Open AccessThe DIVIDED SELF metaphor: A cognitive-linguistic study of two poems by Nabokov
Author(s) -
Ma Asunción Barreras Gómez
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
international journal of english studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.402
H-Index - 8
eISSN - 1989-6131
pISSN - 1578-7044
DOI - 10.6018/ijes/2015/1/211121
Subject(s) - poetry , anguish , metaphor , embodied cognition , perspective (graphical) , feeling , cognitive linguistics , subject (documents) , literature , realism , cognition , linguistics , philosophy , art , psychology , epistemology , computer science , neuroscience , library science , visual arts
This paper will approach two of Nabokov’s poems from the perspective of embodied realism in Cognitive Linguistics. We will shed light on the reasons why we believe that Nabokov makes use of the DIVIDED SELF metaphor in his poetry. In the analysis of the poems we will explain how the Subject is understood in the author’s life in exile whereas the Self is understood in the author’s feelings of anguish and longing for his Russian past. Finally, we will also explain how Nabokov’s use of the DIVIDED SELF metaphor thematically structures both poems.