Naimy’s journal is still relevant to this study because of the background and the perspective of Kahlil Gibran as the author of “We and You” affects the way of the
poem writing. Therefore, N. Naimy’s The Mind and Thought of Kahlil Gibran is needed in developing the analysis.
B. Review of Related Theories
To support the analysis of this study, there are some theories which are needed to support the analysis. Those are theory of figurative language which
consists of simile, metaphor, personification, and symbol, theory of allusion, theory of capitalism, social classes, social stratification, and class struggle.
1. Figurative Language
Obviously, figurative language can be understood as language using figure of speech that cannot be taken literally. Quoting from Perrine’s Literature:
Structure, Sound, and Sense Tenth Edition definition of figure of speech,
Broadly defined, a figure of speech is any way of saying something other than the ordinary way, and some rhetoricians have classified as many as
250 separate figures Arp and Johnson, 2009: 705.
According to Arp and Johnson, in narrow definition, figure of speech is a way of saying one thing and meaning another, and the readers needto be concerned with
no more than a dozen. The existence of figurative language in a poem is not only to create a
dramatic essence to entertain readers. In the previous section, it mentions that figurative language is more effective, persuasive, and impactful in order to
transfer the message of the poem. Through figurative language, the readers can imagine every scene that the poet wants to show. There are many kinds of figure
of speech such as symbol, paradox, metonym, hyperbole, simile, metaphor, pesonification, and so on. Nevertheless, in this theory, there are four kinds of
figurative language and the explanation of them. As mentioned in Chapter I, this study only focus on four kinds of figurative language, they are simile, metaphor,
personification and symbol because the meaning of class struggle and the description about the society are seen in those figurative language rather than the
others.
a. Simile
Simile is a comparison of one thing with another thing that is essentially unlike by using some words or phrase such as like, as, similar to, than, seems, or
resembles Arp and Johnson, 2009: 705. Kennedy and Gioia also explain about
simile, Simile is a comparison of two things, indicated by some connective,
ussualy like, as, than, or a verb such as resembles. A simile expresses a similarity. Still, foa a simile to exist, the things compared have to be
dissimilar in kind. It is no simile way to say, “Your fingers are like mine”; it is a literal observation. But to say, “Your fingers are like sausages” is to
use a simile Kennedy and Gioia, 2002:121.
An example of simile can be seen in this phrase, “her eyes are bright like a diamond”. This phrase is a comparison in which an object her eyes is being
compared with other object diamond by using the word “like”.
b. Metaphor
Similar to simile, metaphor is also a comparison of a thing with other thing.However, metaphor does not use any expression such as like, as, similar,
than, seems , resembles and so on. “In metaphor, the comparison is not expressed
but is created when a figurative term is substituted for or identified with literal
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
