Styles of Metaphor

A. Metaphors in everyday discourse and in literary discourse

The idea that a particular metaphor is novel can be understood in a number of ways. It can
be understood as referring to the newness or uniqueness of a conceptual mapping between a source
and target domain, or to a striking method of expression which a writer uses to relay a metaphor.
However, most metaphorical mappings are transmitted through familiar, commonly occurring
linguistic expressions. For instance, the metaphor IDEAS (an abstract target domain) ARE FOOD
(physical source domain) is relayed through a variety of everyday constructions like I cant stomach
that idea, Your theorys half-baked or His story is pretty hard to swallow and so on.
This pattern of concretisation, where we try to capture the essence of an abstraction by
recasting it in the terms of something more clear, is replicated in a great many metaphorical
constructions. The process of concretisation underscores the fact that metaphorical mapping is a
conventional way of thinking and is not something remote to human thought. Not surprisingly then,
many metaphors have become embedded over time into fixed expressions like idioms (clusters of
words whose meaning cannot be read off their constituent parts). The metaphor ENERGY IS A
BURNING FUEL is commonly transmitted through idioms like burn the midnight oil and burning the
candle at both ends.
Writers of literature seek not only to establish new connections, and new types of connection,
between target and source domains, but also to extend and elaborate upon existing metaphors in
various ways.
Novelty in stylistic expression cannot remain novel indefinitely, and what is foregrounded in
an original context of use will become part of the background as time goes by . Indeed, many of our
common sayings and figures of speech originated from creative metaphors in literature. The
expressions cold comfort, a tower of strength, play fast and loose, in my minds eye and to the
manner born may have little impact nowadays, but all of them saw their first use in the plays of
William Shakespeare.

B. Metaphor and style:

The following poem is by the Liverpudlian poet Roger McGough:

40

middle
couple
ten
when
game
and
go
the
will
be
tween

LOVE
aged
playing
nis
the
ends
they
home
net
still
be
them

In this poem, McGough employs a range of linguistic-stylistic devices to relay a single underlying
conceptual metaphor. Whereas the target domain is our understanding of a human relationship, the
source domain for the metaphor comes from games and sport, A HUMAN RELATIONSHIP IS A
GAME OF SPORT. This conceptual metaphor is sustained by patterns of graphology and other
levels of language.

Using this variety of devices, McGough develops the basic metaphor through two processes known
as extending and elaboration.
Extending: expressing metaphor through linguistic resources which introduce new
conceptual elements from the source domain. McGough extends the source domain from the more
general concept of sport to one specific type of sport. The particular spatial organisation of tennis,
with its back and forth movement between ball and players, is captured stylistically by the breakup of
the text into two columns, and this forces the reading of the text into a similar to and fro movement.
Put another way, both sides of the game of love are embodied in a textual layout which serves as an
orientational metaphor. McGoughs orientation is horizontal, and this directionality embodies not only
the emotional to and fro but the sense of implicit conflict that exists between the couple.
Elaboration: capturing an existing component of the source domain in an unusual or
unconventional way. Special features of this tennis domain, such as its props, can acquire extra
signification in the metaphorical mapping. The net which serves as the physical barrier in a tennis

court symbolises a spiritual and emotional barrier between the estranged couple. Similarly, the
numerical scoring system used in tennis allows for further elaboration, where the reference to 40 in
the title parallels the age of the couple and, even more fortuitously, the reference to love allows a
metaphorical projection from the sport domain to the more abstract target domain of human
relationships.