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personify the sun is to dramatize his love, which he assumes to be more powerful than the sun.
One of the examples of the personification appears in line 15, “If her eyes
have not blinded thine,” John Donne, The Sun Rising: line 15. That expression
is a personification because the speaker describes “her eyes” to have an ability to
blind other eyes. Denotatively, “her eyes” actually are part of human body that
functions as organ of sight. Therefore, “her eyes” in that statement is impossible to make other eyes become blind. The speaker purposely personifies
“the eyes” in the above statement to highlight his lover’s beauty. The sun, whose brightness can
make the people who look at it for a long time become blind, is nothing compared to the lover’s beauty. He assumes that his lover’s beauty, which is radiated from
her eyes, is brighter than the sun. In conclusion, personification is the most influential element in both “A
Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and “The Sun Rising”. The occurrences of this figurative language strengthen the love that the speakers of both poems
express. It makes each part in those expressions become alive so that those expressions leave deep impression for the readers. The readers are also touched by
those expressions so that they are aware of and able to feel the pure and prodigious love of the speaker toward his lover.
4. Metonymy
Metonymy is one of the types of figurative language that the researcher identifies in these two poems. Though this figurative language is essential in
bringing certain effects toward the readers, it is rarely employed in these two
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poems. The researcher only identifies three occurrences of metonymy in both poems: one in “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” and two in “The Sun
Rising”. The occurrences of metonymy present an association of a particular object instead of stating the real object in the poems. The substitution of the real
object through metonymy is aimed to give more vivid picture of that object that enables the readers to expand their imagination toward it.
“The breath goes now, and some say, No:” in line 4 of “A Valediction: Forbiddi
ng Mourning” does contain an example of metonymy. In this line, the speaker tells that the virtue of men makes their friends become miserable when
they die. Their friends are divided into two parties that argue about their death. One of the parties sincere
ly lets the men go by saying “The breath goes now” while another one denies that fact of by saying “No”. To describe the arguments
in intense way, the speaker employs the personified metonymy in that expression by mentioning “the breath”, which substitutes ‘life’. “The breath” is categorized
as metonymy because it is closely related to life, especially in archaic expression. “The breath” itself is commonly used to signify a life because it is a kind of air
that a living individual take into and send out from their lung. Therefore, the statement
“the breath goes now,” indicates that the person is already dead because he stops breathing.
The use of metonymy does deepen the grief in that expression. Rather than plainly stating that the men are dead, the speaker prefers describing how those
virtuous men are dead. By using this personified metonymy, he provokes the readers to recall their memory when seeing a man, surrounded by his family and
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friends, lies on his bed. Then, they see one of the friends who are aware of his state approaches his nose and says, “The breath goes now” while sobbing. By
participating in that experience, the readers are not only able to understand the meaning of the poem but also are able to feel the same grief.
Considered as an essential element, metonymy is also employed by the speaker of “The Sun Rising”. Similar to the previous example, the speaker of this
poem also employs metonymy to expand the readers’ imagination. It presents concrete picture of a particular object so that the readers are aware of its
importance in constructing the whole meaning of the poem. For further explanation, the researcher describes the occurrences of metonymy in line 17 of
“The Sun Rising” in the following paragraph. Line 17, which says “Whether both the Indias of spice and mine” John
Donne, “The Sun Rising”, line 17, does contain two occurrences of metonymy in the phrase “the Indias of spice and mine”. The first metonymy occurs when the
speaker mention “the Indias of spice”, which refers to the East India. The east India is a subcontinent of Asia that is well-known for its exotic spices among
European traders. The Europeans, who hardly find spices in their countries, regard spices as the world’s most precious material and this East India as the world’s
most treasurable country. The second metonymy occurs in latter term of the same phrase, “the Indias of spice and mine”, which refers to the West India. The West
India is the new-discovered land, whose soil is full of gold and other minerals. The reason the speaker substitutes those lands with their main materials is because
he intends to emphasize the wealth of those lands.
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5. Synecdoche
