NAWAR HUSSEIN RDHAIWI AL-MARSUMI
DOI: https://doi.org/The aim of this study is to develop a psychological-cognitive model of identity on the basis of the poem written by Sylvia Plath in 1956 entitled Two Sisters of Persephone, following the framework of Conceptual Blending Theory (Fauconnier & Turner, 2002), as well as Conceptual Metaphor Theory (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). The cognitive mapping of identity as a dual system of incompatible selves, one rational, enclosed, and sterile; the other sensual, fertile, and in touch with cycles of nature, is exposed in the analysis. The poem externalizes internal psychological states through the creation of carefully structured conceptual blending and metaphoric suggestions that root internal psychological phenomena within bodily, spatial, and environmental imagery. The results indicate that Plath modelled the representation of identity as dynamically emergent, culturally informed, and embodied. This strategy brings into focus the cognitive processes by which poetic language codes psychological conflict and creates the potential of using cognitive linguistics to the study of psychology in literature.
