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4 Sound and Tone
Poets use different sounds and tones throughout poetry to change the way it sounds. For example, the poet may use alliteration, which is when multiple
consequtive words start with the same letter. 5
Choice of Meter The meter of a poem is the rhythm or pattern of speech with which you read
it, and it doesn‟t happen by accident. The object of the study is poem. Poem is one of media that we can express
ourself. Today, we may find poems on virtually all topics, love, society, individuality, government and politics, worship and music, to special and unusual
topics like fishing, computer, exotic birds and car crashes. In short, poetry is alive and fluorishing.
Based on the phenomenon above, I like to study about some expressions in the poems especially in the non literal meaning. In this research, I choose some
poems from William Blake because I find so many non literal meaning expressions in that poem.
1.2 Problem of Study
Based on the background explained above, the writer would like to focus
the analy sis on the non literal meaning in William Blake‟s selected poems. The
problems are : 1
What types of non literal meanings are found in William Blake‟s Selected Poems?
2 Which is the most dominant types of non literal meaning found in William
Blake‟s Selected Poems?
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1.3 Objective of Study
Concerning to the problem of the study explained above, the objective of the study can be formulated below :
1 To find out the types of non literal meaning found in William Blake‟s
Selected Poems 2
To find out the most dominant types of non literal meaning found in William Blake‟s Selected Poems
1.4 Scope of Study
In a research, it is important for the writer to limit the analysis in order to concentrate that has been chosen. This paper is limited to discussion of the types
of non literal meaning from Siswantoro 2002:10 whereas description are summarized from Wren Martin 1990: 359 and Keraf 1991: 12. There are
nine types of non literal meaning based on Siswantoro‟s theory, they are
simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, hyperbole, antithesis, synecdoche, paradox and symbol. However, in this paper I only analyze simile, metaphor,
hyperbole, and personification in William Blake‟s selected poems.
1.5 Significance of Study
The writer hopes that this paper can be useful for the student or the reader who want to know more about semantic especially in non literal meaning field.
The writer also hopes that this paper can help the student to understand the meaning of the poems and get knowledge of it.
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1.6 Method of Study 1.6.1 Research Method
The method of the study in this paper is descriptive qualitative approach. A qualitative approach is defined as a description of observations which is not
ordinary expressed in quality terms. Nazir 1998:64 says that descriptive method is a method of research that makes description of the situation of event or
occurrence. 1.6.2 Data Collecting Method
Nawawi 1991: 157 says that sample is a part of population to represent the whole population. The sample of this analysis are collected from William
Blake‟s selected poems. In the sample of analysis, the writer applies purposive sampling method. Nawawi 1991:157 saya that in this technique, sampling is
adjusted with the purpose of the study. In another word, sample is adjusted with the certain criteria, which is decided based on the purpose of the study.
1.6.3 Data Analyzing Method
The process of analyzing data will be done in group. First, all data from William Blake‟s poem is selected to find non literal meaning. Then, the data will
be grouped according to the kinds of non literal meaning. For example, the first term is about personification, so I will collect all example of personification from
the whole poem which is selected in group. The same thing will be done for other non literal meaning. And the last is to describe the meaning of each data. All the
analysis will be done in the descriptive way by explaining one by one to each non literal meaning and find what the most dominant non literal meaning expression
are found.
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2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 The Definition of Semantics
The history of linguistics shows periods in which semantics received more or less attention. In the nineteenth century linguists concentrated more on
phonology and morphology and semantics suffered from comparative neglect. With the advent of structuralism at the beginning of the 20th century, it
looked as if semantics might achieve the status it deserved. However, the development of American structuralism between the two world wars did
nothing to further linguistic interest in semantics. Such prominent linguists as Leonard Bloomfield active in the 1920s and 1930s regarded semantics as too
difficult to deal with scientifically and left it to one side. The same is true of early transformational grammar in the 1950s. Only in the mid 1960s did the interest of
linguists turn to semantics once more. Since then there have been many works on semantics both within models of grammar and outside. Despite these
efforts there are no coherent theories of semantics on a par with those in syntax and phonology.
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. Meaning is a much less tangible notion than those introduces in the above chapters on phonology,
morphology and syntax. Meaning has a strong subjective element to it and it is spread across other levels of language as will be discussed below. It is also a
contact area with other disciplines such as philosophy and logic. Philosophical semantics looks at the relations between linguistic expressions and
the phenomena in the nonlinguistic world to which they refer and examines the
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conditions under which they are true or false. This type of semantics goes back to Classical Greece, to the three main philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In
the sphere of logic, semantics is important as a system of logical analysis where it is not so much the relation between language and the outside world which is of
concern but rather the internal formal relationships between terms in a logical system.
According some linguists, semantic can be defined as follows : 1
Semantic is the study of the meaning. It concerned with what sentences and other linguistics object express, not with the arrangement of their syntactic
parts of their pronounciation Katz, 1972:2 2
Semantic is generally defined as the study of meaning Lyons, 1977:2 3
Semantic is the study of meaning communicated through language Saeed, 1997:1
4 Semantic is a mayor branch of linguistics devoted to the studyof meaning in
language Crystal, 1980:315 5
Semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning Palmer, 1976:1
2.2 The Scope of Semantics
There is no very general agreement either about the nature of meaning or about the way in which it should be described. There are two major approaches to
the way in which meaning in language is studied which is often very influential in determining facts of meaning that relevant to semantic of each. The first is the
linguistic approach. Linguist have investigated the way is which meaning in a
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language structure and have distinguished between different types of meanings and also semantic structure of sentences. The second is philosophical approach.
Philosophers have investigated between linguistic expression such as the words of language, and persons, things and events in the world to which these word refer.
Although there maybe different approaches to semantics, three basic terms have been widely mentioned in this approaches, namely meaning, sense, and
reference.
2.2.1 Meaning
According to Oxford Learner‟s Pocket Dictionary, meaning is defined as the thing or idea that sound, word, sign, etc represents. There are some definitions
of meaning from some Linguist, such as :
1 Meaning is a complex pheomenon involving relationship between a language
and the mind of its speaker and the practical use which it is put Nikelas, 1988: 231
2 Meaning is a word of ordinary , everyday vocabulary in English Lyons,
1977: 4 The term meaning is derived from the word mean. It is fact that the verb to
mean and the noun meaning have many distinguishable meaning. In everyday English, we use the word mean in a number of different ways :
1 They are so mean cruel to me
2 That was no mean insignificant accomplishment
3 This will mean result in the end of the second class citizenship
4 Without ice cream, life wouldn‟t mean anything have any purpose
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5 I mean intend to help if I can
6 Keep off the grass, this means refers to you
7 His loosing his job means implies that he will have to look for another job.
8 Lucky Strike means indicates fine tobacco
9 Those clouds mean are a sign of rain
10 She doesn‟t mean believe what she said
11 Procrastinate means ? to put this thing off
12 In saying that, he meant ? that we would leave,
The word mean in 1 to 10 has their “equivalence‟ in another word,
while in the same word in 11 or 12 does not. The last two sentences, in fact, exemplify two importantly different sorts of meaning, i. e. linguistics meaning and
speaker meaning. In 11 procrastinate has a linguistics meaning of to put thing off while in 12 meant refers to speaker intention or what message the speaker
intends to say in his word. In general, the linguistics meaning of an expression is simply the meaning
or meanings of that expression in some form of language. For example, in one form of language, known as standard British English, the word run means
something different in each of the sentences: 1
I like to run 2
The engines run well 3
They run a mail-order house 4
He scored a run in the third inning
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There are two different sort of meanings, linguistic meaning and speaker meaning. In general, linguistic meaning is meaning of that expression in some
from of language. Speaker meaning is what a speaker means in producing an utterance.
The following figure can show how meaning can have several distinctions : Meaning
Linguistic meaning Speaker Meaning
Language-meaning Idiolect-meaning Literal Non Literal
Dialect Meaning
Regional Social
Figure 1 Some Varieties of Meaning
2.2.2 Sense and Reference
One important point made by the linguists Ferdinand de Saussure 1974, whose ideas have been so influential in the development of modern linguistics, is
that the meaning of linguistic expressionns derives from the two sources: the language they are part of anf the world they describe. Words stand in a
relationship to the world, or our mental classification of it: they allow us to identify parts of the world, and make statements about them. Thus if a speaker
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says He saw Paul or She bought a dog, the underlined nominals identify, pick out
or refer to specific entities in the world. However words also derive their value
from their position within the language system. The relationship by which
language hooks on to the world is usually called reference. The semantic links between elements within the vocabulary system is an aspect of their sense or
meaning. Words other than proper names both have a meaning and can be used to
refer to things and objects. The German philosopher and mathematician Gottlob Frege proposed a distinction between the reference of a word and the sense of a
word. The reference of a word and the sense of a word. The reference of a word is the object designated, while the sense of a word is the additional meaning. On the
other hand F.R. Palmer 1976: 30 says that reference deals with the relationship between the linguistic elements, word, sentences etc, and the nonlinguistic world
of experience. Sense relation is the complex system of relationship that hold between the linguistic elements themselves mostly the words ; it is concerned
only with intralinguistic relations Phrases, like words, normally both have sense and can be used to refer.
Thus, the phrase “The woman who is my mother” refers to a certain individual and has a certain sense which could be different from that of
“The woman who married my father”, although both expression usually have the same reference.
2.3 Varieties of Meaning
There are two kinds of meaning in semantics , they are linguistic meaning and speaker meaning. Linguistic meaning is simply the meaning of that
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expression in some form of a language. While, speaker meaning is what speaker means in producing an utterance. Speaker meaning consist of literal meaning and
non literal meaning.
2.3.1 Literal Meaning
If we are speaking literally, then we mean what our words mean, the meaning of the utterance is the lexical meaning or literal meaning. There will be
no important difference between the linguistic meaning and the speaker meaning. There is no hidden meaning and misinterpretation between the speaker and hearer.
For more details about literal meaning, look at these examples : 1
I‟m hungry 2
He goes to school 3
She is my lecturer 4
They are having lunch All the sentences above are literal meaning. We know clearly about the
meaning of the sentence.
2.3.2 Non Literal Meaning
In using the langugage, a speaker may sometimes use a word to mean something different from what it means literally or what the words mean. The
words, phrases, and the sentences have another different meaning than literal meaning. For more details about non literal meaning, look at these examples :
1 I could eat a horse
2 I am starving
3 My stomach thinks my throat‟s cut
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All those examples above are non literal meaning. All the meaning f them are same. It means someone who feels very hungry.
According to Saeed 2003: 15 Non literal uses of language are traditionally called figurative and are described by a host of rhetorical terms
including metaphor, simile, metonymy, synecdoche, hyperbole, litotes and personification.
1 Metaphor
Wren and Martin 1981: 489 says that a metaphor is an implied simile. It does not, like the simile, state one thing is like another or acts as another,
but takes that for granted and proceeds as if the two things were one. Based on that statement, if we say He fought like a lion, that means we use simile.
While if we say He was a lion in the fight, that means we use metaphor.
2 Simile
Simile is figure of speech in which there are two different things compared because they appear to be similar in at least one character. Simile is
introduced by the word like or as. A simile must compare two basic things
that are found to be alike in an aspect. For the example :
1
His temper was as explosive as a volcano
2
He runs like a cheetah
From the sentences above 1 means his temper is being compared to a volcano in that, it can be sudden and violent. Sentence 2 means he runs so
fast. So the speaker compare him to with cheetah, as we know cheetah is
animal that running so fast.
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3 Metonymy
Metonymy is a figure of speech characterized by the use of the name of one thing in place of the name of something that is symbolized. For example He
bought a new chevrolet. Chevrolet is the one of the brand name of car. 4
Synecdoche
The word of synecdoche is derived from a Greek word “syneckdechestai” which means “to take up”. Siswantoro 2002: 39 says, “synecdoche
merupakan gaya bahasa yang manifestasinya tercermin dalam kemasan sebagian tetapi yang mewakili keseluruhan. Synecdoche is a figurative
expression which its manifestation reflected a part is used to designate the whole. For example He has many mouths to feed that in literal meaning this
statement means „He feeds many mouths‟. In this case, mouth is people who
are fed. 5
Hyperbole
Wren and Martin 1981: 491 says that in hyperbole, a statement is made emphatic by overstatement. In daily language, hyperbole appears in student
circle when they will have an examination by saying I’ll die if I don’t pass
this course. The word of die is overstatement because there is no people
who will get die due to not pass an examination. The others example are :
1 I carry you heart with me
2 My heart feel dead before
3 On a great horse of gold
4 And this is the wonder that‟s keeping the stars apart.
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6 Litotes
Litotes is an understatement in which an affirmation is expressed by the negative of its contrary, often used for emphasis or ironically. To
make it clear look the example: please come to my hut. From the sentence, as we know hut is very simple. Nevertheless, in this situation hut is not the
hut, but actually, he has a big house. He does not want to tell the truth, he
just trying to be low profile. 7
Personification
The word personification derives from Latin word „persona‟ means person, actor or mask and „fic‟ means to make. Then, personification is a figurative
speech that giving human characteristics to an object. For example, the trees are afraid to put forth bud. This word trees in the sentence figure as a human
being that has been afraid represent for fear or being frightened. Indeed such emotional feelings are shown as a natural reaction from human when they
feel something wrong or being shocked. The others example of personification are :
1 The pen is dancing on the paper
2 Every night, the moon comes by just to say goodnight to me
The first sentence is considered as a personification because it considers the pen as an inanimate thing, which has human ability to dance. Literally,
the sentence means that the pen is dancing on a paper just like a human. It is absolutely impossible. So, we have to take the meaning figuratively, which
means that someone is using the pen to write on the paper.
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The second sentence, we may see how the moon as the inanimate object is depicted as human. It is implies that the moon has legs to come by and talk
by saying goodnight to me. Of course, it is impossible in real life. The possible interpretation for this expression is that the moon always shines
every night as the sign for someone to sleep.
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3. ANALYSIS
As the object of this research, the writer has chosen ten selected poems by William Blake. This paper only focus on four types of non literal meaning, they
are simile, metaphor, personification, and hyperbole. In this analysis, I use alphabet for refer to the poem and number for refer to the line of the poems in
next analysis. The data to be analyed can be seen in the appendices : 1
A Poison Tree Data A 2
London Data B 3
Laughing Song Data C 4
The Chimney Sweeper: A Little Black Thing Among The Snow Data D 5
Night Data E 6
The Schoolboy Data F 7
The Sick Rose Data G 8
To The Evening Star Data H 9
Songs of Experience: Introduction Data I 10
Two Sunflowers Move In The Yellow Room Data J The following are the analysis of the data in finding non literal meaning :
3.1 Simile
1 The moon, like a flower E5
This line expresses simile because there is a comparison between the moon and the flower and using the word “like” as a mark of comparison. As we
know the flower is a beautiful things. This line means that moon always seems beautiful.
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2 My bright mane forever shall shine like the gold E47
This line expresses simile because there is a comparison between lion the previous line to the gold. This line makes the lion looks more prestigious
3.2 Metaphor
