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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

i

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


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


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


vii

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


viii

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.



ix

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


1

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


2

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


3

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.


4

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.


5

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.


6

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


7

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”.


8

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.


9

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


10

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).


12

“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


13

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.


14

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


15

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


16

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.


17

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


19

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.


20

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.


22

REFERENCES

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Halliday, M.A.K. (1985). An introduction to functional grammar. London:

Edward Arnold.

Kennedy, X. J. & Gioia, D. (2002). An introduction to poetry. New York:

Longman

Kirk, C. A. (2001). Emily dickinson: A biography. Westport: Greenwood Press.

McArthur, T. (1992). The oxford companion to the english language. New York:

Oxford University Press.

Murphy, M. J. (1972). Understanding unseens: An introduction to english poetry

and the english novel for overseas students. London: George Allen &

Unwin Ltd.

Parini, J. (1987). An invitation to poetry. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall. Inc

Perrine, L. (1982). Sound and sense: An introduction to poetry. New York:

Harcourt, Brace & Wond, Inc.

Rohrberger, M. & Woods, S. H. (1971). Reading and writing about literature.

New York: Random House, Inc.

Wren, P.C. & Martin, H. (1981). High school english grammar and composition.

New Delhi: S. Chand & Company

Yeibo, E. (2012). Figurative language and stylistic function in J. P.

Clark-Bekederemo's Poetry. Journal of Language Teaching and Research,

Vol. 3, No. 1, pp. 180-187. ISSN 1798-4769


APPENDICES


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