo-American conceptual
metaphors to be found in the secondary literature which are similar to it. It can however be
said that in a religious context, death can be seen as an honour and a promotion to God.
Nevertheless, to the best of my knowledge, this is not part of contemporary established
metaphors within Western society.
DEATH IS ECSTASY Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. And when you have reached the mountain top, then you shall begin to climb. And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. (p.102) Passage 6
Gibran describes death as an ecstasy. When we leave this earth after journeying through life,
we begin yet another journey in the next stage of progression. Gibran’s example of climbing
to the top of a mountain can be seen as the journey of life itself with all the effort and struggle
it entails. Climbing up the mountain we did not know the reason behind the difficulties on our 33
journey through life. In death, however, we can look back and see with clarity the reason
behind the hurdles we have surpassed. Because of this, the continued climbing will be so
much easier and it will also be performed with joy. All that we have gone through will be
rewarded with the ecstasy that we will receive when we transcend to the state of death.
Furthermore, Gibran writes that the pleasure we can get from singing and dancing during our
life-time is merely a prelude to the ecstasy we will experience in death. Gibran affirms that
true euphoria is reserved for us in afterlife.
Passage 5 also deals with the conceptual metaphor DEATH IS ECSTASY as Gibran writes that it
is our breath which has erected and hardened the structure of our bones and it is a dream
which we do not remember having dreamt which has built our cities. He further explains:
“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.” The ‘tides of that breath’
refers to our breathing in and out throughout our lifetime. Gibran describes our inability to
understand just how complex our physical growth is and that it is based on something as
simple as our breathing. It would amaze us if we could see how our breathing makes us grow
and change from infancy and forward. However, it is not until we die that we can see the tides
of that breath. Similarly, ‘the whispering of the dream’ refers to our nightly dreams which we
usually do not remember when we wake up. Nevertheless, we dream every night and in those
dreams we build our future. Again, we do not possess the ability to understand how our
society can be built from something as simple as a nightly dream. Though, if we could see this
wonder, we would not want to see anything else. This will, however, not be confirmed to us
until the day that we die.
Conventionality of DEATH IS ECSTASY
DEATH IS ECSTASY is an unconventional conceptual metaphor in Anglo-American culture
where conceptual metaphors such as LIFE IS A POSSESSION and LIFE IS A PRECIOUS POSSESSION
are prevalent. Moreover, death is seen as a devourer, adversary and reaper which takes away
the precious possession of life (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:29). The Anglo-American conceptual
metaphor closest to DEATH IS ECSTASY is DEATH IS DELIVERANCE. This metaphor is, however,
closely connected to LIFE IS BONDAGE, which focuses on the negative aspects of life. In
contrast, Gibran concentrates on the joys of life and how these joys are nothing in comparison
to what we will experience in afterlife. DEATH IS ECSTASY is thus an entirely unconventional
conceptual metaphor.
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LIFE AND DEATH ARE RECURRING EVENTS Brief were my days among you, and briefer still the words I have spoken. But should my voice fade in your ears, and my love vanish in your memory, then I will come again, And with a richer heart and lips more yielding to the spirit will I speak. Yea, I shall return with the tide, And though death may hide me, and the greater silence enfold me, yet again will I seek your understanding. /---/ Know, therefore, that from the greater silence I shall return. /---/ Forget not that I shall come back to you. A little while, and my longing shall gather dust and foam for another body. A little while, a moment of rest upon the wind, and another woman shall bear me. (p.106)
Gibran talks about reincarnation in this passage. Almustafa is destined to return to the village,
but from another womb than the one which bore him in this life, and in another body than the
one he has now. He will return with the tide, i.e. with the amniotic fluid of his mother’s
womb. He will also have gathered more knowledge so that he can return and clarify his
message in greater depth. Almustafa says that it is his longing which will enable his return to
life. The metaphors here are BIRTH IS ARRIVAL, LIFE IS BEING PRESENT HERE but also LIFE AND
DEATH ARE RECURRING EVENTS.
Conventionality of LIFE AND DEATH ARE RECURRING EVENTS
The metaphors BIRTH IS ARRIVAL and LIFE IS BEING PRESENT HERE are conventional
metaphors in Anglo-American culture. They are instances of the same metaphorical
conceptualization as DEATH IS DEPARTURE. Typical linguistic metaphors which originate from
BIRTH IS ARRIVAL are “a baby being on the way” and “a little bundle from heaven”. From the
conceptual metaphor LIFE IS BEING PRESENT HERE we have for example “he is still with us”,
i.e. he is still alive (Lakoff & Turner, 1989:1-2). These two metaphors are used in the same
way by Gibran and are thus conventional conceptual metaphors. However, Gibran has a
different perspective on the occurrence of life and death as he believes that life and death are
events which repeat themselves: LIFE AND DEATH ARE RECURRING EVENTS. This is an
unconventional concept in Anglo-American culture as death is seen as the final destination of
the journey of life. The corresponding conceptual metaphor to Gibran’s LIFE AND DEATH ARE
RECURRING EVENTS would thus be DEATH IS GOING TO A FINAL DESTINATION. Gibran’s belief
in the continual and consistent existence of the soul, and the body being used only as a tool
through life, shines through in this passage where Almustafa talks about himself as a soul,
which will gather the prerequisites in order to return to life.
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3.1.1 Summary of analysis The analysis shows that when discussing the subjects of life and death, Gibran uses
conventional metaphors, both those that have been developed by extension, elaboration as
well as composition and those which have not been developed at all. However, he also uses
unconventional metaphors which cannot be found within Anglo-American culture. Gibran
conventionally sees life as a journey towards a common goal. He also sees it as an action of
sowing and he describes life as light. However, he also sees life unconventionally as a river
on the way to the sea and a child who is on its way back to its mother. Life is also a journey
filled with work and the gathering of knowledge. Moreover, Gibran says that life is both a
giver and a receiver. Even if life can be light, i.e. enjoyed, it is ultimately darkness when
compared with death and in accordance with this, life is also likened to the season of winter.
Life is furthermore likened to a dream.
Conventionally, Gibran sees death as a journey and because of this, dying is seen as a
departure which has a destination. Also, Gibran says that death is harvesting what we have
sown in life. Unconventionally, Gibran sees death as a sea which receives the river, i.e. life, as
well as a mother waiting for her child to return. Death is furthermore described as light, a
dawn/day and an awakening. It is also therefore likened to the season of spring. Death is
peace and freedom as well as an honour bestowed on us. Gibran adds that in death we will
experience true ecstasy. Finally, life and death are considered to be strongly connected to each
other; they are seen as one. Life and death are also recurring events.
All in all, Gibran uses mostly unconventional conceptual metaphors in his description of life
and death. One of the reasons behind this might be because of his origins in the Middle-
Eastern culture. Although Gibran spent most of his life in the USA and was well integrated
into the Western lifestyle, he did not isolate himself from his roots. At the same time as he
was influenced by Western thinking, he was still very much influenced by Arabic literature
and culture. Born to Christian parents in Lebanon, one of the aims of his life was to bring
together believers of differing religions in order to prevent disputes between them. Part of this
goal might have been to broaden the horizon of his Western literary circles. This might be the
reason that Gibran uses both conventional and unconventional conceptual metaphors to reach
his readers even though the predomination is towards the unconventional ones.
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3.2. Gibran’s metaphors on love When love beckons to you, follow him, Though his ways are hard and steep. And when his wings enfold you yield to him, Though the sword hidden among his pinions may wound you. And when he speaks to you believe in him, Though his voice may shatter your dreams as the north wind lays waste the garden. For even as love crowns you so shall he crucify you. Even as he is for your growth so is he for your pruning. Even as he ascends to your height and caresses your tenderest branches that quiver in the sun, So shall he descend to your roots and shake them in their clinging to the earth. Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God’s sacred feast. /---/ But if in you fear you would seek only love’s peace and love’s pleasure, Then it is better for you that you cover your nakedness and pass out of love’s threshing-floor, Into the seasonless world where you shall laugh, but not all of your laughter, and weep, but not all of your tears. /---/ And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course. (Pp.11-16)
LOVE IS A JOURNEY and LOVE IS A GUIDE Gibran explains that to experience love is to go on a journey and it is love itself who is the
guide of the journey. The roads that love leads us on might be difficult and painful, but we
should follow them even if we know we may get hurt. Gibran uses the parallel of wings as a
tenderer example of an embrace, an embrace which may lead to a stabbing in our side.
Furthermore, the promises that love makes and the voice he speaks with may all be pretence
and the truth may devastate us. For every encouragement to yield to love, Gibran reminds us
of its dangers and potential pain and suffering. At the same time he still tries to put across that
these should not deter us from loving, for if we are not prepared to accept both the good and
the bad sides of love we will not live a life as rich and rewarding as we otherwise would have.
Love shows us the way to enlightenment and helps us learn the lessons of life. However, we
have to remember that we are not the ones who decide the destiny of our love, but it is indeed
love that decides our destiny. This can be compared to the work of a guide; it is the guide who
decides the best route for the people he or she leads, not the other way around. We should
follow the guide and trust his judgement. At the end of the journey we will reach our goal
which is to be presented to God with all the knowledge we will have gathered during our
journey. As explained in the section LIFE IS A JOURNEY and LIFE IS TO WORK, the goal of the 37
journey is to merge with the god-self. In this passage it is clarified how we will merge with it;
God will eat the bread made of our knowledge and experience of love.
Conventionality of LOVE IS A JOURNEY and LOVE IS A GUIDE
LOVE IS A JOURNEY is a conventional metaphor within Anglo-American culture (Lakoff &
Turner, 1989; Kövecses, 1986, 2002; Gibbs 1994). The concept consists of several elements
which are mapped between the source and target domain, for example travellers of a journey
are the lovers of the relationship, the vehicle is the relationship itself, the destination is the
purpose of the relationship, the distance travelled is the progress made and the obstacles along
the way are difficulties encountered in the relationship (Kövecses, 2006:123). Linguistic
expressions which originate from the LOVE IS A JOURNEY metaphor are: “we aren’t going
anywhere”, “the relationship is foundering”, “it’s been a bumpy road”, “we’ve made a lot of
headway”, “we’re at a crossroads” (Kövecses, 2002:6-7). Gibran describes love in a similar
way: there are travellers on the road who correspond to the partners in a relationship. There is
a destination and a goal to reach which is the purpose of the relationship: to present one’s
knowledge and experience of love to God. There is progress made symbolized by a baking
process and there are also obstacles on the way to the goal. The obstacles are not further
defined more than that they cause problems by hurting us. All these metaphors are
conventional ways of describing love. However, Gibran adds an extra element to his LOVE AS
A JOURNEY metaphor: a guide who leads us on our way through life. Even if the guide may
lead us through pain and suffering, he knows the route we will have to walk in order to fulfil
our destiny and reach the goal. The Anglo-American concept does not include a guide, even
though guides are common on journeys. This means that Gibran uses an extension in his
LOVE AS A JOURNEY metaphor.
LOVE IS A SOVEREIGN and LOVE IS A GARDENER/FARMER/BAKER Gibran personifies love in three distinct ways. Firstly, he describes love as a guide on the
journey of love, as discussed in the previous section. Secondly, Gibran sees love as a king or
an emperor, i.e. a sovereign, as they have the power to both crown and crucify people. People
who stand under the reign of a sovereign are conscious of the fact that they may be both
crowned and crucified depending on their actions. Thirdly, Gibran personifies love as a
gardener/farmer/baker. The gardener not only grows plants, he prunes them as well. He does
not do this out of spite but because he wants his plants to grow in the best way possible. The
same is true of love. Love is also a farmer who harvests the crop, and a baker who makes
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bread out of the harvest for God. The baker delivers the best bread which has gone through
the processes of being gathered, threshed, sifted, ground, kneaded and finally baked. In other
words, turning ourselves over to the will of love will prepare us with the knowledge and
experience that God needs in afterlife. We will have to go through a process of maturing and
developing in order to be refined. Gibran explains outright that LOVE IS A THRESHING-FLOOR
and that TO LOVE IS TO UNDERGO A BAKING PROCESS. We are vulnerable when we love
someone and the more we open ourselves, the more we are likely to get hurt by the person we
love. As said before, if we cannot accept that love may hurt us emotionally then we should not
undergo the baking process, but rather step aside.
Conventionality of LOVE IS A SOVEREIGN and LOVE IS A GARDENER/FARMER/BAKER
The personifications for love used within Anglo-American culture encompass LOVE IS A
CAPTIVE ANIMAL as in the linguistic metaphor “He unleashed his love”, and LOVE IS AN
OPPONENT as in “She was overcome by love” and “He tried to fight off his feelings of love”
(Kövecses, 1986:98, 99). The Anglo-American metaphors focus on an opposition between the
subject and the object of love as well as feelings which seem to be impossible to control.
Gibran, on the other hand, personifies love as someone who decides over us. Thus, LOVE IS A
SOVEREIGN is an unconventional conceptual metaphor in Western society.
Similarly, whether love is personified as a gardener, farmer or baker by Gibran, it is an
unconventional concept in Anglo-American culture. In Western culture love can however be
considered a nutrient (Gibbs, 1994; Kövecses, 1986, 2002) as in the linguistic metaphors
“She’s starved for affection”, “She’s sustained by love” and “He hungered for love”
(Kövecses, 1986:5). The object of love can also be seen as appetising food as in “”She’s my
sweet and sugar” and “Hello, sweetie-pie” (Kövecses, 1986:67). The Anglo-American
metaphors emphasize that it is the subject of love which has to be filled in order to be
satisfied. This is, however, not the same as personifying love the way Gibran does.
3.2.1. Summary of analysis When it comes to the subject of love, Gibran uses unconventional conceptual metaphors as
well as conventional conceptual metaphors, both those which have been developed by
extension and those which have not been developed at all. Conventionally, Gibran sees love
as a journey. However, he extends this metaphor by adding the element of a guide to it.
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Unconventionally, he sees love as a sovereign, who can both crown and crucify people. He
also personifies love as a gardener, farmer and baker who prepare us for meeting God.
To sum up, Gibran uses mostly unconventional conceptual metaphors in his metaphorical
descriptions of love. In similarity to Gibran’s metaphors of life and death, the predominantly
unconventional metaphors regarding love might be due to his religious and cultural
background, the environment he lived in as well as his wish to create an understanding
between, and for, different religious beliefs.
4. Summary and Conclusion Over the past few years, the significance of analysing metaphors in literary works has
increased. Cognitive linguists maintain that since human cognition and language affect, and
also are affected by, the way we perceive the world, it is important to use Conceptual
Metaphor Theory when analysing literature and poetry as the underlying conceptual
metaphors of the linguistic metaphors used reveal how the author in question looks upon
reality.
The focus of this essay has been to analyse the conceptual metaphors dealing with the subject
matters of life, death and love in the Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. The aim has been to find out if
the metaphors in question belong to the domain of conventional or unconventional conceptual
metaphors. The basis for the conventional metaphors have been Anglo-American conceptual
metaphors, researched and studied by the cognitive linguists Gibbs (1994), Kövecses (1986,
2002) and Lakoff and Turner (1989).
The analysis shows that when discussing the subjects of life, death and love, Gibran uses
conventional metaphors, both those that have been developed by extension, elaboration and
composition as well as those which have not been developed at all. However, the majority of
Gibran’s conceptual metaphors are unconventional and cannot be found within Anglo-
American culture.
My conclusion is that Gibran’s predominant use of unconventional conceptual metaphors
regarding life, death and love may be due to his religious and cultural background as a
Christian from a Middle-Eastern culture and society. One of the aims of Gibran’s life was to
create an understanding between, and for, different religious faiths. Part of this goal may have
been to broaden the horizons of his Western literary circles.
40
The work with this thesis has been both interesting, rewarding and enlightening. However, as
with all academic work, the research has not been without problems. The purpose of the essay
was to analyse the conceptual metaphors concerning the three areas of life, death and love.
Life and death were natural to combine in the same chapter as they are intimately connected
to one another. Love, however, was analysed in a separate chapter. The problem which
occurred was that, in the Prophet, the areas of life and death were overrepresented in ratio to
that of love. As a result, the chapter on love is smaller than the one on life and death.
Nevertheless, I believe that there is a value of including the analysis of love, as it is one of the
core subject matters of life.
As the field of analysing conceptual metaphors from a literary perspective has gained
importance in recent years I believe that it is of great interest to include Conceptual Metaphor
Theory as part of literary analyses. Future research within the discipline can with advantage
focus on issues such as the intentional and unintentional use of conceptual metaphors by
authors, poets and songwriters, the interpretation of conceptual metaphors by readers of
literature and listeners of music as well as the similarities and differences between literary
conventional and unconventional conceptual metaphors from different cultures, societies and
religions.
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