A Comparative Study Of Ancient And Modern Simile And Metaphor

Metaphor, as the most important means of human’s expression language, not only an important component of the rhetoric, but also the way of enhance the expression effect of our language. Metaphor is used usually, whether in ancient times, or in the modern times.The scholars of the figure of speech has been research thoroughly. However, the works of comparative study of ancient and modern metaphor are rare. Therefore, this research is of great significance of theoretical and far-reaching practical.The study of metaphor between ancient and modern is beneficial to analyse and compare of different meaning of metaphor given at different times. Based on definition, classification, characteristics, meaning and other aspects of the analysis, of the ancient and modern metaphor, we can see the metaphor in ancient times were starting from the function and the point of view of applicability, but in modern times are starting from the speech itself text and innovation. Comparative study of metaphor is conducive to use of metaphor, strive to have new development in the use of the process. Meanwhile the study is beneficial to the analysis of the historical evolution of metaphor and the culture of Han nationality’s evolution of different period.In this paper, linguistics, stylistics, rhetoric, social linguistics, cultural linguistics,contrastive linguistics, cognitive psychology and aesthetics were used to compare metaphor between ancient and modern. The comparison begins of definition, characteristics, meaning and so on. In order to obtained some new perspectives,the thesis is divided into six parts:The first chapter is introduction, briefly describes the present situation and the achievement of comparative study on metaphor of ancient and modern, and also include the purpose, method and value and innovation of this paper. The second chapter discusses the definition and classification of metaphor between ancient and modern. The third chapter, discussing and analogy of personality, including the characteristics of metaphors, metaphorical features. The fourth chapter discusses the comparison of metaphorical meaning and metaphorical objects of metaphor. The fifth chapter, in-depth study of the reasons for the differences. The reason is the differences of cognitive thinking formed in different times. This chapter also explores the common elements of ancient and modern metaphor and its relationship with the culture of the Chinese nation. The above summarized in the conclusion and presented in the end of this paper.In the process of writing this thesis, the author read a lot of historical and contemporary literature, the reference involved from the pre-Qin to contemporary. Some research methods used in this paper, such as inductive method, deductive method, macro and micro analysis.In this paper, the features and achievements in:Firstly, in the macroscopic aspect, summarize the metaphor between ancient and modern firstly,according to some elements below:.First, the different features embodied in the application of metaphor the scholars in the metaphor between ancient and modern.Second, the figurative meaning embodied in the application of metaphor the scholars in the metaphor between ancient and modern.Secondly, in the micro aspect, summarize the reason of the difference of the metaphor between the ancient and modern scholars. It mainly caused by the understandings of the world. Including the difference of aesthetic value, living environment, historical culture, customs and habits.Lastly, through a large number of the example, the author obtained some new perspectives below:First, the common components of metaphor between ancient and modern times.Second, the impact of the metaphor’s development in the evolution of the culture of the Chinese nation.