An Analysis of Figurative Language on the Poems

Abstract

In literature, there are several models of literary works, one of them is poem. Poem is the most literary works contain elements of beauty. This can be seen from the characteristics of poem that use figurative language, choice of words and messages are expressed by the author. Those characteristics are difficult to be understood by people in learning a poem. Therefore, this issue is very important to be studied and analyzed. The aims of this research are to know the types of figurative language are used in the poems especially in collection of William Blake‟s poems, and the messages are generated from that poem. The theory which used in this research is the theory of Tarigan, it is that Figurative language is language which departs from the straight- forward use of words. It creates a special effect, clarifies an idea, and makes writing more colorful and forceful. Accordingly, there are 14 kinds of figurative languages; they are Alliteration, Allusions, Hyperbole, Irony, Litotes, Metaphor, Metonymy, Onomatopoeia, Paradox, Personification, Pun, Simile, Synecdoche, and Symbol. This research is qualitative research. The analysis of research on a book about William Blake's poetry collection, which numbered approximately more than one hundred of poems and the writer take three of poems as a sample. Techniques of collecting data use library research and content analysis as the technique of analyzing data. The results of research showed that from three poems as the sample of collection of William Blake‟s poems, there are 11 kinds of figurative language are used in the collection of William Blake's poem; they are Alliteration, Hyperbole, Irony, Litotes, Metaphor, Metonymy, Paradox, Personification, Pun, Simile, and Synecdoche. And the dominant used is Litotes. There are many difference message are expressed by the William Blake in every stanza of those poems. There are 11 kinds of figurative language are used in the collection of William Blake's poem; they are Alliteration 3,03%, Hyperbole 18,1%, Irony 6.06%, Litotes 25,7%, Metaphor 10.6%, Metonymy 6.0%, Paradox 3.03%, Personification 6.06%, Pun 12.1%, Simile 13.6, and Synecdoche 6.06%. And the dominant used is Litotes 25,7%. From a variety of figurative language used in the poem, there are many different messages that can be taken from that poems, one of them is people should not compare our situation with the others, and belittle themselves, because everyone is same, which distinguishes humans from the other is moral in God's view.