Mapping the Metaphors: A Conceptual Metaphor Mapping of Richard Siken's the List

As research evolves, there’s an onset of exploration on the conceptual frameworks influenced by cognition and communication across different fields of research. This ongoing dialogue highlights the intricate relationship between language, thought, and the way we perceive reality (Masden 884). This indicates a need for further empirical research to clarify how different types of metaphoric expressions influence comprehension and whether the bodily experiences associated with them significantly shape our understanding. By exploring these nuances, this paper adds academic understanding to the cognitive processes underlying metaphor use and appreciation in language. Through Cognitive Metaphor Theory, this paper explores the metaphorically rich poems of Richard Siken’s poetical work, “The List”, as a map of a mind rebuilding itself after trauma, using metaphor as both scaffold and scalpel. It concludes that through its metaphorical usage, the speaker doesn’t just artistically manipulate the metaphors, but rather the speaker lives inside them, and their survival depends on which metaphors they allow to dominate in the poem.