Conceptual Metaphors of Nature, Violence, and Identity in Temsula Ao’s “My Hills”

Abstract

This paper examines the conceptual metaphors in Temsula Ao’s poem “My Hills”. The study explores how the poet uses metaphorical mappings to represent nature, landscape, identity, environmental change, and violence. The poem initially presents the natural environment through musical images such as “bird-song,” “gurgling brooks,” “echoed,” and “whispers,” while later contrasting this harmony with the “staccato” of weaponry. The landscape is also represented as a living entity through images of red rivers, bare hillsides, and the lost “essence” of the hills. The study argues that these conceptual metaphors function beyond decorative language by shaping the speaker’s understanding of environmental destruction, violence, memory, and identity. The analysis demonstrates the usefulness of Cognitive Metaphor theory in examining how poetic language constructs relationships between human experience and the natural environment.