Traditional Turkish love is identified with suffering. This study investigates how
suffering in love is metaphorically conceptualized in Turkish via natural phenom
ena and disasters. Based on figurative expressions in sad love songs of
Arabesque and Art music genres, the study reveals that love pain/suffering is
expressed through three salient metaphors: 1) LOVE PAIN/SUFFERING IS NATURAL
PHENOMENA,2)LOVE PAIN/SUFFERING IS NATURAL DISASTERS, and 3) the overarching metaphor
(the suffering) LOVER’SBODYISALANDSCAPE(affected by weather conditions or natural
disasters). It was unearthed from metaphoric expressions in lyrics that as part of
a cultural scenario, natural phenomena anddisastersareprofiledasinternalized
forces culturally imagined to directly affect vital body parts to express the
emotional distress or anguish of the Turkish lover. The overarching metaphor
LOVER’SBODY ISALANDSCAPE is a manifestation of conceptual integration producing
a novel structure in which natural phenomena appear to occur in or to culturally
selected body parts or organs. The study makes a distinction between the three
metaphors above about body parts and the well-known LOVE IS A NATURAL FORCE
(which affects the WHOLE body as if it were an object being swept away or
blown about, etc.