A Comparative Investigation of the Conceptual Metaphor "LOVE IS WAR" in Hafez's Divan and Petrarch's Canzoniere

In the present paper we aim, in an analytic and comparative manner, at an investigation of the conceptual metaphor "LOVE IS WAR" as a way of understanding of falling and being in love and speaking of them in Hafez's Divan and Petrarch's Canzoniere within the framework of Lakoff's Conceptual Metaphor Theory. What comes out through this examination reveals that although the two collections turn out to be similar in many ways in terms of metaphorical theme, there are two major differences between them in terms of imagery: to begin with, Hafez employs more warfare terms and expressions than Petrarch does, and secondly, Love in Petrarch's poetry on many occasions reveals itself in the image of Cupid, God of Love in ancient Roman mythology, who with his bow and arrow aims at the lover's heart and captures him. In Hafez poetry, however, there is no such explicit imagery which personalizes the abstract and invisible force of love emotion in the form of a god, but in it we encounter a beloved, or the eyes and eyebrows of which, that, in a figurative manner, shoot arrows at the lover's heart and ensnare him.