Heated debates have arisen between conceptual metaphor theory(CMT) and deliberate metaphor theory(DMT),centering on the issue of deliberateness and novelty of metaphors.DMT holds that all novel metaphors are deliberate and can be inferred without conceptual metaphor system,while CMT argues otherwise.An analysis of novel metaphors in literature reveals that:1)even in poems,a typical genre of deliberateness,metaphor creativity is partly based on conceptual system;2)"deliberateness" is not a dichotomous notion,but forms a continuum;3)the two seemingly opposing theories are complementary and;4)can be integrated within the theory of intersubjectivity.