English Poetry Paper

ENGLISH POETRY 1

Figurative Language Analysis:

Personification, Symbol and Hyperbole

in “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden

Amalia Farhati   (13021005140097)

ENGLISH DEPARTMENT

FACULTY OF HUMANITIES

DIPONEGORO UNIVERSITY

SEMARANG

2016

ABSTRACT

            The purpose of this paper is to analyze intrinsic elements in the poem entitled “Funeral Blues” by Wystan Hugh Auden. The writer concentrates on personification, symbol and hyperbole to understand the exact meaning behind the poem. Here, the writer uses textual, hypertextual and close reading as the methods while making this paper. Through the intrinsic elements analysis of this paper, the reader can understand and would be easier to emphasize the exact meaning of this poem. 

Keywords: personification, symbol, hyperbole, funeral blues, W. H. Auden

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

I.1.            Background of the Study

“Poetry is an echo, asking a shadow to dance.”

─ Carl Sandburg ─

Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response. A. Riley in “Analysis of Poetry; An Attempt to Develop the Elements of Figurative Language” (1827:1) illustrate poetry as the expressions of our thoughts in figurative language arranged. Another definition of poetry comes from Paul Valery which interpret poetry as an art based on language, but poetry has more general meaning that is difficult to define because it is less determine; poetry also expresses a certain state of mind.

There is no an exact formula to understand the poem, but we can learn the exact meaning of the poem by analyzing it. Analyze itself means to study or examine something carefully in a methodical way.

I.2.            Purpose of the Study

The purposes of this study are:

1.      To understand the using of personification in the poetry.

2.      To understand the using of symbol in the poetry.

3.      To understand the using of hyperbole in the poetry.

4.      To appreciate the work of literature.

I.3.            Scope of the Study

The scope of this study is the analysis of figurative languages, personification, symbol and hyperbole in poetry entitled “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden.

CHAPTER II

THE POET, THE POEM, AND THE TRANSLATION

II.1.       The Biography of W. H. Auden

Wystan Hugh Auden was born on the twenty-first of February 1907, in the city of York in the North of England, the third and last child of George Augustus Auden and Constance Rosalie Bicknell. Auden is one of the most successful and well-known poets of the 20th century. Educated at Oxford, Auden served in the Spanish Civil War, which greatly influenced his work. He also taught in public schools in Scotland and England during the 1930s. It was during this time that he rose to public fame with such works as "Paid on Both Sides" and "The Orators." Auden eventually immigrated to the United States, becoming a citizen in 1946. It was in the U.S. that he met his longtime partner Chester Kallman. Stylistically, Auden was known for his incomparable technique and his linguistic innovations. The term Audenesque became an adjective to describe the contemporary sounding speech reflected in his poems. Auden's numerous awards included a Bollingen Prize in Poetry, A National Book Award for "The Shield of Achilles," a National Medal for Literature from the National Book Committee, and a Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Numerous volumes of his poetry remain available today, including "About the House" and "City Without Walls." W.H. Auden died on September 28, 1973 in Vienna.

II.2.       “Funeral Blues” by W.H. Auden

Funeral Blues (1936)

Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,

Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,

Silence the pianos and with muffled drum

Bring out the coffin, let the mourners come.

Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead

Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.

Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,

Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.

He was my North, my South, my East and West,

My working week and my Sunday rest,

My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;

I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong.

The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.

II.3.       The Translation of “Funeral Blues”

Haru Biru Pemakaman

Hentikan semua jam itu, putuskan saja teleponnya,

Hentikan lolongan anjing itu dengan tulang segar,

Hentikan pianonya, gantikan dengan drum yang meredam

Bawakan peti mati itu, biarkan orang-orang yang berduka berdatangan.

Biarkan pesawat-pesawat itu berputar, merintih di atas kepala

Menggores langit bertuliskan ‘Dia telah tiada’.

Kenakan pita pada leher putih para merpati,

Biarkan polisi lalu-lintas mengenakan sarung tangan hitamnya.

Dia adalah Utara, Selatanku, Timur dan Baratku,

Minggu sibuk dan pekan rehatku.

Siang bolongku, tengah malamku, suaraku dan laguku;

Kupikir cinta akan bertahan selamanya: ternyata aku salah.

Aku tak ingin bintang-bintang itu; singkirkan saja semuanya,

Kemas rembulan itu dan musnahkan sang Surya,

Tumpahkan saja samuderanya, luluh lantahkan hutannya;

Untuk saat ini takkan ada satupun kebaikan yang datang.

CHAPTER III

LITERARY REVIEW

III.1.    Figurative Language

Figurative language is a language that  means one thing literally but is taken to mean something different (Carrol, 2008: 141). Figurative language is language that is not truly or strictly applicable to the subject concerning which it is employed, but which from some analogy between two subjects, is either directly or by allusion transferred from one to the other (Riley: 1).

III.2.    Personification

Personification is a literary device in which a thing, an idea, or an animal is given human features. The non-human objects are illustrated in such a way that we think they have the capability to action like human beings. For instance, we can see how A. H. Houseman describe the cherry trees from his poem “Loveliest of Trees the Cherry Now”.

“Loveliest of trees, the cherry nowIs hung with bloom along the bough,And stands about the woodland rideWearing white for Eastertide.”

He looks at a cherry tree covered with beautiful white flowers in the forest and says that the cherry tree wears white clothes to celebrate Easter. He gives human features to a tree in order to illustrate it in human terms.

III.3.    Symbol

A symbol is literary device that consists of several layers of meaning, often camouflaged at first sight, and is characteristics of several other aspects, concepts or traits than those that are visible in the literal translation alone. Symbol is using an object or action that defines something more than its literal meaning. Sometimes, an action, or a word spoken by someone contains a symbol behind it. For instance, “a new dawn” may illustrated not only as a brand new day, but also a chance to start things over again. Another example of symbolism can be seen in William Blake’s poem, “Ah, Sunflower!”.

“Ah Sun-flower! weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun:
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the travellers journey is done.”

In this poem, Blake refers to a life cycle and uses “sun-flower” to illustrate human race that they wish an eternal life.

III.4.    Hyperbole

Hyperbole, according to “Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary of Current English” is a language that is deliberately and obviously exaggerated for effect. Hyperbole indeed makes a comparison, but unlike simile and metaphor, hyperbole sometime contains a bit humorous effect created by an overstatement. For instance, when you met a friend who is quite fat, your friend next tou you said: “She is as heavy as an elephant!”. She may has only 60-70 kilograms in weight, but the use of word “elephant” exaggerated this statement to add emphasis to her weight. Another example can be seen from poetry “As I Walked One Evening” by W. H. Auden.

I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love youTill China and Africa meet,And the river jumps over the mountainAnd the salmon sing in the street,I’ll love you till the oceanIs folded and hung up to dry

The use of hyperbole can be seen in the above lines. The meeting of China and Africa, the jumping of the river over the mountain, singing of salmon in the street, and the ocean being folded and hung up to be dried are overstatements that totally impossible in real life.

CHAPTER IV

DISCUSSION

IV.1.   The Explanation of the Poem

A simple representatives of someone’s feelings when a special one had passed away has being clearly pointed by W. H. Auden in “Funeral Blues”. Auden illustrates the experience of grief, memory, loss, sorrow, and pain so emotionful that we do not have to experience them ourselves to feel it.

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,Silence the pianos and with muffled drumBring out the coffin, let the mourners come.”

However, sometimes words can’t describe enough. We often found that grief goes beyond words, and into silence. Time has to stop, no communication anymore, pianos has to stop, replaced with the muffled drum. She wants everything to just stop, that everything she needs is silence.

“He was my North, my South, my East and West,My working week and my Sunday rest,My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;I thought that love would last forever: I was wrong. The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

The last two stanzas prescribe how much the speaker (maybe a woman) really loves the man who died, that he meant so much to her, that after he died, all that was left was only grief and sorrow.

IV.2.   Figurative Language

The stanzas between the first and the last describe about the loss experience of a loved one in life, and show how pathetic it feels with some figurative languages. Mostly, a “Funeral Blues” by W. H. Auden contains  personification and symbol on it.

IV.3.   Personification

“Let aeroplanes circle moaning overhead”

Auden represent the aeroplanes have an ability to moan. “Moaning” here does not literary mean that the aeroplanes produce a moan sounds like a human being. “Moaning” means the droning tones as literally aeroplanes sounds.

“Scribbling on the sky the message 'He is Dead'.”

This line does not really mean the aeroplanes has an ability to scribbling or writing. Indeed, aeroplanes can write a message in the sky, but only with using the fog, not using stationaries like human does.

IV.4.   Symbol

“Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,”

“Clocks” here means time, this means that the speakers wants the time to stop. She wants everything just stop a while, that she could drown into her sorrow for a moment, appreciating the last time she could see the man who died before everything that was left is just a memory.

Secondly, “telephone” here describe a communication. This poem tells us that she wants a silence, no more communication, no more contact. She does not want to talk to anybody that moment. All she need is the muffled drum to accompany her at the funeral.

“Put crepe bows round the white necks of the public doves,”

Let’s see on another line. We have “crepe bows” that actually means a “black ribbon”. Black ribbon itself contains a symbol of griefing, or condolence. Like when people attend a funeral, they usually wears a black ribbon or black outfit to show their condolence.

On the other side, there is a “doves”. Auden wrote a “doves” here was not without a reason. Dove contains symbol of clear, pureness. The Dove is a powerful icon, especially from a religious stand point. It represents purity and peace which draws us back to the narrators desire for quiet.

“Let the traffic policemen wear black cotton gloves.” 

Another illustration of funeral,  “black cotton gloves” also contains a symbol of grief. People uses black cotton gloves at a funeral to honor the departed.

Clearly in this poem the speaker wants everyone to dress formally, and pay their respects, to signify that her loss is a loss to everybody.

                                                                    

“He was my North, my South, my East and West,”

The first line of stanza 3, we can see that the speaker wants to tell us how much he meant to her. “North”, “south”, “east” and “west” are the points of the compass. Clearly, she describes him as her compass, as her guide to home. We can see how much the narrator is lacks direction without their loved one. She is lost without him. 

“My working week and My Sunday rest,My noon, my midnight, my talk, my song;”

The second and third line of stanza 3, we are amazed by Auden’s ability in choosing words, once again. Theselines tells us that the departed is the reason of the speaker working hard in life and that he is her solace on resting days. They also tells us that the deceased person had once been her day and night-intricately associated with the cycle of life. She stood for all his communication in life (talk) and song (her harmony and balance) in life. How wonderful, yet pathetic. It was terrible when someone had too relied on someone that can not be in their side forever. This poem indirectly teaches us not to depending on someone. We have to be an independent person so that we will not fall that hard like the speaker in this poem.

IV.5.   Hyperbole

Last but not least, there is a hyperbole that we can see on the last stanza.

“The stars are not wanted now; put out every one,

Pack up the moon and dismantle the sun,

Pour away the ocean and sweep up the wood;

For nothing now can ever come to any good.”

Even though no one can “dismantle the sun” or “pack up the moon”, the speaker’s grief is so intense that she still hopes we could. From this poem, we can feel that all of this romantic natural image (the stars, the moon and the sun) was too painful for her. She does not want to see any object that could remind her of him. Maybe the memories are too strong that her grief is so frustratingly. It is like she want to blot out everything in this world except her own mourning.

The ocean has to be poured away. Let the woods be swept up. The speaker implements the violent imagery of Doomsday by these descriptions. Death is another version of birth, as change is inevitable. Now that the most cherished one has gone, nothing good would ever happen.

IV.6.   The Retranslation of The Poem

After we have analyzed the poem, we are trying to retranslate it based on the actual meaning, not in literal way.

Haru Biru Pemakaman

Hentikan semua jam itu, putuskan saja teleponnya,

Hentikan lolongan anjing itu dengan tulang segar,

Hentikan pianonya, gantikan dengan drum yang meredam

Bawakan peti mati itu, biarkan orang-orang yang berduka berdatangan.

Biarkan pesawat-pesawat itu berputar, merintih di atas kepala

Menggores langit bertuliskan ‘Dia telah tiada’.

Kenakan pita pada leher putih para merpati,

Biarkan polisi lalu-lintas mengenakan sarung tangan hitamnya.

Dia adalah penunjuk arah bagiku

Alasanku bekerja sepanjang minggu dan menjadi pelipur lara di akhir pekanku

Dialah tempatku bergantung siang dan malam, tempatku mencurahkan isi hati dan pikiranku, keseimbangan dan harmoni dalam kehidupanku;

Kupikir cinta akan bertahan selamanya: ternyata aku salah.

Aku tak ingin melihat bintang-bintang itu; singkirkan saja semuanya,

Kemas rembulan itu dan musnahkan sang Surya,

Tumpahkan saja samuderanya, luluh lantahkan hutannya;

Setelah ia pergi, aku yakin takkan ada satupun kebaikan dunia ini yang tersisa untukku

CHAPTER 5

CONCLUSION

            From the poetry “Funeral Blues” we can conclude that W. H. Auden has a wonderful ability to transform a simple words into a meaningful words that can express a feelings deeply. Auden, with his ability, can make his readers feel the experience of loss through figurative language without experience it themselves. Auden, apparently wants his readers to drowned into the speakers grief. The way he played around with words, especially personification, symbols and hyperboles, we can feel that it’s terrible when we had too depended on someone, then that person has just left us apart, left us in pieces. Makes us felt horribly in lost, without direction, because he or she is our compass. There is no sound, no stars, no moon neither sun. He took away all the music with him. Yet here, we are all alone. There’s only silence and darkness surrounded, and no one goodness that was left anymore in the world.

“Poetry is when an emotion has found its thoughts and the thought has found words.”

─ Robert Frost ─

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Carpenter, Humphrey. 1981. W. H. Auden: A biography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Hartcourt.

Auden, W. H. 1998. Tell Me the Truth about Love: Fifteen Poems. United Kingdom: Faber & Faber.

Perrine, Laurence. 1969. 3^th ed.Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry. United States of America: Harcourt College Pub.

Riley. A. 1827. Analysis of Poetry; An Attempt to Develop the Elements of Figurative Language. London: S. Robinson & G. B. Whitaker.

Carrol, David. 1994. 5^th ed. Psychology of Language. United States of America: Thomson Wadsworth.

Wehmeier, Sally. 2000. 6^th ed. Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Current English. London: Oxford University Press.

Vocabulary.com Dictionary. 2006. https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/analyze.Web. (December 5, 2016)

       Literary Devices. 2016. http://literarydevices.net/personification/. Web. (December 5, 2016)