CC BY
20Archaeoastronomy and Ancient Technologies
www.aaatec.org ISSN 2310-2144
DOI: 10.24412/2310-2144-2022-1026781 UDC: [811.142]
'Ship of Time' and 'Ship of Death': from mythopoetic model of the world to modern cognition (a case study of Modern Greek poetry)
Iuliia V. Kozhukhovskaia
V.I. Vemadsky Crimean Federal University, Simferopol, Russian Federation;
E-Mail: [email protected]
Abstract
The paper focuses on metaphorization of time as a ship in the Modern Greek poetry that appears in its interrelation with the Ship of Death imagery, revealing a set of mythologemes. Modern Greek poetry inherits mythopoetic features of Indo-European myth of dying and rising sun that is commonly depicted as sailing on a boat, the motif that signifies the conceptualization of time. The poetic concept of time takes shape in correlation of ship with the concepts of age and nostalgia, in the metaphor: 'sailing on a ship is the process of recollecting', and in the metaphorization of ship as an embodiment of unreachable past. Space and time correlate to the ship sailing to the lower world - deep into the memories - where the past acquires the features of the netherworld. The personification of ship, along with the materialization of memory, can be compared to the personification of the sun as the eye of the gods in mythology. The research sets concepts and cognitive metaphors, which have been shaped within mythopoetic features: 'dichotomy order-chaos', 'mythopoetic journey through life', 'vertical structure of cosmos: Upperworld and Netherworld', as well as 'ship as a means of travel to the Netherworld', and 'chthonic features of the ocean'.
Keywords: metaphor, concept, solar myth, time metaphor, death metaphor, Indo-European studies, Modern Greek language, Modern Greek poetry.
Introduction
Iconographic representation of a boat or a ship in combination with the sun, along with other forms of embodiment of naval and solar symbolism, is found around the world: in Scandinavia, South-East Asia, and the Western Pacific (Ballard et al., 2003; Bellwood et al., 2006; Helskog, 1985; Tenazas, 1973; Vanhulle, 2018), throughout the northern circumpolar zone (among others: the Canadian Shield and British Columbia, the carvings of Lake Onega, and lower Amur) (Lahelma, 2017, p. 150), in the Mediterranean region (Kristiansen, Larsson, 2005; Kristiansen, 2010; Lahelma, 2017). These petroglyphs and other types of pictorial representation date back to the Bronze age and demonstrate the solar cult that was particularly pronounced in cosmological
system of Indo-European cultures. Nevertheless, as far as cultural differentiation is concerned, V.N. Toporov specified that model of the world was relatively unified and stable during this time, and named it "mythopoetic epoch" (Tokarev, 1987-1988), the phenomenon that grounds homogeneous symbolism all over the world.
Object of Study and Methods
Numerous poems of 20th and 21st centuries focus on correlation of concepts of time, death and ship that traces its origin to mythopoetic picture of the world. The main goal of the paper is to set the main types of mythopoetic schemata (with the topic of 'Ship of Time' and 'Ship of Death') and their correlation to cognitive entities, based on the Modern Greek poetry. Mythopoetic component is indispensable part of cognition, attested in different spheres of human existence, though it is most vividly observed in the poetic form, therefore, figurative nature of poetry acts as a material selection criterion. The research includes two case studies: the poems that contain metaphorization of time (the poems by Giorgos Seferis, Manolis Anagnostakis, Kostas Ouranis, Markos Meskos), and Ship of Death imagery (the poems by K.G. Karyotakis, Nikos Kavvadias, Manolis Anagnostakis, Argyris Chionis, Giannis Skarimbas, Gerasimos Markoras). Methods of cognitive linguistics aim at studying of cognitive information that is structured into concepts, cognitive metaphors, frames, schemata, scripts, etc., being the part of the picture of the world, that can be conceptual, language and mythopoetic. The research also uses the following methods: descriptive and analytical, historical and etymological, semantic and contextual analysis, interpretive and stylistic analysis.
The context of the study considers the Indo-European solar myth that proceeds from observation of the solar nature. The mythopoetic consciousness perceives it as "daily drama of sunset and sunrise" (Lahelma, 2017, p. 146). According to the reconstructed Indo-European myth, first of all, on the basis of Vedic tale of Bhujyu, son of Tugra, Twin Gods (Ashvins, Dioscuri, etc.) rescue the sinking sun from the ocean and darkness on their ship and sail to the new dawn (Goto, 2006; Kaul, 1998; Kristiansen, Larsson, 2005; MacDonell, 1897; Nikolaev, 2012). The ocean is commonly associated with the primordial chaos and participates in the mythopoetic scheme of upper- and underworld.
The dichotomies day-night, upperworld-underworld, as well as further conceptualization (four cardinal points, four seasons), underlie the processes of categorization and suggest the attempts to perceive the nature of time and space. It is four boats that save Bhujyu "thrust down within the waters, thrust forth into / darkness that offered nothing to grab onto" in one of the descriptions in the Rigveda (I, 182, 6). Furthermore, Roman Janus, being solar and time deity, has two faces with their spatial and temporal symbolism, while the faces of Baltic Porenut, patron of sailors, oriented to four cardinal points.
Thus, the mythopoetic idea of time roots in everyday journey of the sun and becomes associated with the naval symbolism. The examples of materialization of time in mythologies include the apples of Idunn and the threads of fate that spin the Norns (Steblin-Kamenskiy, 1976, p. 43). The solar motive demonstrates the phenomenon of personification of the sun that traces from the symbolism of the all-seeing eye of the gods. Specifically, ancient Greek Argus is described as having the thousand eyes (Tokarev, 1987-1988, p. 208). Comparing Greek, Avestian, Vedic and other contexts, West (West, 2007, pp. 198-199) determines the solar deity (and the god of justice in some cases) that fulfils the functions of the all-seeing god. In the Rigveda (I, 44, 7-9) Savitar, Ushas, Bhaga and Ashvins, associated with solar symbolism, are
metaphorized as the eye of the gods. However, Vedic Vayu, the god of air and space, is portrayed as having thousand eyes, which implies not only solar and temporal, but spatial symbolism, as well. The all-seeing feature is inherent in the upper world with the functions of godly control and protection. It is the idea of two eyes of some supernatural being in the form of celestial bodies that underlies the rite of depicting eyes on the boat in different cultures (Golan, 1991; Ivanov, 1935).
Discussion of Results: the solar myth and TIME IS A SHIP metaphor
Ship is a poetic symbol with multilevel structure that has vivid metaphorization in modern poetry. While a variety of approaches to the study of conceptual framework has been suggested, this paper will focus on the mythopoetic component that underlies the concept. Thus, the analysis sets four main types of metaphoric objectification of the Ship of Time in Modern Greek poetry of the twentieth and twenty first centuries.
(1) Sailing on a ship is a process of recollecting (Table 1).
Table 1. Correlation of the journey (on ship) in reality and in imagination/memory ("The cats
of Saint-Nicolas" by Giorgos Seferis).
• recollection of the monastery bell
The poem "The cats of Saint-Nicolas" by Giorgos Seferis (Seferis, Keeley, Sherrard, 1982) presents the journey on a ship that overlaps with the guided tour through the past of the island (Cyprus) held by the captain of the ship. The symbol of the bell is a precondition for both: the journey and recollection, as the sound of ship's bell is a way to wake captain's memories of the tale, he once heard, through parallelism with monastery bell that appears in his story.
While the poetic world travels through time, the ship moves in space. It integrates physical and temporal dimensions in the context of concept JOURNEY. Interaction between past and present takes place in several ways: 1) addressant and narratee plunge into the past, 2) the past events come to the present, 3) addressant and narratee return to the present from the world of memories (Table 2).
Table 2. Interaction of the Present and the Past ("The cats of Saint-Nicolas" by
Giorgos Seferis).
The past events come to the present
Addressant and Addressant and Narratee
Narratee plunge return to the present from
into the past the world of memories
Naval vocabulary links the concepts of ship (geographical journey, the present) and memory (time journey, the past). Naval lexico-semantic group aims not only at shaping the course of the ship ("Left ten degrees rudder!", "Steady as you go!"), it gets back the listeners from the story,
introducing the dual reality, i.e. the worlds of imagination and real life. Thus, the verbalization of concept MEMORY brings the type of time travel in imagination.
Story that the captain had heard from "a half-mad monk, a kind of dreamer" (Seferis, Keeley, Sherrard, 1982) focuses on the extinction of cats - after they defeated snakes in the cape. Their death is metaphorically compared to the "sunken ship" and implies the interaction of the ideas of time and death. This interaction of concepts is comparable to the other poem by Seferis "Kihli", where the voices of the past (of the dead) "are triggered by the sight of the submerged ship, a transformation of the Odyssean underworld" (Beaton, 1989, p. 260-261). The ship is the means of transition to the depth of the memory, the descent to the past in the light of its mythopoetic symbolism.
(2) Personification of the Ship (through the verbs of thinking) with the cognitive feature "timelessness" (Table 3).
Table 3. Personification of the Ship. Time-scale: conceptualization of memory and time ("A date years before" by Manolis Anagnostakis).
Time reveals itself through memory in the case, when poem has a form of diary entries: "A date years before" by Manolis Anagnostakis1 (for example, "Port Said, Alexandria" 20 of July). Diary, as well as calendar, is basically the instrument of time observation and the way of time tagging. If calendar marks the starting point of time reckoning and takes on a role of structuring of time, then diary is a means of fixing events in time most often through the prism of emotional response, and implies a look back analysis.
Lexico-semantic group "darkness" prevails in the poem: Qa^rca (dim), ooupourca (dusk), GKoxaSi (darkness), PpaSia (evenings), vuxra (night), SsiXiva (sunsets). The epithet "dim ships", as well as other lexical means that express darkness, define the nature of memories: the memories fade with the passage of time. The verbs of thinking ("think" and "remember") predetermine the personification of ships and sunsets: "Ti oKs^xovxai oXa aura xa KapaPia"
1 AvayvrooxáKng M. Mia nM8POMnvía npiv anó xpóvia. URL: http://www.greek-language.gr/digitalResources/literature (accessed on 18 June 2022).
(What do all these ships think about), "Ti 9upowrai т 'ava^^sva тропка SsiXiva" (What do the luminous tropical sunsets remember).
Metaphorical associative field implies the journey that occurs not only in time, but in space: "караРш пои феиуош Kai nXaviouvTai ото окотаб^' (the ships that sail away and silhouette in the darkness), "караРю . . . хореиош Ss^sva тбоа xpovia" (the ships . . . dance tied for so many years). The ship is identified with years by means of metaphor: "цулцп . . . / 5spevn п(ою ап 'sva кaрdPl пои 5s 0а yupiosi" (memory . . . tied to a ship that is not going to return). The complex metaphor TIME IS A SHIP follows with sub-metaphor "Passing time is a Sailing ship" in its structure. Beyond that, the ship is characterized by timelessness: "та караРш, . . . 5s y8pаoаv / тиАлур^а ап' т^ фоиртоше^ т6oюv т6oюv rn^i5irov" (the ships . . . haven't got older / wrapped in the storms of so many and many voyages), introducing the concept of age.
(3) 'HUMAN IS A SHIP' metaphor: correlation of ship with the concepts of age and nostalgia (Table 4).
Table 4. Complex metaphors 'HUMAN IS A SHIP' and 'LIFE IS A JOURNEY' with sub-metaphors and cognitive-features ("I reflect upon the cargo ships" by K. Ouranis).
The poem "I reflect upon the cargo ships" by K. Ouranis2 embodies the idea of time in the form of parallelism of ship's and human's ages. It focuses on the ties of sailors, ships and the sea with the type of cargo ship at the very heart of the poem. The poem focuses on the idea of journey: the geographical space extends to the uttermost: "Та фортща караРю пои та^í5sуаv / orav пвуте tov nпsípюv та пеХауп" (The cargo ships that travelled the seas of the five continents). In the meantime, the negative construction "5sv рпороше пш vа та^бвуоше" (they cannot travel any more) acquires direct and indirect meaning. The metaphors HUMAN IS A SHIP and WORK IS A JOURNEY are objectified in introspective aspect, representing the concepts of nostalgia and loss. Sub-metaphor "Retired sailors are Abandoned cargo ships" is specified. The ship correlates to the concept of time that is represented by the lexical units: yвpаoаv (grew old), оап(^ош (rot), xdoavs (lost), уврои^ (old).
The image of a cargo ship traces roots back to antiquity. Bacchylides, ancient Greek poet, wrote that the Muse has sent him a cargo ship from Pieria, laden with songs (West, 2007, p. 41).
2 Оирагп? К. Та фортща караРш оиМоу^орш. URL: http://users.uoa.gr (accessed on 18 June 2022).
He chose specifically the symbol of a cargo ship, though verbalized in the field of art and inspiration, from the perspective of its functional properties. The poem by Ouranis bases on the antithesis. Functional properties (in the case of the ship) and experience (in the case of the sailors) oppose to their uselessness, due to their age. The passage of time leads to negative assessment of the present, while the past is assessed in a positive light. Time becomes materialized in nostalgia for the past, in memories of sailing and work on the ships.
(4) The ship as an embodiment of unreachable past (Table 5).
Table 5. Three worlds of Axis Mundi and naval metaphor ("My next weapon" by Markos
Meskos).
The poem "My next weapon" by Markos Meskos (Meskos, 1962, p. 24) introduces the metaphor: "Exa páTia xrov nvty^evrov xa Kapápia / sívai pia vooxaXyía axsXsiroxn" (in the eyes of the drowned the ships / are an endless nostalgia). The poem is based on the function of ship as a means of metaphorical travel, i.e. on the mythopoetic feature of transition. Nostalgia brings the idea of memory that fulfils function of the bridge between the present and the past.
Therefore, three main motives that originate from mythopoetic picture of the world follow (Table 6).
(1) Equivalence of space and time. The space-time correlation occurs widely in Modern Greek poetry: both space and time move simultaneously by means of sailing of a ship - the phenomenon that is most pronounced in the poems by Seferis and Anagnostakis. This phenomenon is known as chronotope in literary discourse (Bakhtin, 1979). Drawing upon mythopoetic ground, the overlap of features of space and time is the primary process in world mythologies that was reflected in the duality of gods in many cases (for example, Dioscuri). Spatial and temporal characteristics are inseparable from each other, as exemplified by two-faces of Janus, which symbolize the duality of both time and space.
(2) The Eye of God. The personification of a ship (as in the poem by Anagnostakis) is associated with the personification of the sun in mythology. While the mythopoetic sun comes to life through "seeing", the poetic ship comes to life through "thinking" in correlation with memory and sunsets. At the same time, the sunset is an allusion to the path of the sun in the netherworld. It is into the lower world - deep into the memories - where the space of the poem
moves with the ship as a means of transition and materialization of time. According to Eliade, the Zufii Indians called the months the "steps of the year" and the year - the "passage of time" (Eliade, 1954). The personification of ship as a year (in case of Anagnostakis' poem), as well as "seeing" function, takes this symbolism to the level of interpretation of mythological assimilation of ocean-chaos, where the sailing ship embodies the order of cosmos and gradual movement of years in time. The same function comes into focus in the case of the poem by Seferis. The sailing of the ship is accompanied by the process of materialization of memory, aiming to relive the events on retrospective time scale.
(3) The Netherworld and liminal function. The past acquires the features of the netherworld in the poems under study. From this perspective, the journey of the ship of Seferis towards the past has pronounced chthonic features (for example, the sunken ship as a symbol of destruction of "form" and the motive of serpent-fighting). Other attributes of the past as an element that belongs to the netherworld in the poems are the darkness as part of the concept of memories (Anagnostakis), the shipwreck as metaphorization of the past, where those, who has drowned are the metaphor for the lower world, and the sailing ship embodies the upper world (Meskos); as well as the immersion to recollections and descending journey to the depths of memory and experience in all the cases. All this leads to objectification of mythopoetic solar journey in a boat through the netherworld in Modern Greek poetry.
Table 6. Main mythopoetic motives in the poems.
Boat of the Netherworld in Modern Greek poetry
The night part of the solar journey takes place in the Netherworld; thus, the ideas of time and death are closely interrelated in terms of mythopoetic picture of the world. The lower world has vivid mythological representation, meanwhile the naval motives concentrate mostly around the crossing of water space, in which Hermes Psychopomp and Charon are involved in Greek mythology.
The underworld river that divides the worlds of living and the dead possesses the features of mythopoetic chaos that proceeds from the water symbolism, creating precondition for the vehicle to reach the other shore. Literary descriptions of the voyage aboard a ship to the world of the dead can be found in Beowulf, in De bello Gothico by Procopius of Caesarea, in the Poetic Edda, Icelandic sagas, Irish legend of Bran, and in Kalevala (Kobylinski, Rabiega, 2018, p. 205). The concept originates from the interaction of the images of boat as a vehicle of the sun and as a vehicle of the soul (Lahelma, 2017, p. 151; Vastokas, Vastokas, 1973, p. 127). As a result, boat becomes the carrier of the soul, helping it to pass from one world to the other (Vanhulle, 2018, p. 177).
The idea of the ferryman of the Netherworld is found in ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome, Yorubas of south Nigeria, Mesopotamia, Denmark of the Bronze-Age (Ahmed, 2016, p. 157). As to ancient Greece, the ferryman imagery was "not just an empty poetic formula but a vivid concept in the imagery of symbols" (Alfoldy-Gazdac, Gazdac, 2013, p. 293). Still in antiquity there existed two different functions: Charon-psychopomp and Charon - the embodiment of death. In certain cases, it is the demon that steals people's souls, or the ruler of the Netherworld himself (Golan, 1991). In Modern Greek culture he is known as Charos (o Xapo^) - a demon personified as a black bird or a winged rider (Golan, 1991).
Modern Greek folklore inherited its imagery from Byzantium, where the concept received verbalization as o Xaprov, o Xapo^, o Xapovxa^, o Xsiprov, etc. Folk motives present the hero's battle on a marble threshing floor with death (Livanos, 2011, p. 126). Byzantine Charos takes shape of the demon of death with bows and arrows, and sometimes appears as a hunter (Waser, 1898), in the Digenes Akrites Charos is identified with horror (Angold, 1995, p. 444).
Charon as an embodiment of death that usually snatches people away is attested in Lucian, in two epigrams in the Anthologia Palatina, AP VII 671 (attributed to Bianor), AP XI 133 (attributed to Lucillius), in a tale in the late antique Pseudo-Dosithean schoolbook, in inscriptions: I. Thess. I 108 (Thessaly), I.Chios 281, IGUR II 836, and IGUR III 1149 (Rome) (Mihalyko, 2015, pp. 189-191). This assimilation was registered in the first-century AD, and became established by the tenth century (Mihalyko, 2015, pp. 190-191).
There are a number of interpretations of Charon's etymology. First of all, the grammatical precondition of variation: Xaprov (antique) - Xapo^ (Byzantine) should be admitted (Lawson, 1910, p. 98), however, lexical etymology of his name derived from xaprono^ (implying his fierceness and his flashing eyes) separates his image from classical ferryman (Hoffmann, 19851986, p. 179). The roots of Byzantine Charos are sometimes considered to be in the images of antique Thanatos and Lethe (Angold, 1995, p. 445; Moravcsik, 1931; Stichel, 1971, pp. 19-20), or correlate with Charun of the Etruscans with equivalent symbolism, which determines its widespread use in Roman sources.
The prior research admitted the similar traits in outward appearance of Etruscan Charun and Greek Charos (Hoffmann, 1985-1986, p. 179). Hoffmann has also suggested the Greek origin of traditional death-demon Charos that was borrowed by the Etruscans (Hoffmann, 1985-1986, p. 178). On the other hand, the prevalence of Roman cases suggests that Etruscan symbolism was at least one of the sources that influenced on the development of the image under study.
The available evidence points to the clash of the transition function of boat, commonly known, first of all, in shamanic journeys across the worlds of Axis Mundi or expressed in Egyptian ferryman myth, with the type of death-demon imagery.
The literature shows no consensus on correlation of Egyptian ferryman and ancient Greek Charon. The counterargument to their assimilation appeals to independent development of naval
technologies by both cultures with the important role of water in their civilizations and, as a consequence, it is considered that Kherty is supposed to have no relation to Charon of the Greeks (Ahmed, 2016, p. 157). However, Greek culture could be influenced by Minoan ship-imagery of the Bronze Age. Minoan thalassocracy factored into the developed naval symbolism. The ship of Minoan cosmology navigates in the chaos of the celestial ocean and is a symbol that transcends reality, connecting world with another reality (Tzovaras, 2017, pp. 50, 58). Nevertheless, a number of authors have recognized the impact of Egyptian solar cult, particularly of the 18th Dynasty, on the Minoan religion (Tzovaras 2017, 55), reflected, particularly, in the afterlife voyage to the Isles of the Blessed in a boat (Marinatos, 1933; Marinatos, 2015; Nilson, 1950; Tzovaras, 2017; Vermeule, 1979). Complementary dependence of the development of symbolism follows, due to the broad trade contacts inside the Mediterranean basin. At a later date, backward process takes place, when death demon was occasionally mentioned in Egyptian texts. Equalization of Charon and Death is used in PGM P13 (Charon with claws: KaxaK^doa<; tov ovuxa xou Xdpovxo^) and in the epigram by Julian the Egyptian (Mihalyko, 2015), demonstrating that the image reached Hellenized Egypt.
Modern Greek poetry adopted the imagery of ship as the symbol of death that is used in different contexts. The poem "The Dolphin, Part First" by G. Markoras (Markoras, 2003, p. 427) is a vivid example of classical myth: a solitary ship moves to Hades through the darkness. The ship gets its mythological function of ferryman between worlds of the living and the dead. Being attributed to memory and oblivion, darkness as a feature of the netherworld is objectified in the poems that focus on death imagery.
Light-darkness imagery also prevails in the poem by K.G. Karyotakis (Karyotakis, 1992) "The Last Journey", written a year before the suicide of the poet. Its title implies a lyrical farewell to life, basing on a metaphor: "KaXo xa^iSi, aXapyivo Kapdpi pou, oxou arcsipou Kai orn^ vuxto^ rnv ayKaXid" (have a good journey, my distant ship, into infinity and to the night's embracement) that determines the objectification of ship as a means of travel to the mythopoetic underworld. Thus, the poem is based on metaphors: "Death is sailing on the ship" and "Death is the night". The dichotomy light-darkness, verbalized by the lexemes vuxxo^ and ^roxa (night and lights), defines the ambiguous assessment of the forthcoming journey. The phraseological units "KaXo xa^iSi" (have a good journey) and "rcsxpa va pixvro nioro" (never to return) define a cognitive feature "sadness" of the script: "The ship is starting its journey to the obscurity and doesn't mean to return". Lexeme xpiKupia introduces the metaphoric storm that implies a stroke of fate in terms of the dichotomy life-death. As following from the lexeme arcsipou, death is also determined by cognitive features "infinity" and "unknown".
Being an embodiment of Axis Mundi, the structure of the ship has symbolic interpretation with the symbolism of a mast joining the worlds of vertical axis. Ship structure is metaphorized in the poem that puts emphasis on its prow (nXropn) as a place of location of lyrical hero, focusing on the mythopoetic scheme "Death is sailing forth on a ship".
The ship acts as a means of spiritual travel in the poem "The Pilot Nagel" by Nikos Kavvadias. The lyrical hero Norwegian o NdyKaX Xdppnop dies in the pilot boat (rciXoxiva), referring to "Norse funeral" - the rite of burial in boat of Viking age. Furthermore, his name is an allusion to the ship Naglfar - the ship of the netherworld in Norse mythology. The poem bases on the antithesis of concepts JOURNEY - HOME that are equivalents to life-death dichotomy in the space of the poem. Concepts of life and time are comprehended in terms of the metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY: the passage of time finds expression in the constant movement of hero on boards of the ships: "nopsia oxa Kapdpia" (journey on boards of the ships),
"KarsPaivs orn PapKa rou" (stepped down to his boat), "s^suys" (departed), "tov Koopo yupiosv" (sailed round the world), and in the change of ranks of lyrical hero in different life periods: rciXoro^ (pilot) - nXoiapxo^ (captain) - rciXoro^ (pilot) - the model that frames the circular structure of life journey.
Concept ship got its realization in lexemes PapKa (boat), rcXoia (ships), ^oprnya KapaPia (cargo vessels), KapaPia (ships), rciXoriva (pilot boat), Steamer Tank. Multiplicity of lexical verbalization of the concept determines its paramount role in life of the hero. The choice of non-Greek name of the ship Steamer Tank Fjord Folden connects hero with his homeland in language terms and objectifies the concept of home. The idea of home is realized through the imaginary journey of the hero: "ouXXoyiZorav rn paKpiv^ rou x®pa" (thinking about his distant country) and contains the cognitive feature "remoteness". Being a mythopoetic mediator between life and death, the boat is objectified in bringing the hero's spirit to the island Lofoten, this mental journey realizes the achievement of hero's aspiration to arrive home with the script: "journey has its end on return home" (Table 7).
Table 7. Conceptualization of life and death in the context of naval imagery.
The poem by Nikos Kavvadias (Kavvadias, 1990) "Perfect and Unworthy Lover (Mal du Départ)" doesn't contain direct allusion to the ferryman of the underworld, nevertheless, the idea of death is closely interrelated with the journey on a ship and its liminal semantics. It is based on antithesis of the ideas of everyday routine and journey, that is already observed in the title («IôaviKoç Ki Ava^ioç Epaornç»), denoting the contradiction of hero's aspiration and reality. The other instances include epithet "xovxpa XoyioTiKa PiPMa" (thick accounting books) against inversion "xdpxsç vauriKouç" (maps nautical); "gku^tôç g' éva ypa^sio" (crooked in an office) against "0' avaxropouv . . . rcsp^ava Ta rcXoia" (will depart . . . the proud ships). Concept of death finds its verbalization within abovementioned antithesis: epithet and inversion "0avaTO koivô Kai 0XiPspô noXu" (death ordinary and very sad) against "gs Kanoia 0aXaGGa Pa0sia gtiç paKpivéç Ivôisç" ([death] in some deep sea in outland Indies).
French part of the title "Mal du Départ" (The Pain of the Departure) illustrates the mythopoetic features: the idea of death is treated as a metaphorical journey in the consciousness of lyrical hero. Concept of death is verbalized by relevant vocabulary: 0a ns0avro (will die), Ta^ro (will be buried), 0avaTO (death), K^ôsia (funeral) and K^ôsisç (funerals). Concepts of journey and ship are interrelated and objectified in the names of cities and countries: to Maôpaç (Madras), rrç EiyKarcoûp (Singapore), t 'AXyépi (Algeria), to E^a^ (Sfax), Ivôisç (Indies), and in the travel vocabulary: Ta^iôia, Ta^iôirov (journeys), paKpuG^évrov (distant), nôvTrov (seas), Ypap.p.'n (hazy line), opiÇôvTrov (horizons), 0' avaxropouv (will depart), 0aXaGGa (sea), paKpivéç,
paKpivd (outland), xdpts^ vauxiKou^ (maps naval). The concept SHIP is also verbalized in the epithet rcsp^ava xa rcXoia (proud ships), symbolizing the aspiration of the soul, therefore, the type of mental journey is objectified. Antithesis of everyday routine and the journey implies the impracticability of dreams that results in the prevailing death imagery of the poem. Thus, the concept LIFE IS A JOURNEY finds verbalization in both: spiritual and actual traveling.
Shipwreck is another symbol that is part of Ship of death imagery in Modern Greek poetry, implying "death" of a ship. The imagery of the poem by Argyris Chionis (Chionis, 2006) "Oh Yes, I Know It Well that There is No Need for a Ship for Shipwrecks" bases on oxymoron and features the metaphoric verbalization of the concept SHIPWRECK. Naval terminology is used strictly in metaphorical context: KapdPi (ship), va vauayqosi^ (to be shipwrecked), roKsavo^ (ocean), va nviysi^ (to drown), vauayqoav (shipwrecked), Pa0id (deeply), and nviynKav (were drowned).
The poem suggests the metaphor for shipwreck in everyday routine, basing on mythopoetic chthonic features of the ocean and on the metaphor DEATH IS OCEAN. The metaphorical equivalents of the ocean construct a sequence of submetaphors that express routine and ordinariness: "Death is Costume", "Death is Armchair", "Death is Blanket", "Death is Soup", "Death is Coffee", and "Death is Teaspoon of sugar". The script: "a person forgets that he or she is alive" follows. Concept of sleep is objectified in the metaphor "A^ sivai yXuKo^ o urcvo^ ... a^ sivai yXuKo^ ki avovsipo^" (Let sleep be sweet... let it be sweet and without dreams) and does not suppose the return "to life" from the routine. Lexical unit yXuKo^ (sweet) is enhanced by anadiplosis, aposiopesis and sarcasm that emphasize its paramount importance in the semantic space of the poem. The concept of sleep defines the metaphor "To forget oneself in routine is to be drowned", implying the "spiritual death". Household becomes the metaphoric equivalent of the earth in terms of death imagery, accompanied by sarcasm: "Ki a<; sivai sXa^pu xo voikokupio nou xou^ oKsndZsi" (let the household be weightless for them) that is an allusion to phraseological unit a^ sivai sXa^pu xo xropa nou 0a xov oKsndosi (let the ground be weightless for him).
The poem "The Shipwreck" by Manolis Anagnostakis (Anagnostakis, 2001, p. 174) presents the concept of shipwreck that is directly associated with the idea of death. The shipwreck leads to the creation of new society that is based on the mythological way of world conceptualization by the group of the survived. The necessity to rely on some immutable fundamentals resulted in the metaphors: "Captain is God", "Second and third captains are Minor Gods", "Photography is an icon". It presents the concepts of religion and herding mentality in the core of the society. Anadiplosis ynXd ynXd (very high) is an allusion to mythopoetic vertical axis and can be interpreted as a journey of the supposedly dead captain to the upper world in the minds of the survived. The ship fulfils the function of guide to metaphorical death, i.e. destruction of all existed realities in order to reveal the principles of functioning of the society.
The poem "The Ship (Titanic)" by Giannis Skarimbas (Skarimbas, 1962) focuses on the allusive image of Titanic, presenting the concept of fate with the cognitive feature "unpredictability". Basing on the lexical representation of the poem, the semantic antithesis is observed: luxury and carefree atmosphere against sudden danger and sinking ship (antithesis of concepts carelessness - death). The idea of movement as part of antithesis life-death is front and center of the poem: the irony «Evro xo rcXoio rcXssi (^ Ssv rcXssi;)» - While the ship is floating (or not floating?). The turning point of the poem is based on the same concept: the lexical units that describe the idea of carelessness (PaX^, odXa, osX^vn: waltz, hall, moon) are suddenly ceased by
the graphical stylistic device k p d t s i (s t o p). The absence of movement implies ship's death, introducing the metaphor LIFE IS MOVEMENT into the space of the poem.
Thus, the concept of ship, having a liminal semantics, determines two opposite ideas: it can be a symbol of danger, participating in the motives related to the netherworld, and a means of survival: the boat helps to reach the other side.
Conclusions
The conceptualization of death as passage of the soul along the route of the sun to the place of sunset is widespread all over the world. Modern Greek poetry inherits mythopoetic features, and time is conceptualized as a ship in several contexts, including metaphor 'sailing on a ship is the process of recollecting' and correlation of ship with the concepts of age and nostalgia.
Table 8. Conceptual framework of Ship of Time and Ship of Death in Modern Greek poetry.
Conceptual framework TIME - MEMORY - NOSTALGIA - AGE - PRESENT - PAST - FUTURE JOURNEY - SHIP - LOSS - DEATH - SLEEP
Types of journeys geographical journey-journey in imagination - journey in memory (diary / guided tour)
Dichotomy orderchaos of mythopoetic Cosmos Complex metaphor TIME IS A SHIP with sub-metaphors: - Passing time is a Sailing ship; - Year is a Ship; - Process of recollecting is Sailing on a ship; - Materialization of memory is Sailing on a ship.
Mythopoetic journey through life Complex metaphor HUMAN IS A SHIP with sub-metaphors: Retired sailors are Abandoned cargo ships; To be a human is to think; To be a human is to remember; Complex metaphor LIFE IS A JOURNEY with sub-metaphor: Work is A journey.
Mythopoetic vertical structure of cosmos: Upperworld Captain is God; Second and third captains are Minor Gods; Photography is An icon.
Mythopoetic vertical structure of cosmos: Netherworld - The past is Down; The past is Darkness; The past is Netherworld - Memories are Down; Oblivion is Darkness; Memories are Lower world.
Ship as a means of travel to the mythopoetic Netherworld Death is Sailing on a ship; Death is Night; Death is Sunken ship; Lower world is Shipwreck; Spiritual death is Shipwreck.
Mythopoetic chthonic features of the ocean Complex metaphor DEATH IS OCEAN with sub-metaphors: - To forget oneself in routine is To be drowned; Death is Costume; Death is Armchair; Death is Blanket; Death is Soup; Death is Coffee; Death is Teaspoon of sugar; - Stroke of fate is a Storm. - The past is a Shipwreck
The space and time correlate to the ship sailing to the lower world - deep into the memories, where the past acquires the features of the netherworld. The mythologeme is the personification of ship that, along with the materialization of memory, can be compared to the personification of the sun as the eye of the gods in mythology. The ideas of time and death are closely interrelated in terms of mythopoetic picture of the world, united by the symbolism of the lower world. Basing on the Charos imagery, Modern Greek poetry has two main types of naval verbalization: mythopoetic transition function of a ship and the shipwreck as a symbol of death, where death is metaphorized not only as a journey, but as the night, as well. The boat is not only the means of transition between two worlds, it acquires the chthonic features of the underworld. The twofold symbolism of the ship follows: ship as a means of saving and ship with its death semantics (the results of the research are demonstrated in Table 8).
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