Conceptual Metaphors of Alienation and Disappointment in Radiohead's “Let Down”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.51601/ijse.v6i1.447Abstract
Song lyrics play an important role in expressing complex emotional experiences that are often difficult to articulate through literal language. Although previous studies have examined metaphor and emotion in music, many focus on large corpora or musical structure, leaving a gap in close, lyric-centered analyses of how emotional meaning is constructed within individual songs. This study addresses that gap by examining how emotional experience is structured through conceptual metaphor in Radiohead’s song “Let Down.” Grounded in Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this research focuses on three interrelated frameworks: Emotion Is a Physical Force, The Object Event-Structure Metaphor, and Force Dynamics. Using a qualitative descriptive approach, the lyrics are analyzed to identify recurring metaphorical patterns related to alienation, disappointment, and longing. The findings reveal that emotional suffering is consistently framed as embodied and overwhelming, while the lyrical subject is positioned as a passive entity subjected to repeated emotional events. Movement imagery further reflects constrained emotional effort, resulting in frustration rather than change. These results suggest that metaphor in song lyrics functions as a cognitive mechanism that enables listeners to experience emotion as embodied and enduring
Downloads
References
[1] Afrashi, A., & Ghouchani, B. (2018). Prabhakaran, S., & Nair, R. (2021). Conceptual metaphors of fear in Persian and English A cognitive and corpus-based approach. International Journal of Linguistics,. Language Art. https://doi.org/10.22046/LA.2018.09
[2] Agus, C. (2013). Conceptual Metaphor Related To Emotion. Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra Indonesia Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia, 13, 205–214.
[3] De Sousa, Ronald. (19901987). The rationality of emotion. MIT Press.
[4] Gibbs, J. R. W. (2018). Metaphor Wars. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781107762350
[5] Gibs JR, R. W. (2008). The Cambridge Handbook of Metaphor and Thought. Cambridge. www.cambridge.org
[6] Hochschulkennziffer. (2020). Emotion Metaphors in New Englishes INAUGURAL-DISSERTATION [Philipps-Universitat Marburg]. http://archiv.ub.uni-marburg.de
[7] J. Taylor, S., Bogdan, R., & DeVault, M. L. (1949). Introduction to Qualitative Research Methods (Vol. 416). John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
[8] Johnson, Mark. (2013). The Body in the Mind The Bodily Basis of Meaning, Imagination, and Reason. The University of Chicago Press.
[9] Kartika Sari, D. A., Aryawibawa, I. N., & Sri Rahayuni, N. K. (2018). Metaphorical Expression of the Word Anger in the Corpus of Contemporary of American English (COCA). Humanis, 882. https://doi.org/10.24843/jh.2018.v22.i04.p07
[10] Kovecses, Z. (1977). Metaphor and Emotion (Oatley Keith & Manstead Antony, Eds.; Vol. 242). Cambridge University Press.
[11] Kövecses, Z. (2002). Metaphor: A Practical Introduction (Vol. 303). Oxford University Press.
[12] Ksatria, A. (2024). Conceptual Metaphor as a Means of Persuasion in Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s Speech. JADEs Journal of Academia in English Education, 5(1), 58–73. https://doi.org/10.32505/jades.v5i1.8798
[13] Lahlou, H., & Rahim, H. A. (2022). Conceptual metaphors in North African French-speaking news discourse about COVID-19. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 11(3), 589–600. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v11i3.35949
[14] Lakoff George, & Johnson Mark. (1980). Metaphors We Live By (Vol. 128). The University of Chicago.
[15] Nashruddin, W. (2013). Nashruddin, W. (2013). Why muslim students plagiarize in writing English texts Journal on English as a Foreign Language. Journal on English as a Foreign Language, 03, 97–100.
[16] Richards, J. C. (2001). Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. New York Cambridge. (Vol. 334). The Press Syndicate of The University of Cambridge.
[17] Safira, R. (2022). Conceptual Metaphor Analysis in the Dreams, Spelled in Poetry. Journal of Literature, Linguistics, & Cultural Studies, 1(1), 33–50. https://doi.org/10.18860/lilics.v1i1.2233
[18] Snaevarr, S. (2010). Metaphors, Narratives, Emotions (Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe, Ed.; Vol. 395). New Directions Publishing Corp.
[19] Soriano, C. (2015). Emotion and conceptual metaphor. http://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:98100
[20] Steen, G. J. (2011). The contemporary theory of metaphor — now new and improved! Review of Cognitive Linguistics, 9(1), 26–64. https://doi.org/10.1075/rcl.9.1.03ste
[21] Talmy, Leonard. (2003). Toward a cognitive semantics. MIT.
[22] Wicke, P., & Bolognesi, M. M. (2020). Framing COVID-19: How we conceptualize and discuss the pandemic on Twitter. PLoS ONE, 15(9 October). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0240010
[23] Yang, H., Huang, B., Li, L., & Zhang, S. (2025). Color Metaphor Mappings for Love Concepts: Empirical Evidence from Chinese Speakers. Metaphor and Symbol, 40(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10926488.2024.2379988.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Ilham Yafi Pramono, wiwiek afifah
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
