Animal diction occupies an important place in the realm of the writers' imaginations. It is through the use of animals that the latter tend to convey a full intellectual image of their societies: The social sphere is reflected by or rubbed on the animal spheres. Fables however are not the only reference here. Many other literary genres trust animals to convey the
meaning they're after well.
Animals make our language pregnant with symbols. Man is intelligent enough to draw short-cuts to reach the exact meaning he wants to deliver without using long wining sentences. He uses animals instead in his metaphors, similes and others to express himself.
And since there are more varieties of animal-imagery users among playwrights, novelists, and poets than can be treated here, I'll focus only on one of them, notably William Blake (1757-1825). His poems are perhaps the most profuse with animals. Let's now quote some of them from J. Bronowski's book, William Blake.
ANIMALS' CRIES
ANIMAL GROUPS
Not only do domestic animals keep us company, but they affect our everyday language as well. There are a lot of "cats" and "dogs" in our everyday spoken language, in proverbs, sayings, idioms and other current expressions.
This animal, the dog, is considered as the best man's friend. He is quite intelligent but is usually referred to as dirty. The word "dog is used in different situations all of which have a connection with the dog's behaviour and faculties. When we use the verb to dog, we actually mean: to track, to follow, "to keep close behind (a thief), in the footsteps of" (Oxford Dictionary). Yet most of the uses of the word "dog" are pejorative. When someone is compared to the dog, it means that the person in question is base, dirty, etc... The she-dog is a bitch; the young dog is a whelp. The dog's normal cry is "barking", but when the dog is angry he "growls". He is famous for his sensational smelling faculty. He is the most useful pet as a hunter's friend, the blind's leader, the property guard. He is permanently WATCHFUL.
The dog's family is quite a large one, wild and tame: The wild relations of the dog are Wolves and foxes to name only two. Whereas the breeds of the dog are: Collie, Pekinese, Dachshund, Bloodhound, Bulldog and Alsatian.
There are as many phrases, expressions, idioms, proverbs, and sayings that use the word "dog" and I'll try to "dog" them down for you. So let's "dog" them together, right now.
"Rarely do we see a cat discomfited. They seem to have no conscience, and they never regret...Maybe we secretly envy them." Barbara Webster.
There is always a sort of interactive relationships between the dog and the cat in all cultures. It is generally that of quarrel and argues. The two can't bear each other. Like the dog, the cat has a large family even larger than that of the dog. There are: The lion and the lioness, Tiger, Jaguar, Lynx, Panther, Leopard and the Puma. But the cat as the pivot of the following expressions is used this way.
IDIOMATIC EXPRESSIONS
Almost all cultures hold the horse in great esteem because it embodies power, prosperity and respect. The horse is perhaps the noblest in the kingdom of animals. He is a tame animal and he has got great faculties as strength, detection of his riders' emotions and intelligence, to name only a few.
In English, like most animals the horse is frequently used in proverbs, sayings, idioms and in other expressions. To begin with..
PROVERBS AND SAYINGS
The richness of animal lexis in our language doesn’t only provide us with idioms, but also with inexhaustible lists of words, proverbs, expressions and sounds to facilitate communication between us. The language connected to animals offers us opportunities to evoke good manners, to build styles and to express wise ideas. It makes it possible for us to transmit short and concise thoughts. Successful conversations are the most interesting but also amusing when they are based on parables, allegories and droll tales which involve animals.
The association between people and animals in all cultures has nothing to do with Dehumanization. It is a semantic issue, and it is an indication that animals can give us ways to express our thoughts intelligently but more carefully. They are simply used as symbols to deal with social phenomena among other things connected to our daily interactions and activities.
