Sabtu, 23 April 2016

19.38 - No comments
Metaphor

Metaphor Definition

 Metaphor is a figure of speech which makes an implicit, implied or hidden comparison between two things that are unrelated but share some common characteristics. In other words, a resemblance of two contradictory or different objects is made based on a single or some common characteristics.
Common Speech Examples of Metaphors

Most of us think of a metaphor as a device used in songs or poems only, and that it has nothing to do with our everyday life. In fact, all of us in our routine life speak, write and think in metaphors. We cannot avoid them. Metaphors are sometimes constructed through our common language. They are called conventional metaphors. Calling a person a “night owl” or an “early bird” or saying “life is a journey” are common conventional metaphor examples commonly heard and understood by most of us. Below are some more conventional metaphors we often hear in our daily life:

  • My brother was boiling mad. (This implies he was too angry.)
  • The assignment was a breeze. (This implies that the assignment was not difficult.)
  • It is going to be clear skies from now on. (This implies that clear skies are not a threat and life is going to be without hardships)
  • The skies of his future began to darken. (Darkness is a threat; therefore, this implies that the coming times are going to be hard for him.)
  • Her voice is music to his ears. (This implies that her voice makes him feel happy)


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  • Literary Metaphor Examples
    Metaphors are used in all type of literature but not often to the degree they are used in poetry because poems are meant to communicate complex images and feelings to the readers and metaphors often state the comparisons most emotively. Here are some examples of metaphor from famous poems .
    Example
    1     She is all states all princes I
    2.      John Donne, a metaphysical poet, was well-known for his abundant use of metaphors throughout his poetical works. In his well-known work “The Sun Rising,” the speaker scolds the sun for waking him and his beloved. Among the most evocative metaphors in literature, he explains “she is all states, and all princes, I.” This line demonstrates the speaker’s belief that he and his beloved are richer than all states, kingdoms, and rulers in the entire world because of the love that they share.

    •   Functions
    From the above arguments, explanations and examples, we can easily infer the function of metaphors; both in our daily lives and in a piece of literature. Using appropriate metaphors appeals directly to the senses of listeners or readers, sharpening their imaginations to comprehend what is being communicated to them. Moreover, it gives a life-like quality to our conversations and to the characters of the fiction or poetry. Metaphors are also ways of thinking, offering the listeners and the readers fresh ways of examining ideas and viewing the world.

    http://literarydevices.net/metaphor/

19.19 - No comments
Simile 


Simile is A figure of speech in which two unlike things are explictly compared , as in “she is like a rose “ .

Simile is A figure of speech the expreses the resemblance of one thing to another of a different category .
 
A simile is a figure of speech that makes a comparison, showing similarities between two different things. Unlike a metaphor, a simile draws resemblance with the help of the words “like” or “as”. Therefore, it is a direct comparison. 
A simile (pronounced SIM-uh-lee) is a comparison that usually uses the words "like" or "as": "Me without a mic is like a beat without a snare," rapped Lauryn Hill in the song "How Many Mics." The word comes from similus, a Latin word meaning "the same." A simile is different from a metaphor, in which the comparison is less explicit, as in Shakespeare's line "All the world's a stage".
We can find simile examples in our daily speech. We often hear comments like “John is as slow as a snail.” Snails are notorious for their slow pace and here the slowness of John is compared to that of a snail. The use of “as” in the example helps to draw the resemblance. Some more examples of common similes are given below.
  • Our soldiers are as brave as lions.
  • Her cheeks are red like a rose.
  • He is as funny as a monkey.
  • The water well was as dry as a bone.
  • He is as cunning as a fox.
Simile inputs vividness into what we say. Authors and poets utilize comparisons to convey their sentiments and thoughts through vivid word pictures like a simile.

  • Simile Examples in Literature

Example                        

Written by Joseph Conrad,
“I would have given anything for the power to soothe her frail soul, tormenting itself in its invincible ignorance like a small bird beating about the cruel wires of a cage.”
The lines have been taken from Lord Jim. The helplessness of the soul is being compared with a bird in a cage beating itself against the merciless wires of the cage, to be free.

  Significance of Simile in Literature
Simile can be an excellent way for an author either to make an unusual thing seem more familiar (i.e., “The planet Zenoth was as cold as ice”) or a familiar thing seem more unique (i.e., “Her smile was jagged like a broken zipper”). In this way, similes can help the reader imagine the fictive world of a piece of literature. Good similes can also make readers think about things in a new way, and can sometimes create a lasting effect. Scottish poet Robert Burns’s declaration that his “luve’s like a red, red rose” forever linked the concepts of love and red roses in our minds.
Simile can also sometimes be used to show a comparison, though with the conclusion that these two things really are unalike or even at odds with each other. This can either be a negative simile, which might come in the form of “A is not like B” (see Example #1 below) or an ironic simile, which communicates the opposite of what is expected at the beginning of the statement. For example, the famous feminist quote popularized by Gloria Steinem, “A woman needs a man like a fish needs a bicycle,” ultimately concludes that a woman has no need for a man.
Simile can help to make new connections for the reader. One of literature’s purposes is to help better explain the world around us, and the technique of simile is one of those ways in which we are able to see things in a new way. All types of analogies are cognitive processes of transferring meaning from one thing to another, and thus the use of simile in literature has real synaptic effects. For this reason, and for aesthetic purposes, simile has been a popular literary technique for many hundreds of years.
  • Examples of Simile in Literature

Example
My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
(“Sonnet 130” by William Shakespeare)
This excerpt from Shakespeare’s “Sonnet 130” is an example of a negative simile. Shakespeare goes against the expectation praising his mistress’s beauty and instead says what she is not like. Her lips are not as red as coral, her skin is not pure as snow, and so on. This striking simile example plays with both the tradition of sonnets as well as the usual function of similes.

SIMILES AND METAPHORS COMBINED

Ralph Fletcher has entered the blog again! Years of great writing by Fletcher give added credibility to his book Pyrotechnics on the Page: Playful Craft That Sparks Writing that I mentioned earlier this week. The following excerpt shows some of Fletcher’s creds.


http://www.dictionary.com/browse/simile

 htt http://literarydevices.net/simile/
http://robsanderswrites.blogspot.co.id/2011/03/similes-and-metaphorscomparisons-r-


Sabtu, 09 April 2016

23.02 - No comments
DEFINITION KONOTATION AND DENOTATION

According to Abdul Chaer (2003:292), a denotation is a real meaning of a lexeme. Denotation is one of the types of meaning that is explained in semantics. The explanation of denotation by Abdul Chaer is similar with the one by O’Grady (1997:273), that denotation is a semantic attempt to equate the meaning of a word or phrase with the entities; and Richards (1985:76), that denotation is the part of the meaning of a word or phrase that relates it to the phenomena in the real world or in a fictional or possible word  which all of them point out that the denotation meaning is quiet the same as a dictionary or lexical meaning.

From the quotations above, I may say that a denotative meaning is the same with a lexical meaning. For example, the denotation of the word lean (kurus) corresponds to the condition of someones body which is smaller than a normal size.

b.            Connotation

According to Abdul Chaer (2003:292), a connotation is a different meaning which is “added” to the last denotation meaning that is related with a sense from a person or group that uses the word.

Connotation is another type of meaning that is also learned in semantics. But  according to Abdul Chaer, the connotation meaning is divided into a neutral, positive, and negative one. For example, the word lean (thin) has a neutral connotation, which means that it does not have an unfavorable sense. But the word slender (simpli), which is the synonym of lean, has a positive connotation which is a favorable sense. On the contrary, the word thin (thin ), which is the synonym from thin and slender, has a negative connotation, an unfavorable sense.

From the example that is given above, the word lean, slender, and thin can be concluded that in a denotation meaning, three of them have the same meaning, but three of them have different connotations; lean is a neutral connotation, slender is a positive connotation, and thin is a negative connotation.
If conceptual meaning remains the same forever, connotative meaning may change from one time to another. Connotative meaning may also differ from one society to another because meanings have many other characteristics which different people associate with

20.10 - No comments
AMBIGUITY

  • Definition of ambiguity
 1. something that does not have a single clear meaning : something that is ambiguous
 2  .the quality or state of being ambiguos especially in meaning (see ambiguos)
 3.  a word or expression that can be understood in two or more possible ways :  an ambiguous word or expression
  • Examples of ambiguity in a sentence
1.       A third factor amping your desire to speed things along: Despite the euphoria of those first kisses and dates, the initial stages of infatuation can be incredibly unsettling. “You aren't sure y
the ambiguity of the clairvoyant's messages from the deceased allowed the grieving relatives to interpret them however they wishedet where you stand with your mate, so you're anxious to shake the ambiguty ,” explains Regan. Molly Triffin et al Cosmopolitan, January 2008
        

2.      The troubles in the Empire at the turn of the seventeenth century have often been laid at the door of the Peace of Augsburg. While it is true that the 1555 agreement papered over some unsolvable problems and contained ambiguities and loopholes, it had been conceived as a pragmatic compromise, and it did succeed in preserving the peace in Germany for one generation. Alison D. Anderson, On the Verge of War, 1999
     
3.      Her letters and diaries describe her own feelings of insecurity and worries about her possible fate if she could no longer work, and they also tell us a great deal about the ambiguity of her position within the society in which she lived, and her determination to defend and maintain her own status. Joanna Martin, A Governess In the Age of Jane Austen, 1998
     
4.      Above the level of molecular biology, the notion of “gene” has become increasingly complex. The chapter in which Ridley addresses the ambiguities of this slippery word is an expository tour de force. He considers seven possible meanings of gene as used in different contexts: a unit of heredity; an interchangeable part of evolution; a recipe for a metabolic product; a development switch; a unit of selection; and a unit of instinct. Raymond Tallis, Prospect, September 2003 
  • the ambiguity of the clairvoyant's messages from the deceased allowed the grieving relatives to interpret them however they wished 
 

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