Figurative language dalam bahasa Indonesia sering disebut dengan majas atau gaya bahasa. Figurative Language merupakan salah satu cara untuk mengungkapkan perasaan atau gagasan seseorang dengan cara halus. Penggunaan figurative language biasanya akan menambah ketertarikan pembaca dan pendengar. Figurative language biasanya digunakan di dalam puisi ataupun lagu.
Ada banyak sekali tipe figurative language. Namun dalam pembahasan di sini hanya akan dibahas 4 macam saja (simile, metaphor, personification dan onomatopoeia). Baiklah, silahkan dibaca materi di bawah ini. Semoga bermanfaat bagi kalian semua.
Definition of Figurative Language
Figurative language refers to a language that deviates from the conventional work order and meaning in order to convey a complicated meaning, colorful writing, clarity, or evocative comparison. It uses an ordinary sentence to refer to something without directly stating it. Figurative language can appear in multiple forms with the use of different literary and rhetorical devices. According to Merriam Webster’s Encyclopedia, the definition of figurative language has five different forms:
- Understatements of Emphasis
- Relationship or Resemblance
- Figures of Sound
- Errors and
- Verbal Games
Fiction writers use figurative language to engage their audience using a more creative tone that provokes thinking and sometimes humor. It makes fiction writing more interesting and dramatic than the literal language that uses words to refer to statements of fact.
Types of Figurative Language
There are several types of figurative languages that are used in modern writing. They include:
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that compares two unlike things and uses the words “like” or “as” and are commonly used in everyday communication. A simile is used with the aim of sparking an interesting connection in the reader’s mind.
An example of a metaphor is, “The cat sat in the chair like a king overlooking his kingdom.” The cat sitting posture is compared to that of a king who relaxes in a special chair that is reserved for him and not any other person in the kingdom.
Other examples of similes include:
- The boy was as brave as a lion in the jungle.
- The assistant was as busy as a bee when she was preparing the podium for the presidential address.
- The new teacher is as tall as a giraffe.
- The new neighbor is as curious as a cat; nothing escapes her attention.
Metaphor
A metaphor is a statement that compares two things that are not alike. Unlike similes, metaphors do not use the words “like” or “as.” Such statements only make sense when the reader understands the connection between the two things being compared.
An example of a popular metaphor is “Time is money.” The statement compares time and money, and it does not literally mean that the amount of time you have equals the money that you have. Instead, it means that time is a valuable resource, and it should be used effectively to earn money. Any time wasted means that a person loses the chance to make more money.
Other examples of metaphors include:
- The warrior has a heart of stone.
- Love is a battlefield.
- Baby, you are my sunshine.
- Chaos is a friend of the legislator.
- I am drowning in a sea of grief.
- My roommate is going through a rollercoaster of emotions.
Personification
Personification is a type of figurative language that gives human habits to non-living objects. Using personification affects the way readers imagine things, and it sparks an interest in the subject.
An example of personification is, “The sun greeted me when I woke up in the morning.” The sun is a non-human object but has been given human characteristics since greetings can only be performed by living creatures.
Other examples of personification include:
- April is the cruelest month of the year.
- The radio stared at me.
- The car brakes screamed all through the journey.
- The car stopped with a groaning complaint
Onomatopoeia
Onomatopoeia is a language that names something or an action by imitating the sound associated with it. They add some reality to the writing.
Examples of onomatopoeia include:
- The fireplace heater hissed and cracked.
- The truck engine roared as it climbed the hill.
- The alarm clock buzzed at the time I was going to the bathroom.
Examples Of Figurative Language In Popular Songs
My heart will go on – Celine Dion
Every night in my dreams
I see you, I feel you…
Love can touch us one time
And last for a lifetime…
Near, far, wherever you are
I believe that the heart does go on
The above lines use hyperbole in the line ‘near-far, wherever you are…’. The songwriter exaggerates the way to illustrate the main character's presence to the listeners. At the beginning of the song ‘Every night in my dream I see you I feel you, the writer uses imagery to create a visual impact of the singer’s dream and her beloved. ‘Love’ is personified in the lines ‘love can touch us one time’.
Move Like Jagger – Ben Minadeo
Just shoot for the stars if it feels right
And aim for my heart if you feel like it…
Kiss me ’til you’re drunk and I’ll show you all the moves like Jagger
I’ve got the moves like Jagger
In the above lines, the singer uses the simile in ‘I’ve got the moves like Jagger’. Here the singer is comparing his dancing skills with Mick Jagger’s because Mick Jagger is known for his unique dancing style. There is also consonance and assonance in ‘Ay Ay Ay Aaay’ and “Oh yeah oh”, with the sounds of /a/ and /y/. The hyperbole is used in the line, ‘Kiss me till you drunk’, which is an exaggeration. People get drunk from drinking too much alcohol.
Skyscraper – Demi Lovato
Skies are crying, I am watching
Catching teardrops in my hands…
You can break everything I am
Like I’m made of glass
Like I’m made of paper
The entire song is an extended metaphor of struggle and overcoming. Here the singer has used oxymoron in the line ‘it's a long way down, but I am closer to the clouds up, here’. The writer has used two opposites ‘up and down’ in the same verse. In the lines, ‘Skies are crying’, skies are personified. The verse ‘you can break everything I am Like I’m made of glass’, has a simile. Here the singer is comparing herself to glass and a piece of paper to show her vulnerability.
Big Girls Don’t Cry – Fergie
I hope you know, I hope you know
That this has nothing to do with you
It’s personal, myself and I
We got some straightening out to do
And I’m gonna miss you like a child misses their blanket
But I’ve got to get a move on with my life
It’s time to be a big girl now
And big girls don’t cry
Don’t cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
In the above line, the singer compares her emotions and missing a person to a little child who lost his or her blanket. There is a consonance, the sound of /l/ in the 3rd line, ‘It’s personal, myself and I’. The repetitions like ‘hope you know and don’t cry’ add an emphasis to the singer’s emotions as she tries to convey the message to her love.
Fire Work – Katy Perry
Do you ever feel like a plastic bag…
Do you ever feel, feel so paper-thin
Like a house of cards...
Come on let your colors burst…
You’re original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
The song is filled with many figurative devices and known as one of the best to learn them. In the first line, ‘Do you ever feel like a plastic bag’, there is a simile. Here the singer compares a person to a plastic bag which used to store things or perhaps a garbage cover. Later in line, there is a metaphor, ‘Do you ever feel, feel so paper thin’. Here the singer is trying to compare the weak-minded persons to thin paper or tissue paper. There’s another simile, in line ‘just own the night, like the fourth of July’. In the line, “Come on let your colors burst”, the sound of /r/ is a consonance.
I am a rock- Simon & Garfunkel
In a deep and dark
December…
It’s sleeping in my memory
I won’t disturb the slumber of feelings that have died…
I am a rock
I am an island…
And a rock feels no pain
And an island never cries.
The phrases ‘ I am a rock’, I am an island’ are metaphors and it used as a comparison for personalities. The lines ‘ love is sleeping’, feelings ‘ die’ and ‘ a rock feels no pain and the island never cries’ are used as personification. The imagery used in the following phrases, ‘freshly fallen silent shroud of snow’, ‘a fortress steep and mighty’, and ‘ past experiences spurred this commitment’. Also the repetition of /d/ sound is alliteration in ‘dark and deep December’. Anaphora is evident in ‘I am a rock, I am an island’. Here ‘I am’ is repeated to emphasize the speaker's emotional experience and his solitude.
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