Traditional and cognitive metaphor in Aelfric's 'Life of St Edmund' and Wulfstan's 'Sermon of the wolf'

Abstract

This study examines the two major theories of metaphor, the traditional view and the cognitive linguists view, as they appear in Old English literature: specifically Ælfric’s Life of St Edmund and Wulfstan’s Sermon of the Wolf. Though Wulfstan, in particular, is historically thought to have avoided metaphor use, by broadening the term of metaphor to include the cognitive definition, metaphors are found throughout the works of both authors. Though Wulfstan does not commonly use metaphors in the traditional sense, he does in the cognitive, just as Ælfric does. Both use similar ontological metaphor throughout the two texts.