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Abstract

This dissertation explores how metaphors for time are used in the poetry of T. S. Eliot. Eliot’s work shows a great fascination with the concept of time, particularly the poems from The Four Quartets as well as The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock and The Waste Land. The main aims of the study were to find out the extent to which time is metaphorical in Eliot’s poetry and to analyse the source domains that are used in these time metaphors. This study is important because time is a concept that is central to the human experience and yet the way that it is spoken about is so heavily metaphorical, therefore it is important to explore the metaphors that are used and how they influence the way that Eliot understands and conceptualises time.
Using a corpus based analysis I found all of the expressions that were about time in six of Eliot’s poems. I found that time i s more often referred to metaphorically than non metaphorically in Eliot’s poetry. I also found that the most frequent time metaphor in Eliot’s poetry is TIME IS A SYNTACTIC AGENT. Other key source domains found in the poems were: SYNTACTIC PATIENT, RESOURCE, COMMODITY and CONTAINER. These results reveal that time, in Eliot’s poetry, is heavily influenced by metaphor. In particular, time is understood as being the instigator of actions, rather than the receiver of actions; a resource that is running out; a commodity that can be possessed and a space that contains. These metaphors reveal the nature of time in Eliot’s poetry; showing that time has a high amount of agency, rather than simply being a space or an inanimate being.

Course: English Language and Linguistics - BA - C2742S

Date Deposited: 2020-09-23

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis13546.html