Figurative Languages and Musical Devices Analysis

George Gordon Byron’s She Walks In Beauty

By Putri Rachmawati

Abstract• In this paper, the writer tries to analyze a poem, entitled

She Walks in Beauty written by George Gordon Lord Byron. The purpose this writing is to analyze the figurative language and imagery implied within the poem. Theories that used are textual, contextual, and hypertextual by close reading method. This research uses figurative language and imagery theory. The kinds of figurative language that will be discussed in this study are simile and hyperbole. In conclusion, She Walks in Beauty is beautiful poem that aimed for the beautiful woman.

• Keywords : She Walks in Beauty, George Gordon Byron, figurative language, imagery, woman

– Introduction She Walks In Beauty by George Gordon Byron is poem about a woman. She Walks In Beauty tells about the beauty side of the woman. He uses simile to showing how beauty the woman like the night that clearly sky and full of star. He put hyperbolic sense to convincing the reader that the woman is perfect.

– Methodologya. To analyze the using of figurative language in George Gordon

Lord Byron, She Walks In Beauty.b. To analyze the musical devices in George Gordon Lord Byron,

She Walks In Beauty.

– Research Object• The objects of research are sorted into a material and formal

object. Material object in this study is "A Dream" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Biography of the PoetBorn George Gordon Noel Byron on January 22, 1788, Lord Byron was the sixth Baron Byron of a rapidly fading aristocratic family. In 1798, at age 10, George inherited the title of his great-uncle, William Byron, and was officially recognized as Lord Byron. His unrequited passion found expression in such poems as "Hills of Annesley" (written 1805), "The Adieu" (written 1807), "Stanzas to a Lady on Leaving England" (written 1809), and "The Dream" (written 1816). Lord Byron was one of the leading figures of the Romantic Movement in early 19th century England.

Poem : She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes and starry skies

And all of that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:Thus mellow’d to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair’d the nameless grace

Which waves in every raven trees,Or softly lightens o’er her face;

Where thought serenaly sweet expressHow pure, how dear their dwelling-

place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,The smiles that win, the tint that

glow,But tell of days in goodness spent,A mind at peace with all bellow,A heart whose love is innocent!

Figurative Language

Broadly, in Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry (1956: 65) defined, a figure of speech is any way of saying something other than the ordinary way. For the purposes, a figure of speech is more narrowly definable as a way of saying one thing and meaning another, it is related with figurative language.

• SimileSimile is comparison of expressed, by the use of some word or phrase such as like, as, than, similar to, or resembles (Perrine, 1969 : 65).

Simile in She Walks in Beauty• Stanza 1, She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skiesLine 1 there are words “She walks in beauty, like the night”. They have meaning that “she” is beauty as the night. It is refer to the line 2, “Of cloudless climes and starry skies”, the night aim to the night without clouds and full of stars. So, these means the woman as beauty as the night with cloudless climes and starry skies.

• Hyperbole Overstatement or Hyperbole is simply exaggeration but exaggeration in the service of truth (Perrine, 1969 : 110).

Hyperbole in She Walks in Beauty• Stanza 1 Thus mellow’d to that tender light

Which heaven to gaudy day deniesThese line have hyperbolic meaning, because it means that the woman has beauty that softly emitted from herself, as if her light of beauty denied by heaven.

• SymbolA symbol may be roughly defined as something that means more than what it is (Perrine, 1969 : 83).

Symbol in She Walks in Beauty• Stanza 2 One shade the more, one ray the less

Beside hyperbolic meaning, in line 1 also has symbolic meaning. The word ‘shade’ in “One shade the more” means badness. And word ‘ray’ in “one ray the less” means goodness. For over all it means that a little badness decrease the goodness.

Musical Devices• Poetry makes a greater use of the “music” of language than

does language that is not poetry. The poet, unlike the man who uses language to convey only information, chooses his word for sound as a mean of reinforcing his meaning. (Perrine, 1969 : 177) Although there are four kind of repetition, the writer only focus on rime.

• Rime, is the repetition of the accented vowel sound and all succeseeding sound. It is called MASCULINE when the rime sounds involve only one syllable, as in decks and sex or support and retort. It is FEMININE when the rime sounds involve two or more syllables, as in turtle and fertile or spitefully and delightfully. (Perrine, 1969 : 179)

• Rime : stanza 1She walks in beauty, like the night

Of cloudless climes and starry skies;And all of that’s best of dark and bright

Meet in her aspect and her eyes:Thus mellow’d to that tender lightWhich heaven to gaudy day denies.

In stanza 1, there are words night, bright, and light which have repetition of the vowel sound as well as the words skies, eyes, and denies. It is called rime a-b-a-b-a-b or called end rime, because it comes at the end of the line. First similarity are night, bright, and light thats called rime a. Second are skies, eyes, and denies which called rime b.

Conclusion

She Walks In Beauty by George Gordon Byron is poem about a woman. She Walks In Beauty tells about the beauty side of the woman. As for literary element, George Gordon Byron uses some kind of figurative language and musical devices. He uses simile to showing how beauty the woman like the night that clearly sky and full of star. He put hyperbolic sense to convincing the reader that the woman is perfect. Byron use symbolic sense in word shade, it is not talking about shelter but the badness. Byron also pay attention in term of aesthetics, he chooses his word for sound as a mean of reinforcing his meaning through rime on every end of line.

References• Perrine, Laurence. 1969. Sound and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry.

USA:Harcourt, Brace & World, Inc.• Abrams, M. H. 1962. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. New

York: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc.• Thrall, William Flint and Addison. 1960. A Handbook to Literature. The

Odyssey Press. • Warren, Robert Penn. 1938. Understanding Poetry. New york: Holt

Rinehart and Winston, Inc.• J, B. Lippincott & Co. 1848. The Poetical Works of Lord Byron,

Complete In One Volume. Philadelphia: T. K. & P. G. Collins.• http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lord-byron (accessed on January,

2nd 2016)• http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/lord-byron (accessed on

January, 2nd 2016)