Dr. Dhaifullah Zamil Harbi & Dr. Mustafa Abdulsahib Abdulkareem
Department of English, Faculty of Education for Women, University of Kufa, Iraq
A descriptive poem creates vivid imagery, enabling readers or listeners to visualize a scene in detail, much like a painter does with colors and brushstrokes. This paper proposes a model for analyzing Descriptive Poetry (DP) by redefining and modifying Langacker’s construal principles, which were originally developed to explain how humans conceptualize reality, particularly visual environments. The study aims to bridge cognitive linguistics and literary analysis by adapting these principles to assess the portrayal of imagery in poetry. The model was applied to an Andalusian descriptive poem, The Dove, to evaluate its visual and sensory richness. The analysis revealed that The Dove effectively utilizes principles of construal—such as perspective, salience, and specificity—to craft a highly descriptive and engaging visual environment. These findings showcase the utility of Construal Operations as a framework for the literary analysis of DP, offering fresh insights into the cognitive mechanisms underlying poetic imagery. The study highlights the potential for cognitive linguistics to contribute to the study of literature, particularly in understanding the interplay between language and visualization in descriptive poetry.
Keywords: Construal Operations, Descriptive Poetry, Cognitive Linguistics
The above abstract is a part of the article which was accepted at The 10th International Conference on Languages, Linguistics, Translation and Literature (WWW.TLLL.IR), 1-2 February 2025, Ahwaz.
