A cognitive analysis of conceptual metaphors in Nizar Qabani’s poem “message from under water"

In the last four decades, a lot of cognitive researchers have grown interested in the cognitive analysis of language in connection to mental and cognitive processes. The current paper aims to conduct the ways in which Nizar Qabani employs conceptual metaphors of love and pain in A Message from under the water poem. Nizar Qabani is a Syrian poet; he is considered one of the most prominent contemporary figures in the Arab cultures. The paper analytical framework is based on Lakoff and Johnson's Conceptual Metaphor Theory and is further enhanced by Kövecses's Extended Conceptual Metaphor Theory in terms of a mixed methodology. The findings reveal that metaphtonymy is used more compared to metaphor, and the underlying force and container schemas are more dominant compared to other schemas. The whole comprehension of mental space reveals that love and pain are inseparable concepts in the Arab world.