Metonymy in Li Bai’s Poetry : A Cognitive and Cultural Analysis of a Chinese Classic

This book explores metonymic patterns in Li Bai’s poetry from a cognitive poetic perspective and offers new insights into the use of metonymies in poetry more widely. Focusing more specifically on Annotations to the Annals of the Complete Collection of Li Bai compiled by A Qi, it sheds light on the poetic style of one of the most celebrated poets of China’s Tang Dynasty (610-907 AD).

Adopting corpus-based and introspection methods, this book builds a metonymy identification procedure that takes into account the social and cultural context and the stylistic characteristics of Tang poetry, classifies the metonymies into different categories, and examines their roles and functions. The author reveals how Li Bai’s metonymies reflect the poet’s evolution as his style shifts from romanticism to realism. She also reflects on how they act as a lens through which readers can learn about hierarchical structures, wine, dress and agriculture in the Tang Dynasty.

Approaching Li Bai’s poetry from a fresh angle, this volume contributes to the study of classical Chinese literature and offers implications for the appreciation, translation and teaching of Li Bai’s poetry.