METAPHOR

The most frequently used, well known and elaborated among them is a metaphor - transference of names based on the associated likeness between two objects, as in the "pancake", or "ball", or "volcano" for the "sun"; "silver dust", "sequins" for "stars"; "vault", "blanket", "veil" for the "sky". From previous study you know that nomination - the process of naming reality by means of the language - proceeds from choosing one of the features characteristic of the object which is being named, for the representative of the object. The connection between the chosen feature, representing the object, and the word is especially vivid in cases of transparent "inner form" when the name of the object can be easily traced to the name of one of its characteristics. Cf.: "railway", "chairman", "waxen". Thus the semantic structure of a word reflects, to a certain extent, characteristic features of the piece of reality which it denotes (names). So it is only natural that similarity between real objects or phenomena finds its reflection in the semantic structures of words denoting them: both words possess at least one common semantic component. In the above examples with the "sun" this common semantic component is "hot" (hence - "volcano", "pancake" which are also "hot"), or "round" ("ball", "pancake" which are also of round shape).

The expressiveness of the metaphor is promoted by the implicit simultaneous presence of images of both objects - the one which is actually named and the one which supplies its own "legal" name. So that formally we deal with the name transference based on the similarity of one feature common to two different entities, while in fact each one enters a phrase in the complexity of its other characteristics. The wider is the gap between the associated objects the more striking and unexpected - the more expressive - is the metaphor.

The nature of metaphor is versatile, and metaphors may be classified according to a number of principles.

1. According to the pragmatic effect produced upon the addressee met­aphors are subdivided into trite (or dead) and genuine (or original).

Dead metaphors are fixed in dictionaries. They often sound banal and hackneyed,
like cliches:

to prick up one's ears; the apple of one's eye; to burn with desire; seeds of evil; a flight of imagination; floods of tears; хмара запитань; потік емоцій/сліз; братися за розум; перемивати кісточки; загострювати увагу; лізти в голову; спадати на думку.

Original metaphors are not registered in dictionaries. They are creat­ed in speech by speakers' imagination. They sound fresh and expressive, unexpected and unpredictable:

Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed, and some few to be

chewed and digested.

We all want a little patching and repairing from time to time.

The wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees.

Золото мистецтва з переляком сплавити, добути з брехні -

ненадійна алхімія.

Де котиться між: голубих лугів Хмарина ніжна з білими плечима.

Я продаю сония - оранжеві тугі. З тривожними музичними очима.

Дим розгортає крила і пориває з собою вогонь. Се вже не діти в

червоних спідничках. Се щось велике, завзяте, сердитий звір,

що хоче скинуть з грудей вагу, що простягає спідсподу лапи з

синіми жилами, душить й підгортає під себе. Роззявляє криваву

пащу й жере. Рве зубом й лютує.

2. According to the degree of their stylistic potential metaphors are clas­sified into nominational, cognitive and imaginative (or figurative).

Nominationaljnetaphors do not render any stylistic information. They are in­tended to name new objects or phenomena of the objective world. A nomina­tional metaphor is a purely technical device of nomination, when a new notion is named by means of the old vocabulary:

the arm of the chair, the foot of the hill, ніжка столу, крило будинку. лопатка, колінна чашечка, рукав річки, гребінь хвилі, глава книги, двірники автомобіля.

Nominational metaphor is a source of lexical homonymy. When an object obtains a quality which is typical of another object, cog­nitive metaphor is formed: One more day has died. A witty idea has come to me. The road lead Jack there. The sight took John's attention. The shore was drowning in the fog.

Лукаса переслідувало відчуття, ніби за ним стежать. Навчання посувалося поволі, але все ж посувалося. Чаг ішов. сонце вставало і знову сідало на горизонті. Being a source of lexical polysemy, cognitive metaphors do not possess great stylistic value.

The most expressive kind of metaphor is imaginative metaphor. Imag­inative metaphors are occasional and individual. They are bright, image-bear­ing, picturesque and poetic:

Patricia's eyes were pools of still water.

Time was bleeding away.

If there is enough rain, the land will shout with grass.

Чорне озеро ярмарку вливається струмком в каплицю; одні йдуть, другі виходять.

У розлогому полумиску долини, що по самі віния затекла сонц ем, колобро диться. вирує ярмарок.

3. Metaphors may be also classified according to their structure (or ac­cording to complexity of image created). There are such metaphors as simple (or elementary) and prolonged (or sustained). A simple metaphor consists of a single word or word-combination expressing indiscrete notion: The leaves were falling sorrowfully.

A good book is the best of friends. The wind was a torrent of darkness. Час іде.

День тягнеться довго. Небо насупилось хмарами.

A sustained metaphor appears in cases when a word which has been used metaphorically makes other words of the sentence or paragraph also realize their metaphoric meanings:

The average New Yorker is caught in a Machine. H e whirls along, he is dizzy, he is helpless. I f he resists, the Machine will mangle him. If he does not resist, it will daze him first with its glittering reiterations, so that when the mangling comes he is past knowing. Ми нахилили наші обличчя над урвищем вниз, і коли очі наші добігли, минаючи хаос поламаних скель та диких рослин, до берега моря, ми уздріли, як воно тріпалось тихо в сітиі яскравих бліків, наче зловлене в невід з синіх, зелених і рожевих мотузок, а крізь ту сітку на нас дивилась мозаїка дна: фіолетові плями густих водоростей, блакитні очі підводних пісків, стара бронза і темно-синя емаль, що зливались в один вогняний сплав. Заворушились кляті питання, кляті думки і болі; вони звідусіль лізли в голову, справляли там і похорони, і поминки. І вже очей і серця не тішив ні дитячий шепіт колосу, ні тихий зоряний пил, ні місячне марево.

In fact, a sustained metaphor is a sequence of simple metaphors, most of which are cognitive. This chain of simple metaphors unfolds the meaning of the first, initial metaphor.

Communicative functions. Metaphor is one of the most powerful means of creating images. Its main function is aesthetic. Its natural sphere of usage is poetry and elevated prose.

Additional features. Canonized metaphors tend to become symbols. A symbol is an object which stands for something else. It is a reference in speech or in writing which is made to stand for ideas, feelings, events, or conditions. A symbol is usually something tangible or concrete which evokes something abstract. The following are standard symbols in the context of English and Ukrainian cultures: the rose often stands for love, the dove stands for peace, the cross stands for Christianity, the red colour stands for passion, the ace of spades stands for death.

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