A Contrastive Study of Religion Metaphors Between English Folk Songs and Yao Folk Songs

Abstract

Both English folk songs and Yao folk songs come from the folk and belong to a kind of folk literature. Through the comparison of religious metaphors in English folk songs and Yao Folk Songs, and by exploring the root of the formation of their respective national characteristics, we can find out that cultural differences as well as cultural similarities exist in them although Yao folk songs are not the representatives of all Chinese ballads. Since the source domains and target domains used in these two folk songs are generally familiar to us, their religious metaphors give us a hint that early human beings had ever faced the common social problems, and they had similar lifestyles and almost the same characteristics of human’s thinking. Undoubtedly, this research can help us roughly to learn about the historical track of human being’s childhood and follow the trail of their religious thoughts.