term”, Arp and Johnson, 2009: 705. Abrams and Harpham 2009: 119 also state that “in a metaphor, a word or expression that in literal usage denotes one
kind of thing is applied to distinctly different kind of thing, without asserting a comparison”. For example, “Sorrow is my own yard’, which is taken from
William Carlos Williams’ “The Widow’s Lament in Springtime”.
c. Personification
Personification means giving an animal, object, or others inanimate things the attributes of human being.
For instance, a poem entitled “Mirror” by Silvia Plath.
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike I am not cruel, only truthful
Plath, 1961, stanza 1, line 1-4
Plath is personifying an object by making a mirror speaks and thinks as if it was a human. Arp and Johnson 2009: 708 claim that personification is subtype of
metaphor. It is because the comparison in personification is implied in which the figurative term is always a human being.
They also say that “personification differ in the degree to which they ask the reader actually to visualize the literal term in
human form” Arp and Johnson, 2009: 708
d. Symbol
Abcarian and Klotz 1998: 12 in Literature: Reading and Writing the Human Experience Seventh Edition
define symbol as “a symbol is an object or event that suggests more than itself. It is one of the most common and powerful
devices available to the poet, for it allow him or her to convey economically and
imply a wide range of meanings”. Another definition of symbol which is taken from An Introduction to Literature Tenth Edition,
A symbol, then, is an image so loaded with significance that is is not simply literal, and it does not simply stand for something else; it is both
itself and something else that it richly suggest, a kind of manifestation of something too complex or too elusive to be otherwise revealed” Barnet,
Berman and Burto, 1993: 471
Abr ams and Harpham 2009: 358 explain that “in discussing literature,
however, the term “symbol” is applied only to word or phrase that signifies an object or event which in its turn signifies something, or suggest a range of
reference, beyond it- self”.
In making a literary work, the authors have their own way to represent one condition or thing with other thing or terms. As
Arp and Johnson say, “a symbol is something that means more than what it is”. The meaning of symbol is beyond
the literal meaning of a thing. For example, in a poem entitled “The Road Not
Taken” by Robert Frost, the word “road is a symbol of a decision of a life, thus the meaning of the word “road” does not simply understood literally since it is a
kind of symbol. In reading a poem, sometimes it is difficult to determine a word is a
symbol or not. Arp and Johnson explain about symbols by using Robert Frost’s
“The Road Not Taken” as the example. They say “symbols vary in the degree of identification given them by their author. In this poem Frost forces us to interpret
the coice of roads symbolically by the degree of importance he gives it in the last stanza” 2009: 727. The degree of importance of a word or phrase can help the
reader to determine it is a symbol or not. By relating to the context, the reader can see the importance of a word or phrase in a poem and interpret the meaning.
In interpreting a symbol it is also important to see the pattern that the poet creates in a poem. As Kennedy and Gioia say “when writing about the meaning
or meanings of a symbol, follow the image through the poem and give it time to establish its own pattern of associations”. Therefore, to read a symbol, the reader
should focus on the context of the poem and also the pattern of association that poet creates in the poem.
2. Allusion
Taken from An Introduction to Poetry , “allusion is a brief and sometimes
indirect reference in a text to a person, place, or thing which is fictitious or actual
” Kennedy and Gioia, 2002: 665. They also say that “allusions imply a common set of knowledge between reader and writer and operate as literary
shorthand ”. Based on Abcarian and Klotz’s explanation 1998: 12, “allusion to
other literary works, persons, places, or events enables poet to call up associations and contexts
that complicate and enrich their poem”. Example of an allusion can be seen in Edgar Allan Poe’s “To Helen”, in the line “the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome”. It is important to understand the reason why the poet uses those places. The poet expects that the readers will understand the
allusions to the cultural achievements of those ancient nations and perhaps even get the different between ‘glory’ and ‘grandeur’. This allusions can be interpreted
that Roman Civilization was also more pompous than Greek.
