AN ANALYSIS OF FIGURE OF SPEECH IN EMILY DICKINSON’S POEMS

Key words: literature, poetry, figures of speech, Emily Dickinson’s poem. This thesis analyzes in three poems of Emily Dickinson. It is to find out the types of figures of speech and the total meaning of these poems. Poetry is related to something that comes from human’s imagination, and it is rich of connotative meaning to contribute a harmonious and beauty. Poetry has some devices but in this thesis only focuses about figure of speech. Figure of speech makes a poem more beautiful and imaginative because it expresses the thought and feelings by the poet. The figures of speech explain the meaning of word and it carries the message of the poem. Dickinson’s poems contain of many kinds of figures of speech. It creates in reader or listener’s point of view. It helps convey the meaning faster and more vividly than words alone. This research gives some purposes such as: analyzing types of figure of speech in Emily Dickinson’s poem and describing the significance of figure of speech in revealing the total meaning Emily Dickinson’s poem “If You were Coming in the Fall,” “I cannot Live with You,” and “I’m Wife, I’ve Finished That.” This research uses qualitative method because there is no treatment and as experimental research. It is qualitative as the researcher is the primary instrument for gathering and analyzing data. Qualitative research for understanding the phenomenon or social science with more focus on a complete picture of the problem being studied rather than elaborate variables are interrelated. Based on this research, it can be concluded that three poems of Emily Dickinson contain of types of figures of speech. They are metaphor, understatement, hyperbole, personification, oxymoron, simile, and metonymy.