Metaphor and Neonatal Death: How Stories Can Help When a Baby Dies at Birth

Abstract

Dr Tamarin Norwood gained her doctorate in Fine Art as a Clarendon scholar at the University of Oxford in 2018, and is now a postdoctoral research fellow at the Drawing Research Group, Loughborough University, writing a book on metaphor and neonatal loss. She is also a visiting early career research fellow at the Centre for Death and Society, University of Bath, and researcher at the Oxford Centre for Life Writing, University of Oxford where she convenes the Lives in Medicine research network. Tamarin's scholarly publications focus on representation and loss in drawing; her related prose fiction, poetry and artwork have been published and shown widely including with the BBC World Service, Art on the Underground, ICA Philadelphia, MOCCA Toronto and Tate Britain. Much of her work is interdisciplinary, most recently as part of Hubbub, the inaugural Hub residency at Wellcome Collection, London.

How Interpretation of Metaphors Change People’s Understanding of Others

“…Moreover, metaphors can help people to get through the misfortunes they have been experienced, such as the death of an infant. Understanding and capturing the moments of sadness and pain of being a parent through metaphors make people able to communicate what they feel with others, according to Norwood (2021). People use metaphors in their daily life consciously, however, metaphors can exist in the unconscious mind as the act of dreaming as well.…”