A metaphor is a figure of speech that refers, for rhetorical effect, to one thing by mentioning another thing。 It may provide clarity or identify hidden similarities between two ideas。 Where a simile compares two items, a metaphor directly equates them, and does not use "like" or "as" as does a simile。  One of the most commonly cited examples of a metaphor in English literature is the "All the world's a stage" monologue from As You Like It:  All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances--- William Shakespeare, As You Like It。 This quotation expresses a metaphor because the world is not literally a stage。 By asserting that the world is a stage, Shakespeare uses points of comparison between the world and a stage to convey an understanding about the mechanics of the world and the behavior of the people within it。  For another example, the mechanism to combine two images can be found in the the meaning of "man-bear," we "combine" the man and the bear and, after leaving the man with the trait of clumsiness, we eradicate all other bear-like qualities。 (Solonchak T, Pesina S。 2014)

Not only in Thomas Hardy’s poetry but also in his novels, Hardy is very good at describing nature。 Using a lot of natural images is a kind of metaphor。 In many literary works, metaphors often use natural images to describe people, describe scenes and express emotions。 Using metaphor, it not only expresses the emotion of the story, but also deepens the theme。 The repetition of concepts in literary works is often to reflect the theme of the story。 With the help of this repeated image, it can help readers see the main content and critical significance of this literary works。 Readers use their existing knowledge and experience to understand the metaphor in this literary works, but also to strengthen the understanding of this image and experience, to deepen the understanding and perception of literary works。论文网

1。2。2 Previous study on Imagism in Tess of the d’Urbervilles at home and abroad

The following are some former researchers’ findings and their understandings towards the images used in the novel and their functions quoted or generalized from periodicals, books and so on。 

 1。2。2。1 Natural images in Tess of the d’Urbervilles

Former researchers at home and abroad have mentioned the natural images in their essays, which mainly include the images of animals, the images of colors, the images of scene and places。 

Wu Di(2001) found that the image of "bird" was used in Tess of the D 'Urbervilles for 40 times, “The description of birds is closely related to the mood and plight of Tess。” LiuYan (2014) saw the images of sun, wind, fog, stars, animals and plants。 Ma Xuan(2002) wrote about the images of red and the horse named “Prince”。 Likewise, Colors functioned a lot in writing Tess’s tragedy, “One of the biblical images that Hardy used in his works was red。 As the image of the Bible, red represents sin, lust, and even dangerous。 Because the death of the old horse, Tess first left home to visit the d'Urberville mansion, the house appeared in front of her is dark red, because in this place, she will encounter Alec, who is rough and lascivious。 When Tess looked down and looked at the roses in the chest given from Alec, she did not expect this man will make her tragedy。 ”wrote by Ma Xuan(2002) Many other researchers focus on the image of sun, such as Wu Jialu , Wang Fang and Xu Jiangqing(2008)。 Wu Jialu and Wang Fang in their essay mainly discussed about the image of sun。 The image of sun has three perspectives of symbolization--hope, death and destruction。 The most primitive symbolization of the sun is light and hope, while the sunset symbolizes pain and death, and the hot blazing sun means burning and destruction。 Jane Millgate(1997) mentioned the image of red and birds in Tess of the d’Urbervilles in his essay “Two Versions of Regional Romance: Scott’s The Bride of Lammermoor and Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles”。 Felicia Bonaparte mentioned in his essay “The deadly misreading of mythic texts: Thomas Hardy's Tess of the d’Urbervilles” about the image of flowers and places。 Ju Jie(2004) on “Similar Phenomena, Different Experiments? A Study of Thomas Hardy's Literary Influence on Theodore Dreiser” saw the function of scene。文献综述