In Love as in War. The Warlike Imagery in Song of Songs

One of the elements that contributes to make Song of Songs both fascinating and puzzling is its elaborated metaphorical framework. One of the most original imageries in Song of Songs is the warlike imagery. Something unfolds between lovers that the poet cannot explain except by using military language: both the lovers and the love show warlike traits. The purpose of this project is 1) to offer a systematic and exhaustive analysis of all the warlike metaphors, in light of the new input coming from Cognitive Linguistics, 2) explicating the dynamic of warlike metaphors and similes within the poem as a whole and, 3) reading them in relation with other metaphors which create the Gestalt of Song of Songs.status: publishe