Image Schema Analysis on Psalm 23: A Study of Metaphor Based on Cognitive Theory

Abstract

This article aims to identify what types of image schemas operating in Psalm 23 ―The
Lord is My Shepherd. This text is very old and full with metaphors. According to the theory of
Conceptual Metaphor, metaphorical phenomena are not merely as a linguistic matter, but rather
as a process of cognition by which humans understand the reality (Lakoff and Johnson,1980).
Unconsciously, conceptual metaphor generates metaphorical expressions in our daily life.
Behind the conceptual metaphor, there are image schemas serving as a pre-conceptual structure
derived from physical experiences, cultural background, and ideology of a nation. Image-schema
is a recurring structure within our cognitive process (Johnson,1987).
The Psalm 23 ―The Lord is my Shepherd‖ consists of 6 verses, each may be contained of more
than one sentence or phrase. It was written by King David about the fifth and the tenth century
B.C. to show the goodness of God, and His close relationship with His people. God is portrayed
as a good shepherd caring deeply to His cattle. Mapping method is adopted to construct the
meaning of metaphor in which The Lord as Target Domain and Shepherd as Source Domain.
Then, each verse is analyzed to find image schemas involved in the text. As the result, there are
seven types of image schemas in Psalm 23: container, path, link, force, attraction, blockage, and
removal of restraints. Based on these findings, it can be concluded that image schema as an
elementary part of conceptual metaphor has potential to be an analysis tool to discover the
meaning of metaphorical texts.