METAPHOR AND IMAGE BUILDING IN EMILY
DICKINSON’S “I LIKE TO SEE IT LAP THE MILES” TO
EXPRESS A PRIVATE EXPERIENCE : A COGNITIVE STUDY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CISILIA PENI TRIINDRIASTUTI.
Student Number: 034214113
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
i
METAPHOR AND IMAGE BUILDING IN EMILY
DICKINSON’S “I LIKE TO SEE IT LAP THE MILES” TO
EXPRESS A PRIVATE EXPERIENCE : A COGNITIVE STUDY
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree ofSarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
CISILIA PENI TRIINDRIASTUTI.
Student Number: 034214113
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAMME DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
ii
ASarjana SastraUndergraduate Thesis
METAPHOR AND IMAGE BUILDING IN EMILY
DICKINSON’S “I LIKE TO SEE IT LAP THE MILES” TO
EXPRESS A PRIVATE EXPERIENCE: A COGNITIVE STUDY
iii
iv
Courage is not the absence of fear, but more to the judgement
that somethingelse is more important than fear
v
Dedicated to
vi
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY
I honestly declare that this thesis, which I have written, does not contain the works
or parts of the work of other people, except those cited in the quotations and the
references, as a scientific paper should.
Yogyakarta, August 30, 2011
vii
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN
PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS
Yang bertandatangan di bawah ini, saya mahasiswa Sanata Dharma :
Nama : Cisilia Peni Triindriastuti Nomor Mahasiswa : 034214113
Dengan ini saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma karya ilmiah saya yang berjudul :
Metaphor and Image Building in Emily Dickinson’s “I Like to See It Lap the Miles” as Tool to Express a Private Experience: A Cognitive Study
Beserta perangkat yang diperlukan (bila ada).Dengan demikian saya memberikan kepada Perpustakaan Universitas Sanata Dharma Hak untuk menyimpan, mengalihkan dalam bentuk media lain, mengelolanya di internet atau media lain untuk kepentingan akademis tanpa perlu meminta ijin dari saya maupun memberikan royalty kepada saya selama tetap mencantumkan nama saya sebagai penulis.
Demikian pernyataan ini saya buat dengan sebenarnya.
Dibuat di Yogyakarta
Pada tanggal : 30 Agustus 2011
Yang menyatakan
viii
ACKNOWLEGMENTS
First of all, I would like to thank Jesus: “Thank you.. for being my Lord”.
To my beloved parents, I would like to give my deepest gratitude to them for their
support in everything: for their prayers, for their unexhausted encouragement and
so much compassion.
I would like to thank my advisor, Bu Luluk, for her encouragement,
suggestion, evaluation and critics during the process of this thesis. I would also
like to thank Bu Tata, who gives me her insight and correction.
For all my friends ’03, thanks for the moment we have shared and the
friendship we have. And for all my friends who are still struggling: “Keep
fighting, guys! I will be waiting to hear good news from you”. For Wahmuji,
thanks for sharing a great website for many great books I hardly could find before
and for his willingness to spent his time to read and give suggestion, especially at
the beginning of the process. Thanks Mei Ratri, with her way, for pushing me to
finish my study.
I would like also to thank Margaret H. Freeman who is generously posting
and making free many of great works on dealing with cognitive study and Emily
Dickinson. A lot of inside I was desperately looking for I could finally find and
learn in her works.
Finally, I would like to thank my Marietta Sinaga and Duma Simbolon for
ix
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY... vi
LEMBAR PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH UNTUK KEPENTINGAN AKADEMIS... vii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ……… viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ……… ix
ABSTRACT ……… xi
ABSTRAK ……… xii
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ……… 1
A. Background of the Study ……… 1
B. Problem Formulation ……… 7
C. Objectives of the Study ……… 8
D. Definition of Terms ……… 8
CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL REVIEW……… 10
A. Review of Related Studies……… 10
B. Review of Related Theories……….. 12
1. Theories on Cognitive ...………. 12
2. Theories on Metaphor ...….………... 13
3. Theories on Image Schema ...…….. 15
4. Theories on Poetic Iconicity ...………. 18
C. Biographical Background ...19
D. Theoretical Framework ………. 21
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY……… 23
A. Object of the Study……….. 23
B. Approaches of the Study ……… 24
B.1. Cognitive Approach……….. 24
B.2. Biographical Approach ………. 27
x
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS………... 30
A. Projection from the of Imagery to Metaphor, and Its Establishment...30
B. Metaphor and Its Image Building ……….. 41
C. Emily Dickinson and “I Like to see it lap the Miles”... 58
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION...62
xi ABSTRACT
CISILIA PENI TRIINDRIASTUTI. 2011. Metaphor and Image Building in Emily Dickinson’s “I Like to see it lap the Miles” as Tool to Express A Private Experience: A Cognitive Study. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculity of Letters, Sanata Dharma University.
“I Like to see it lap the Miles” is a poem written by Emily Dickinson. This poem is well known as a poem about a train with strong metaphorical language. It consists of four stanzas with each stanza employs quatrin except for the third one.
The objectives of this study are to find out how this poem is built through its metaphor and image building (imageries and form) and what is its significance to Emily Dickinson’s world. Those two question are proposed to consider that so far analysis to this poem were not involving its form as the performance of its author in building the poem.
This study is done by using library research method. Cognitive approach and biographical are applied in this study. Cognitive approach is applied to analyze the metaphorical and its image building, while biographical is applied to strengthen the argument by providing evidence from the author contextual background.
xii ABSTRAK
CISILIA PENI TRIINDRIASTUTI. Metaphor and Image Building in Emily Dickinson’s “I Like to see it lap the Miles” as Tool to Express A Private Experience: A Cognitive Study. Yogyakarta: Jurusan Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma.
“I Like to See It Lap the” Miles merupakan sebuah puisi yang ditulis oleh Emily Dickinson. Puisi ini sangat dikenal sebagai puisi yang menggambarkan sebuah kereta dengan pembahasaan metafora yang kuat. Puisi ini terdiri dari empat bait, empat baris pada tiap bait kecuali pada bait ketiga.
Tujuan yang hendak dicapai melalui studi ini adalah mengetahui bagaimana metafora dan pembangunan puisi ini dibentuk dan juga mengetahui apa signifikansi pembentukan tersebut terhadap dunia yang dimiliki oleh Emily Dickinson. Kedua tujuan ini dikemukakan karena analisa terhadap puisi “I Like to see it lap the Miles” sejauh ini tidak menyertakan bentuk puisi dan kehadiran pembicara ke dalam analisa.
Studi ini dilaksanakan menggunakan studi kepustakaan. Pendekatan yang diterapkan adalah pendekatan kognitif dan biografis. Pendekatan kognitif diterapkan dalam menganalisa penggunaan bahasa metaforis dan pembentukan gambar puisi, sedangkan pendekatan biografis diterapkan untuk menghadirkan bukti–bukti yang diambil dari latar belakang penulis sebagai penguat analisa.
1 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
“I can show you more than I can tell you”
The above expression was quoted from Breaking Down (2008), a novel written by Stephanie Meyer, which reminded the writer to Emily Dickinson. It
shows that things we want to express can not always simply being told. A well
expression is not only containing information but it is also containing whole
things that the encoder wants to reveal to the decoder: idea, thought, and feeling.
The above expression shows that the encoder consciously understands that if
he/she directly reacts to the decoder by telling them the information they’ve
asked, he/she will not completely reach what he/she wants. There will be
something that is still missing unless it is being showed. And by showing, the
encoder is displaying or demonstrating it and letting the decoder detects
himself/herself. The important thing from the act of showing if it is compared to
the act of telling is that the encoder wants to reach more than just giving an
information.
Expression is a personal way to respond something. It takes a fundamental
part in human’s life because it is a tool to force out emotion, ruling taste, feeling,
or thought which is somehow repressed in human’s mind, from simple thing to
complex thing. Therefore, a well expressed expression would release a man’s
bring difficulties to the person who feels it. In general, there are two kind of
expression: verbal and non-verbal. Verbal expression can be manifested in
utterance or written form, while non-verbal expression can be manifested in facial
look or body language.
According to Joanna R. William (William, 1993: 94), in her essay
Expression and Communication as Basic Linguistic Functions, there is a difference between verbal expression such in utterance and in written form. In an
utterance, the process of encoding of the thought is more spontaneous than in a
written form. We often hear people saying, writing down feelings would release
one’s emotion. “Writing focuses on the process of expression as the conscious
composition of a text. It confronts the individual with their own word” (1993: 94).
There is no one presence to wait their respond. The benefit of writing from
utterence lays down on the process of encoding the thought which can be more
conscious and reflective.
Emily Dickinson is one of the greatest American poets, but her popularity
arouse not in her lifetime. It was only after her death, more than seventeen
hundreds poetry and eleven hundreds letters was found, published and well
known. In her life time, she rarely met her relatives and spent most her lives in her
father’s house or even in her own room. But, eventhough she withdrew herself
from her surrounding, it doesn’t mean that she was completely disappearing. It
was seen from her continuity to send her relatives and companions a letter or
poem. A written form was chosen to communicate and express something which
Emily Dickinson is well known of having a unique character, the way she
saw the world actively can hardly be argued in contrast to her reluctance to
socialize herself to the society. She placed herself between existence and non
existence. Throughout her life, the letters she had sent and poem attached to it
contributed her to maintain a connection with the outside world and impressed
them by her original style (Lied, 2008: 25). This unique character often
establishes curiosity among the readers and up till this time still creates various
inspirations for many writers to get to know about her unique world and
understand her poems better.
Poetry, conservatory, and family were the priority of Emily Dickinson’s
responsibility and life, and the biggest of all was poetry. In poetry she adored,
argued, and sought life. She dedicated herself into boundless of lexicons. As
someone who rarely met other people, and spent most of time privately in her
house, she was surprisingly able to capture the outer world extravagantly through
her works (2008: 51). Ironically her works were unnoticed by public during her
lifetime. It was because she kept large amounts of her works mostly for herself,
and decided not to publish them continually to be known by other. One of the
reasons of her rejection to publication was to protect the original elements that has
often been edited by the editor before a text will be published. Yet, she just
persisted to write, seeking life and remain her world untouchable.
On one hand it is obviously not easy for someone who has difficulty in
socializing herself with the society like Emily Dickinson to express her world in a
that she needed it. How Emily conducted herself and did not sigh about her life,
her ‘weird’ behavior in others’ eyes, were just reflection and loyalty to her believe
which brought her to the stick decision to where she would live her life. Never she
would escape her believe and disobey the believe she embraced. Justina I.F Lied
(2008) interestingly called the way Dickinson conducted her life as living in the
private bubble. It allowed Dickinson to see the outside and it also allowed the
outside to see her but remained to be untouchable. This makes the writer
interested to know her poem.
Considering the fact above, it is not surprising the poems that Emily
Dickinson wrote are as unique as her character. The sacredness of all elements in
poems cannot be argued, no changes can be made without distracting its function
in the poem. Each element would become important to capture the whole meaning
of the poem. As Emily Dickinson strongly expressed her complaint when there
were some changes that the editorial made seen as followed:
Edited Original
Success is counted sweetest Success is counted sweetest By those who ne’er succeed By those who ne’er succeed To comprehend a nectar To comprehend a nectar Requires sorest need Requires sorest need
Not one of all the purple host Not one of all the purple Host Who took the flag to-day Who took the Flag today Can tell the definition Can tell the definition So clear, of victory, So clear of Victory
Even “when two editor of newspapers had asked her if they could publish some of
her poem, she used the expression: they asked for my Mind” (2008: 29)
Punctuations, dashes, and capitalizations are markers of Emily
Dickinson’s poems, there are also two other elements which become the material
in building the concept of her thought into a poem, namely: metaphor and
imagery. These two elements cannot be separated from Emily Dickinson’s
poems; it gives such a vivid representation. In poetry, metaphor may perform
various functions. From the mere noting of likeness to the evocation of
associations; it may exist as a minor beauty or it may be the central concept and
controlling image of the poem (Merriam, 1995: 756). While imageries, in The Literary Heritage, “..are used to create concrete picture of experiences so that it can be seen, heard, tasted or felt” (Guth, 1981:721).
Metaphor lies at the heart of poetry. As unique as Emily Dickinson’s
character, metaphor is a unique language. Metaphor is a unique language not only
because it presents something as something else but also because it reflects of how
people actually conduct their life. As stated by cognitive linguists, Lakoff and
Johnson “…metaphor is pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in
thought and action” ( Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: 3). For example, a person who
accepts LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor would have different action and thought
from a person who accepts LIFE IS A GAMBLING GAME metaphor. And words
or images that would be presented for each single concept of metaphor would be
There is an interesting thing about cognitive study to language, it sees
phenomenon of language that is firmly rooted from human thought. This study is
an expansion of cognitive science or the science of human mind which studies
they way information is presented and transformed in the brain. The earlier
cognitive study to language namely Cognitive Linguistics, it primarily analyzes
the conceptual and experiential basis of linguistic categories the formal structures
of language that are studied ‘.. not as if they were autonomous, but as reflections
of general conceptual organization, categorization principles, processing
mechanisms, and experiential and environmental influences.’ (Geeraerts and
Cuykens, 2007 : 3). In other words, they work from the assumption that language
reflects patterns of thought which means to study patterns of conceptualization
that we get from our understanding of our experience with the external world. The
next cognitive study to language taking a birth is Cognitive Poetics. Cognitive
Poetics is literary criticism that applies cognitive linguistics concept and insight,
in an attempt to explore more systematically their explanatory potential and
cognitive poetics in analyzing literary texts. The difference between the two is that
cognitve poetics assumes that poetic texts do not only have meaning or convey
thought, as often been concerned by cognitve linguist, but also display emotional
qualities.
In this thesis the writer chose “I Like to see it lap the Miles””, a poem written by Emily Dickinson that has received little critical attention, perhaps
because this poem is taking for granted to be a poem about a train (iron horse)
with mixed images pictures on it, but apparently its reference is displayed to be
“in-visible” by the speaker who only appear once in the first line and consequently
left the poem with no specific reference about the object that is mentioned.
“In-visible” here borrow from Margaret Freeman’s term for pointing the thing which
is “lying latent, hidden as another dimensionality” (Freeman 2009b: 176). This
arouses a curiosity to analyze the mixed images pictures further in its form and its
metaphorical expression, and then reflect it to Emily Dickinson’s life to generate
possibility/ies since she, as an author, is known of her well awarness about the
detail of her poem to be important.
Considering the facts above, the writer will apply cognitive approach to
unfold the poem due to its basis focuses on language as an embodied
understanding within the cognitive processes that enable the human mind to
conceptualize experience based on the interaction with our knowlegde of the
world; and its explanatory power, which according to Margaret Freeman, ‘ for
making explicit our reasoning processes and for illuminating the structure and
content of literary text’ (2000: 253). That is why it seems to be worth study as a
provocation to the study of cognitive theory to a literary text, since its newness
and insightfulness, especially in English Letters Department of Sanata Dharma
University.
B. Problem Formulation
1. How are metaphor and imagery in Emily Dickinson’s “I Like to see it
2. How can the metaphors and image building in Emily Dickinson’s “I
Like to see it lap the Miles” be seen as an expression of her private
experience?
C. Objective of the Study
The objective of this thesis is to study the cognitive processes of the
embodied human mind that include conceptualizing, forming and feeling from the
metaphor of a poem in constructing its image and how the image could reveal the
hidden expression of the speaker.
This thesis is aimed to answer and explain the question mentioned in the
problem formulation above. First, the writer wants to find out how such concept
or reason was built through the presented metaphor and image building. Second,
is to find out how the metaphors and image building were used as an expression of
Emily Dickinson’s private experience in revealing an idea.
D. Definition of Terms
Metaphor
The definition of metaphor is developing , in Merriam Webster,
Encyclopedia of Literature, the wordmetaphoris [Greekmetahoráchange of a word to a new sense, metaphor, a derivative of metaphérein to
used in place of another to suggest a likeness or analogy between them; it
is an implied comparison of simile (Merriam, 1995: 756) to the recent
study as Lakoff and Johnson stated that metaphor is a property of concept,
not of words (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: 25).
To express
The term to express is used in contexts indicating a revival of the root
meaning ex-pressus, from ex-premere, which means ‘to press out’. Abrams takes one statement about expression from Aristotle that says
“Poetry is indirect expression in word, most appropriately in metrical
words, of some of overpowering emotion, or ruling taste, or feeling, the
indirect indulgence where of is somehow repressed (Abrams, 1953: 48).
Cognitive Study
Cognitive study here is a study to know the way language characterize
meaning, a study of psychological result of perception and learning and
reasoning (Freeman, 2007a: 1179). Cognitive study mainly turns the figure
10 CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL REVIEW
A. Review of Related Studies
This part contains reviews of some studies that related to the study. Study
on expression, Emily Dickinson, metaphor and imagery. These studies are chosen
to support the argument in this undergraduate thesis.
First chosen study is written by Joanna R. Williams, Expression and Communication as Basic Linguistic Functions, different from the common modern linguistic theory which is based on the assumption that the primary and
fundamental function of language is communication, she argues that there are two
basic linguistic functions of a language; besides the function of communication,
there is also other more fundamental function of a language that is the function of
expression. She noted that a thought has to be expressed verbally before it can be
verbally communicated. Therefore, “expression is a prerequisite to
communication” (Williams, 1993: 94).
The second study is on the way Emily Dickinson lived which is suggested
by Justina I.F. Lied, in her doctoral thesisEmily Dickinson in Her Private Bubble: Poems, Letters and Condition of Presence (2008). In her thesis, Lied is using an interesting term,bubble, to picture the way how Emily Dickinson lived. There are some reasons behind the term bubble. Lied explains that Dickinson’s reason in
interference of the outside world. She wanted to only allow the thing which was
important to her and then continued it to the production of her poems. Because of
that reason, Lied added:
…she has at her disposal the lenses through which she can bring nature to focus and control the caption she wants to apprehend. From that position Dickinson can concentrate her personal feelings, anxieties, and visions (Lied, 2008: 14).
Emily Dickinson withdrawal from the outside world is not merely disappearing;
she could accept the thing she wanted to see and being seen by the outside world
but without being touched.
John B. Pickard in Emily Dickinson: An Introduction and Interpretation
said that “I Like to see it lap the Miles” is a poem about train that consists of
breathless accumulation of action verbs lap, lick, stop, feed, and step in the first stanza alone. And then he adds ‘These run-on lines and the internal rhyme rush
the poem to its painting finish’ (Pickard, 1967: 76). Melanie, an academic teacher
who concerns a lot about Emily Dickinson’s works stated ‘…adopting a childlike
wonder and enthusiasm, Dickinson plays with the metaphor of the train as an
"iron horse." In her day, the similarities would have had vividness and immediacy
that have been lost in ours’
(http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/train.html).
“I Like to see it lap the Miles” is known of its vividness through the
metaphor and imageries, but rarely been analyzed further. This thesis, tries not
only to explore the poem through its the metaphor, vivid images, but also through
study, the writer believes that this poem is not only talking about train but also the
process her creativity in producing this poem by also analizing its form on the
page.
B. Review of Related Theories
1. Theories on Cognitive
Theoretical frameworks which are applied in this study are taken from the
Cognitive Linguistics and Cognitive Poetics insight. Both are using the word
‘cognitive’ to analyze language, and supposedly there is a doctrine about what
‘cognitive theory’ really is to analyze language. Apparently, the cognitivists in
both areas agree that there is no single uniform or single person’s enterprise
doctrine to define ‘cognitive theory’ itself. Instead, cognitive study “embraces a
broad array of theoretical frameworks..” (Freeman, 2006: 404), and “...it arises
from the combination of various pioneering ideas, that acting as a separable
strands of one whole, that have drawn together..” (Dirven and Ibanez, 2010: 13).
Although there is no specific cognitive theory, but from the different frameworks
they have applied, they believe and seek the same thing. They believe that we are
an embodied being and they seek how language characterizes meaning.
Characteristics of meaning from cognitive theories, according to Dirk
Geeraert (2006: 4-5), are:
Perspectival :
Meaning is not just an objective reflection of the outside world, it is a
Dynamic :
Meaning changes. New experiences and changes in our environment
require that we adapt our semantic categories to transformations of
circumstances.
Encyclopedic:
It arises from the cumulative association of experience,
conceptualization, context, and culture. It is not separate from other from
other forms of knowledge that we have.
These characteristics of meaning are important to have in mind, especially in
dealing with ‘figurative’ or indirect language because one picture can be
described variously or even one picture can be used to refers something else. The
meaning then, is basicly based on the scene that is being described by the
producer. Perspectival forces to evaluate from which stand point or position the scene is described,dynamicforces to imagine the mental spaces presented and see the creativity, and encyclopedic demands not only knowledge of word meaning but knowledge of word in context from the producer of situation. Following are
the theories under cognitive theory that are applied to seek the meaning to prove
the cognitive believe of the embodied being and language.
2. Theories on Metaphor
Metaphor generally is known as calling one thing into another, from one
domain of thought to another. As commonly known, in the theory of imagery,
picture some abstract feeling in an experience, then that imagery would not stand
for an image alone because in vividly picturing an experience there was always a
concept behind our picture in our mind that derives us to the image. “An image
alone does not make a poem. The image has to refer to a complex field of thought
and feeling beyond itself; it has to suggest or to call up a parallel idea, to become
what we call metaphor” (Lakoff and Turner, 1989: 36).
Moreover, Lakoff and Johnson in Metaphor We Live By explain that metaphor is not only used as an instrument to express an experience. According to
them metaphor have entailments that organize our experience, uniquely express
that experience and create necessary realities. For example in “TIME IS MONEY
metaphor, it entails that TIME IS A LIMITED SOURCE, which entails that TIME
IS A VALUABLE COMMODITY” (1980: 9).
From the above example it is inevitably seen that the concept behind a
metaphor leads us the come to an action based on that concept. Here for Lakoff
and Johnson, metaphor primarily matters of thought and action: “… metaphor is
pervasive in everyday life, not just in language but in thought and action” (1980:
3). The "isolated similarities" are indeed those created by metaphor, which simply
create a partial understanding of one kind of experience in terms of another kind
of experience. They are grounded in correlations within our experience. As hiding
and highlighting, for example in ARGUMENT IS WAR metaphor, the metaphor
would highlight the action toward the argument therefore word like attack,
Metaphor in poetry is not different phenomenon from metaphor in
everyday language but Lakoff and Turner (Lakoff and Turner, 1989) poetic
metaphor exploits and enriches the everyday metaphors available to any
competent speaker of the language. Therefore, the same as metaphor in ordinary
language, poetic metaphorical expressions must also be based on basic
metaphorical concept.
The term conceptual metaphor is derived from the nature that metaphor
always involves understanding one domain in terms of another domain.
‘Technically, metaphor can be understood as a set of mappings from a source
domain to a target domain’ (Lakoff, 1992: 4) or across the conceptual domains in
way that the projected source domain is consistent with the inherent target domain
structure (1992: 10). According to Lakoff, there are two types of mappings:
conceptual mappings and image-mappings (1992: 40). Concept derives the image,
so that from that image/s we can understand the concept. Image mapping is
mapping of the motor-sensory images evoked by linguistic expression. Thus,
metaphorical expressions are used not only just for talking about thing but also for
reasoning about it as well.
3. Theories on Image Schema
“Image schemas derive from sensory and perceptul experience as we
interact with and move about in the world ...” (Evans and Green, 2006 : 178). The
term ‘image’ in ‘image schema’ is equivalent to an imagistic experience relates to
because it comes from sensory-perceptual. The term ‘schema’ in ‘image schema’
is also very important. It means that image schemas are not rich and detailed
concepts, but rather abstract concepts consisting of patterns emerging from
repeated instances of embodied experience.
Image schema is pre-conceptual. One the recurrent patterns of sensory
information have been extracted and stored as an image schema, sensory
experience gives rise to conceptual representation. This means that:
Image schema are concepts, but of a special kind: they are the foundations of conceptual system, because they are the first concept to emerge in the human mind, precisely because they relate to sensory-perceptual experience, they are particularly schematic (2006 : 180).
The central idea is that image schemas, which arise recurrently in our perception
and bodily movement, have their own logic, which can be applied to abstract
conceptual domains. It is not merely mental or merely bodily, but body-mind
because there is an underlying continuity that connect our physical interaction in
the world with our activities of imagining and thinking. Image-schematic logic
then serves as the basis for inferences about abstract entities and operations.
Allan Cienki (2005: 431) gave description to some example of image
schemas as follows :
CONTAINER : A container has boundary that separates an insides from
the outside. It can hold things. We can be contained (e.g. in a room), and
our own bodies are containers.
CYCLE : A cycle begins, proceeds through a sequence of connected
events, and returns to the original state to start a new. We experience
FORCE : Force ussually implies the exertion of physical strenght in
one or more directions. We can experience force in terms of compulsion,
attraction, blockage, or enablement.
PATH : A path is a route for moving from a starting point to an
end point. We can follow an existing path, or make a path with our own
movement.
These image schema emerge within our daily experience along with our perception and bodily movement:we explore physical objects by contact with them; we experience ourselves and other objects as containers with other objects inside or outside of
them; we move around the world; we experience physical forces affecting us; etc.
It structures our sensory motor-experience and serves as the basis of many of our
metaphorical thinking. For example, in metaphorical expression ‘The customer is
boiling with anger’ or ‘He just exploded when i told him that’. This metaphorical
expressions employs CONTAINER schema which comes from our encounter with
our body when we are eating (we put the meal into our mouth) and our encounter
4. Theories on Poetic Iconicity
“Poetic Iconicity is the means by which poetry creates the semblance of
felt life” (Freeman, 2007b: 472) or illusion of experience. Our intentional
relationship and our consiousness is realized by our bodily experience with the
world is called phenomenological world. Semblance of felt life means that poetry
is an attempt to capture this experience in its sense and significance through the
creation of forms symbolic of human feeling. Feeling, when we aware of the
world around us and we interact with them, arises from two sources: the first is
sensation, the interaction with the external world through senses, and the second is
emotion, which are internally generated (2009b: 174). These two are effecting one
another with sensation from the external world triggers emotion and emotion
colors sensation. Whereas form is the existance of words on page, this is the
medium that pictures feeling or shows our certain intentional relationship with
the world. It makes the invisible to be visible in various ways.
This Poetic Iconcity theory is appliying the cognitive process of the
embodied mind that not just includes conceptualizing but forming and feeling too.
The relation between form and feeling in poetic iconicity is a total integration. “It
would be misleading to think of them as separate attributes, just as it is misleading
to think of form and meaning as separate entities” (2009b: 175). Then, it involves
mapping between meaning and form. When a poem achieved poetic iconicity
means that the writer in compossing poetry conceives the feeling from which
form-meaning emerges: feeling of sense-emotion creates form-meaning which
(2009a: 14-15), when poetry when acheives poetic iconicity or becomes icon of
the of the reality, it bridges the gap between language and the world, between
conceptualization and senses experience. She also stated that poetic iconicity
occurs when seemingly meaningless poetic attributes like sound pattern, meter,
etc, all work together with imagery and emotion in making a poem which does not
mean but be. Then, the effects of poetic iconicity is to create sensation, emotion
and images that enable the mind to encounter them as phenomenally real (exist in
the here and now moment). It would moves the reader “from the semiotic world of
the poem-world to the phenomenological (world as we experience it) of the
poet-world” (2009b: 189).
C. Biographical Background
Emily Dickinson is well known as a private poet. Her companions, as she
mentioned to Higginson:
You asked of my companions. Hills, sir, and the sundown and dog as large as my self, that my father bought me. They are better than beings because they know, but do not tell; and the noise in the pool at noon excels my piano
<http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/essays/authors/higginson/twh_dickin son2.html >.
And, she eventually rarely met other people and rarely went outside the house.
But, over one thousand poem she had produced proves that her mind is so active
in contrast to her physical presence in the society. Dickinson proclaimed the
freedom of her active mind, no matter how tight she was being ‘shut’, in one of
closet/Because they like me ‘still’-/ Still! Could themselves have peeped/And seen
my Brain –go around–” (Franklin, 1999: 206).
‘Prose’, throughout Dickinson’s works is associated with “..sermons,
religious practices, patriarchy, and constrain” (Martin, 2002: 5). These are things
that she did not like because she placed herself in a resistance toward dominant
discourse. But ‘poetry’ which in one of her letter to Higginson she refered it as her
mind: “ Two editors of journals came to my father’s house this winter, and asked
me for my mind”
<http://www.earlywomenmasters.net/essays/authors/higginson/twh_dickinson2.ht
ml>, throughout her works “.. is allied with liberating darkness and inner
freedom” (2002: 5).
The interrelation between poetry, mind and her inner freedom can be seen
in:
The Heart is the Capital of the Mind – The Mind is a single State –
The Heart and the Mind together make A single Continent –
One – is the Population – Numerous enough-This ecstatic Nation
Seek – it is Yourself (Franklin, 1998: 1202)
Means that her writing and her mind accomadate her to reach her ownself and
finally liberate her inner freedom. This circle was her main concern, things she
dedicated her life to, which gave her joy and even power of living:
Take all away from me, but leave me Ecstasy, And I am richer then than all my Fellow Men – Ill it becometh me to dwell so wealhily
When at my very Door are those possessing more,
D. Theoretical Framework
This thesis will focus on the concept behind metaphor in “I Like to see it
lap the Miles” in constructing its image and how the image could reveal the
hidden expression of the speaker in order to catch the idea presented by the writer.
There are some theories used in thesis. They are theory on metaphor, theory on
metaphor and theory on poetic iconicity.
Theory on metaphor is used to find any concept from the metaphor both
covertly and overtly. Theory on image schema is used to help in understanding the
basic reason of the conceptual metaphor that that is by restoring the primacy of
bodily functions in the world: the bodily movement through space, perceptual
interaction, and ways of manipulating object. Theory on poetic iconicity is used to
relate the all the images to the form of the poem.
Metaphor theory is used, first, to find some concept covertly. It is done
by the analysis one-to-one conceptual level mapping of the source domain to any
possible target domain presented by the speaker. Second, metaphor theory is also
used to find the overt concept. It is done by system level mapping which is
mapping between the conceptual domains mediated by the text.
Since there is no reference presented in “I Like to see it lap the Miles”,
this theory is important to find the reference and how the metaphor organizes the
poem. Theory on image schema is used to help in understanding the basic reason
of conceptual metaphor that is by restoring the primacy of bodily functions in the
world: the bodily movement through space, perceptual interaction, and ways of
conceptual metaphor. Theory on poetic iconicity is applied to explain whether or
not the poem succesfully in creating semblance of felt life. The writer will see the
dynamic flows of the image shemas and conceptual metaphors by mapping them
to the organization of all images in the text world (the speaker, object, and the
imaginary figure) and the appearence of the poem on the page (form) as the
medium of the author’s conceived feeling. Then illuminte which concept is most
interlinking to all of them. When there is interconnection between these aspect
23 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of the Study
The object of this study is a poem entitled “I Like to see it lap the Miles”.
This poem consists of four stanzas. Each stanza contains four lines, except the
third. The breathless accumulation of the action verbs (lap, lick, stop, feed, stepin the first stanza alone), the run-on lines, and the internal rhyme rush the poem to its
painting finish (1967: 76).
“I Like to see it lap the Miles” is a poem written by Emily Dickinson, one
of American greatest poets, whose poems are well known for its richness of
metaphor. That richness can be seen from the wide range interpretations that are
welcomed by the text up till now. “I Like to see it lap the Miles” was written
when her father was one of the proud founders of the Amherst-Belchertown
railroad, he functioned as “Chief Marshal” when the first train arrived in Amherst
about her young age 1850s.
B. Approach of the Study
To analyze “I Like to see it lap the Miles”, the writer used two different
approches namely cognitive approach and biographical approach.
1. Cognitve Approach
Cognitive approach to language studies the way language characterize
meaning, and mainly turns figure ofspeech to figure ofthought. The term comes from the word cognition.Cognition “is used to refer to all information processing activities of the brain, ranging from the analysis of immediate stimuli to the
organization of subjective experience” (Tsur, 2003: 3). Cognitive approach to
language was originated “in the late seventies and early eighties in the work of
George Lakoff, Ron Langacker, and Len Talmy that focus on the language as
instrument for organizing, processing, and conveying information” (Geeraerts and
Cuykens, 2007: 3). These researchers were applying cognitive science (study of
the brain), particularly in work relating to human categorization and gestalt
psychology, to the study of language. They identified themselves as cognitive linguist.
Cognitive linguist believes that language reflects pattern of thought. Their
basic assumption is that there is an intimate relationship between meaning and
knowledge of the world, which has risen out of our embodied interaction with the
world (Gavins and Steen, 2003: 8). The nature of human mind is largely
determined by the form of the body. All aspects of cognition such as ideas,
thoughts, concepts dan categories are shaped by our body. These aspects include
and interactions with our environment and the understanding of the world that is
built into the body and the brain.
Cognitive linguist rejects traditional’s view that special language, such as
metaphor, as a kind of figurative language which merely function as fancy or
decorative language. When cognitive linguists trace back the metaphorical
expression to the way how mind or brain works, what is called figurative language
apparently pictures the cognitive process of the human mind. For example, we
have statement “My mind is overloaded” because we have experienced the
“container”, our body is a container, which can be empty or overloaded. Once it is
overloaded, it hardly can work properly. Then, “overloaded” would not be
attached to the “mind” if we do not have “container” concept that we get from our
embodied experience. Margaret Freeman stated that meaning from the cognitive
perspective is “..encyclopedic: that is arise from the cumulative association of
experience, conceptualization, context, and cultural-historical.” (Freeman, 2007:
483). “One of the highly significant cognitive abilities that human being possess is
the ability to categorize: that is, we can see sameness in the diversity” (Shogimen,
2009: 9), it means that:
“An understanding of how we categorize is central to the understanding of how we think and how we function, and therefore central to an understanding what makes us human” (Lakoff, 1987: 6).
This embodiment understanding of the mind relects in language then is
expanded to the cognitive investigation of literary text, especially poetic text. This
cognition, conceptualization, construal, etc, are often also applied in analyzing
issues relevant in specifically analyzing literary or poetic text. But eventually, as
stated by Reuven Tsur, Cognitive linguistics focuses on the conceptualizing
process of the mind and “shows very succesfully how wide range of quite
different metaphor comes from or be reduced to the same underlying conceptual
metaphor” <http://cogprints.org/3239/> sometimes is not enough to analyze
literary, especially poetic text. That’s why Cognitive Poetics also recognizes the
importance of the role of feeling and the existance of the words on the page
(form). As stated by Margaret Freeman, “cognitive process of the embodied mind
include not just conceptualizing but form[ing] and feeling too” (Freeman, 2009:
174).
Poetry, as art in general, argued by Susan K. Langer is “semblance of felt
life.. anillusion experience” : “What [the author] makes is a symbol – primarily a symbol to capture and hold his own imagination of organized feeling, the rhythms
of life, the forms of emotion” ( Freeman, 2009: 177). To handle this, Elena
Semino who is the editor of Cognitive Stylistics: Language and cognition in the text analysisnoted:
Cognitive poetics therefore combines the detailed analysis of linguistic choices and patterns in the text with systematic consideration of the mental processes and representation that are involved in the process of interpretation (Freeman, 2006: 6).
At its best, cognitive poetics is Janus-faced: looking toward the text and toward
the mind.
In this study, the cognitive approach that is applied is cognitive poetics –
does not directly call it cognitive poetics is because the application of cognitive poetics in this study focuses on the metaphor and image building but does not
involve sound pattern, as the writer has read in some of cognitive poetics study to
literature (especially in Reuven Tsur works which rarely leave the analysis of how
cognitive processes shape and constrain poetic rhythm and the rhythmical
performance of poetry), which might enrich the analysis. And this is the limitation
of this study.
.
2. Biographical Approach
In relating the poem to the poet, the writer uses Wilfred Guerin
biographical approach because biographical approach assert the necessity for the
appreciation of the author’s ideas, thought and feeling to understand literary
object. It means that a work of art is an expression of the author’s life and
experience.
There two reasons why cognitive approach (cognitive poetics – the
application of cognitive linguistics to literature) and biographical approach are
chosen for analying Emily Dickinson’s “I Like to see it lap the Miles”. First,
because cognitive approach could handle the richness, the complexities of its
metaphor, image, and even its form on the page as an integration of the whole
poem. It is interesting to see how the mind works, how the knowledge from the
experience with the world is being manipulated to see what human can do to
create semblance of felt life. Second, because in cognitive approach has to deal
biographical approach would help in supplying evidences that the analysis does
not violate the poet knowledge and believe so that it would strenghten the
analysis.
C. Method of the Study
In analyzing the thesis, the writer collected the data such as theories from
some books in the library and from internet. It means that the most of the
references both primary and secondary were taken from the library and also
internet. The primary data was Emily Dickinson’s Iron Horse (1940s), the secondary data consists of some criticisms from other researchers, and reviews on
the biographical background of the author and theories related to the study.
In analyzing the works, the writer mainly applied close readings on the
work by extracting the poem till there was nothing left to be extracted. There
would be three layer extraction that are applied. The first and the second would
answer problem formulation number one and the third layer extraction would
answer the problem formulation number two.
On the first extraction, the writer would identify the imaginary figure to
find what picture is being presented by generally mapping the nature and
characteristics of that imaginary figure because there’s no explicit reference of the
object appears in the poem. The second layer extraction, the writer revealed what
the picture stands for by applying conceptual and image schema mapping on
Third layer extraction, continued its findings to reach the coherent path to
go deeper and reached the coherent path in analyzing how this poem can be seen
as the expression of Emily Dickinson’s felt experience. First, after studying the
metaphor mapping and image schema mapping, the writer would map it to
speaker and the form (system mapping). It means that the writer would relate the
data to generate backward reasoning that finally connect up with speaker and the
existance the poem on the page itself. Second, relating the speaker, and the poem
on the page to the action of the writer. After having done the analysis, the last
30 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS
I Like to see it lap the Miles And lick the Valleys up
And stop to feed itself at Tanks -And then - prodigious step Around a Pile of Mountains – And supercilious peer
In Shanties – by the sides of Roads – And then a Quarry pare
To fit it’s sides, And crawl between Complaining all the while In horrid – hooting stanza – Then chase itself down Hill And neigh like Boanerges Then – prompter than a Star Stop – docile and omnipotent
At it’s own stable door – (Franklin, 1999: 176)
1 I see it] I hear it 9 sides]Ribs
14 And] And, ‘then (written,And, or then) 15 promter than] punctual as
Division3 at quatrain. (Johnson, 1998: 448)
Emily Dickinson’s poem, “I Like to see it lap the Miles”,is an interesting poem. Even in the first reading, the reader could never fail to feel such an
immediate movement, and power brought in it since the picture is vividly
presented through its imageries. But then, when we try to find what object that is
being presented by the speaker, there is no explicit reference of the object can be
seen here though it is the main subject that is being described. There is no other
way to understand this poem unless we understand what the speaker has
In this analysis the writer is going to reveal its reference, what ‘it’ really is,
to catch an easier understanding to know this poem better.
A. Projection from the Imagery to Metaphor, and Its Establishment
In general, “I Like to see it lap the Miles” describes about the nature of an
object, it, that is observed and enjoyed by speaker. On this first layer extraction, the focus is to get general picture about how the object is being presented. From
the close reading there are some characteristics of the object that make the poem
is vividly pictured. They are: ‘lap’, ‘lick’, ‘feed itself’, and ‘step’ in the first stanza; ‘fit its sides’, ‘crawl’, ‘complaining’ and ‘chase’ in the third stanza; and
‘neigh’ and ‘stop’ in the last stanza.
In the first stanza the speaker presents ‘it’ as able to ‘lap’ and ‘lick’. From
those images, we can notice that this object is presented as ananimal since ‘lap’ and ‘lick’ characterize verb of an animal. Both verbs are employing tongue.
Literally ‘lap’ means to drink something with quick movement of the tongue and
‘lick’ means to take something with tongue. But then, what being lapped is not
substance but ‘Miles’ and what being licked is ‘Valleys’:
I like to see it lap the Miles– (1.1)
And lick the Valleys up (1.2)
So here we could paraphrase these lines as: I like to see it quickly pass through the
miles and climb the valleys up. Next:
And stop to feed itself at Tanks – (1.3)
In the second stanza we are invited to see the settings when ‘it’ travels in a
distance move:
Around a Pile of Mountains – And, supercilious, peer
In Shanties – by the sides of Roads –
And then a quarry pare (Second Stanza) When it is around a pile of mountains, and in supercilious feeling, ‘it’ arrogantly
spies the shanties that lay between roads. After that, ‘it’ runs to the quarry.
The third stanza describes its movements through the quarry:
To fit it sides, And crawl between Complaining all the while In horrid – hooting stanza –
Then chase itself down hill (Third Stanza)
While it has to fit the sides in passing through the quarry, its sound reverberates
all the while that produce such a loud terrifying sound. Then, it moves fast down
the hill.
In the first stanza we already have a picture that the object is being
presented as ananimal. Last stanza provides some hints, ‘neigh’ and ‘stable’, that
the object is being presented as not just an animal but specifically pointed as a
horse. The word neigh is characteristic sound of a horse, while ‘stable’ means a farm building for housing horses. The last stanza, it describes the ending of its
distance moves. After the hill has been passed down:
Neigh like a Boanerges Then – promter as a Star Stop – docile and omnipotent
The horse neighs powerfully like Boanerges, when it comes on time as a Star. Then ‘it’ stops, it is harmless, but still the power is seen when ‘it’ is in its own
house door.
In the following analysis, the writer will explicate the poem for the second
extraction by applying Cognitive Metaphor theory to see how the metaphor is
built. According to the Cognitive Metaphor theory, metaphor is “understanding
one conceptual domain in terms of another conceptual domain” (Kövecses, 2002:
4) which is formulated in TARGET DOMAIN IS SOURCE DOMAIN. The
comprehension of target domain in terms of source domain is based on a set of
mapping or correspondence between those conceptual domains (2002: 29).
Because there is no explicit name of references from the domains to be drawn for
the full metaphorical mapping, so the writer firstly will map the concept from
imageries lays on the metaphorical expressions in this poem which potentially
lead to the domain. After the domains for both target and source are clear, the
writer secondly will then draw the full mapping mapping to see the metaphorical
establishment.
From the previous finding which has been found, it appears that the
presentation of the imageries are characterizinga horse. It can be seen especially
from the utilization of the words ‘neigh’ and ‘stable’ so for the source domain we
get the spesific reference that is a horse. Then to find the target domain, we need
to see the element presented that does not belong to the characteristics of a horse.
The speaker provides a hint, lies in the third line of the first stanza:
Here, the word ‘Tank’ does not characterize a horse. ‘Tank’ means a large
container (usually metallic) vessel for holding gases or liquid. In other words, this
horse actually is a machine that needs to ‘feed itself’ or be filled up with fuel. As
we get the key that ‘it’ is actually not a horse but a machine, or specifically a vehiclebecause it needs to ‘feed itself’ with fuel in order to be alive. The last line
of this stanza glides with the above concept:
And then – prodigious step (1.4)
This last line emphasizes the previous line ‘it feed self at Tanks’ gives certain
effect to the ‘it’. That after ‘feed itself’ with fuel, ‘it’ immediately moves
prodigiously.
In order to know what kind of vehicle is meant here, let us jump to the last
stanza:
Neigh like Boanerges (4.1)
Then – prompter than a Star (4.2)
This stanza firstly offers us a sound, and then presenting the second line ‘Then –
promter than a Star’.‘Prompter’ means done immediately without delay, while a Star, although it has been already made with a schedule but still sometimes cannot be seen when the cloud covers it. This picture of the second line shows its arrival
and, as the reader, we are invited to imagine its arrival, even more time than the
star does. Then right after the sound come, the vehicle appears. This vehicle is
characterized to be always come on time without delay more than a star. Besides,
the last two lines also characterize ‘it’.
Stop – docile and omnipotent (4.3)
When it stops and has its own door to pass through. Now, it is clear that the
vehicle is a trainbecause there is no other vehicle which has its own stable door
at its house. Then we haveTRAIN IS IRON HORSEmetaphor. The concept of IRON HORSE in this poem to picture the train is well known. According to the
interpretation of John B. Pickard in Emily Dickinson: an Introduction and Interpretation and many other interpretations, “I Like to see it lap the Miles” is seen as a poem about a train which has been presented vividly as a horse (Pickard,
1967: 76).
Now, both the source and the target domain is clear. the writer will apply
cognitive metaphor theory to see how the metaphor TRAIN IS IRON HORSE
works. It is done by mapping the source domain of a horse to the target domain of
a train based on the image projection. If the poem is under TRAIN IS AN IRON
HORSE metaphor then this concept would structure the activity in mind, and
consequently influence the language to fit the concept . The following of this part
is the complete explication of this poem.
I like to see it lap the Miles (1.1)
And lick the Valleys up (1.2)
There is a speaker in this poem who tells the reader that the speaker likes
to see the train with its movement to pass through the miles and valleys. The
movement is experienced as the lapping and licking of a horse. With this picture,
the speaker transfers mental picture of a quick movement of a horse taking up
liquid into mouth using the tongue to quick movement of the train passing through
Since this second layer extraction is under TRAIN IS AN IRON HORSE
metaphor, we have to see these lines base on the underlying concept above. The
first line contains metaphorical expression IT LAP THE MILES, the second line
contains IT LICK THE VALLEYS UP. To whateveritrepresents,the milescould not be lapped literally. This metaphorical expression maps that LAPPING THE
MILES IS QUICKLY PASSING THROUGH THE MILES. This metaphorical
expression comes from the basic metaphorical concept PASSING THROUGH IS
CONSUMING. One basic metaphorical concept can create various metaphorical
expressions for example, from PASSING TROUGH IS CONSUMING metaphor
we could have: metaphorical expression like ‘I have eaten all of my work’, ‘I
consume 20 miles a day in exercising my body’.
Imagine the process of consuming base on the imagery brought to the
metaphorical expression. Lap literally means drinking quickly, this imagery highlight speed or rush and lap the Miles expression hides the liquid object that should be lapped. This new meaning that derived from the combination of the
source domain and target domain is called blending (see Figure 1). The process of
conceptualizing the target domain onto the source domain for the second line is
more or less similar to the conceptualizing process on the first line.
From the above figure, it is easier to picture the metaphorical expression.
Although the image of this expression doesn’t emphasizes on virtual forward
movement of ‘it’, but the speaker notice that passing through is a matter of
reaching one point from another point. Imagine there are some points on the
It (A) lap the Miles , And lick the Valleys up
Horse space
Train Space
Figure 1. The metaphorical mapping process oflap the Miles;And lick the Valleys up
points when those miles are being lapped; first the A point, then B, then C, then
D, and stop. When ‘it’ stops lapping, the miles right in front of ‘it’ is E. So the location ofitis now at E.
And stop to feed itself at Tanks (1.3)
And then – prodigious step (1.4)
The third line contains metaphorical expression. Plausibly, the English
readers posses an underlying metaphorical concept view of MACHINES AS
LIVING CREATURES. Therefore there is a metaphorical expression as implicitly
presented that TRAIN FEED ITSELF WITH FUEL. The metaphorical expression
as TRAIN FEED ITSELF WITH FUEL is entirely commonplace. In terms of
metaphorical concept theory this metaphorical expression is underlied from the
metaphorical concept that MACHINE IS A LIVING CREATURE metaphor. This
conceptual metaphor maps container onto container, substance onto substance, A lap the miles and lick the valleys up
Lap and lick help:
A to be animate being (reaching is consuming)
Miles and valleys as the object to be consumed by A
Miles and valleys moves inside A quickly.
abstract concept onto abstract concept. When we embodied in our mind base on
the mental process of conceptualizing MACHINE IS A LIVING CREATURE
metaphor, it able us to map food onto fuel, body onto container, biologically
active onto move, and spend the energy onto spent the fuel. And the fourth line
presents the effect afteritbunkered (see Figure 2).
Figure 2
The fourth line still derives from the MACHINE IS A LIVING
CREATURE metaphor entails MACHINE NEEDS FOOD TO ALIVE that
creates the metaphorical expression TRAIN IS AN IRON HORSE, with fuel as
food and fuel makes the train able to biologically move. After it feed itself at
IT (A) FEED ITSELF WITH FUEL
Metaphorical mapping
A feed itself with fuel
fuel map:
A to be alive
A is living creature
A ingest gasoline
A is a train
fuel helps: A to run
A uses gasoline Feed helps:
Tanks,follows byAnd then –on the fourth lines to emphasize direct effects of the previous statement. . Whileprodigious stepgives some image of a distance moves just in a single step. It maps the travel from one station to another station,
therefore there is only single step whichprodigious.
Around a Pile of Mountains – And supercilious peer
In Shanties – by the sides of Roads –
And then a quarry pare (Second Stanza)
This second stanza presents the journey ofitstravel. Whenitis surrounded by a pile of mountains and in supercilious feeling, it watches searchingly the shanties that are by the sides of roads. BeingAround a Pile of Mountainsenableit
to superciliouslypeer. It shows howitsfeels toward theshantiesas if theshanties
is nothing compared toit since the shanties is seen as its quarry which are trapped by the sides of roads.Superciliouswhich projects the arrogance of the horse refers to the power of the train compared to shanties. Since this poem is built from
TRAIN IS A HORSE metaphor, this train able to superciliously peers the shanties
that is by the sides of roads. Again the words And then appears, to shows that a quarry pareis happened as the result of the previous act that is And, supercilious, peer. A quarry pare here means it cuts the shanties by passing between as its quarry.
To fit its sides, and crawl between
Complaining all the while In horrid – hooting stanza –
This third stanza pictures whenitpasses through, between the shanties and roads that is pictured on the previous stanza as its quarry. But is the shanties really
itsquarry? No, this stanza counters the previous stanza. Instead of directly ‘hunt’ its quarry, itneedsTo fit its sides,and crawl between. This first line pictures both a narrow space left foritto pass through and a crowded situation. The wordcrawl
emphasizes these mental pictures: because the shanties are crowded, makesit has crawled or moved slowly between them. So the quarry is just in it-s imagination. The result is that it has to complaint all the while to be able to pass it through. But
still the quarry in it-s imagination, we can see it from how it sounding. It is complaining, In a horrid – hooting stanza. Horrid hooting stanza shows how it sounds. It produces loud and horrifying sound that would drive out the crowd automatically. The length of the sound is like stanza, long, it consists of lines. The
last line also emphasize that the quarry is only in it-s imagination. After it
horrified the quarry, there is no victim appears, or pictures about slaughtering. Instead,itmoves to chase itself downhill, not to chase anything from the shanties.
And neigh like Boanerges Then – prompter then a Star Stop – docile and omnipotent
At its own stable door – (Fourth stanza)
After its long travel, it produces powerful sound to signal its arrival to its station. Here, neigh, the original sound of the horse is compared toBoanerges, a name Christ gave to the disciples James and John, meaning ‘son of thunder’
(Pickard, 1967: 77), which could also means a loud preacher or orator. The time
when Emily Dickinson wrote this poem was when the first train arrived at her
and most people were infected, only Emily and her brother, Austin, did not join
them because their orthodox approach failed to satisfy her. She kept searching for
deeper answer and not being apathetic, once she read about new preacher in
Philadelphia, she commented to her brother: ‘I’ve read about Dr. Wardsworth
being presented with elegant casket filled with five-dollar gold pieces…. He must
touch men’s soul or they’d never open their pocket so wide. If only I could hear
him sometime!” (Fisher, 1966: 91). This is how the power of an orator or preacher
is waited. Beside, it also influences people life by touching the soul with their
words.
Different from the other comparisons in the poem, both the first and
second line comparison of this last stanza uses simile to separate and differentiate
it visually as an indication that these lines does not come from the characteristic of
a horse. But it is the horse that is also been characterized asBoanergesanda Star. Boanergesshows not only thatithas a loud sound which is like a thunder but also
ithas a power on itsneighlike a preacher or the Christ’s disciples, and it has been waiting enthusiastically by a lot of people. The arrival of the train is compared to
the arrival of a Star, a star always has a schedule. The results: as it neigh, then punctually as a star it arrives, to control its door to stop docilely and omnipotent foritto enter its stable.
B. Metaphor and Its Image Building
This part will analyze the poem on its third layer extraction: relate the
