A Stylistic Approach: How Metaphor Fulfills Its Functions

Metaphor, a focal point in rhetoric research for a long history, is a topic heatedly discussed in various fields both at home and abroad. Especially in recent years, the study of metaphor has become "metaphormania" in most western countries. It is noticed that it is a new way to study metaphor from the interdisciplinary perspective. Under the guidance of this idea, my thesis studies metaphor from a stylistic approach to see how metaphor fulfills its functions.Starting the thesis from what style is and combining abundant connotations and cognitive nature of metaphor, my study respectively focuses on the changeable but concrete stylistic functions that a wide variety of metaphors play in Literary Stylistics and General Stylistics. The present study shows that the functions of metaphor have been extended beyond the simply figurative function and that metaphor can be accepted as an independent stylistic element and can form a variety of styles and enrich the characteristics of each style. In conclusion, the original intention of my paper is to prove that metaphor can be an independent basic element in the field of style, to deepen the function of metaphor in the field of style and to give some helpful advice in teaching stylistics.