Metaphor Review of Related Theories
somehow. In this metaphoric expression, a prison which means a building to which people are legally committed as a punishment for a crime or while
awaiting trial based on Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, is used to
symbolize a home where it is usually described as permanent place to stay peacefully with families.
The symbolization in metaphoric expression is used in order to create image beyond what an expression is said lexically. As stated by Jay
Parini in An Invitation to Poetry, symbol is simply the extension of a metaphor to include things beyond its immediate field or scope. Besides, a
symbol also controls reader’s imagination to define metaphor meaning based on the context of the story they heard or read.
On the other hand, there is also classifications of metaphor. In her book entitled Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language
Equivalence, Larson distinguished metaphor into two classifications, they are dead metaphor and live metaphor.
Dead metaphor is a figurative language which its usage has already been popular. People are already familiar with the expressions because it is
a kind of conventional and it is also used as daily expression. The point why dead metaphor expressions were formed or their comparison do not
longer become the main concern because they are used in daily usage. When a dead metaphor is used, the person listening or reading does not
thing about the primary sense of the words, but only about the idiomatic sense directly Larson, 1998: 274.
The simple way to understand the explanation above is by providing example. In the clause leg of the table, there is no relation between leg and
table, but how come the bottom part of a table which has function as prop can be called as leg? This famous expression is the example of the
common usage of dead metaphor and people use it easily without thinking how the expression was formed because its familiarity in daily life.
On the other hand, dead metaphor is also used to call idioms. Idiom is also a common figurative expression which its usage is found daily. That
is why dead metaphor is considered the same as idioms. An idiom is a dead metaphor. That is, the person using it no longer thinks of the
comparison on which it was based Larson, 1998: 274. Besides, Larson also said that dead metaphor is a part of idiomatic constructions of the
lexicon of the language. Another figure who said that a dead metaphor is an idiom is Weston
W. Fields in his study entitled The Translation of Biblical Live and Dead Metaphor and Similes and Other Idioms. A dead metaphor may be defined
simply as a fixed idiom, a metaphor which has become so much part of the language that the original impetus for its usage may even forgotten
http:biblicalstudies.org.ukpdfgtj02-2_191.pdf Live metaphor is a new figurative language which is made in a certain
occasion and is able to be understood without any further information. A live metaphor is made by the author in order to teach or to give illustration
of an expression. As a live metaphor is made freely without any bond to
certain familiar expressions, it is often used to create readers or listeners’ imagination in reading poems or listening to music. Live metaphors, on
the other hand, are those which are constructed on the spot by the author or speaker to teach or illustrate Larson, 1998: 274.
As live metaphor is made based on creativity of an author, readers or listeners sometimes are forced to think harder in defining the meaning of
the expressions. Authors use certain image or symbol to add aesthetic value in describing something. For example, the expressions of ‘You are
my rainbow’, ‘Her skin is silk’, and ‘I love you to the moon and back’. Live metaphor also takes role in song lyrics which mostly similar to
poems. In this study, live metaphor exists in song lyrics in order to create listeners’ imagination about the song’s meaning by related it to the context
of the songs. A live metaphor, on the other hand, is one which is understood only after paying special attention to the comparison which is
being made Larson, 1998: 274.