Pies wierny, ale uciążliwy, czyli rzecz o metaforze (Leśmiana i nie tylko)

Abstract

A dog loyal but tiresome: on metaphor in Leśmian’s poetry and beyond

The paper is a polemical commentary on Wacław Cockiewicz’s monograph Metaforyka Leśmiana (Analiza lingwistyczna). [Metaphors in Leśmian’s poetry (A linguistic analysis)]. It is claimed that although the author of the book rejects as inadequate the cognitive theory of metaphor developed by George Lakoff and his followers, some of his tacit assumptions actually follow its premises. On the other hand, lack of coherent methodology and erroneous treatment of metaphor as the relation of equivalence (A equals B) result in incoherent or downright incorrect interpretation of many metaphors selected for analysis. Individual items from the corpus are presented in alphabetical order, without concern for either the level of their specificity or their semantic cognation. In effect, their systematicity is often missed. Moreover, in some cases Cockiewicz finds himself unable to interpret Leśmian’s metaphors, and thus his final conclusions – though intuitively correct and partially corroborated by some of the analyses – are undermined.