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ANALYSIS ON FIGURES OF SPEECH FOUND IN EMILY
DICKINSON’S BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN FINAL PAPER
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Octavia Ines Windyaswari
Student Number: 121214106
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2018
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ANALYSIS ON FIGURES OF SPEECH FOUND IN EMILY
DICKINSON’S BECAUSE I COULD NOT STOP FOR DEATH
A SARJANA PENDIDIKAN FINAL PAPER
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements
to Obtain the Sarjana Pendidikan Degree
in English Language Education
By
Octavia Ines Windyaswari
Student Number: 121214106
ENGLISH LANGUAGE EDUCATION STUDY PROGRAM
DEPARTMENT OF LANGUAGE AND ARTS EDUCATION
FACULTY OF TEACHERS TRAINING AND EDUCATION
SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
YOGYAKARTA
2018
PLAGIAT MERUPAKAN TINDAKAN TIDAK TERPUJI
vi
ABSTRACT
Windyaswari, Octavia Ines. (2018). Analysis on Figures of Speech in Emily
Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death. Yogyakarta: English Language
Education Study Program, Faculty of Teachers Training and Education, Sanata
Dharma University.
Expressing ideas can be done directly through communication orally and
in written. One of the ways to convey ideas in written form is poem. In poems,
the language expresses different meanings than the ordinary meaning. Figure of
speech, which is part of figurative language, is the language that avoids speaking
directly or plainly about the subject under examination.
This paper aims to discuss the figures of speech found in Emily
Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death. There are two research problems
formulated, namely: 1) What figures of speech are found in Because I Could Not
Stop for Death’s poem by Emily Dickinson? and 2) What is the meaning in each
figure of speech found in Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily
Dickinson? The two research problems are approached using new criticism that
has similarity with formalist. It is separated from external elements such as about
the author’s life and history.
Based on the findings, the writer found that there are four figures of
speech, namely allegory, methapor, personification, and symbol. Those meanings
of figures of speech tell that the poem is about the atmosphere felt by human
beings when the day ends. The most frequently figure of speech found in the
poem is symbol. It is a suggestion of other meaning than what it is. It can transfer
the ideas embodied in the image without stating them. To draw the meaning, it
needs to have critical thinking that is useful for language learning about figure of
speech.
Keywords: figure of speech, new criticism, poem
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ABSTRAK
Windyaswari, Octavia Ines. (2018). Analysis on Figures of Speech in Emily
Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death. Yogyakarta: Program Studi
Pendidikan Bahasa Inggris, Fakultas Keguruan dan Ilmu Pendidikan, Universitas
Sanata Dharma.
Mengekspresikan berbagai gagasan dapat dinyatakan secara langsung
melalui komunikasi secara lisan dan tertulis atau media tulisan. Salah satu cara
mengekspresikan berbagai gagasan dalam bentuk tulisan adalah melalui puisi.
Dalam puisi, bahasa yang digunakan mengandung makna yang berbeda dari
makna yang sebenarnya. Bahasa kiasan, merupakan bagian dari gaya bahasa,
adalah bahasa yang menyatakan dengan lugas tentang makna yang sebenarnya
dari pokok bahasan.
Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk menganalisa berbagai bahasa kiasan yang
ditemukan dalam puisi Emily Dickinson yang berjudul Because I Could Not Stop
for Death. Terdapat dua rumusan masalah dalam penelitian ini, yaitu: 1) Bahasa
kiasan apa saja yang ditemukan dalam puisi karya Emily Dickinson berjudul
Because I Could Not Stop for Death? dan 2) Apa makna yang terkandung dalam
setiap Bahasa kiasan yang ditemukan? Pendekatan kritik sastra baru yang
mempunyai kesamaan dengan formalism adalah pendekatan yang digunakan
untuk menyelesaikan kedua rumusan masalah tersebut. Pendekatan new criticism
membatasi dari unsur eksternal seperti tentang kehidupan penulis dan sejarah.
Terdapat beberapa bahasa kiasan yang ditemukan dalam puisi. Penulis
menemukan bahwa ada empat bahasa kiasan, yaitu alegori, metafora,
personifikasi dan simbol. Bahasa kiasan tersebut memiliki makna bahwa puisi ini
bercerita mengenai suasana yang dirasakan oleh manusia ketika hari berakhir.
Bahasa kiasan yang paling sering ditemukan pada puisi tersebut adalah simbol.
Simbol adalah kata yang bermakna lain dari makna yang sebenarnya. Gagasan
yang terkandung dalam pelukisan dapat disampaikan tanpa menyebutkan gagasan
yang sebenarnya. Untuk mengartikan makna yang terdapat dalam bahasa kiasan
memerlukan berpikir kritis yang berguna dalam pembelajaran bahasa.
Kata kunci: figure of speech, new criticism, poem
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to express my greatest gratitude to Jesus Christ for His
blessing and guidance during my life especially in doing this final paper. He gives
me the best lessons for my colourful life. His plans are really awesome.
My deepest gratitude goes to my major sponsor, Carla Sih Prabandari,
S.Pd., M.Hum., for her advice, guidance, and understanding from the beginning
until the end of this final paper writing. Without her patience and attention, this
final paper will not be finished well. I would like to sincerely express my gratitude
to Maria Vincentia Eka Mulatsih, S.S., M.A. for her willingness to spend her
times for reading, correcting, giving suggestion and improvement for my final
paper. I also express my gratitude to all the lectures at Sanata Dharma
University who give me valuable knowledge and great story. I thank the secretary
staffs for helping me in the administration and the librarian for helping me in
searching the references. I also thank all Sanata Dharma University staffs for
these years for helping me in many things.
I am sincerely grateful to my beloved parents, Bapak Nicolaus Winarno
and Ibu Joel Helmin, for their best supports and prayers for my success. I also
thank my lovely sisters, Ervita, Ellena, Vina, Anin for their support and
amusement in the hard times.
My best gratitude goes to all my best friends, Wulan, Rere, Vonda,
Zenita, Tanty, Gio, Edo, and Aji. I thank them for encouraging me to never give
up. I am honoured to have such a great friends as them. They make my life
awesome through ups and downs. My gratitude also goes to all of my friends in
Sanata Dharma University, especially bath 2012, with whom I have got through
the good and the best times during my study.
Last but not least, I would like to thank those whose names are not
mentioned here for their supports and prayers so that I could finish this final
paper. I thank everyone for everything. May God bless them all.
Octavia Ines Windyaswari
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE ……………………………………………………………… i
APPROVAL PAGES ……………………………………………………… ii
BOARD OF EXAMINERS ……………………………………………….. iii
STATEMENT OF WORK’S ORIGINALITY ……………………………. iv
PERNYATAAN PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI …………………………….. v
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………….. vi
ABSTRAK ………………………………………………………………….. vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ……………………………………………….... viii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ………………………………………………….. ix
CHAPTER I. INRODUCTION
A. Research Background …………………………………. 1
B. Approach of the study …………………………………. 3
CHAPTER II. DISCUSSION
A. Review of Related Literature
1. New Criticism ……………………………………... 6
2. The Language of Poetry …………………………… 7
3. Figure of Speech …………………………………... 8
B. Discussion
1. General Analysis about Because I Could Not Stop
for Death …………………………………………... 12
2. The analysis of Figures of Speech in Because I
Could Not Stop for Death Poem …………………... 13
CHAPTER III. CONCLUSIONS …………………………………..……... 20
REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………. 22
APPENDICES ……………………………………………...............……... 23
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
This chapter consists of the background of the study and the research
problems. The background of the study provides general information about the
topic of this study. Meanwhile, the research problems show the problem
formulation in what the researcher want to discuss about.
A. Background
Someone can express his or her ideas in many ways. The ideas can be
expressed directly through oral and written communication. One of the ways
expressing ideas in written form is poem. In poem, the language says different
meaning than the ordinary meaning. It shows the strong feeling that is written in a
beautiful stanza. According to Parini (1987), poems represent “the most refined
way human beings have ever found for expressing themselves in language,
indeed, they satisfy an almost primitive need for conjuring experience in vivid,
memorable language”. It also contains philosophical messages that are showed by
the poet through emotions, imaginations, and senses.
Talking about poems, they have some parts such as the characteristic, the
stylistic, the figurative language or figure of speech, etc. Figurative language,
according to Kennedy and Gioia (2002) is said “to occur whenever a speaker or
writer, for the sake of freshness or emphasis, departs from the usual denotations of
words. It is a way of saying something that has another meaning and needs to be
concerned”. Figure of speech is the language that a speaker avoids speaking
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directly or plainly about the subject under examination. Wren and Martin
(1981:488) state, “figure of speech is a departure from the ordinary form of
expression or the ordinary course of ideas in order to produce a greater effect.”
The statement explains that figure of speech related with connotative meaning. It
gives meaning more than its literary meaning. Moreover, figure of speech helps
the reader to imagine what the poem means, add emotional intensity and add
imagery in order to make the poem more sensous. It is also the language that
either speaks symbolically about the subject or the language when speaking about
the subject. Almost all of poets use figure of speech, whether they know it or not,
and in order to make well reading.
One of the famous American poets is Emily Dickinson who is capable in
communicating through poems. According to Kirk (2004), she was born in
Amherst, Massachusetts, on December 10, 1830. In her early twenties, she began
to write poetry in her lifetime. She had made so many poems, but only few that
are published before her death. Because I could not stop for death is one of her
poem that is published on 1890. In addition, by the age of 20, Emily Dickinson
had begun to the seclusion that would define the rest of her life. The deaths of
several friends and mentors had started weighing heavily on Emily’s mind. Those
made her in a depression. The final year was when her father passed away
suddenly while on a trip to Boston in 1874.
The writer’s focus on this study is the figurative language or figure of
speech found in Emily Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death.
Experiencing with deaths made some of Emily Dickinson’s poems use figure of
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speech to express the death in her point of view. Figure of speech has the role in
poem to make the meaning deeper than the ordinary one. It combines more than
one word. To examine the meaning cannot be determined by the words’ meanings
that make it up because each figure of speech has its purpose.
Referring to the research background, the writer was interested in analyzing
figure of speech used in Because I Could Not Stop for Death’s poem by Emily
Dickinson. The problems are formulated by making the research question below:
1. What figures of speech are found in Because I Could Not Stop for Death’s
poem by Emily Dickinson?
2. What is the meaning in each figure of speech found in Because I Could
Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson?
From those two research problems, this study has two objectives. The first
research objective is to find out what figures of speech are found in Because I
Could Not Stop for Death’s poem by Emily Dickinson. Knowing kinds of figures
of speech, the study finds out the purpose in each figure of speech to understand
what the poem might tell about. Aside those two objectives, this study might
provide more references to study poetry.
B. Approach of the Study
In this study, the writer focuses on poem. The selected poem is Emily
Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death which was published on 1980.
The poem tells about death in Emily Dickinson’s point of view.
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As other poems, it is useless to read the poem without knowing and
understanding what the poem actually conveys to the readers. According to Yeibo
(2012), “the language occurred in poem, as a literature, is coded creatively which
uses figures of speech. The meaning deriving from figures of speech is not the
literary meaning”. It requires special attention to analyze it. That is why the study
working to analyze the figures of speech more deeply. Since the discussion is
about analyzing figures of speech, the writer uses formalist approach or new
criticism. In new criticism, according to Crane (1953), “all information essential
to the interpretation of a work must be found within the work itself; there is no
need to bring in outside information about the history, politics, or society of the
time, or about the author's life. New critics spend much time analyzing irony,
paradox, imagery, and metaphor. They are also interested in the work's setting,
characters, symbols, and point of view.” New critics see a poem as a whole work.
It is separated from external elements such as about the author and history. They
need to use their knowledge about language to know the true meaning.
The data for this study were taken from Emily Dickinson’s poem Because
I Could Not Stop for Death. The figures of speech found in poem are as primary
data. Collecting the data, the writer does many steps. They are reading the poem
more than three times until the writer has well understanding about the content of
the poem or what the poem tells about, choosing and highlighting the figures of
speech, classifying the figures of speech found in the poem and doing analysis on
figures of speech using new criticism approach.
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The procedures of analyzing the data start with organizing the data,
reading all the data, coding the data like hyperbole (H), personification (P), Simile
(S), etc, and identifying the meaning of figures of speech found in the poem based
on the theories and the data taken from the poem. The meanings of each figures of
speech found in the poem have to be connected for the whole poem. In analyzing
the meaning of the figures of speech found in the poem, the researcher uses
formalist approach or new criticism that performs a close reading for
concentrating on the relationships within the text that give it its own distinctive
character or form. New Critics emphasize that the structure of a work should not
be divorced from meaning, viewing the two as constituting a quasi-organic unity.
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CHAPTER II
DISCUSSION
This chapter contains two major parts. The first part is the review of
related literature which is used to support the discussion and the second part is the
discussion on the research problems. The discussion is divided into two parts.
The first part deals with general analysis and the second part is about figures of
speech found in the Emily Dickinson’s Because I Could Not Stop for Death and
their meanings according to the poem itself.
A. Review of Related Literature
1. New Criticism
According to Crane (1953), “the new criticism is a type of formalist
literary criticism that reached its height during the 1940s and 1950s and that
received its name from John Crowe Ransom‘s 1941 book The New Criticism.
New Critics treat a work of literature as it is a self-contained, self-referential
object”. They analyze the work of literature by basing its work rather than basing
their interpretations of a text on the reader‘s response, the author‘s stated
intentions, or parallels between the text and historical contexts or extrinsic
aspects (such as information about society of the time when the poem was made
and author‘s life). Also according to Crane (1953), “it has special attention which
is paid to repetition, particularly of images or symbols, but also of sound effects
and rhythms in poetry. New Critics especially appreciate the use of literary
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devices, such as irony, to achieve a balance or reconciliation between dissimilar,
even conflicting, elements in a text”.
New criticism and formalist have similarity, both analyze a poem by its
structure. New criticism thinks that a poem has no relation with the extrinsic
factors. It concentrates on finding the meaning from the structure of its poem.
According to Rohrberger and Woods (1971), “the extreme formalist critic
examines the literary piece without reference to facts of the author’s life, without
reference to the genre of the piece or to its place in the development of the genre
or in literary history, and without reference to its social milieu”.
2. The Language of Poetry
Poems consist of words and it is important to know the meaning of the
words. Although one word can have more than one meaning, but it has specific
meaning according to a given context (Chatman, 1968). The sense of a word in a
given context can be known by the words surrounding. As Chatman (1968) says
also that there is no difficult word to be understood, reversely, there is a simple
word that people already know, but they are in the wrong senses. In a poem,
sometimes reader needs times to understand the meaning of the words. According
to Rohrberger and Woods (1971), “such ordinary meanings can be discovered in
a good dictionary, and these meaning are called denotative meaning or
denotations. The additional meanings that words in a poem may suggest are
called connotative meanings or connotations”.
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Since poem has its grammatical form, it can distract to know it really
means if people do not know how to solve that problem. A line does not always
consist a sentence. Sometimes it does not need to put full stop in order to end the
sentence. Chatman (1968) suggests that “to solve about grammatical problems in
poetry, they are needed to observe syntactically. Poetry often use inversion and
ellipsis or deletion of words”. If the grammatical problems can be handled, it
really helps in paraphrasing the poem. The best way to paraphrase a poem is
analyzing sentence by sentence not line by line. “If a sentence is difficult to
understand after diagnosing syntactically, it needs to determine from the lexical
part for example observing the reference of pronouns found in a poem”
(Chatman, 1968). Paraphrase itself, according to Chatman (1968) “is stating the
understanding something to mean in the same thing but in other words”. It needs
to identify the words that stand figuratively.
3. Figure of Speech
Murphy (1972) says that “what makes him a poet, however, is that he uses
them with greater awareness, greater sensitivity and greater artistry.” Language
used in poetry is not as in daily conversation. It is organized to make the work
more beautiful. Basically, figures of speech are parts of figurative language.
According to Perrine (1982), “figurative language-language using figure of
speech- is language that cannot be taken literally.” They also give more effective
meaning of saying what we mean rather that direct statements. Perrine (1982)
defines “figures of speech as a way of saying one thing and meaning another.
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They serve function of giving extended meanings to words, phrases or sentences
from their literal expressions”.There are some figures of speech according to
Perrine (1982) as shown below:
a. Methapor
Methapor is a comparison between two dissimilar things. Perrine (1982) defines
“methapor is comparison between things essentially unlike”. It is supported by
Parini (1987) that “a methapor is a comparison that suggest that one thing is
similar to another”. It does not need comparing words. Murphy (1972) says that
“the comparison used in methapor is a direct one and the reader’s attention is not
drawn to it by any sign-posts such as ‘like’, ‘as … as’, and so on”. The example
is taken from Murphy (1972).
“When Shakespeares said:
All the world’s a stage
And all the men and women merely players,
he was comparing the world to a stage and all the people in it to actors. He did
not say, ‘All the world’s like a stage, but stated the comparison directly.”
b. Simile
Simile is also a comparison between two dissimilar things. Murphy (1972)
defines “the word ‘simile’ only means: like. When the poet uses a simile he
makes it plain to the reader that he is using conscious comparison”. What makes
it different from methapor is the use of comparing words. It is not directly
compared. As Perrine (1982) says that “the only distinction is that in simile the
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comparison is expressed, by the use of some word or phrase such as like, as, than,
similar to, or resembles”. The example is taken from Murphy (1972).
“The poet Wordsworth described a beautiful woman as:
Fair as a star, when only one
Is shining in the sky.
The comparison is between beauty of a single bright star shining in the sky and
the beauty of the woman which shines out above that of other woman”.
c. Personification
According to Perrine (1982), “personification consists in giving the attributes of
human being to an animal, an object, or an idea”. It gives the things personified
human characteristics, which connect to the reader’s understanding of the human
world, and human actions. Murphy (1972) gives the example as shown below.
“The sun smiled on the earth …
we are speaking of the sun as though it is capable of smiling like the
human face. We are actually comparing the goodness, benevolence and
warmth of the sun’s rays that fall upon the earth to the kindly and warm
smile that a parent might give to a child”.
d. Synecdoche
According to Parini (1987), “synecdoche -naming the part for the whole- is more
common and easily isolated”. It is about a little thing can make conclusion for the
bigger or whole thing. Its example is “Robert Graves uses synecdoche in ‘The
Naked and the Nude’ when he refers to a doctor as a ‘hyppocratic eye’” (Perrine,
1982).
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e. Symbol
Perrine (1982) says that “a symbol may be roughly defined as something that
means more than what it is”. It is stand for something else that is more abstract.
Ghill (1995) states that “unlike similes, there are not linguistic features to look
out for; symbols do not use words such as ‘like’ and ‘as’”. Its example is taken
from Murphy (1972).
“When Robert Herrick says in his poem Daffodils:
Fair daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon;
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained its noon.
He is not only talking about the daffodils, beautiful, short-lived flowers that
bloom briefly in the springtime, but also about life. The flower which blooms,
then quickly dies, becomes a symbol of life.”
f. Allegory
Definition allegory according to Perrine (1982) is “a narrative or description that
has second meaning beneath the surface one”. It is a narrative where similarities
between the narratives are used symbolically to suggest something else. Perrine
(1982) adds that “it is unlike extended metaphor in that it involves a system of
related comparisons rather than one comparison drawn out”. A journey can be
used allegorically to suggest a person's journey through life.
g. Paradox
Perrine (1982) defines that a paradox is “an apparent contradiction that is
nevertheless somehow true”. It is a term in rhetoric for a situation or statement
that is or seems self-contradictory and even absurd, but may contain an insight
into life. The example is taken from Ghill (1995).
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“For instance, in Keats’s ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ there are these paradoxial lines
on music:
Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard
Are sweeter.
That is contradictory; a melody you cannot hear can never be sweeter than one
you can”.
h. Overstatement or Hyperbole
Perrine (1982) says that “overstatement, or hyperbole, is simply exaggeration but
exaggeration in the service of truth”. It deliberates and is not meant to be taken
literally. For example: “she rushed out of the room in floods of tears” means
crying a lot. “when she was in Paris, she spent ton of money” means spending a
lot of money.
i. Irony
According to Perrine (1982), “the term irony always implies some sort of
discrepancy or incongruity”. It uses other word that is said or written but actually
has negative meaning. The example is when someone say ‘what a lovely day!’
when it is a rainstorm.
B. Discussion
This part is divided into two parts that are the general analysis about
Because I Could Not Stop for Death and the answer the problem formulation.
1. General Analysis about Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Identifying the speaker of the poem is not easy. Chatman (1968) suggests
that the correct principle to know the speaker is to separate the poem from its
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poet. In addition, assuming the poet is also the speaker may not get an important
thing. The poem’s title “Because I Could Not Stop for Death” tells that the
speaker is a human being who as if she or he has died. It uses dimension of time
by using tenses. Past tense is used in the first stanza until fifth stanza to tell the
story before the death in the world. Meanwhile, in the sixth stanza, it uses present
tense to tell the time that it happens now, when she or he is in eternity. The
central tension in the poem is between human living and death, between what the
speaker has done before the death and what she or he feels after the death. It can
be seen that this tension structures the poem as a whole through the alternation of
the language of human being with the language of life and death. In the poem, the
words “labor” and “leisure” mean secular. The narrative dimension of the poem
reveals a human being telling about the experience as if she or he has died. It
might hypothesize that the theme of the poem is probably about human being’s
attitude toward her or his death.
2. The Analysis of Figures of Speech in Because I Could Not Stop for Death
Poem
In analysing figures of speech found in Because I Could Not Stop for
Death is done stanza by stanza. It consists of six stanzas. Each stanza consists
figure of speech.
Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality.
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There are two kinds of figures of speech found in the first stanza. Symbol is
shown in the first line. Death is symbol of the end of life. It is the same with night
that is the end of the day. The second line uses personification for the word “he”.
Death can be considered as inanimate object, but in this poem personification is
used to personify death. “He” is pronoun used for human. It is used to connect to
the reader’s understanding of the human attribute. It is used to give more effect to
the reader. Symbol is shown in “the carriage” and “immortality”. The carriage
tells about time. That is because time can change into day and night. It is different
with immortality which means memories. Memories are remembered by people.
It makes the memories always there.
First stanza first line Death symbol
second line He (death) personification
third line The Carriage symbol
forth line Immortality symbol
Table 2.1 Finding in the first stanza
The second stanza tells us about what the speaker does towards death. The
speaker has to give his or her labor and leisure away. Below is the second stanza
of the poem.
We slowly drove – He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility –
In the first line of the second stanza, there are some words of
personification. “We” refers to the speaker of the poem or “I” and death or “he”
which is night. “Drove” shows that the speaker and the Death that is inanimate
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object walk together. It means that the day has changed into night. “He knew no
haste” shows personification used in the first line. It assigns human characteristic
that its meaning is the night will come slowly but for sure. Symbol is shown in
“His Civility”. Civility in this line expresses about good intention to reflect what
the speaker had done in the day.
Second stanza first line We (the speaker
and death)
personification
drove personification
He (death) personification
knew no haste personification
second line - -
third line - -
forth line Civility symbol
Table 2.2 Finding in the second stanza
In the third stanza, the poem shows about what the speaker had passed.
He or she had passed the school, fields of gazing grain and setting sun. Below is
the third stanza of the poem.
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess – in the Ring –
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain –
We passed the Setting Sun –
In this stanza, it is allegorically suggest person’s journey through life.
Symbol is used in “ring”. It symbolizes a cycle because of the shape that has
similar concept of cycle. Symbol is also shown in “school”, “fields of gazing
grain” and “setting sun”. School represents a place that people thought to have
good manner. Fields of gazing grain means grown-ups. It is the same with grown-
ups that is entering the phase of living individually. Setting sun is older people. It
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is closely to the end of a day and it is the same with older people that mostly
come to the end of life.
Third stanza first line We (the speaker and death) personification
School symbol
We passed the School,
where Children strove allegory
second line Ring symbol
third line We (the speaker and death) personification
Fields of Gazing Grain symbol
allegory
forth line We (the speaker and death) personification
Setting Sun symbol
allegory
Table 2.3 Finding in the third stanza
Fourth stanza of the poem tells us about the speaker who is chill because
of dews, although he or she wears gown and tulle. Here is the fourth stanza as
shown below.
Or rather – He passed us –
The Dews drew quivering and chill –
For only Gossamer, my Gown –
My Tippet – only Tulle –
Figures of speech found in the fourth stanza are personification and
symbol. “He” is personification for death. He, as night, is assigning human
characteristic. It means that the sun has begun to rise. In the next line, quivering
expresses about the big impact of dews in the night that make people tremble. It
uses personification. Symbol can be shown in dews that is tears. It is the same
with tears because the dews can drop to the land. Another symbol is in the third
and fourth line of this stanza. These lines symbolize appearance. It is because
gown or long dress and tulle or scarf are used to make good appearance.
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Forth stanza first line He (death) personification
second line Dews symbol
quivering personification
third line For only Gossamer, my
Gown-
symbol
forth line My Tippet -only Tulle- symbol
Table 2.4 Finding in the Forth stanza
In the fifth stanza, the poem want to give an illustration about house that
seems swelling of the ground. Its roof is visible. Below is the fifth stanza of the
poem.
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground –
The Roof was scarcely visible –
The Cornice – in the Ground –
Figures of speech found in fifth stanza are symbol and methapor. In this
stanza, methapor only occurs once in the first line. “House” is compared with a
swelling of the ground, the roof was scarcely visible the cornice in the ground.
The comparison does not use like, as or than which is called metaphor. Symbol in
this stanza is shown in “house”. It symbolize about regret because the lines
following tell about grave. Some people will be regretful of what he or she had
done.
Fifth stanza first line We (the speaker and
death)
personification
House symbol
House that seemed methapor
second line A Swelling of the
Ground-
symbol
third line The Roof was scarcely
visible-
symbol
forth line The Cornice -in the
Ground-
symbol
Table 2.5 Finding in the fifth stanza
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The last stanza tells about time. After all the speaker had done, it will lead
her or him toward Eternity. The sixth stanza is shown below.
Since then – ‘tis Centuries – and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses’ Heads
Were toward Eternity –
In the sixth stanza, figure of speech that can be found is symbol. It is in
the third line which is “Horses’ Heads”. It symbolizes stars. Horses’ heads and
stars are the same because horses’ heads lead the horses to walk in the road,
meanwhile stars lead day to the night.
Sixth stanza first line - -
second line - -
third line Horses’ Heads symbol
forth line - -
Table 2.6 Finding in the sixth stanza
Based on the analysis figures of speech in Because I Could Not Stop for
Death by Emily Dickinson. It can be seen that the most of figure of speech which
used in the selected poem is “Symbol” that is a suggestion of other meaning than
what it is. It can transfer the ideas embodied in the image without stating
them.For example, in the third line “The Carriage held but just Ourselves – ” and
“We paused before a House that seemed” that give other meanings with no need
to explain them. In the semantic meaning, it can be classified into the connotative
meaning.
Poem is written certainly has a message directed to the listener and the
readers. The message is directed with the intention that they get the impression
after listening and reading the poem. The messages can be found after knowing
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the meaning contained. The selected poem tries to tell about human reflection
toward what he or she had done. In other words, the selected poems conveys that
human circumstance in the night is more emotional.
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CHAPTER III
CONCLUSIONS
This part is the last chapter of this research. It contains the conclusions
based on the research findings discussed in the previous chapter. The conclusions
presents the summary of the answers to the two problems formulated in this study
that are: (1) What figures of speech are found in Because I Could Not Stop for
Death’s poem by Emily Dickinson? (2) What is the meaning in each figure of
speech found in Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson?
From the discussion, the writer found that there are four types of figures
of speech used in Because I Could Not Stop for Death’s poem by Emily
Dickinson, namely personification, methapor, symbol, and allegory. Symbol is
the most common figure of speech used in the poem among the four figures of
speech. It suggests other meaning than what it is. In addition, the meaning has to
be connected for the whole poem. The second most common type of figure of
speech used in the poem is personification. It personify things to human
characteristics.
To answer the second problem, the writer needs to analyze the figures of
speech found in Because I Could Not Stop for Death’s poem by Emily Dickinson
and interpret them. Based on the writer’s interpretation, the poem does not tell us
about death in literary meaning. Death in this poem symbolizes the end of the
day. The poem wants to tell about the atmosphere that human beings felt when it
is the end of the day.
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The poem Because I Could Not Stop for Death by Emily Dickinson may
give the reader another perspective of death. This poem has showed using figures
of speech can beautify a work. It needs time to think deeper to know the meaning.
The discussion may provide additional knowledge on how to find out the
meanings and make them connected to the whole poem. Besides, the discussion
may provide teaching material about critical thinking to draw the meanings that
are not derived from the words written. Lastly, the writer hopes that this study
gives some benefits for us.
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