Conceptual metaphors of love in lyrics by ed sheerans songs

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF LOVE IN LYRICS BY ED SHEERAN’S SONGS (Ẩn dụ ý niệm tình yêu hát Ed Sheeran) LE THI HONG Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Hanoi – 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HANOI OPEN UNIVERSITY M.A THESIS CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF LOVE IN LYRICS BY ED SHEERAN’S SONGS (Ẩn dụ ý niệm tình yêu hát Ed Sheeran) LE THI HONG Field: English Language Code: 8.22.02.01 Supervisor: Dr Tran Thi Le Dung Hanoi – 2021 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I, the undersigned, hereby certify my authority of the study project report entitled “Conceptual metaphors of love in lyrics of Ed Sheeran’s songs ” submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master in English Language Except where the reference is indicated, no other person‟s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the text of the thesis Hanoi, 2021 Le Thi Hong Approved by SUPERVISOR Date: …………………… i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a long journey for me to finish my thesis There are also many people who walked along with me to support and motivate me during the time of doing the research First and foremost, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Ms Tran Thi Le Dung, Ph D., my supervisor, who has patiently and constantly supported me through the stages of the study, and whose stimulating ideas, expertise, and suggestions have inspired me greatly through my growth as an academic researcher My thanks also go to all my lecturers at Hanoi Open University for their precious knowledge which lay the foundation for this study, my colleagues and many others whose support and encouragement help me to have this thesis accomplished Last but not least, I am greatly indebted to my family and friends for their patience, endless love, and devotion Whatever choices I have made, they have always stood by me and believed in me I am immensely thankful for all the assistance they have given to me ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Certificate of originality i Acknowledgements ii Table of contents iii Abstract vi List of abbreviations vii List of tables and figures viii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale 1.2 Aims and objectives of the study 1.3 Research questions 1.4 Methods of the study 1.5 Scope of the study 1.6 Significance of the study 1.7 Structure of the study Chapter 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Previous studies 2.2 Figurative language 10 2.2.1 Definition of figurative language 10 2.2.2 Kinds of figurative language 2.3 Metaphor 11 13 2.3.1 Definition of metaphor 13 2.3.2 Metaphor in cognitive semantics 15 2.4 Conceptual metaphors 17 2.4.1 Classifications of conceptual metaphors 19 2.4.1.1 Structural metaphors 19 2.4.1.2 Ontological metaphors 20 2.4.1.3 Orientational Metaphors 22 2.4.2 Conceptual metaphor domain 23 2.4.2.1 Source domain 24 2.4.2.2 Target domain 2.5 Music and love 24 24 iii 2.5.1 Music 24 2.5.2 Love 27 2.5.2.1 Conceptual metaphor of love 27 2.6 Biography of Ed Sheeran and his songs 27 2.7 Summary 29 Chapter 3: CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS OF LOVE IN ED 31 SHEERAN’S SONGS 3.1 Song presentation 31 3.1.1 U.N.I song 31 3.1.2 Thinking Out Loud song 31 3.1.3 Photograph song 3.1.4 Shape of you song 31 32 3.2 Structural metaphors of love in the selected song lyrics by Ed Sheeran 32 3.2.1 LOVE IS A DESIRE 32 3.2.2 LOVE IS HAPPINESS 33 3.2.3 LOVE IS A PAIN 33 3.2.4 LOVE IS A JOURNEY 34 3.2.5 LOVE IS POSSESSION 36 3.2.6 LOVE IS A UNITY 36 3.3 Ontological metaphors of love in the selected song lyrics by Ed Sheeran 39 3.3.1 LOVE IS A CONTAINER 39 3.3.2 LOVE IS FOOD/ NUTRIENT 3.3.3 LOVE IS AN OBJECT 40 40 3.4 Orientational metaphors of love in the selected song lyrics by Ed Sheeran 43 3.4.1 LOVE IS CLOSENESS 43 3.4.2 LOVE IS MADNESS/ INSANITY 44 3.4.3 LOVE IS A NATURAL FORCE 45 3.4.4 LOVE IS A PHYSICAL FORCE 45 3.5 Summary 47 Chapter 4: CONCLUSION 49 4.1 Recapitulation 49 4.2 Concluding remarks 49 4.3 Limitation of the research 4.4 The implications 50 51 iv 4.5 Recommendations and suggestion for further studies 51 REFERENCES 53 APPRENDIX 57 v ABSTRACT This study is an account of an investigation of conceptual metaphors of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs in the framework theory of Lakoff and Johnson (1980/2003), Kovecses (2002) In the thesis, the structural metaphors, orientational metaphors and ontological metaphors will be analyzed to reflect the opinions of theirs about love in the lyrics of the composers The study is mainly carried out through the documentary analysis and descriptive study with the support of qualitative and quantitative approach In other words, the lyrics of the songs are used as the data source of this research The results of this research show that there are twenty-two source domains of conceptual metaphors used to express love They are journey, hidden objects, fire, captive animal, food, closeness, game, beauty, unity, rapture/high, economic exchange, lesson, madness/ insanity, nutrient, desire, music, physical force, natural force, container, pain/torture and opponent These twenty-two source domains of conceptual metaphors have their own unique interpretation of what love actually is The source domains prove that the abstraction concept of love can be described in more concrete domains of conceptual metaphors Finally, the reseach showed that conceptual metaphor is being in our everyday life Thus, studying conceptual metaphor and using it in life is important and useful It not only brings students benefits in the process of learning English but also helps them widen knowledge about a variety of language as well as access to the world around easily vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CM: Conceptual Metaphor SM: Structural Metaphor OM: Ontological Metaphor OrM: Orientational Metaphor vii LIST OF TABLES AND FIGURES Table Ed Sheeran‟s four selected songs Table Structural metaphor of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs 37 Table Ontological metaphor of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs 42 Table Orientational metaphor of love in lyrics by Ed Sheeran‟s songs 46 Fingure Types and frequencies of conceptual metaphors in Ed Sheeran‟s 52 song lyrics viii hurt Loving can heal LOVE IS HAPPINESS Love can also become nutrient Photograph a which heals the lover Loving can mend your soul 10 Hearts are never broken LOVE IS Loving can HAPPINESS mend your soul LOVE IS A Heart UNITY is something Photograph Photograph that could be broken into several pieces, makes it something is that not a complete unit 11 And I won’t never let you go LOVE IS A POSSESSION Love is under Photograph the control of the lover 12 Come on now, follow my lead 13 Every day, discovering something JOURNEY LOVE is also Shape of You comprehended as a travel LOVE IS A LOVE also is a JOURNEY journey LOVE IS A brand with studying new 14 Shape of You something new One week in, we let LOVE IS A LOVE is the story begin JOURNEY regarded as DESIRE when he desires the feelings of love from his girl, to be loved 58 Shape of You APPENDIX 2: ONTOLOGICAAL METAPHOR No Lyrics Ontological Meaning Song title Metaphor And go back to the LOVE IS day we fell in love CONTAINER just on our first kiss The effort to U.N.I overcome the sadness and miss his ex - girl friend They‟re more like tsunami tides in my LOVEE IS AN OBJECT His sadness has U.N.I increased eyes Will your mouth still remember the taste LOVE IS FOOD of my love? And I‟m thinking about how people Love is assumed as Thinking food be Out Loud The feeling of love can come from one Thinking Out Loud that can tasted LOVE IS CONTAINER fall in love in side or both side of mysterious ways lovers, it is also come from all people by one way or mysterious ways Maybe we found love right where we are LOVEE IS AN OBJECT Love as a hidden Thinking object which needs to be searched and Out Loud discovered It is the only thing LOVE IS that makes us feel FOOD makes alive And it‟s the only thing we take with lovers Photograph feel alive LOVEE IS Love is the only thing AN OBJECT we take with us when us when we die Love as a nutrient that Photograph we die Girl, you know I LOVEE IS People who are in Shape of want your love AN OBJECT love usually tend to You be more ambitious 59 Your love was LOVEE IS handmade for AN OBJECT Love as an object Shape of You somebody like me 10 I’m in love with your body LOVE IS CONTAINER He has an interest towards his/her beloved person Shape of You physical appearance 11 I’m in love with the shape of you LOVE IS CONTAINER Love is seen as the container of person in love 60 the Shape of You APPENDIX 3: ORIENTATIONAL METAPHOR No Lyrics Orientational Meaning Song title Metaphors And maybe I can let LOVE IS myself down NATURAL A He is sad when the U.N.I love is broken up FORCE I'll take you in my LOVE IS To arms and keep you CLOSENESS protect and U.N.I shelter in love sheltered And I can‟t sweep you LOVE IS A He cannot make her Thinking off of your feet NATURAL to fall in love with Out Loud FORCE him I am thinking out loud LOVE IS People who are in Thinking love usually cannot think normally and Out Loud MADNESS/ INSANITY have less control over themselves We keep this love in a LOVE IS Love can be kept in Photograph photograph CLOSENESS a photograph Love is up and forever So you can keep me LOVE IS He wants to be inside the pocket of CLOSENESS together with this your ripped jeans girl forever Keep it deep within LOVE your soul IS Lovers CLOSENESS are soulmates nothing will Photograph Photograph and ever seperate them We push and pull like LOVE a magnet IS Love is just like the PHYSICAL object FORCE cannot of force be responsible for what happens to it 61 Shape of You APPENDIX 4: U.N.I I found your hair band on my bedroom floor The only evidence that you've been here before And I don't get waves of missing you anymore They're more like tsunami tides in my eyes Never getting dry, so I get high Smoke away the days, never sleep with the light on Weeks pass in the blink of an eye And I'm still drunk at the end of the night I don't drink like everybody else I it to forget things about myself Stumble and fall with the head spin I got My mind's with you but my heart's just not So am I close to you anymore, if it's over? And there's no chance that we'll work it out That's why you and I ended over U.N.I And I said that's fine But you're the only one that knows I lied You and I ended over U.N.I And I said that's fine But you're the only one that knows I lied Everybody said we'd be together forever But I know that I never wanna settle down, Come around, break up the love like lego now Never wanna turn into another like you Sleep with my thoughts, dance with my views Everything's great, not everything's sure But you live in your halls and I live in a tour bus Now I'm in position to be another stalker Like everything I say seems to always sound awkward Like our last kiss, it was perfect 62 But we were nervous, on the surface And I'm always saying everyday that it was worth it Pain is only relevent if it still hurts I forget like an elephant, or we can use a sedative And go back to the day we fell in love just on first kiss So am I close to you anymore, if it's over? And there's no chance that we'll work it out Oh you and I ended over U.N.I And I said that's fine But you're the only one that knows I lied You and I ended over U.N.I And I said that's fine But you're the only one that knows I lied Because, if I was gonna go somewhere I'd be there by now And maybe I can let myself down And I'm thinking I'm unaware I keep my feet on the ground And keep looking around, To make sure I'm not The only one to feel low Because if you want I'll take you in my arms and keep you sheltered From all that I've done wrong And I know you'll say That I'm the only one But I know God made another one of me To love you better than I ever will Cause you and I ended over U.N.I And I said that's fine But you're the only one who knows that I lied You and I ended over U.N.I 63 And I said that's fine But you're the only one who knows that I lied 64 APPENDIX 5: THINKING OUT LOUD When your legs don't work like they used to before And I can't sweep you off of your feet Will your mouth still remember the taste of my love Will your eyes still smile from your cheeks And darling I will be loving you 'til we're 70 And baby my heart could still fall as hard at 23 And I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways Maybe just the touch of a hand Oh me I fall in love with you every single day And I just wanna tell you I am So honey now Take me into your loving arms Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars Place your head on my beating heart I'm thinking out loud Maybe we found love right where we are When my hair's all but gone and my memory fades And the crowds don't remember my name When my hands don't play the strings the same way, mm I know you will still love me the same 'Cause honey your soul can never grow old, it's evergreen Baby your smile's forever in my mind and memory I'm thinking 'bout how people fall in love in mysterious ways Maybe it's all part of a plan I'll just keep on making the same mistakes Hoping that you'll understand But baby now Take me into your loving arms Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars Place your head on my beating heart 65 I'm thinking out loud That maybe we found love right where we are, oh So baby now Take me into your loving arms Kiss me under the light of a thousand stars Oh darling, place your head on my beating heart I'm thinking out loud That maybe we found love right where we are Oh baby, we found love right where we are (maybe) And we found love right where we are 66 APPENDIX 6: PHOTOGRAPH Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes But it's the only thing that I know When it gets hard, you know it can get hard sometimes It is the only thing makes us feel alive We keep this love in a photograph We made these memories for ourselves Where our eyes are never closing Hearts are never broken And time's forever frozen, still So you can keep me Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet You won't ever be alone, wait for me to come home Loving can heal, loving can mend your soul And it's the only thing that I know, know I swear it will get easier Remember that with every piece of ya Hmm, and it's the only thing we take with us when we die Hmm, we keep this love in a photograph We made these memories for ourselves Where our eyes are never closing Hearts were never broken And time's forever frozen, still So you can keep me Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet You won't ever be alone And if you hurt me That's okay, baby, only words bleed Inside these pages, you just hold me 67 And I won't ever let you go Wait for me to come home Wait for me to come home Wait for me to come home Wait for me to come home Oh, you can fit me Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen Next to your heartbeat where I should be Keep it deep within your soul And if you hurt me Well, that's okay, baby, only words bleed Inside these pages, you just hold me And I won't ever let you go When I'm away, I will remember how you kissed me Under the lamppost back on Sixth street Hearing you whisper through the phone "Wait for me to come home" 68 APPENDIX 7: SHAPE OF YOU The club isn't the best place to find a lover So the bar is where I go Me and my friends at the table doing shots Drinking fast and then we talk slow Come over and start up a conversation with just me And trust me I'll give it a chance now Take my hand, stop, put Van the Man on the jukebox And then we start to dance, and now I'm singing like Girl, you know I want your love Your love was handmade for somebody like me Come on now, follow my lead I may be crazy, don't mind me Say, boy, let's not talk too much Grab on my waist and put that body on me Come on now, follow my lead Come, come on now, follow my lead I'm in love with the shape of you We push and pull like a magnet Although my heart is falling too I'm in love with your body And last night you were in my room And now my bedsheets smell like you Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with your body Oh – I – oh – I – oh – I – oh – I I'm in love with your body Oh – I – oh – I – oh – I – oh – I I'm in love with your body Oh – I – oh – I – oh – I – oh – I I'm in love with your body Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with the shape of you 69 One week in we let the story begin We're going out on our first date You and me are thrifty, so go all you can eat Fill up your bag and I fill up a plate We talk for hours and hours about the sweet and the sour And how your family is doing okay Leave and get in a taxi, then kiss in the backseat Tell the driver make the radio play, and I'm singing like Girl, you know I want your love Your love was handmade for somebody like me Come on now, follow my lead I may be crazy, don't mind me Say, boy, let's not talk too much Grab on my waist and put that body on me Come on now, follow my lead Come, come on now, follow my lead I'm in love with the shape of you We push and pull like a magnet Although my heart is falling too I'm in love with your body And last night you were in my room And now my bedsheets smell like you Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with your body Oh – I – oh – I – oh – I – oh – I I'm in love with your body Oh – I – oh – I – oh – I – oh – I I'm in love with your body Oh – I – oh – I – oh – I – oh – I I'm in love with your body Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with the shape of you Come on, be my baby, come on 70 Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on I'm in love with the shape of you We push and pull like a magnet Although my heart is falling too I'm in love with your body Last night you were in my room And now my bedsheets smell like you Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with your body Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on I'm in love with your body Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on I'm in love with your body Come on, be my baby, come on Come on, be my baby, come on I'm in love with your body Every day discovering something brand new I'm in love with the shape of you 71 Approved by SUPERVISOR (Dr Tran Thi Le Dung) Date:…………………… 72