Metaphors of Death
A Thematic Analysis of Personal Meanings
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 13628394 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lawrence M Ross (University of Tennessee at Knoxville, corresponding author), Howard R Pollio (University of Tennessee at Knoxville) |
| Year | 1991 |
| Volume | 23 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 291-307 |
| Publication date | 1991-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | OMEGA - Journal of Death and Dying (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0030-2228 • E-ISSN: 1541-3764 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.2190/l84n-fk8t-wfdn-f1nd |
| OpenAlex | W2068287401 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 10 |
| References cited | 15 |
The present study describes some of the meanings death holds for contemporary individuals. Twenty-six well-educated participants were given the Knapp metaphor inventory and asked to discuss the metaphors they chose as most closely reflecting their views of death. The results of a hermeneutic analysis of these discussions yielded three independent themes: death viewed negatively as a barrier to life's meanings, death viewed ambivalently as an essentially negative condition made acceptable by a variety of mitigating factors, and death viewed positively as a reinstatement or transformation of life's meanings. A correlational analysis comparing results produced by Knapp's original participants with those of the present group revealed significant stability in metaphoric choices over a thirty-year period. A further analysis evaluating the influence of religiosity on the meanings of death revealed that participants from church groups viewed death significantly more frequently as a transformation of life's meanings than did non-church participants who viewed it significantly more frequently as a barrier to life's meanings
Metaphor · Qualitative research · Religiosity · Social science · Sociology · Thematic analysis · Theology · Death Anxiety and Social Exclusion · Grief, Bereavement, and Mental Health · Philosophy · Psychology · Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology · Social Psychology
The role of religious affiliation in Christian and unaffiliated bereaved emerging adults’ use of religious coping
The Use of Death Metaphors to Understand Personal Meaning of Death Among Hong Kong Chinese Undergraduates
Change in death metaphors among university students in Hong Kong from 2004 to 2016
A comparative study of death metaphors in Han and Tibetan ethnic groups
Dying, Mourning, and Spirituality
Personal Meanings of Death in Relation to Fear of Death
Development and validation of the Chinese Death Metaphors Scale-Revised
The Uncertain Certainty
Death
Constructing Symbolic Ancestry
Religious Correlates of Death Anxiety
Death Anxiety in Religiously Very Involved Persons
On the Ambivalence of Death
Perspectives on Death in Relation to Powerlessness and form of Personal Religion
Some Meanings and Correlates of Future Time and Death among College Students
An Approach to the Study of Death Attitudes
Religious Conviction and Fear of Death among the Healthy and the Terminally Ill
| Unique citing works | 10 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,36 |
| Citation span | 1998 - 2023 (26) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 10 |