TYPOLOGY OF CONTRASTING METAPHOR

Abstract

The article provides a study of contrastive metaphor as a leading mechanism of poetic meaning-making in contemporary Ukrainian war discourse. The starting point of the research is the assumption that under the conditions of war, metaphor ceases to perform a purely aesthetic or ornamental function and is transformed into a means of cognitive comprehension of extreme, traumatic experience. The purpose of the article is to theoretically conceptualize contrastive metaphor as a form of “darkened antithesis” and to describe its cognitive-semantic mechanisms in contemporary Ukrainian war poetry. The study seeks to reveal how a latent semantic conflict becomes a source of figurative tension and determines the interpretative potential of the poetic text. The research methodology includes linguostylistic analysis of metaphorical constructions, cognitivesemantic analysis of domains, frames, and scenarios, component analysis of evaluative semes, as well as a contextual-pragmatic approach that takes into account the reader’s interpretative activity. The theoretical framework draws on the principles of cognitive metaphor theory, the concept of mental spaces and conceptual integration, as well as interpretative approaches to the analysis of semantic tension in literary imagery. The results of the study demonstrate that contrastive metaphor in war poetry functions as a radical form of implicit opposition, within which the conflict is not named directly but structurally organizes meaning. It is established that such metaphors are primarily realized through two basic models: the paradoxical model, based on the collision of incompatible domains or attributes. It is shown that implicitness does not weaken but rather intensifies the semantic and emotional density of the image, engaging the reader in active reconstruction of the hidden opposition. Conclusions confirm that contrastive metaphor is not a peripheral but a system-forming element of contemporary poetic thinking about war. It performs cognitive, emotional, ethical, and text-forming functions, enabling an indirect yet conceptually precise comprehension of traumatic reality. The proposed approach expands the analytical potential of linguopoetics and cognitive semantics and outlines prospects for further corpus-based and psycholinguistic studies of figurative language in crisis discourses.