CHAPTER III

ANALYSIS OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN THE POEM

" WHEN I WAS ONE AND TWENTY"

In this chapter, I would like starts analysis with the types of figurative language found

in the poem, followed by the analysis of the function of the figurative language, and this is all

for revealing the meaning of the poem presented by the use of figurative language.

3.1 Synopsis of the poem When I Was One and Twenty

The poem "When I Was One-and-Twenty" is about a young girl, who is twenty one

years old and like other young girls always has fun and enjoys her life. When there a wise

man who give her an advice she didn't care with that wise man advise to take care of her self.

She can use her money to buy anything she wants to, but she should care with her creativity

and imagination, but she said that she didn't care with that advise, she also said she didn't

need that advise. She is very confident with her self. She said that it is useless to advice her

because she was still young. But when she is twenty two years old, she realized that she wise

man advice is true, and she has to take the consequence of ignoring the advise. She didn't

regret because she is very optimist with her self. She knew that she can make all better

because she is still young and has much time and chance to start her new life in a right way.

3.2 Data Analysis

The poem "When I Was One-and-Twenty" is written by Alfred Edward Housman. It

Consists of two stanzas, and each stanza consists of eight lines. For detailed analysis of the

poem, the analysis will be done on each of the stanzas, by considering cach line in cach
stanza that contain figurative language with the goal to answer the problems that have been

posed above. Before further with the analysis it is better to present the poem it self first.

Here is the poem :

When I Was One-and-Twenty

By Alfred Edward Housman

(1985-1936)

Stanza I When I Was One-and-Twenty

I heard a wise man say,

"Give crowns and pounds and guineas

hut not your heart, away,

Give pearls away and rubies

But keep your fancy free."

But I Was One-and-Twenty

No use to talk to me.

Stanza 2 When I Was One-and-Twenty

I heard him say again,

"Heart out of the bosom

Was never given in vain;

"tis paid with sighs a plenty

And sold for endless rue.

And I am Iwo-and-twenty,

And oh, tis true, 'tis true.

us almost immediately. This sense we shall call the poem's plain sense. Sometimes it is called

the facts of a poem and it can help us to understand the poem at a decper level. From this

plain sense we make its paraphrase in order to make it easier to determine the theme of the

poem.

A closer reading of the poem shows us about the author's problem. The problem here

is to make us feel the jaunty cocksureness of the young speaker who ignores the wise man's

advise until the speaker's own experience confirm it. From this literal fact the theme of this

poem can be formulated which about "remorse".

From this condition will get two things in our life such as the following :

1. Poetry can give us an enjoyment

2. Poetry can give us a higher moral teaching

It is the best, of course, to learn in positive way what to look in a poem, and what to

do with the result. Perhaps we have different purposes which depends on our perspectives.

We have learned so far a poem has at least two levels of meaning. such as; the literal

level and the figurative level.

The figurative language in this poems gives us the texture of the situation about

someone's life experience from her teen age until he comes of age. In order to make better

understanding about the idea of this poem, we are going to analyze its figurative language.

3.3 Types Figurative Language Found in the Poem

To have a good appreciation and a better understanding of the poem "When I Was

One-and-Twenty", in this thesis I will to identify the types of figurative language used in this

poem, and to understand their significance. By comparing and doing some research on the

poem based on the above theories, it is found out that not all types of figurative languages are
applied in this poem. However, it can be identified that some of the elements of figurative

language are really constantly used by the author. They are synecdoche, metonymy,

hyperbole, personification, and idiomatic expression. In order to support this, the poem will

be analyzed with the relevant theories, by step with necessary illustration and brier

description below.

3.3.1 Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a word which is used for some large whole of which it refers to as a

part. In order to be clear, synecdoche must be based on an important part of the whole, not on

the minor part, and usually, the part selected to stand for the whole must be one directly

associated with the subject under discussion. Synecdoche can be found in some lines

discussed below:

Stanza 1 lines 1 & 7

When I Was One-and-Twenty

But I Was One-and-Twenty

Stanza 2 lines 1 & 7

When I Was One-and-Twenty

And I am Two-and-Twenty

From the sentence above we can find that the author uses the same words four time,

two time in the first stanza and two time in the last stanza, this word is called synecdoche,

because we can see from the words "one and twenty" that this figure of speech is expressing
the meaning deseribing a teenager or a young man. If we pay a closer attention, the word

"one and twenty" means one plus twenty or as usually the common expression we say twenty

one, and in line 7 of stanza 1 and also line I of stanza 2 the author repeat the words "one and

twenty" from the last stanza line 7 in which we find the sentence “And I am two-and-twenty"

This sentence is also called synecdoche but it means that the person is twenty two years old,

as we see from the word 'two and twenty.

3.3.2 Metonymy

This kind of figurative language is describing one thing by using the term of another

thing closely associated with it. Metonymy is characterized by the substitution of the term

naming an object closely associated with the word in mind for the word it self. The use of

metonymy in this poem can be found in the following lines :

Stanza 1 lines 3 & 6

Give crowns and pounds and guineas

Give pearls away and rubies

In the third and fifth lines of the first stanza the pot uses such words as "crowns,

pounds, guineas, pearl, and rubies" in order to express the meaning of luxury and pleasure. In

this case the poet has employed such figure called metonymy. Literally these lines are

expressing the wise man's advice, the man asks that "give crowns and pounds and guineas",

"give pearls away and rubies". The man says this because all kinds of extravagance in life are

not lasting.
3.3.3 Hyperbole

This figurative language is an exaggeration used for special effect. Housman uses

hyperbole in this pocm to give a special effect and make fantastic imagination on the art of

the reader of the poem. There are some hyperboles found in this poem such as the following :

Stanza 1 lines 4

But not your heart away

In the fourth line of the first stanza we have found hyperbole. As we have seen in the

sentence "But not your heart away", "heart away" is a hyperbole because its literal description

cannot be understood. "Heart away" means our heart out from our body, if that really happens

nobody can live in the world, and that is why we cannot believe someone as still alive

without heart, but this is only a figure of speech. Figuratively, the meaning of this lines is an

advice that tells someone that indeed youth in life happens only one time and it will never be

back. Therefore, it must be passed with something useful for the future.

Stanza 2 lines 3

"the heart out of the bosom

In this stanza the author uses a different words with the same meaning. "the heart out

of the bosom* bas the same meaning as heart away. This fact Is supported by the words in the

second and the fourth lines, but literally this words express an exaggeration, because as we

say before it is impossible that it could happen with someone still alive with his heart of the

bosom. On the other hands, these words show us how important and worth our heart is.
3.3.4 Personification

Personification is figure that gives human characteristic to an objeet, animal or an

abstract idea. Personification is also a metaphor, of course, in the sense that there is an

implied comparison between human being and non-human entity. Personification can be

found in the lines below:

Stanza 1 lines 6

"but keep your fancy free"

This sixth line of the first stanza is called personification because from the sentence

"but keep your fancy free" there are words "fancy free". The author "fancy free" because he

wants to give human sensibilities to the word "fancy". The meaning of this line is an advice

that tells someone to keep trying his life's ideals.

3.3.5 Idiomatic Expression

Idiom is a group of words with a meaning that is different from the meaning of all the

individual words. Idiomatic expression is a figure of speech which is created by assigning a

new meaning to words which already have their own meaning. An idiom can also be

described as an expression whose meaning is changed by altering the meaning of the words

that make up the expression. An idiomatic expression found in this poem can be seen in the

following lines :

Stanza 2 line 5 & 6

Tis paid with sighs a plenty

All of the sentence is called idiomatic expression. We can see from the first sentence

that the author uses "Tis paid with sighs a plenty" if we take a look from the words "paid",

and we will think about money because this words are related with money, but in this case

these words have nothing to do with money. Figuratively those words are used to express the

meaning of the consequence of the result of doing something. In the second sentence the

author says "and sold for endless rue". From the word "sold", this word usually has relation

with money, but in this poem the author tries to say that if we are in the wrong way and there

are somebody trying to tell us about our mistake but we didn't care about it even though we

realized that we were in the wrong way, someday we will be very disappointed.

3.4 The Function of Figurative Language in the Poem

The function of figurative language is this poem is to carry the mieaning of the words

in the poem from the literal to the figurative level. It is a language which departs from the

language emploved in the literal way when describing person or objects.

The use of synecdoche in lines 1 and 7 of the first stanza and in line 7 OF the second

stanza make When I was one-and-twenty" have a function to represent the use of the part for

the whole to incite a special taste. One and twenty here is not only associated with a girl in

her twenty one but also with all of the teenagers at the age, who are usually too confident,

arrogant, stubborn etc. But in lines 7 of the last stanza we "and I am two and twenty" HHere

the poet wants to describe the girl in her twenty two which is older than before, who starts to

realize that she is an adult now, already knows what she wants than before because she is

getting o!d and older.

In terms of metonymy, "Give crowns and pounds and guineas" and "give pearls away

and rubies" has a function to describe about luxury and wealth. Here the poet uses a good
figure of speech where by the wise man in the poem advises that the girl could let all of her

wealth for anything that she wants to but she must remember to take care of her self that is

more important in her life because as long as we are still alive we can get more money but if

we think that we can buy anything with our money and forget ourselves, we will suffer

trough having no friends, family, and people who care us.

Hyperbole in this poem is used to give a special effect if something unthinkable, to

show a situation that is really amazing, in lines 4 we see in "but not your heart away" the poet

use this sentence to describe heart, feeling, and prestige. As we know in this life, especially

for a woman's heart, feel, self esteem and prestige is the most important in the world. Women

without self esteem are useless even tough they are rich because wealth is not everything.

Personification in this poem as we see in lines 6 of the first stanza "but keep your

fancy free" has a function to describe her fancy about this life. All the people in this world

have a hope even tough she is poor or have a physical defect. In this case the wise man gives

an advise the young girl not to let her fancy go she must try to make it teal for her life in the

future. Especially for a young girl of her age, she has so many chances to make it real and

there's always a chance if we want to try.

Idiomatic expression in lines S & 6 ef the last sanza "tis paid with sighs a plenty: and

"and sold for endless nue" has a function to describe a deep sadness. In this poem the girl to

regret in her twenty two years old. When she feels a deep sadness and broken heart. All

mistakes she has done in the past, she can feel her response now.

3.5 The Meaning Represented by the Use of Figurative Language

To reveal the meaning of the poem, to understand the poem, to know what it is all

about, to get the message of the poem, it is very important for us to know, to catch what is the
meaning of the poem it self as a whole which is represented by the use of so many figures of

speech.

The literal comes through to us almost immediately when read the poem for the first

time because the literal sense gives us the literal facts of the poem. In drawing the plain sense

from the poem there will be many questions coming up in our mind, especially when the

poem has a meaning more than the literal meaning. All of those questions should be answered

if we want to understand the poem fully, because the whole poem helps to determine the

meaning of its parts, and in turn, each part helps to determine the meaning of the whole

poem.

Every reader has his own way in seeing a poem. Some see it as it is, without thinking

of the meaning behind the chosen words, in this case they see only the plain meaning of the

poem, meanwhile some try to come closer to the writer's min by interpreting the symbolic

words that are used in the poem. However, a proper understanding of a poem very much

depends on the individual experience of the readers and it is subjective. There is always a

possibility that one poem may have more than one meaning. The whole poem that has been

chosen as the data source in this study integrates several figures of speech that together make

the poem meaningful. At this point in our attempt to understand the meaning of the poem, we

move from the meaning of the poem, as a whole, then followed by analyzing the meaning

that is contributed by figurative language. The discussion about this will be presented on the

subsection below.

3.6 The Rhyme of the Poem "When I Was One-and-Twenty"

Rhyme is perhaps the most obvious technical device in poetry, yet its effects can be

most suitable. Like all other device, it is used for a specific purpose in cach poem, and to
judge its usefulness we must understand purpose (Knickerbockers, 1963; 352). The purpose

of rhyme is to tie the sense together with sound. The same rhyme could make the poem more

beautiful to be heard. Rhyme can be considered the repetition of musical sound of which we

can use letters to indicate the repeated sound such as, a, b, c, etc in defining rhyme scheme.

The rhyme in the poem "When I Was One-and-Twenty" can be drawn as follow :

When I was one-and-twenty a

I heard a wise man say, b

"Give crowns and pounds and guineas a

Stanza 1 But not your heart away; b

Givers pearls away and rubies a

But keep your fancy free" a

But I was one-and-twenty, a

No use to talk to me a

This stanza uses rhyme ababaaaa. If we look at the end rhyme, in line 1, line 3, and

the last fourth lines are called imperfeet rhyme or sprung or near rhyme because they are

similar but not identical. If we look at the sound between "twenty", "guineas", "rubies",

"free", "me", they do have the same end vowel, but do not have identical vowel.

When I was one-and-twenty a

I heard him say again, b

"The heart out of the bosom c

Stanza 2 was never give in vain; b

And sold for endless rue" d

And I am two-and-twenty, a

And oh, tis true, "tis true. d

The last stanza uses rhyme abcbadad. The same rhyme can be seen in "twenty" and

"plenty". It is called masculine rhyme or perfect rhyme, because they have final accented

syllables rhyme, In line 2 and line 4 also have the same rhyme of perfect rhyme. "rae" in line

6 and "true" in the last line is also in fact masculine rhyme of perfect rhyme because they

have the same sound and final accented syllables rhyme. From the poem above, it is clear that

the purpose of the rhyme is not only to contribute to the ideas of the poem, however, more

than it, it also serves an aesthetic taste.