Poetry AnalysisAll The Time

Figurative Languages(Personifications and Allegories)

Imageries(Visual, Auditory, Kinesthetic)

Written by : May Swenson

Analyzed by : Ayu Bulan Paramastri

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

• According to William Flint Thrall and Addison Hibbard that had been revised and enlarge by C. Hugh Holman in A Handbook To Literature(1960: 364), “Poetry: A term applied to the many forms in which man has given a rhytmic exppression to his most imaginative and intense preseptions of his world, himself, and the interrelationship of the two.”

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

• To appreciate the poem of May Swenson, All The Time.• To analyze the Figurative

Languages(Personification and Allegory) in May Swenson, All The Time.• To analyze the Imageries(Visual, Auditory,

Kinesthetic) in May Swenson, All The Time.

SCOPE OF THE STUDY

• The scope of this study is to analize the intrinsic elements in May Swenson, All The Time, such as the Figurative Language and Imageries. The kind of Figurative Language that will be discussed in this study are Personification and Alegory. While, kinds of Imageries in this study will focuse on Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic.

ABSTRACT

• “All The Time” written by May Swenson contains a lot for Figurative Language and also Imagery. There are personifications and also symbols in figurative language. In imagery, we can find visual imagery, auditory imagery and also

kinesthetic imagery inside it. By analyzing it, the readers can read and understand the poem easily.

We can see from the paper that the author has her own style in writing the poem.

THE POET

• May Swenson was born Anna Thilda May Swenson on May 28, 1913, in Logan, Utah. Her parents were Swedish immigrants, and her father was a professor of mechanical engineering at Utah State University. English was her second language, her family having spoken mostly Swedish in their home. Influenced early on by Edgar Allan Poe, she kept journals as a young girl, in which she wrote in multiple genres.

Taken from:https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/may-swenson

THE POEM

All That Time

I saw two trees embracing.One leaned on the otherAs if to throw her down.

But she was the upright one.Since their twin youth, maybe sheHad been pulling him toward her

All that time,And finally almost uprooted him.

He was the thin, dry, insecure one,The most wind-warped, you could see.

And where their tops tangledIt looked like he was crying

On her shoulder.On the other hand, maybe he

Had been trying to weaken her,Break her, or at least

Make her bendOver backwards for him

Just a little bit.And all that time

She was standing up to himThe best she could.

She was the most stubborn,The straightest one, that's a fact.

But he had been willingTo change himself--

Even if it was for the worse--All that time.

At the top they looked like oneTree, where they were embracing.

It was plain they'd beAlways together.

Too late now to part.When the wind blew, you could hear

Them rubbing on each other.

THE TRANSLATION

Sepanjang Waktu ItuSaya melihat dua pohon saling memeluk.

Satu bersandar di sisi lainnyaSeolah-olah menyandarkannya kebawah.

Tapi dialah satu-satunya yang berdiri tegak.Sejak masa muda kembar mereka, mungkin

diaTelah menariknya ke arahnya

Sepanjang waktu itu,Dan akhirnya hampir menumbangkannya.Dia lah yang kurus, kering, dan tak kokoh,

Yang paling bengkok karena angin, bisa anda lihat.

Dan di mana puncak-puncaknya kusutYang tampak seperti sedang menangis

Di bahunya.Di sisi lain, mungkin dia

Telah berusaha untuk melemahkan dia,Merusaknya, atau setidaknya

MembengkokkannyaKe belakang untuknya

Hanya sedikit saja.Dan sepanjang waktu itu

Dia selalu berdiri tegak kepadanya

Hal terbaik yang dia bisa lakukan.Dia adalah yang paling keras kepala,

Yang jujur, itu merupakan sebuah fakta.Tapi dia telah bersedia

Untuk mengubah dirinya sendiri--Bahkan jika itu untuk hal yang lebih buruk--

Sepanjang waktu itu.Di bagian puncak mereka tampak seperti

satuPohon, di mana mereka saling memeluk.

Itu biasa mereka akanSelalu bersama.

Terlambat sekarang untuk berpisah.Ketika angin bertiup, Anda bisa mendengar

Mereka menggosok satu sama lain.

LITERARY REVIEW

Personification• “A figure of speech which endows animals, ideas, abstractions, and inanimate objects with

human form,character, or sensibilities; the representing of imaginary creatures or things as having human personalities, inteligence, and emotions: an impersonation in DRAMA of one character or person, whether real or fictitious, by another person.” (C. Hugh Holman, A handbook To Literature, 1960: 349).

• Example : • The dish ran away with the spoon.• In the Mother Goose’s The Cat and the Fiddle.• “Ah, William, we're weary of weather”, said the sunflowers,shining with dew.• "Our traveling habits have tired us”.• Can you give us a room with a view?• In the Nancy Willard’s "Two Sunflowers Move into the Yellow Room“

Taken from:http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/46485-examples-of-

personification-in-poetry-analysis/

LITERARY REVIEW

Symbol and Allegory

• According to Cleanth Brooks in Understanding Poetry(1983: 556), “Symbols are ‘signs’ pointing to meaning. Certain symbols are conventional, that is, arbiter, and we agree upon what tehy to signify. Symbolism, in turn, is seen as the main way that man conceives of the abstract and general, in literature as in other fields.”

• Allegory• According to Michael Meyer in The Bedford Introduction to Literature(1990:

583) “Unlike symbols, allegory is a narration or description usually restricted to a single meaning because its events, actions, characters, settings, and objects represent specific abstractions or ideas.”

• But in this poetry, it contains much deeper meanings in each word and represent a single meaning. Therefore it classify as Allegory and not as Symbol.

LITERARY REVIEW

Visual Imagery

• Visual imagery is the imagery that can be gained from the experience of the senses of sight (eyes) or represent a sight.

• Example :• A host of golden daffodils;• Beside the lake, beneath the trees,• Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.• In the William Wordsworth's poem I Wandered Lonely as a

Cloud.Taken from:

www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/

LITERARY REVIEW

Auditory Imagery

• Auditory is an image that appears from the sense of hearing from the sense of hearing.

• For example:• River—smell, and hear the breeze• Sobbing in the title trees.• This auditory imagery in The Old Vicarage, Grantchester by

Rupert Brooke offers the reader the sound of the breeze or wind. In these lines, the wind is not sound as usual. The wind is not blowing, but it is sobbing. The sobbing breeze can be heard through the little trees.(adapted from Burton, 1977: 99)

LITERARY REVIEW

Kinesthetic Imagery

• Kinesthetic imagery is the imagery produced from an experience that form of movement or represent movement.

• Example :• I can feel the tug of the rope on the adultress's neck.• In the Seamus Heaney’s poem Punishment.

Taken from:www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-

literature/

DISCUSSION

Personification

• All the movements and the behaviors that being shown inside of this poem are about personification. The characters(the trees: he and she) are not humans but they are described as humans. We can see it from the words “embracing”, “leaned”, “throw” and “pulling” in the first stanza, “crying” in the second stanza, and also “embracing” in the fifth stanza.

DISCUSSION

Allegory

• First Stanza:• “I saw two trees embracing.

One leaned on the otherAs if to throw her down.But she was the upright one.Since their twin youth, maybe sheHad been pulling him toward herAll that time,”

• Line 1 : There is a couple who is love each other.• Line 2-3 : The male weaker than the female.• Line 4-7 : The female is dominating from the beginning.

DISCUSSION

Allegory

• Second Stanza:• “And finally almost uprooted him.

He was the thin, dry, insecure one,The most wind-warped, you could see.And where their tops tangledIt looked like he was cryingOn her shoulder.On the other hand, maybe he”

• Line 1-3 : Her dominating toward the male makes him feels broken.

• Line 4 : This is where the climax happen, some problem occure.• Line 5-6 : The male feel down and could not do anything.

DISCUSSION

Allegory

• Third Stanza:• “Had been trying to weaken her,

Break her, or at leastMake her bendOver backwards for himJust a little bit.And all that timeShe was standing up to him”

• Line 1-4 : The male tries to switch the present state, but it is useless.

• Line 6-7 : The female still dominating the male.

DISCUSSION

Allegory

• Fourth stanza:• “The best she could.

She was the most stubborn,The straightest one, that's a fact.But he had been willingTo change himself--Even if it was for the worse--All that time.”

• Line 1-3 : The female has the most power in this relationship.• Line 4-7 : Instead, the male feels determined by the female

and choose to change himself for the worse.

DISCUSSION

Allegory

• Fifth Stanza:• “At the top they looked like one

Tree, where they were embracing.It was plain they'd beAlways together.”

• Line 1-2 : In the outside, people will think that they have such a harmonis relationship without a problem at all, different from the reality.

• Line 3-4 : They have been together since the beginning of their relationship.• Sixth Stanza:• “Too late now to part.

When the wind blew, you could hearThem rubbing on each other.”

• Line 1-3 : It is useless for them to end their relationship already, because everytime a problem occures betwen them, they will actually forgive each other.

DISCUSSION

Imagery• Stanza 1 Line 1• I saw two trees embracing.• This line has a visual imagery. In this line the readers can imagine two trees embracing each other

Besides that, this line also contains kinesthetic imagery it can be seen from word “embracing” that make the readers imagine the motion from both of the trees when they are embracing each other.

• Stanza 1 Line 2• One leaned on the other• This line contains a kinesthetic imagery. Here, the readers are able to know from word “leaned”

that there is a motion when one of the tree leaned on the other.• Stanza 1 Line 3• As if to throw her down.• This line consists of two imageries. First, this line has a visual imagery that encourage the readers

to imagine the movement when he throw her down. Beside that, there is a visual imagery that can be seen in phrase “throw her down”. This phrase makes the readers imagine that the tree throw the other tree down.

• Stanza 1 Line 4• But she was the upright one• The line has visual imagery. The readers can imagine where the position of the the tree is, the

upright one.

DISCUSSION

Imagery• Stanza 1 Line 6• Had been pulling him toward her• This line has a kinesthetic imagery. In this line, the readers can feel the movement when one tree pulling

over the other tree.• Stanza 2 Line 1• And finally almost uprooted him.• This line contains kinesthetic imagery that can be known from word “uprooted”, it means that the other

tree is almost being uprooted by the other one.• Stanza 2 Line 2, 3 and 4• He was the thin, dry, insecure one,• The most wind-warped, you could see.• And where their tops tangled• This line exposed visual imagery. Because there are a word “thin” and “dry” in the second line, “see” in

third line and “tangled” in the fourth line that make the readers imagine certain shape and constant positions of the tree at the time.

• Stanza 2 Line 5• It looked like he was crying• This line has two imageries. First is visual imagery. In this line the readers can imagine that the tree

looked like he was crying. Besides that, this line also contains kinesthetic imagery thet can be seen from word “crying” that make the readers imagine the motion from how the tree express his sadness.

DISCUSSION

Imagery• Stanza 3 Line 2 and 3• Break her, or at least• Make her bend• This line contains a kinesthetic imagery. Here, the readers are able to know from

word “break” in the second line and “bend” in the third line that there are some motions when one of the tree was being broken and bent by the other.

• Stanza 5 Line 1 and 2• At the top they looked like one• This line consists of visual and kinesthetic. It can be seen from how the way the

looked like one tree at the top when they were embracing each other.• Stanza 6 Line 1, 2 and 3• Too late now to part• When the wind blew, you could hear• Them rubbing on each other.• There is a kinesthetic imagery from first(“part”) and third(“rubbing”) line and also a

auditory imagery in the second(“hear”) line.

CONCLUSION

• "All That Time" is the poem written by May Swenson incorporates a couple literary devices in order to provide rhythm and smooth transitions within the work. For example, every time when the stanza changes, the persona addresses each person. Also, the use of short, declarative statements adds to the tone of Swenson's work, causing the poem to sound desperate and express the love and hurt portrayed in "All That Time."

• Inside of this poem, the readers can deeply imagine how the pain that being felt by the characters and also the love that being shown when both of the characters being talked about from the use of Figurative Languages and Imageries.

BIBLIOGRAPHY• Brooks, Cleanth. 1983. Understanding Poetry. New York: Holt, Rinehart and Wiston Inc.• Burton, S.H. 1974. The Critism of Poetry. London: Longman Group Limited.• Meyer, Michael. 1990. The Bedford Introduction to Literature. Boston: Bedford Books of St.

Martin’s Press.• Perrine, Laurence. 1969. Sound And Sense, An Introduction to Poetry, Third Edition.USA:

Harcourt, Brace and World, Inc.• Thrall, William Flint, and Addison Hibbard. 1960. A Handbook To Literature,• Third Edition. Ed. C. Hugh Holman. New York: The Odyssey Press.• Robinson, Edwin Arlington. 1960. A Handbook To Literature.

  

• www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/• Friday, November 06th, 2015 – 21:43 WIB

• http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/46485-examples-of-personification-in-poetry-analysis/

• Friday, November 06th, 2015 – 21:52 WIB• http://www.cleanlanguage.co.uk/articles/articles/62/1/Figurative-Language-Examined-

Metaphors-Symbols-and-Related-Concepts/Page1.html• Friday, November 06th, 2015 – 21:58 WIB

• https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/may-swenson• Monday, December 28th, 2015 – 06.56 WIB