Abstract

In the attempt to get an insight into how “happiness” is conceptualized in Chinese tradition, this case study adopts tools of cognitive linguistics and poetics and investigates ci (詞) poetry of Yan Shu 晏殊 (991–1055), a successful politician and artist who is one of the most representative poets of the genre from the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127), a relatively peaceful and abundant era in Chinese history, known for its hedonistic psychology. From his remaining 139 poems, the study selected 13 of the poems that explicitly express a happy state of mind or some positive emotions, and through analysis of the traditional images (yixiang 意象) in these poems attempts to extract the conceptual metaphors regarding “happiness” the poet lived by and the scenarios underlying the metaphors. The results reveal some cultural conceptual patterns in sync with the era in question but also some personal characteristics of the poet.