Theory of Figurative Speech (Simile, Personification, and Hyperbole)

• Figurative Speech

According X.J. Kennedy (1991:548) a figure of speech may be said to occur whenever a speaker or writer, for the sake of freshness or emphasis, departs from the usual denotations of words. Wren and Martin (1981:488) stated that figure of speech is a departure from the ordinary from expression or the ordinary course of ideas in order to produce a greater effect. Figures and symbol are images used in a particular way to explore the less known through the known. (K.L. Knickerbocker, 1963)     So it can be concluded that figure of speech or language style is a way of describing something through a beautiful language that is used to increase the effect by introducing and comparing the way of a particular object or thing with objects or anything else that is more common.

• Simile

Simile is an explicit comparison, it means that it implies something to one another directly, that it why, it needs effort to show explicitly the similarity. Which are: seperti, sama, sebagai, bagaikan, laksana, and etc. (Keraf 2006:138)

  X.J. Kennedy (1991:587) state, simile is a comparison of two things, indicated by some connective, usually like, as, than, or a verb such as resembles. Simile is a comparison made between two objects of different kinds which have, however, at least one point in common (Wren & Martin, 1981). According to Scott (1983:268) a simile makes an imaginative comparison for purposes of explanation, allusion, or ornament, introduced by a word such as ‘like’ , ‘as’ , or ‘such.

Keraf (2001:138) gives definitions, “simile is a comparison that is explicit in which implies the same things with another things”. According to Gorys Keraf, Simile can be divided into two which are Clear and Unclear Similarity. Clear Similarity is one of kinds of Simile that contain the details of the similarity. Unclear Similarity is one of kinds of Simile that are not contains the details of the similarity.

So simile is a figurative speech that compare of two things that denoted in a word ‘such’, ‘as’, ‘like’. That word defines to compare some things each other.

• Personification

Personification is a special pattern of metaphor that analogizes in animate objects to act, speak as human beings do. (Keraf 2006:17)

 Richard Grill (1985:593) said that the point of the personification is to express the abstract ideas to inanimate objects, or aspects of nature are described as if it were human. Personification is a figure of speech in which a thing, an animal, or an abstract term (truth, nature) is made human (X.J. Kennedy, 1991). According to Ruth Miller & Robert A. Greenberg (1986:74) personification is a figurative speech in which an abstract idea, inanimate object, or aspect of nature is describe as if it were human.

So personification is part of figure of speech that denotes inanimate objects that can do something as well as a human being.

•  Hyperbole

Keraf (2006:135) defines that hyperbole is a kind of figure of speech that has overstatement by raising a matter.

According to Wren & Martin (1981:491) in hyperbole a statement is made emphatic by overstatement. It means that some words which are used in a novel are overstatement from true meaning. Knickerbocker (1963:367) defines hyperbole as an exaggeration used for special effect.

Hyperbole is a bold, deliberate overstatement not intended to be taken literary, it is used as a means of emphasizing the truth of a statement.

SOURCE

Gill, Richard. 1985. Mastering English Literature. London: Mcmillan Education Ltd.

Kennedy, X.J. 1991. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. Fifth Edition. New                 York: Harper Collins Publisher.

 Keraf, Gorys. 2001. Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa. Jakarta: PT. Gramedia Pustaka Utama.

Keraf, Gorys. 2006. Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa: Komposisi Lanjutan I. (16^th Ed) Jakarta: PT. Gramedia               Pustaka Utama.

Knickerbocker, K. L. 1963. Interpreting Literature Revised. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston,                   Inc.

Miller, Ruth and Robert A. Greenberg. 1986. Poetry: An Introduction. New York: MCmillan                             Education Ltd.

Scott, Arthur Finley. 1983. Current Literary Terms: A Concise Dictionary of Their Origin and Use.                  London: Mcmillan Press.

Wren, P. C. and H. Martin. 1981. High School English Grammar and Composition. (Revised                              Edition). New Delhi: S. Chand & Company Ltd.