雖然關於隱喻的定義、分類和意義的研究很多，但是關於大隱喻的研究卻很少。根據Adele Berlin的看法，隱喻與平行體有密切關係。因為平行體中有大平行體包含著小平行體，
所以隱喻亦應該有大隱喻包含著小隱喻。另一方面，Lakoff和Johnson亦成功地證明了我們日用的語言是帶有很多隱喻的，而這些隱喻一般是連結於大隱喻中。本文的目的是要顯示大隱喻是存在於詩篇裡的，並且要分析這種隱喻對詩體的藝術效果和對其主題的貢獻。本文將以詩篇九十一篇及詩篇四十二/三篇來作研究。

Although there are many works devoted to the meaning,classification, and definition of metaphor, few, if any, deal with the topic of overarching metaphors. The existence of such metaphors is a logical extension of Adele Berlin’s observation regarding the close relationship between metaphor and parallelism: the existence of overarching parallelisms that unite smaller units of parallelism leads us to expect the existence of overarching metaphors that unite smaller units of metaphors. Although they did not use this term, Lakoff and Johnson have also successfully argued for the clustering of smaller metaphors around major metaphors in our everyday speech. The purpose of this article is to show the existence of such overarching metaphors in psalms and to analyze how they contribute to the poetic artistry and themes of the psalms. Two psalms that have such overarching metaphors are Psalm 91 and Psalm 42/43.