ABSTRACT
A metaphor can most simply be regarded as the use of one expression to refer to a different concept in a way which is still somehow regarded as meaningful. Metaphor throughout history has most prototypically been associated with poetic and literary usage. However, much work in cognitive science has demonstrated that metaphor is also a basic pattern in the way the human mind works. Understanding the role of metaphorical patterning in cognitive processes has driven cognitive psychology and cognitive linguistics to radical new insights in the study of mind. In previous chapters of this book, many of the processes which underlie patterns such as figure and ground, deictic projection, cognitive grammar, schema management, and framing are fundamentally metaphorical. Cognitive science is responsible for placing metaphor at the centre of language and thought in general. However, for cognitive poetics, these general insights can also be returned to the literary sphere in order to understand more clearly how metaphor works in literature.
