Analyzing Conceptual Metaphors in Sultan Bahu's Sufi Poetry

ABSTRACT

Purpose: The study aims to examine the use of different natural objects in Sufi poetry by an eminent Sufi poet of the subcontinent, Sultan Bahu applying Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphor (1980).

Design/Methodology/Approach: Highly relevant excerpts from Bahu’s poetry are selected and then interpreted by using a purposive sampling technique.

Findings: The analysis shows that the poet has not only created beauty in his mystic verses with the help of different symbols taken from his environment, but he tried to make it easier for his people to understand their relationship with their Creator.

Implications/Originality/Value: So, it is concluded that Bahu spread the divine message of God with the help of his poetic verses to mankind in the Punjabi language. He made his poetry influential as well as powerful by using different metaphors taken from his surrounding nature. His poetry is full of symbolic expressions of different kinds.