ELITE - English Literature

At Glance about Figurative Language

Figurative language uses "figures of speech" - a way of saying something other than the literal meaning of the words.
1. Metaphor is a figure of speech/element of figurative language in which a implicit comparison is made between two things essentially unalike, without the use of the words "like" or "as."
It may take one of four forms:
(1) That in which the literal term and the figurative term are both named;
(2) That in which the literal term is named and the figurative term implied;
(3) That in which the literal term is implied and the figurative terms are named;
(4) That in which both the literal and the figurative terms are implied.
2. Simile A figure of speech in which a comparison is expressed by the specific use of a word or phrase such as: like, as, than, seems or Frost's favorite "as if,” or similar to, resembles, or seems.
3. Personification is that form of metaphor which treats an object or an abstraction as if it were a person. It is a type of metaphor in which distinct human qualities, e.g., honesty, emotion, volition, etc., are attributed to an animal, object or idea.
4. Apostrophe is a figure of speech in which someone absent or dead or something nonhuman is addressed as if it was alive and present and could reply.
5. Metonymy is a figure of speech that uses a concept closely related to the thing actually meant. The substitution makes the analogy more vivid and meaningful. It is a figure of speech in which some significant aspect or detail of an experience is used to represent the whole experience.
6. Synecdoche A figure of speech which mentions a part of something to suggest the whole.
7. Symbol is a thing (could be an object, person, situation or action) which stands for something else more abstract. It usually refers to a concrete image used to designate an abstract quality or concept.

Poem:
To Daffodils
(Robert Herrick, 1591-1674)

Fair Daffodils, we weep to see
You haste away so soon
As yet the early-rising sun
Has not attained his soon
Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run
But to the evensong
And having prayed together, we
Will go with you along


We have short time to stay as you;
We have as short a spring;
As quick a growth to meet decay
As you, or anything
We die
As your hours do, and dry
Away
Like to the summer’s rain;
Or as the pearls of morning’s dew
Ne’er to be found again.






An Analysis of Figurative Language Represent in Robert Herrick”s To Daffodils

• Line 1 “Fair Daffodils, we weep to see”
Fair Daffodils = Apostrophe
Here, the poem’s speaker wants to address the Daffodils, yellow trumpet-shaped flower, as a nonhuman being as if it is a human being which alive/present and could reply, with the form of address “Fair Daffodils”

• Line 2 “You haste away so soon”
You haste away so soon = Personification
The word “You” here was refers to the Daffodil, a yellow trumpet-shaped flower, as an object (not an human being/person), but in this line “You haste away so soon”, this line tells us with personified as if the daffodils can move quickly/hurriedly (show an action in move like a person)

• Line 3 “As yet the early-rising sun”
As = Simile
In line 3, the poem’s speaker was comparing dissimilar things between the Daffodils with the sun which is rising early in the morning, with the word “as” to link the images. The two objects being compared are the Daffodils and the sun which early rising to show how shorts the time was.

• Line 4 “Has not attained his soon”
His (= Sun) soon = Personification
In line 4, the poem’s speaker stated that His soon, the word “his” here refers to the early-rising sun’s period.

• Line 5 - 7
“Stay, stay,
Until the hasting day
Has run”
→ Apostrophe & Personification
From the point of view Apostrophe side, this line is a set of sentence like in this form “Stay, stay, until the hasting day has run”. And this sentence seems like a direct sentence in addressing a person.
From the point of view Personification side, this line stated that “… hasting day has run”, from this phrase, it is clear that this phrase show as a personification, since we know that the day was non-human object, but it is stated with the verb “has run”, which is to show that the day was also human being which is can flowing like a human-being condition/life.

• Line9 – 10 “And having prayed together, we” and “Will go with you along”
We & You = The Daffodils and the speaker’s poem = Apostrophe
The word “We” here was to address the daffodils and the poem’s speaker.

• Line11 “We have short time to stay as you;”
We = Apostrophe
…. as you; = Simile
The word “we” was refers to the poem’s speaker and the readers also; who comparing with the Daffodils which are has short time in this life.

• Line12 - 13 “We have as short a spring;” and “As quick a growth to meet decay”
We = Apostrophe
…. as short a spring; = Simile
As quick ….= Simile
The word “we” was refers to the poem’s speaker, the reader, and the Daffodils also; who comparing with a spring which is also has a short period in their lives, which capable in make damage something in short period.

• Line14 “As you, or anything”
As ….= Simile

• Line 16 “As your hours do, and dry”
As ….= Simile
The word “As your hours do, and dry” was show that the period/the time in our lives was so short ended; anything was easily ended in short period, so we must do something useful in our life.

• Line 17 “Like to the summer’s rain;”
Like … = Simile
The word “Like…’ was clear that it is a Simile, since it is comparing two things which dissimilar, between, our short period in life and the rain period in summer season.

• Line 18 “Or as the pearls of morning’s dew”
As…= Simile
The word “As…’ was clear that it is a Simile, since it is comparing two things which dissimilar, between, our short period in life and the pearls in the morning with some dew.