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Part of
Drawing Attention to Metaphor: Case studies across time periods, cultures and modalities
Edited by Camilla Di Biase-Dyson and Markus Egg
[Figurative Thought and Language 5] 2020
► pp. 159–188

“Entering the house of Hades”

The formulaic language for metaphors of death and the question of deliberateness in Early Greek poetry

| Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich

This paper considers the possibility of metaphors being used in a deliberate manner in Early Greek poetry and particularly Homer’s Iliad: the epic poems of Homer are shaped by a tradition of oral composition and formulaic language which contains a wealth of metonyms and metaphors. By focusing on the copious formulaic metaphors and metonyms of death in battle, it will be argued that the communicative purpose of metaphors, which is essential for philological interpretation, can be independent of deliberate usage and that deliberateness constitutes no reliable requirement for poetic purpose and effect.

Keywords: conceptual metaphor theory, deliberate metaphor, metaphors of death, Early Greek poetry, Ancient Greek epic, Iliad , Odyssey , Tyrtaeus
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Figurative language, deliberateness and death
  • 2.Death and figurative language in the Iliad
    • 2.1Metonymic expressions for death in the Iliad
    • 2.2Metaphorical conceptualisations of death in the Iliad
      • 2.2.1 Death is darkness
      • 2.2.2 Death is departure
      • 2.2.3Other conceptualisations of death in the Iliad
    • 2.3Preliminary conclusions
  • 3.Figurative language and death in the Odyssey
  • 4.The treatment of battle death in the battle exhortations of Tyrtaeus and Callinus
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 8 April 2020
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ftl.5.07hor
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