Journal of the stylistic of Persian poem and prose
volume Number 18، number In Volume 10، Junuary 2026 ، issue Number 116

The study of metaphorical creativity tools in Shahriar’s poem " Salam bar Heydar Baba " From the perspective of cognitive semantics

Seyyed Akbar Hatami , Arsalan Golfam (Author in Charge), Mahnaz Karbalaei Sadegh

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: In the process of creating a conceptual metaphor, which is a metaphorical understanding of abstract experiences, the creative tools of " Extending, Elaborating, Questioning and Combining " have been proposed by Lakoff and Turner. Their examination in poets" poems is a new achievement in understanding poetic emotions and transmitting them to the addressee. In this article, with the aim of examining metaphorical creativity in Shahriar"s poetry, the poem "Salam Bar Heydar Baba" has been examined.

METHODOLOGY: The research method in this article is based on library studies and is descriptive-analytical. The statistical population is the poem "Salam Bar Heydar Baba" by Shahriar, translated by Behrouz Sarwatian.

FINDINGS: In the poem Heydar Baba ya Salam, Shahryar expressed his emotions and experiences from his childhood in the village with subtle descriptions and nostalgic content. In the poet"s descriptions, conceptual metaphor, with the source domain of man, objects, directions, elements of nature, etc., is mentioned, and in their creation, he used the creative tools of Extending, Elaborating, Questioning and Combining in a single and combined manner. The findings of the research show: the tools of Combining and Extending in the creation of conceptual metaphor are the most frequent, and the tool of Questioning is the least frequent. In the 76 stanzas of the poem in the first part, the Extending tool is 34%, the Elaborating tool is 21%, the Questioning tool is 15%, and the Combining tool is 30%. These tools are often used singly and in a few cases in combination. In terms of content, metaphors are used in expressing the concepts of life, sadness, longing, happiness, youth, and describing the elements of nature.

CONCLUSION: In expressing his poetic experiences in the poem "Haydar Baba ya Salam", Shahriar has used more of the tools of Extending and Combining and less of the tool of Questioning in creating conceptual metaphor, and has used the tool of Elaborating moderately.

Keyword
Conceptual metaphors , metaphorical creativity , Extending , Elaborating , Questioning and Combining