日常語言中的隱喻的被列為無生命的，而罕見的的小說或詩中的隱喻還有生命力。20世紀80年代，關於隱喻及認知的新理論質疑瞭這些假設，但缺少實證支持。這本書觸及瞭新近語言學，符號學，哲學，和心理方麵的研究。作者科妮莉亞.穆勒(Cornelia Muller)駁斥瞭傳統的隱喻死/活二分法，從而推崇一個更為動態的模式："睡眠或清醒"。

"盡管此書內容很抽象, Mueller精心編入瞭情境、實例、和探討, 是書的內容更容易被接納.

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Traditional thinking on metaphors has divided them into two camps: dead and alive. Conventional expressions from everyday language are classified as dead, while much rarer novel or poetic metaphors are alive. In the 1980s, new theories on the cognitive processes involved with the use of metaphor challenged these assumptions, but with little empirical support. Drawing on the latest research in linguistics, semiotics, philosophy, and psychology, Cornelia Müller here unveils a new approach that refutes the rigid dead/alive dichotomy, offering in its place a more dynamic model: sleeping and waking.

To build this model, Müller presents an overview of notions of metaphor from the classical period to the present; studies in detail how metaphors function in speech, text, gesture, and images; and examines the way mixed metaphors sometimes make sense and sometimes do not. This analysis leads her to conclude that metaphors may oscillate between various degrees of sleeping and waking as their status changes depending on context and intention. Bridging the gap between conceptual metaphor theory and more traditional linguistic theories, this book is a major advance for the field and will be vital to novices and initiates alike.