Metaphorical Expressions in Contemporary English Poetry: A Syntactic Analysis of Some Selected Poems

A metaphor is type of figurative language abounds in everyday conversation especially in poetry and literature in general. Hornby (2003:498) defines metaphor as a figure of speech in which name or descriptive term is transferred to some object different from but analogous to that to which it is properly applicable. In other words, metaphor is usually described as an implicit statement that one concept is another concept. It enables the speaker to convey deeper meaning or specific connotation of word by comparing two things that are not logically related. Though metaphors are context-sensitive, yet at the same time they are abstract models related to language because they are originally linguistic structures. The study aimed at analyzing the metaphor from linguistic perspective, identifying the different linguistic patterns carry the metaphor and to show the linguistic behavior of the metaphor. In the light of these aims, the study presented different hypotheses; the most important one is that Metaphor takes different types and different linguistic structures by which the poet ornaments his poem to affect the recipient.