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Figures of Speech in Medieval English Mystics
Akio Katami
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DOI:10.17265/2159-5836/2019.10.003
Doctor of Literature, Department of Science and Engineering, Aoyama Gakuin University, Tokyo, Japan
The aim of this paper is to examine metaphors and similes as figures of speech in the language of medieval English mystics. We will focus on three contemplative 14th-century mystics in East Midland, Walter Hilton, the Cloud author, and Julian of Norwich. Metaphors are figures of speech in which a word or phrase that ordinarily denotes one thing is used to designate another, thus making an implicit comparison, as in “a sea of troubles”. For theoretical background, we adapt Lakoff and Johnson’s subcategorization of metaphors into ontological, orientational, and structural metaphors. Lakoff and Johnson significantly remarked that in everyday life, metaphors are pervasive in not only language but also thought and action. As another device of a figure of speech, we will consider similes whereby two concepts are imaginatively and descriptively compared. The use of figurative speech among the medieval mystics is not random but an effective measure in terms of which we can conceptualize their experience. Metaphors and similes used in mystical discourse cannot help but try and construct what cannot be comprehended by acting on embodying the abstract. Numerous figures of speech found in devotional prose, though some noted earlier in biblical works, are novel in their use. In trying to make the ancient teachings of the Christ accessible for the lay public, the prose observed in this study uses figurative language in association with their writings.
metaphor, simile, figures of speech, English medieval mystics, Walter Hilton, the Cloud author, Julian of Norwich
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