Study of Conceptual Metaphor in the Poetries by Saadi Yousef and Ahmad Shamloo Based on Cognitive Semantics

Metaphor, being addressed either as a decorative element or as a cognitive process, has attracted the researchers' attention for a long time. According to the findings of cognitive linguistics, humans create and store fundamental conceptual constructions called image schemas in their minds so that when thinking about abstract matters by transferring these concrete constructions to language facilitate and complete the perception process. Saadi Yousef and Ahmad Shamlou have conceptualized many abstract concepts in their poems with the assistance provided by schemata. This research, descriptive-analytical method, while examining and analyzing the schemata in two selected poems of these two poets, to explain the way of thinking and, also, the foundations of their understanding of the world around them. As being indicated through the results, abstract concepts such as death, life, change, and immortality have been embodied in the form of these images and the three schemes of volume, movement, and force have been able to communicate in an organized, organic, and coherent manner with each other and in line with a certain goal. This may lead to the production of meaning and finally put the abstract concept of immortality and impact in the form of a visual tableau before the audience.
Introduction:
Schemas are considered a tool for conceptualizing and simplifying incomprehensible concepts and a tool for deeper understanding of the text and adding a new meaning to the existing meanings. One of the important functions of schemas is reaching a first-hand, different, and sometimes contradictory reading of the text with the assistance of studying its examples. The feature that caused the emergence of multiple voices from the text, frees the text from freezing and monotony, and in this way provides the possibility of producing new meanings.
The poetry of Saadi Youssef and Ahmed Shamlou has become a difficult and difficult poem due to features such as the use of symbols, frequent defamiliarizations, language and social context specific to the creation of the work, and the intellectual geometry corresponding to this behavior.
Since pictorial schemas are formed aligned with the framework of objective experiences and, furthermore, the origin of conceptual metaphor is human perception and conceptual system, these schemas can act as a tool to delve into the depths of the intellectual and ideological system of the creators of the text and open the problems and dilemmas of these two poets' poetry to come to the help of the audience. Iran and Iraq are two neighboring countries. This neighborhood and the cultural closeness has resulted in creating a remarkable kinship and similarity between the literatures of these two countries. Countless common themes and concepts used in the poetry of Saadi Yousef and Ahmad Shamlou clearly prove the validity of this claim. What has happened in Arab poetry in this hundred years has also happened in Persian poetry, with slight differences arising from the different conditions of the cultures and structures of these two peoples" (Shafi'i Kodkani, 1380: 15). The commonality of concepts and themes, as well as how they are presented in the poetry of these two poets is due to their benefiting from common ideological sources and the proximity of these two geographies to each other. The commonality of concepts and themes in Yousef and Shamlou's poems is to a great extent that it is possible to show a similarity in Shamlou's poetry in terms of the concepts and themes compared to Yousef's poetry correspondingly and one by one. There are undeniable similarities between the two odes "Al-Qatli Yasirun Lila" and "Song of Ibrahim in the Fire", since it is a praise of the freedom and freedom of the fighters who made their lives the support of their immortality, in terms of structure and content. This provides the basis for comparing these two poems.
In the upcoming research, an attempt has been made to examine and analyze the schemas in the two odes in the interactive space that are formed between these schemas, in a descriptive-analytical approach and a library study manner.  In what follows, the given research questions are being addressed.

What are the most important conceptual metaphors used in the ode "Al-Qatli Yasiron Lila" by Saadi Yousef and "Song of Ibrahim in the Fire" by Ahmad Shamlou?
How are the provided metaphors in the two poems related to each other?
How have these metaphors led to the production of meaning?

Method:
This research is based on the descriptive-analytical method, while examining and analyzing the schemata in two selected poems of these two poets, and followed by that, explains the way of thinking and the foundations of their understanding of the world around them.
Results and Discussion:
The victims of Yousef and Shamlou's poems are multi-layered and multi-meaning characters, and the image schemas used in these two poems generalize the coordinates of these characters to all the "awakened" and "non-awakened" people in history. The three schemes of volume, movement, and force have been able to produce meaning in an organized, organic, and coherent relationship with each other and in line with a certain goal. This means, the volume and movement design provide the ground for the presence of free people in the dimensions of space and time. Followed by that, the design reflects the power of intransigence and non-compromise with the status quo to ultimately lead to the embodiment of the abstract concept of immortality.
Saadi Yousef personifies the martyrs in the form of voices that have not been silenced to show that their physical removal has not been able to have an effect on silencing their voices. This way, the abstract concept of "immortality" and the concept of "effect" are firstly made. The presence of the dead in the dimension of space (night is a place) and in the dimension of time (night is a path) reinforces the presence of the metaphor "meaningful death is life". It goes without saying that the march in all the authoritarian nights is an expression of the constant and historical presence of the martyrs.
Yousef and Shamlou do not find a word to describe their hero and they inevitably start a composite creation with the help of schemas to make the understanding of the dimensions of the quasi-abstract hero's personality objective and comprehensible. With the help of the metaphor "these dead are sound" and "sound is a compound being", Yousef personifies the dead in his poem as a group of voices that have not been silenced. In Shamlu's poem, an objective aspect is found beyond imagination with the help of the metaphor "a different kind of man is a complex being". A man who has inherited courage from a lion, stubbornness from iron, steadfastness and permanence from a mountain, and the sum of these qualities makes him a different, immortal, and transhistorical personality.
In Yousef's poem, the general and simple concept of change is understood through the concrete concept of awakening; the path that begins with sleep and ends with waking. Also, considering the movement that is moving during the night, the metaphor of "these dead are walking" can be extracted. This is not a night stay because the verb "Yiseron" refers to movement. By directing intangible and aimless concepts such as death and its types in the language of poetry, Shamlou tries to make these concepts tangible by means of up-down directions. After giving up his life, a common person goes beyond the sky and joins the immortals.
In Yousef's poem, in addition to the resonance of the "voice" of the awakener and the current time of the martyr, his "blood" is also an obstacle. The blood mentioned in the final stanza will remove sleep, which is an obstacle on the way to awakening and, consequently, the realization of consciousness. The eyes of the dead are open forever. Their voices flow in time and space and no obstacle, even a shroud, can cover or erase their bodies. All the above characteristics are the coordinates of "immortals". In Shamlu's poem, fire is an obstacle that stands in the way of Abraham and finally produces the third form of the metaphor of power that is, crossing the obstacle. In the following, by using the adjective "other species" for his praised hero, the poet reminds us of his non-surrender to the existing obstacles. The metaphor of power in these two poems can have a motivational role. It means to show the audience the way to overcome the obstacles in a society disillusioned with social changes. This scheme expresses the hope of human will to change his destiny.
Conclusion:
The findings of the research indicate that abstract concepts such as death, life, change and immortality have been embodied in the form of these images and the three schemes of volume, motion and force have been able to lead to a certain goal in an organized, organic and coherent relationship with each other produce meaning and finally put the abstract concept of immortality and effect in the form of a visual tableau before the audience.