Simile Analysis in The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night and All Time Low’s Forget About It Lyrics
I. Theoretical
Framework
A.
Lyrics
The lyric means simple poem which has been written to be
set to music or lyric. It refers to either poetry that has the form music
quality, or a usually short poem that expresses personal feelings, which may or
may not be set to music. A poem expresses feeling and may be a song that could
be performed to an audience.[1]
The language of lyric is imaginative; it has denotative
and connotative words. The denotative word in lyric is the using of concrete
words. The connotative word in lyric means the lyric use abstract words. It has
many influences to the meaning and theme of lyric.[2]
B.
Figurative Language
Figurative language or figure of speech is a word or
group of words used to give particular emphasis to an idea or sentiment. The
special emphasis is typically accomplished by the user’s conscious deviation
from the strict literal sense of word, or from the more commonly used
form word order or sentence construction. “Figure of speech is any way of
saying something other than the ordinary way”,[3] or
in other definition, figures of speech are combinations of words whose meaning
cannot be determined by examination of the meanings of the words that make it
up. Or, to put it another way.[4] In this paper, the writer only
explains the simile of figurative language.
1.
Simile
A simile is a figure of speech that directly compares
two different things, usually by employing the words "like" or
"as". A simile can be as precise as the user needs it to be, to
explicitly predicate a single feature of a target or to vaguely predicate an
under-determined and open-ended body of features. Empirical research supports
the observation that similes are more likely to be used with explicit
explanations of their intended meaning. This offers some support to the claim
that similes are preferred if a user wants to associate an unusual or
out-of-the-ordinary property with a target.[5]
Focus of The Study
The research is focused on describing and analyzing the simile figurative language in The Beatles’ “A Hard Day's
Night” and All Time Low’s “Forget About
It” lyrics. The data that will be analyzed is a word,
phrase, or sentence which has simile meaning in it.
II.
Data Analysis
The writer would like to describe and analyze the simile figurative language of the lyrics by
presenting the line which has simile meaning in it and then giving the explanation
about it.
III.
Analysis
In this chapter, the writer will show the simile analysis in The Beatles’ “A Hard Day's
Night” and All Time Low’s “Forget About It” lyrics. The writer only shows the line which have simile meaning in it.
A. “A Hard Day's Night” by The Beatles
[1] "And I've been working like a dog."
( “A Hard Day's
Night”, line 2, by The Beatles)
Dog is a domesticated carnivorous mammal that
typically has a long snout, an acute sense of smell, non- retractile claws, and
a barking, howling, or whining voice. (Oxford Dictionary).
In the piece of lyric above, it uses like to compare
the word between "working" and "a dog." The song-writer
doesn't write the word " a dog" to be real. A dog always works hard
everytime that shows "I" has been working very hard.
[2] “I should be sleeping like a log.”
( “A Hard Day's
Night”, line 4, by The Beatles)
Log is a part of the trunk or a large branch of a tree
that has fallen or been cut off. (Oxford Dictionary). In the piece of lyric above, it uses like to compare
the word between "sleeping" and "log."
The meaning of "log" is a little time or
"I" only has a little time to sleep . It means that he should be
extremely tired and should be completely out, sleeping just like a log.
B. “Forget About It” by All Time Low
[1] "Seems like I'm making a deal with the
devil."
(“Forget About
It”, line 3, by All Time Low)
Devil is
(usually the Devil) (in Christian and Jewish belief) the supreme spirit of
evil. (Oxford Dictionary).
In the piece of lyric above, the song-writer
wants us to imagine the word "devil". The word
"devil" only means of the devil's characteristic that makes
"I" feels disappointed, so "I" feels disappointed to someone who makes a deal with him.
[2] “'Cause I feel like a bad joke.”
( “Forget About It”, line 6, by All Time Low )
Joke is a
thing that someone says to cause amusement or laughter, especially a story with
a funny punchline. (Oxford Dictionary).
As far as we
know, a joke is not a feeling, but it is something that can be laughed or we
can laugh if we get a joke by someone. The song-writer means to compare between
"feeling" and "a bad
joke." A bad joke seems like a bad conversation. The meaning of lyric
above is "I" feels angry to someone, because "I" can't
receive the fact in his experience.
IV.
Conclusion
After analyzing the data, the writer finds two lines containing simile in “A Hard Day's
Night” lyric by The Beatles,
they are in line 2, "And I've been working like a dog" and in line 4,
“I should be sleeping like a log.” The writer also finds two lines containing
simile in "Forget About It" lyric by All Time low, they are in line
2, ""Seems like I'm making a deal with the devil" and in line 6,
“'Cause I feel like a bad joke.”
Bibliography :
Ridho, Muhammad Dodo. Figure of Speech and analysis of
Green Day’s American Idiot and John Lennon’s Imagine Lyric. Jakarta:
English Letters Department, Adab and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic
University of Syarif Hidayatullah. 2009.
Fajar, Putra. “The Analysis of Imagery, Figurative
Language, and Theme in Modern English Poetry”. Jakarta: English
Letters Department, Adab and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University of
Syarif Hidayatullah. 2007.
Hornby, A.S.. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 6th
ed. New York: Oxford University Press. 2000.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile
www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/alltimelow/forgetaboutit.html
www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/beatles/aharddaysnight.html. Accessed on June 3, 2012
[1] Mohammad Dodo Ridho, Figure of speech and Analysis of Green Day’s
American Idiot and John Lennon’s Imagine Lyric (Jakarta: English Letters
Department, Adab and Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University of Syarif
Hidayatullah, 2009), p. 6.
[3] Putra Fajar, “The Analysis of Imagery, Figurative Language, and Theme in
Modern English Poetry” (Jakarta: English Letters Department, Adab and
Humanities Faculty, State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah, 2007), p.
17.
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