A CORPUS-BASED STUDY OF NOUNS USED AS METAPHORS SHOWING PESSIMISM IN T.S. ELIOT’S THE WASTE LAND

Abstract

The present Corpus-based study aims to identify the nouns used as metaphors showing pessimism in The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot. The study tries to determine the role of metaphors in creating pessimism in poetry and also to prove the effectiveness of the application of Corpus methodology to study this phenomenon. Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT) of Lakoff and Johnson (1980) has been used as a framework. For better results, a mixed-method approach, Corpus methodologies and tools, AntConc 3.5.8, CLAWS7, WebCorp Live, and WORDCounter are applied to obtain and analyze data. The study reveals that metaphors or metaphorical words play a vital role in creating pessimism in the poem. This study also offers a comprehensive and objective source for ELT teachers, learners, and researchers who desire to use the Corpus methodologies and tools to study metaphors and their pedagogical implications in any literary text by using both qualitative and quantitative approaches.