METAPHORS WE SING BY: A DESCRIPTIVE AND COMPARATIVE STUDY OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS IN POP AND METAL LYRICS

Abstract

The main purpose of this study is to carry out a descriptive and comparative analysis of conceptual metaphors (CM’s) in metal and pop lyrics based on the theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson in their influential book ‘Metaphors We Live By’, published in 1980. In this work, they claim that metaphors are not constrained to poetic language, but are also part of everyday language. In this sense, they claim that metaphor is not only a stylistic feature of language but also an essential process of human thought and conceptualisation.