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6. Apostrophe
Apostrophe presents the direct addressing toward someone or something that does not really exist in the poem. The addressee can be anything, including spirit,
abstract things, absent things, and other nonhuman objects. Often, this apostrophe is used to address something unusual to be spoken to. The only example of
apostrophe that the researcher identifies in this research is located in opening of “The Sun Rising.”
In line 1 of “The Sun Rising”, the speaker draws attention by calling out the sun as
“Busy, old fool, unruly Sun”. The sun itself is something that people commonly talk to. Therefore, this statement is identified as apostrophe, not as
ordinary addressing. He addresses the sun with some negative adjectives to demonstrate his irritation feeling. This apostrophe is an opening part that begins
the speaker’s vocalizations addressed to the sun in the entire poem.
7. Hyperbole
Hyperbole is one of the essential types of figurative language employed in these two poems. The researcher identifies nine occurrences of this figurative
language in “The Sun Rising” only. Hyperbole presents illogical and exaggerated expressions, which are undeniably effective to emphasize the
speaker’s love. It even dramatizes the love expressions so that the readers are aware of its
importance straightway. “I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,” John Donne, “The Sun
Rising”, line 13 shows an example of hyperbolic expression that the speaker uses to challenge the sun.
The hyperbole is preceded with the speaker’s statement
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about the brightness of the sunbeam in line 11. However, it is not an admiring comment; instead, it is a statement to underestimate the sun’s power. The speaker
tries to deflate the power of the sun, whose beam is stronger than any lights in the world, in order to make his love look more powerful. He sensationalizes how
great his love is by stating that he, with the power of his love, is capable to make the strong sunbeam disappear at a twinkling of an eye. In reality, this kind of
phenomenon is impossible to happen. The speaker, in fact, has no capacity to conceal the sunbeam at all.
The use of this hyperbolic expression compares the speaker’s love to the sunbeam so that the readers have a vivid measure in estimating how big the
speaker’s love is. He invites the readers to imagine how he casts a shadow on the sun to make them recognize the competence that his love gives to him. This
illogical expression also emphasizes the idea that the power of the sun is nothing compared to the power of his love.
The love does not only provide the great power for the speaker, but also for his lover. This argument is clearly seen when he claims, “If her eyes have not
blinded thine Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,” John Donne, “The Sun Rising”,
line 15-16. This exaggerated expression, in fact, is derived from the sun itself. On account of its strong beam, the sun is possible to dazzle the bare eyes that gaze at
it. It can even make them blind if they gaze at it for a long time. Thus, the speaker intends to use this fact to show that his lover possesses more power than the sun.
He describes that his lovers passionate eyes, which radiates her beauty, are
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greatly brighter than the sunbeam. The bright of her eyes is even able to make the sun, with its strong beam, become dull and blind.
To put more emphasis to the power of his love, the speaker, thus, closes this poem by stating the other hyperbolic expression
, “Shine here to us, and thou art everywhere
” John Donne, “The Sun Rising”, line 29. He purposely employs this extravagant expression to indicate that he is more authoritative than the sun. In
this expression, he claims that he and his lover are the center of the world. Thus, the sun, which he treats as a slave, only needs to shine its beam to them in order to
be able to shine to the entire world. Overall, the hyperbole that the speaker employs is effective to express his
deep love. Though the exaggerated expression is only the speaker’s imagination, it is noteworthy to deliver the importance of his love expression. This figurative
language directs the readers’ attention due to its irrational statement so that the readers are attentive to it. It also invites them to perceive the love as the way the
speaker does so that they recognize the great power that the speaker’s love offers. At the end, the researcher concludes that types of figurative language
employed in these two poems are metaphor, simile, personification, metonymy, synecdoche, and hyperbole, each of which has different effect in attracting the
readers’ attention and conveying the speakers’ love. Metaphor is a type of figurative language that transfers the quality of the objects through comparison.
Simile also compares two objects by using the word “such”, “like”, “compare”,
and “than”. Personification and apostrophe compares the nonhuman objects to human by attributing them with human’s characteristics. Metonymy and
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synecdoche also makes a comparison between the whole object and the term that substitutes them. In the same line, hyperbole also makes a comparison in dramatic
way as if the statements really existed in the real life. Therefore, those seven types of figurative language employed in these two poems are, basically, comparative.
B. The Significances of Figurative Language Employment in “A
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