Simile And Personification Analysis In “There’s Been A Death In The Opposite House” Poem by Emily Dickinson

I.                   Introduction

A.    The Paraphrase of The Poem

“There’s Been A Death In The Opposite House”

Someone has died in the opposite house. There are calmness, quietness and sadness in the house. The neighbours come to convey their sorrow. The doctor clarifies the death and then leaves. A window is opened like a pod by someone. A mattress is thrown out of the house. The children who are passing away, see this and run away. They are wondering if someone has died on the mattress. The minister is ready to go the stiff. He takes charge of the rituals of the funeral. The milliner and the undertaker arrive to prepare a funeral procession. It's easy to do as a sign of normal activities of death. The people in a small rural or country town will help each other when someone dies.

B.     The Topic and Questions of The Problem

Ø  Who is the speaker?

The speaker “there’s been a death in the opposite house” poem uses the first person. We can know about it from the words of the poem that use “I”. It shows from the lines:

-          I know it by the numb look (line 3)

-          I used to when a boy (line 12)

Ø  What kind of person is the speaker?

The speaker in this poem is a neighbour of someone who has died. We can know about the speaker from the lines:

-          The neighbours rustle in and out (line 5)

-          To take the measure of the house (line 19)

Ø  What can we know about the speaker?

The speaker deeply feels the death situation at his neighbour’s house. It shows from the lines:

-          The doctor drives away (line 6)

-          Somebody flings a mattress out (line 9)

Ø  What’s the speaker’s attitude and concern?

The speaker’s attitude and concern express the indifference towards death. It shows from the line:

-          The children hurry by (line 10)

-           They wonder if It died on that (line 11)

Ø  What are the most important and strong elements in this poem that contribute to the poem’s meaning?

The most important and strong elements in this poem that conributes to the poem’s meaning are figurative language and imagery. There are two lines containing simile and personification figurative language, and nine lines containing imagery.

Ø  How do the important elements contribute to the central meaning and the whole meaning of the poem?

The poet shows the central meaning of the poem within to the important elements by using figurative language as particular emphasis to an idea or sentiment.

C.     The Unit of Analysis

The writer would like to describe and analyze the simile and personification figurative language and the imagery of the poem by presenting the line which has simile, personification, and imagery meaning in it and then giving the explanation about it.

There's been a death in the opposite house (visual imagery) (line 1)

I know it by the numb look (tactile imagery) (line 3)

Such houses have alway. (personification) (line 4)

The neighbours rustle in and out, (visual and aural imagery) (line 5)

A window opens like a pod, (simile) (line 7)

Somebody flings a mattress out, - (aural and visual imagery) (line 9)

The minister goes stiffly in (visual imagery) (line 13)

And he owned all the mourners now, (visual imagery) (line 15)

And little boys besides; (visual imagery) (line 16)

And then the milliner, and the man (visual imagery) (line 17)

Of tassels and of coaches soon; (visual imagery) (line 21)

II.                Theoretical Framework

A.    The Theories of Poetry

Poetry is an imaginative awareness of experience expressed through meaning, sound, and rhythmic language choices so as to evoke an emotional response. Poetry has been known to employ meter and rhyme, but this is by no means necessary. Poetry is an ancient form that has gone through numerous and drastic reinvention over time. The very nature of poetry as an authentic and individual mode of expression makes it nearly impossible to define.[1]

B.     The Elements of Poetry That Are Used For The Paper

1.      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”,[2]  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.[3]

a.       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.[4]

b.      Personification

Personification consists in giving the attributes of a human being to an animal, an object, or a concept. It is really subtype of metaphor, an implied comparison in which the figurative term of the comparison is always a human being.[5]

c.       Imagery

An image is a concrete representation of a sense impression, feeling, or idea. Images appeal to one or more of our senses. Images may be visual (something seen), aural (something heard), tactile (something felt), olfactory (something smelled), or gustatory (something tasted).[6]

III.             Analysis

A.    Simile

-          “A window opens like a pod” (line 7)

Pod is a plant part. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

In the piece of poem above, it uses to compare the word between "opens" and "a pod". The poet means that a window opens quickly by someone.

B.     Personification

-          “Such houses have alway" (line 4)

House is a building which people or family usually live in there. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

In this part, "such houses have alway" means like "such houses as always”. The poet wrote it to compare "houses" as a human being that shows the situation of death incidents. It will be the same experiences everywhere in there. It means that how often the situation like that is.

C.     Imagery

Ø  Aural Imagery (something heard)

-          “The neighbours rustle in and out” (line 5)

 Rustle is everything that can make noise. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

It can be heard by us. That means "rustle" includes sense of hearing or aural imagery.

-          “Somebody flings a mattress out” (line 9)

Fling is to move or do something quickly and energetically. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

The sound of a mattres which is flunk out can be heard clearly. That means "flings a mattress out" includes sense of hearing or aural imagery. 

Ø  Tactile Imagery (something felt)

-          “I know it by the numb look” (line 3)

Numb is not able to feel any emotions or to think clearly, because you are so shocked or frightened, etc. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

 "I" is feeling something which makes he says like that. It means "I" includes something felt or tactile.

Ø  Visual Imagery (something seen)

-          “There's been a death in the opposite house” (line 1)

House is a building which people or family usually live in there. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine houses in the poem although we don't know how is the real house there. These actually have door to get in as houses everywhere.

-          “The neighbours rustle in and out” (line 5)

A neighbour is someone who lives very near to you. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine peoople being neighbours that stay contiguous there.

-          “Somebody flings a mattress out” (line 9)

Mattress is the part of a bed, made of a strong cloth cover filled with firm material, which makes the bed comfortable to lie on. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine how mattress looks like although we don't know type of that.

-          “And little boys besides” (line 16)

Little boy is a boy whose age under ten years old. We can imagine how little boy looks like although we don't know him specificallly

-          “The minister goes stiffly in” (line 13)

Minister is a priest in particular parts of the Christian church. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine the shape of a minister with his job in the Christian chruch.

-          “And he owned all the mourners now” (line 15)

Mourner is a person at a funeral. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine what mourner looks like. We imagine a person at a funeral wearing black cloth.

-          “And then the milliner, and the man” (line 17)

Man is an adult male human being. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine a man easily in the poem. A man is like in around of us.

-          “Of tassels and of coaches soon” (line 21)

Tassel is a group of short threads or ropes held together at one end, which is used as a hanging decoration on hats, curtains, furniture, etc. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine the form of tassel as a group of short ropes held toghether at one end in the poem.

-          “Of tassels and of coaches soon” (line 21)

Coach is someone whose job is to teach people to improve at a sport, skill, or school subject. (Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary)

We can imagine a coach as someone whose job is to teach people everything in the poem.

IV.             Conclusion

After analyzing the data, the writer finds two lines containing simile and personification, in “There’s Been A Death In The Opposite House” poem by Emily Dickinson, they are in line 7, “A window opens like a pod” and in line 4“Such houses have alway.” The writer also finds nine lines containing imagery in "There’s Been A Death In The Opposite House" poem by Emily Dickinson, they are in line 1, “There's been a death in the opposite house,” line 3, “I know it by the numb look,” line 5, “The neighbours rustle in and out”, line 9, “Somebody flings a mattress out,” line 13, ”The minister goes stiffly in,” line 15, “And he owned all the mourners now,” line 16, “And little boys besides,” line 17, “And then the milliner, and the man,” and line 21, “Of tassels and of coaches soon.”

Bibliography :

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.

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.

Perrine, Laurence. Sound And Sense, An Introduction to Poetry Eight Edition. New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. 1992.

DiYanni, Robert. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. New York: Mic Graw Hil. 2004.

http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/poetry.htm. Accessed on December 20, 2012.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile. Accessed on December 20, 2012.

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[1] http://contemporarylit.about.com/cs/literaryterms/g/poetry.htm

[2]   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.

[3] 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. 7.

[4] http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simile

[5] Laurence Perrine, Sound And Sense, An Introduction to Poetry Eight Edition (New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1992), p. 64.

[6] Robert DiYanni, Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama (New York: Mic Graw Hill, 2004), p. 703.