A Conceptual Metaphor Analysis of “Lion and Gazelle” in the Dīvān‑e Kabīr (The Relationship between Shams‑e Tabrīzī and Mowlānā)

Document Type : Rhetoric

Authors

1 Associate Professor of Persian Language and Literature, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.

2 PhD Student in Persian Language and Literature, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran, Iran.

10.22091/jls.2026.16401.1816

Abstract

In the Divan‑e Shams, an extensive network of animal‑based metaphors is employed to articulate lover/beloved and human/God relations, as well as to represent mowlana experiential encounter with Shams‑e Tabrizi. The central question of this study is how the “lion and gazelle” dyad in the ghazals of the Divan‑e Shams, beyond a merely poetic image, functions as a cognitive mechanism and what mappings of “power and surrender” it organizes. It further asks how this metaphorical system relates to the notion of the “eloquent silence” (Eloquent in silence) as one of the key outcomes of mowlana spiritual and personal transformation resulting from his meeting with Shams. The aim of the research is to explicate the conceptual structure of the “lion/gazelle” metaphor, to identify its source and target domains and the oppositional patterns that shape it, and to demonstrate its connection with mowlana transformative lived experience (from conventional speech to meaningful silence/eloquent quietude), drawing on Lakoff and Johnson’s theory of conceptual metaphor. The study adopts a qualitative descriptive‑analytical method. Its findings show that this metaphor is primarily organized around three axes: “power/surrender,” “hunting/desire,” and “attraction/annihilation.” Within this framework, the “lion” is conceptualized as the beloved (with the potential to signify the presence of Shams), and the “gazelle” as the yearning seeker (with the potential to refer to mowlana). Moreover, patterns such as “love is hunting” and “the beloved is a lion” narrate the story of mowlana existential transformation and indicate how, through attraction and annihilation, the tension between power and surrender tends toward the unity of lover and beloved, such that “eloquent silence” and “silent eloquence” emerge as the natural result of crossing from language into the realm of presence and the witnessing of beauty.

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Rhetoric and Grammar Studies

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 05 September 2026

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