Analyzing Megametaphors of "Soil" as a Tool of Cohesion in Khaqani's Poetry

In the contemporary perspective, metaphor is not simply a linguistic matter, but a reflection of the human mind that involuntarily appears in daily life based on experiences and interactions with the outside world. In Khaqani's odes, we witness the existence of various schemas and prototypes that are the result of the intersection of culture, society, and the poet's lived experience which are often manifested in Khaqani's poetry as the macro-metaphor "soil" and the micro-metaphors emanating from it. This research was conducted using a descriptive-analytical method based on the conceptual metaphor theory of Lakoff, Johnson, and Kovecses. In Kovecses's view, understanding one metaphorical domain depends on understanding another conceptual domain. He introduces subjective concepts as the destination domain and objective concepts as the source domain. Therefore, the authors of this study have conducted a cognitive analysis of the macro-metaphors of Khaqani's odes to interpret and represent the poet's intellectual frameworks of the outside world by examining the conceptual metaphor involving "soil" and the semantic clusters of mud, dust, dirt, stone, and earth. The result of this interpretation leads to the emergence and expansion of numerous micro-metaphors in the structure of Khaqani's ode. The statistical analysis of the conceptual metaphors of "soil" in 132 Khaqani odes shows that the poet uses the macro-metaphor "soil is human" 134 times, represented by six micro-metaphors based on human physicality. Among these, the most frequent micro-metaphor is "soil is a woman.”
Introduction
Conceptual metaphors are one of the important topics in cognitive linguistics. From a contemporary point of view, they are not merely a linguistic matter, but a reflection of the human mind that is involuntarily present in people's daily lives based on experiences and interactions with the outside world. Within this framework, the cognitive approach emphasizes the connection between the mind and language. Accordingly, paying attention to conceptual schemas and metaphors is very important, as it provides the researcher with a new explanation of the brain's function in dealing with the surrounding world.  Lakoff and Johnson are considered two of the pioneers in the introduction and development of the conceptual metaphor theory in the book Metaphors We Live By, which was later supplemented by Kovecses. In Kovecses’s view, understanding one metaphorical domain depends on understanding another conceptual domain. He defines subjective concepts as the target domain and objective concepts as the source domain.
Khaqani Shervani is one of the important poets of the sixth century in the land of Arran. To understand and appreciate his poems, we need to analyze and examine the macro-metaphors of his odes. The element of soil is one of the most central keywords in the macro-metaphors used in Khaqani's poetry, and by analyzing it, we can better understand and explore metaphorical and intangible concepts. The poet borrows the element of soil from mythological, religious, and biological contexts and projects it onto the realms of origin and destination.
Therefore, the importance of this research lies in discovering and evaluating the macro-metaphors of "soil" in the various schemas of Khaqani's odes. By accessing these, it is possible to understand what schemas and micro-metaphors the poet incorporates in his works to create thematic associations with the word soil, thereby developing a deeper understanding of the odes.
Method
The data of the present study are all the verses of 132 odes of Khaqani Shervani’s Divan by Seyyed Ziauddin Sajjadi. This study attempts to examine the macro-metaphor and mappings of the word “soil” in a descriptive-analytical manner using a library method. First, the macro-metaphors involving "soil" will be examined with a cognitive approach. Then, the micro-metaphors and mappings of the origin and destination domains will be categorized and analyzed based on the Kovecses’s categorization. Finally, in the analysis of each macro-metaphor, the schema involved in the creation of the poem's theme will be presented with textual documentation.
Results
In analyzing and examining the macro-metaphor of soil in Khaqani's odes, first, all the semantic clusters of soil such as mud, dust, dirt, stone, and earth were identified in 132 of Khaqani's odes. At this stage, it was observed that Khaqani used the word soil 499 times in 113 odes in the domains of origin and destination. Of these, the poet used the motif of "soil" 474 times in the domain of destination.
Using this word in the target domain has led to the emergence of nine macro-metaphors which are “soil is a place,” “soil is a human,” “soil is a sheet and a piece,” “soil is worthless,” “soil is valuable,” “soil is food,” “soil is an animal,” “soil is a plant and a garden,” and “soil is a tool and an object” in the source domains. The poet also uses the word “soil” 25 times in the source domain in the form of concepts such as land, king, heart, repentance, world, soul, human being, soul, sick face, enemies, mystic, sky, Eid al-Fitr, and sorrow. This is why, for the poet, the word “soil” has a higher level of importance in the destination domain.
The macro-metaphor "soil is man" with a frequency of 134 verses has the largest volume of soil-related conceptual metaphors in the target domain. This macro-metaphor was used in the following semantic clusters: “orange-colored,” “hungry mouth,” “seven limbs,” “dust-smeared,” “depressed body,” “ugly night-glory,” “temperament of gems,” “base enemies,” “hollow cavity,” “center of the earth,” “land of the land,” “red sulfur,” “pregnancy of the soil,” “black bowl,” and “dawn of the ascetic.” These conceptual metaphors are often formulated in binary oppositions in a top/bottom schema structure, and are mirrored based on the capacity of the human body. The highest frequency in the macro-metaphor “soil as man” is the micro-metaphor “soil as woman,” which is mentioned in 6 times.
Conclusion
The existence of schemas in Khaqani's odes is a reflection of the religious, mythological, and cognitive aspects of language and society, which always have a prominent presence in the underlying layers of poetry. Accordingly, the poet uses one or more schemas based on the situational contexts of the language of his poetry. In the process of examining 132 of Khaqani's great odes, it was observed that numerous macro-metaphors for the word soil were used in the domains of origin and destination to better convey its biological and schematic aspects to the reader. Out of the ​​456 verses which contained this word, 9 macro-metaphors, namely "soil is a human being", "soil is a place", "soil is an animal", "soil is a tool and an object", "soil is worthless", "soil is praised and valuable", "soil is a plant", "soil is food", and "soil is a sheet and a piece" along with numerous sub-metaphors were identified.
In numerous associations between the source and target domains of the word "soil," high-frequency positive and negative mappings have been used in the source domain based on cognitive concepts of "spilling water," "observers' digging," "thieves' nighttime burrowing," "servants' kissing the ground," "the journey to Mecca," "the custom of giving gifts and seeking blessings," "the sultan's divine shadow," "the appearance of the earth," and "the game of chess and polo." The division of the earth into three levels (upper, lower, and middle) can be considered one of the poet's most important metaphorical uses for interpreting the experiences and mental perception of the world, which is presented in the structure of directional schemas. As a domain of origin, the word "soil" was used 25 times, where the poet uses 8 metaphorical mappings of "self," "enemy," "world," "human," "greed," "face," "sorrow," and "heart" based on the macro-metaphor "down is bad."
Subcategories "speech," "repentance," "king," "mystic," "birthplace," "heart," "soul," "sky," and "feast" are used in 10 verses for the macro-metaphor “above is good.” Finally, positive and negative adjectives have been formed for the word soil in the target domain, such as "brave/captive," "hardworking/greedy," and "generous/greedy.”