ABSTRACT
Sulistiyawati, Anita. Metaphor Contribution towards Theme Development on Sara Bareille’s Songs. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2016.
Metaphors are really common to be used in daily life. Metaphors can be found in so many written texts and spoken language such as in television, advertisement, and songs. Written texts in literature is the most often text that uses metaphor toad aesthetic in it. Song is one of literature artworks that uses metaphors quite often. The purpose of the metaphors in the song is to invite people imagination to the song. Metaphors are often make confusion for people to define the meaning because metaphors can be created by everyone. There is always a new metaphor every day. Also, it is because the word that is used as metaphor has lexical meaning or literal meaning that is fixed in dictionary.
The purpose of the study is to give enlightenments to people about the meaning behind the metaphors that author created in the songs. This study answers the problems which are the metaphors that the songs have and the classification, the meaning of the metaphors, and how the metaphors contribute to make theme of the song.
The semantic approach is used to define the meaning of the metaphors. The first step is to find the metaphors and to classify them to dead and live metaphor and the use lexical meaning to define the real or the literal meaning using fixed source like English dictionary. The theory of metaphor is used to define the meaning of the metaphorical expression. Context will have the contribution to find the transferred meaning in the context. The study analyzes five Sara Bareilles’ songs which are Brave, Manhattan, King of Anything, Gravity, and Love song. The study found twenty one metaphors in the songs as the data.
ABSTRAK
Sulistiyawati, Anita. Metaphor Contribution toward Theme Development on Sara Bareilles’ Songs. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. 2016
Metafor sangatlah sering penggunaannya di dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Orang-orang sudah sangat tidak asing the metaphor. Metaphor biasa ditemukan dalam bahasa tulisan, dan bahasa lisan seperti di televisi, media periklanan, dan lagu. Bahasa tulisan di sastra adalah salah satu yang paling sering meggunakan metafor untuk memperindah karya tersebut. Lagu adalah salah satu karya sastra yang sering menggunakan metafor. Tujuan dari penggunaan metafor adalah untuk membuat orang berimajinasi tentang isi dari lagu tersebut. Metafor terkadang membuat kebingungan bagi pendengar untuk mengartikannya. Ini disebabkan kata kata dari metaphor tersebut memilik dua arti yang berbeda secara arti harafiahnya di kamus.
Tujuan dari pembelajaran ini dalah untuk memberi pencerahan kepada orang-orang tentang metafor yang penulis buat dalam lagunya. Penelitian ini menjawab tiga rumusan masalah, yaitu: metapfor dan klasifikasinya, arti dari metaphor, dan bagaimana metafor memberikan kontribusi untuk membuat tema dalam lagu.
Pendekatan semantik digunakan untuk mencari arti metafor tersebut. Langkah pertama adalah mencari metafor dalam lagu tersebut dan mengklsifikasinya menjadi metafora mati dan metafora hidup dan menggunakan arti leksikal untuk mencari arti secara harafiah menggunakan kamus bahasa Inggris. Teori metafor digunakan untuk mencari arti dari ungkapan metafor tersebut. Dan konteks dalam lagu tersebut membantu menentukan dari dari secara kiasan dalam lagu. Pembelajaran ini menganalisis lima lagu Sara Bareilles dan menemukan dua puluh satu metafor dalam lagu tersebut.
METAPHOR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THEME
DEVELOPMENT ON SARA BAREILLES’
SONGS
AN UNDERGRADUATE THESIS
Presented as Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Sarjana Sastra
in English Letters
By
ANITA SULISTIYAWATI 124214118
ENGLISH LETTERS STUDY PROGRAM DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LETTERS
FACULTY OF LETTERS SANATA DHARMA UNIVERSITY
viii
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This page is written to offer my gratitude for Jesus Christ for His grace. Without Him, I would never finish this thesis. The journey of this past 4 years has been done with His blessing. I also thank my parents, Harun Satija, SE. and Yuniarti Sulismiharti for the support verbal and financial. After everything that my family has been trough in pain, finally I can make a new smile for my parents. I also thank my sister Haniek Setiyawati for her support, Niendy Listiyawati for never tired listening to my stories, and Renaldo Yosia Setianto for being the best brother who can always cheer me up after I was stressed about something.
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almost everything all of this year, for them who are never being tired to keep my head up in my darkest time. I also want to thank to my dearest Babo, Raras Arum Wulandari, Wijayanti Juniarti, Firda Yasmin Maimunah, and Novy Amalia for showing me the sweetness of friendship and happiness that we shared for past 6 years. Thank you for Nur Fitriani who is always supporting and making me better every time I got a problem even though we are miles away. Thank you to all of my friend who I could not mention each of their names for the presence during my college life, thank you for giving me happiness and support to keep up in this thesis. The last one, I want to thank my dearest partner, Michael Aquila Machiavelli for his patient supporting and encouraging me in the progress of making this thesis. I am so lucky to have you.
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TABLE OF CONTENT
TITLE PAGE ... i
APPROVAL PAGE ... ii
ACCEPTANCE PAGE ... iii
LEMBAR PERSETUJUAN PUBLIKASI KARYA ILMIAH ... iv
STATEMENT OF OGINALITY ... v
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED STUDIES A. Review of Related Study ... 7
B. Review of Related Theories ... 9
1. Theory of Song ... 9
CHAPTER IV: ANALYSIS RESULT AND DISCUSSION A. The Metaphorical Expression and the Classification ... 18
1. Dead Metaphor ... 22
2. Live Metaphor ... 23
B. Meaning of the Metaphor ... 24
C. Metaphor Contribution to the Theme of the Song ... 50
xi
xii ABSTRACT
Sulistiyawati, Anita. Metaphor Contribution towards Theme Development on Sara Bareille’s Songs. Yogyakarta: Department of English Letters, Faculty of Letters, Sanata Dharma University. 2016.
Metaphors are really common to be used in daily life. Metaphors can be found in so many written texts and spoken language such as in television, advertisement, and songs. Written texts in literature is the most often text that uses metaphor toad aesthetic in it. Song is one of literature artworks that uses metaphors quite often. The purpose of the metaphors in the song is to invite people imagination to the song. Metaphors are often make confusion for people to define the meaning because metaphors can be created by everyone. There is always a new metaphor every day. Also, it is because the word that is used as metaphor has lexical meaning or literal meaning that is fixed in dictionary.
The purpose of the study is to give enlightenments to people about the meaning behind the metaphors that author created in the songs. This study answers the problems which are the metaphors that the songs have and the classification, the meaning of the metaphors, and how the metaphors contribute to make theme of the song.
The semantic approach is used to define the meaning of the metaphors. The first step is to find the metaphors and to classify them to dead and live metaphor and the use lexical meaning to define the real or the literal meaning using fixed source like English dictionary. The theory of metaphor is used to define the meaning of the metaphorical expression. Context will have the contribution to find the transferred meaning in the context. The study analyzes five Sara Bareilles’ songs which are Brave, Manhattan, King of Anything, Gravity, and Love song. The study found twenty one metaphors in the songs as the data.
xiii ABSTRAK
Sulistiyawati, Anita. Metaphor Contribution toward Theme Development on Sara Bareilles’ Songs. Yogyakarta: Program Studi Sastra Inggris, Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Sanata Dharma. 2016
Metafor sangatlah sering penggunaannya di dalam kehidupan sehari-hari. Orang-orang sudah sangat tidak asing the metaphor. Metaphor biasa ditemukan dalam bahasa tulisan, dan bahasa lisan seperti di televisi, media periklanan, dan lagu. Bahasa tulisan di sastra adalah salah satu yang paling sering meggunakan metafor untuk memperindah karya tersebut. Lagu adalah salah satu karya sastra yang sering menggunakan metafor. Tujuan dari penggunaan metafor adalah untuk membuat orang berimajinasi tentang isi dari lagu tersebut. Metafor terkadang membuat kebingungan bagi pendengar untuk mengartikannya. Ini disebabkan kata kata dari metaphor tersebut memilik dua arti yang berbeda secara arti harafiahnya di kamus.
Tujuan dari pembelajaran ini dalah untuk memberi pencerahan kepada orang-orang tentang metafor yang penulis buat dalam lagunya. Penelitian ini menjawab tiga rumusan masalah, yaitu: metapfor dan klasifikasinya, arti dari metaphor, dan bagaimana metafor memberikan kontribusi untuk membuat tema dalam lagu.
Pendekatan semantik digunakan untuk mencari arti metafor tersebut. Langkah pertama adalah mencari metafor dalam lagu tersebut dan mengklsifikasinya menjadi metafora mati dan metafora hidup dan menggunakan arti leksikal untuk mencari arti secara harafiah menggunakan kamus bahasa Inggris. Teori metafor digunakan untuk mencari arti dari ungkapan metafor tersebut. Dan konteks dalam lagu tersebut membantu menentukan dari dari secara kiasan dalam lagu. Pembelajaran ini menganalisis lima lagu Sara Bareilles dan menemukan dua puluh satu metafor dalam lagu tersebut.
1 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Background of the Study
Human use communication system different from any other species. They create a lot of words to communicate with others. Creativity is a thing that shows the unique characteristic of human language. This creativity is the speaker’s ability
to create infinity of sounds, words, sentences and even a language. Human language helps people to have another information and also express their feeling as well. We also use human language in our daily basis activity no matter where the place is and what the situation is. Language is measured as the vital and the most important thing because the language enables us to receive and give some information.
English is an international language in this world. English connects people from across countries to share their own information and knowledge. English is used in any literary works like poem, song, play, drama, and novel. However, language style in literary works and in daily basis activity are different. Most of literary works use non-verbal language, because they are written in the format of text.
2
give certain vibe or feeling to the song and support the author to give the message in the song. In another word song is a popular way to express the feeling, situation, or experience to somebody. One of popular song writers in the U.S. is Sara Bareilles.
Sara Bareilles is a singer that has so many hit songs in the United States. Most of her songs are based on her experience of her love story. She released 6 albums in past 12 years. Her very first album was ‘Careful Confession’ that was released in the U.S. in 2004 that contains “Love Song” in it, three years passed and
she released ‘Little Voice’ which a song titled “Gravity” was included in this album.
In 2010, she released ‘Kaleidoscope Heart’ which has 13 songs including “King of
Anything”. Gain a lot of successes, in 2012 she continued releasing her fourth album (EP) titled “Once upon another Time” which has 5 songs in it. Within a year, she released another album titled “The Blessed Unrest” which contains 12 songs including “Brave” and “Manhattan”. “Brave” was a big hit for her career, this song
is certified as platinum in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. In 2015 she released an album for her musical drama; “Waitress” titled “What’s Inside: Songs from
Waitress”. Sara Bareilles uses figurative language in order to attract the listener. She uses the metaphor expression for of her songs to add deeper vibe to the listeners.
3
Sara Bareilles is known for her songs that use figurative language to describe the meaning of the songs. There are so many types of figurative languages that English language has, some of them are metaphor, personification, and idiom. Therefore, the writer becomes interested in analyzing one of the figurative language, which is metaphor and how it contributes in her songs. The descriptive words of metaphor have a meaning in sense other than literal, even the words carry precise meaning. Before this study goes further, Metaphor is going to be explained first. Metaphor is one of figurative language that compares a thing to another thing that has similar meaning. Metaphor is usually has a different meaning in lexical meaning.
The first song that is going to be analyzed is “Love Song”. “Love Song” is a song that tells about how love could be in bad and good condition at the same time. This song is from Sara Bareilles 1ststudio album titled “Careful Confession”. The use of the words in this song is really interesting. This song contains a lot of words as signs to deliver the main point and the story of the songs. This song contains signs that make some speculation about the message that she wants to deliver to the listeners.
4
The third song is entitled “King of Anything” from Sara Bareilles 3rd studio album called “Kaleidoscope Heart”. This song tells about a man that is dominating the girl’s life. However, the girl just wants to be free to choose anything that she wants in her life.
The fourth song is “Brave”. This song tells about how someone cannot be
brave because of some fears of the surroundings. This is the song in her latest 6th album called “The Blessed Unrest”. This album was well-known because this song became a hit single in the U.S. and certified as platinum for a couple times.
The last song is called “Manhattan”. This songs tells about how a girl and a
boy finally end up their relationship for chasing after their own dreams. This song is also one of a song that is contained in her latest album.
5 B. Problem Formulation
To analyze the topic the researcher has mentioned before, the researcher has formulated three research problems:
1. What metaphors are found on Sara Bareilles songs?
2. What are the metaphor interpretations from the Sara Bareilles songs? 3. How do the metaphors give contribution to the theme of her song?
C. Research Objective
This paper has been made to analyze five songs written by Sara Bareilles in order to reveal the meaning of her songs. The aim is achieved by first explicating the metaphor of the songs to get the meaning of the songs. The next step is identifying the figurative language which is metaphor employed in the songs. Further analysis will be revealing the contribution of the metaphor for the theme of her songs.
D. Definition of Terms
To avoid misunderstanding in reading this thesis, the specific terms to this study are defined as some theories. Semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning (Palmer 1967: 1), in another hand the sematic branch that this study used is figurative language and lexical semantics.
6
In another hand, metaphor is a word which appears with literal meaning and transferred meaning (Palmer, 1976: 103).
Figurative language is a way to say a language using figures of speech. A figure of speech is assumed as a way to saying a thing and meaning another (Perrine, 1969: 65). Figurative language is one of characteristic of any literature text. Perrine says that figurative language consists of metaphor, personification, metonymy, symbol, allegory, paradox, overstatement, understatement, and irony. In this study, the figurative language that is going to be used is only metaphor.
Metaphor is a word has two meaning; literal meaning and ‘transferred’
7 CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
A. Review of Related Studies
Figurative language is one element in poetry to deliver the message to the reader, nowadays it is also the element that is also used in another literary work like songs and novels as well as means of communication. Most of literary works use figurative expression like idiom, personification and metaphor. The study carried by Maria Maya Sylvia entitled Metaphorical of Coldplay’s song lyrics (2015) is focused on figurative language in specific way which is metaphor. Sylvia analyzes 19 metaphor expressions from 15 Coldplay’s songs. She reveals the metaphor expressions that Coldplay has in their songs. She classified each metaphor used in the lyrics and then explained the meaning of the metaphoric expressions with the classifications.
As the result of her thesis, she divided the metaphor into two kinds of metaphor, they are dead metaphor and live metaphor. In the end of her study, she concluded that every metaphor contained in the songs is different. The different meaning in each metaphor is influenced by the context of the songs and also the classification. In her study, she said that the metaphor that the Coldplay’s songs used is to express the feeling and describe the person.
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metaphor on the lyrics. She analyzed the meaning of several lyrics of Eminem’s song. In her study she chose four rap songs, they are White America, Without me, Superman, and Cleanin’ Out My Closet.
As the method of the study, she used library research. Formalist approach and biographical approaches are used in order to answer the problem formulation of her research. In the end of her study, she found 17 metaphors in four selected Eminem’s rap song lyrics. She classified the metaphor based on connotation
classification. After she found the metaphor and its meaning, she aimed to explain the function of the connotation meaning on the metaphor that the lyrics have.
9 B. Review Related Theories
1. Theory of Song
A piece of music is a continuous progress of harmony and melody for a duration. Those elements usually develop within a section of the song, before turning to the very end of the section. The basic knowledge about song is that song has 4 basic section which are verses, choruses, bridges, and other structural devices. The structure of a song is a way a sections arranged by the author and usually it
comes with repetition to create a good artwork
(http://www.howmusicworks.org/910/Writing-Songs/Song-Structure). A proper song structure will be creating musical experience for the listener.
2. Semantics
Semantics is a study of meaning. This study is focusing on sign and signifier as the mark of what meaning that they stand for. According to Palmer semantics is a study of linguistics that has a focus on the meaning of word, phrases, and sentences. Meaning of a phrase, sentence or word is not only determined by dictionary. It can be determined by the aspect like how they are formed. In the study of semantics, there is a scope called naming (Palmer, 1967: 17). Naming is a process of giving a name or labeling an object. This process usually happens when children learn a language in their earlier age.
a. Lexical Semantics
10
of the word, sentence, or phrase without include any influence of any context. For example, the word red. Based on Longman dictionary, red means ‘having the color of blood’, but if red is being used in another context it would have different meaning.
Saussure explains about how meaning is being analyzed by signifier and signified (Palmer 1976: 24). Signifier is the word that our brain says and known daily and signified is what the word stands for. Here are the table to show how meaning will be analyzed in this study:
b.Figurative Language
Figurative language can be found in literature, poetry, and songs. Where the writing entreaties to the minds. It can do this by gives a word or phrase an exact meaning that may be different from the literal meaning or definition. Sometimes figurative language compares two things in a way that someone finds the comparison interesting and descriptive. There are so many kinds of figurative language such as metaphor, personification and idiom.
i. Metaphor
According to Bradford metaphor is the comparison of two things without using the words “like” or “as”. According to Christopher, metaphor is figure of speech that is comparing one thing to another directly. In another words, metaphor
Lexical Semantic Signifier
word Signified
11
is words that establish an analogy between objects without actually saying. However, it directly suggests comparison of two things by creating as equation. The use of metaphor in a song is to explain and elucidate emotion, feelings, and relationship between other elements that probably cannot be explained directly in usual language. Metaphor is when a word has two meaning; literal meaning and ‘transferred’ meaning (Palmer 1976: 103). Here are the analysis of metaphor.
Metaphor
Literal meaning transferred meaning
For example, red, in literal meaning is a word to describe a color. When someone mentions the word red, people will know exactly what it is in mind. If red is mentioned in another term like in a song, it will have different meaning. Red probably will have ‘transferred’ meaning. For example ‘…but loving him was red’
(Taylor Swift – Red). Red in here has a different meaning, red in this sentence has transferred meaning because the writer uses ‘red’ to compare something. Red in this context has meaning as the description of loving someone. “…but loving him was red” this lyric means, loving him was so intense and usually the emotion of ‘intense’ is symbolized with red.
Red
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For this example, the word ‘Red’ has no relation between literal meaning and
transferred meanings. The transferred meaning usually pervades our conceptual system. It means that, the transferred meaning could be interpreted from experience and knowledge in daily life. Most of the evidence of interpreting the meaning of the metaphor has come from the human experience and sense (Lakoff 1980: 115).
Larson, in her book, she divides metaphor into two classifications that are dead metaphor and live metaphor. Dead metaphor is a figurative language that the usage of it is already well-known among people. Usually, when people state one of dead metaphor, they will know it for sure the meaning of its metaphor because the expression is a kind of familiar and used in daily life. People will have no concern how dead metaphor is formed because it is already common and they often use it as daily conversation (Larson, 1998: 249). It’s time to face the music is one of the example of dead metaphor. This metaphor has meaning ‘to face the punishment’. In the literal meaning music is harmony of an instrument. There is no relation between music and punishment. This metaphor is really common among people in daily life. Dead metaphor is also known as idiom. Idiom is considered as dead metaphor and vice versa. In the usage of idiom, people would not think about the comparison in literal meaning nor transferred meaning.
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can give a lesson to the audience by an expression. Everyone can make a new live metaphor because live metaphor is free, it is not bounded to any expression. Live metaphor is usually used to make the audience of the artwork have their own imagination towards the metaphor. In a simple way live metaphor is a figurative language that is made in an event and able to be understood without any additional information. Live metaphor is really common to be used in lyrics. The author will create new metaphor (live metaphor) or use dead metaphor to deliver a message through song.
3. Pragmatics
Pragmatics is a study about meaning in the context. According to Teun A Van Djik, pragmatics is dealing with the context in order to get clearer meaning in a situation or in the text (Djik 1977: 191). Pragmatic is subfield of linguistics and semiotic. In pragmatic, context is used to get the meaning or the transferred meaning behind a word. Pragmatics also used dictionary to get the literal meaning and compared both of context and literal meaning.
a. Context
According to Teun A Van Dijk, context is place that the acts of a word is placed and formulate the conditions which a words are acceptable in which situation and the technical terms that is used for such a situation is context (Djik 1977: 191)
4. Theory of Theme
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to Norton Dudeque, theme in music is the summarized of the idea of basic outline from every variation in structured song (2005: 194). Theme is the meaning of a story that may be the discovered story (Kenney 1966: 91). It means the theme is a central idea that dominates in a word where all elements in a work are focused. C. Theoretical Framework
15 CHAPTER III
METHODOLOGY
A. Object of The Study
Sara Bareilles is an American song-writer. She has sold more than one million records for the past 5 years and been nominated for Grammy awards. She has written over 70 songs and has released 5 albums from 2004 until 2015. Her first albums “Careful Confessions” contains 11 songs. This is her debut album for indie
singer. The album was made and released when she was attending college in The United States. Her second album named “Little Voice”, contains 13 songs, including her hit song “Love song“ and“Gravity”. This album became her official
debut album in The United States and was nominated for 51st Grammy Awards. “Kaleidoscope Heart” is her third album which was released on September 7th, 2007. This album contains 13 songs, including “King of Anything” as single of the album. Her latest album; The Blessed Unrest has been nominated in Grammy Awards for album of the year. “Brave” become her lead single for the album that
16 B. Approach of The Study
In analyzing the songs, semantic approach is applied. In specific terms, these songs will be analyzed in terms of figurative language, which is metaphor, to analyze the sentence that Sara Bareilles uses in writing the songs. The semantic approach is used to determine the meaning of the metaphorical expression that Sara Bareilles used in her songs. In Semantics, we could conduct meaning of a written text. This study uses printed lyrics of Sara Bareilles songs as the object of study of the analysis. The semantics approach helps find out the contribution of the metaphor in terms of creating the theme for the songs. The following metaphors use lexical semantic in order to find the literal meaning of the word, then after the literal meaning is found, the research will compare the literal meaning in order to find the transferred meaning. In the end of this study, it will reveal how the metaphor give the contribution the theme of the song.
C. Method of The Study 1. Data Collection
17 2. Data Analysis
After collecting all metaphor, the data analysis is done. The data analysis consisted of three steps. First, all metaphors are categorized and grouped based on the title of the songs. Second, determining the meaning of the metaphor by defining the metaphors with literal meaning to make comparison. Here is the example:
Drug a thing to heal
A word that is aimed to encourage and advice someone
The example is taken from the song entitled “Brave”. In this song, drug has
a meaning word to encourage someone. Drug can have metaphorical meaning by
comparing with the lexical meaning of drug itself. After knowing the literal
meaning, next is using the meaning of the metaphors to analyze. The context puts
the meaning and finally can make a new transferred meaning based on the context
of the song. The last step is taken to draw the conclusion by comparing the meaning
and the context of the songs from the analysis. The conclusion is the summary of the answer for the questions formulated.
Lexical Semantics Signifier
Drug Signified
18 CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
This chapter is the discussion to answer the problem formulation that the researcher made which has been mentioned in the first chapter. This study will provide the metaphor of Sara Bareilles songs to answer the question of the problem formulation.
A. The Metaphorical Expression and the Classification
The writer has analyzed five songs from Sara Bareilles. The researcher has found that Sara Bareilles uses metaphors into her song lyrics. Metaphors allow us to know about an experience in another terms and definitions (Lakoff 1980: 117).
This study deals with 5 songs which are “Love Song”, “Gravity”, “King of
Anything”, “Brave”, and “Manhattan”. The writer has been done sorting out the lyrics which contain the metaphors. In order to sort the lyrics, the writer compared the literal meaning with the transferred meaning of the lyrics. All of the literal meaning are taken from the Longman Dictionary 5th Edition. All song lyrics are taken from internet source. There are 21 metaphors that are found in the lyrics which are taken from 5 different songs. Here are the data:
Table 4.1 List of Metaphors in “Brave” No. Metaphor in the lyrics
1. You can turn phrase into weapon or drug
Dictionary meaning: [n] something that you use to fight with or attack someone with, such as a knife, bomb, or gun
Metaphorical meaning: to intimidate or to heal someone 2. Bow down to the mighty
Dictionary meaning: [adj] very strong and powerful, or very big and impressive
Metaphorical meaning: respect the powerful one 3. Don’t run, stop holding your tongue
Dictionary meaning: [v] to speak up Metaphorical meaning: to speak up
4. Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live
Dictionary Meaning: [n] a structure made of wires or bars in which birds or animals can be kept
Metaphorical Meaning: a place to keep someone.
Table 4.2. List of Metaphors in “Love song” No. Metaphor in the lyrics
1. I’m not gonna write you a love song
Dictionary Meaning: [n] a short piece of music with words that you sing Metaphorical Meaning: a good and nice experience in love
2. Hello to high and dry
Dictionary Meaning: [adj] measuring a long distance from the bottom to the top
[adj] without water or liquid inside or on the surface
Metaphorical Meaning: To be stranded; to be left out of things. 3. Is that why you wanted a love song?
Dictionary Meaning: [n] a short piece of music with words that you sing Metaphorical Meaning: a good and nice experience in love
4. I’ll walk the seven seas
Dictionary meaning: [n] seven salty water that covers earth surface Metaphorical meaning: to do everything to gain something
Table 4.3. List of Metaphors in “King of Anything” No. Metaphor in the lyrics
1. Who made you king of anything
Dictionary Meaning: [n] a man who rules a country because he is from a royal family
Metaphorical Meaning: the one who ruled someone’s life 2. Ride off into your delusional sunset
Dictionary Meaning: [n] the time of day when the sun disappears and night begins
3. You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps Dictionary Meaning: [n] a drawing of a particular area for example a city or country, which shows its main features, such as its roads, rivers, mountains etc.
Metaphorical Meaning: planning for future
Table 4.4. List of Metaphors in “Gravity” No. Metaphor in the lyrics
1. You hold me without touch
Dictionary Meaning: [n] the action of putting your hand, finger, or another part of your body on something or someone
Metaphorical Meaning:Permission 2. You keep me without chain
Dictionary Meaning: [n] a series of metal rings which are joined together in a line and used for fastening things, supporting weights, decoration etc
Metaphorical Meaning: Tie in status 3. Drown in your love, not feel your rain
Dictionary Meaning: [n] a strong feeling of caring about someone, especially a member of your family or a close friend
[n] water fall from clouds in the sky.
Metaphorical Meaning: Intense affection feeling. Cannot have it
4. I don’t wanna fall another moment into your gravity
Dictionary Meaning: [n] technical the force that causes something to fall to the ground or to be attracted to another
Metaphorical Meaning: The affection given by someone 5 I stand so tall
Dictionary Meaning: to support yourself on your feet or be in an upright position:
Metaphorical Meaning: to act in a proud and confident way 6 All my fragile strength is gone
Dictionary Meaning: [adj] easily broken or damaged Metaphorical Meaning: weakness or uncertainness 7. I live on my knees
Dictionary meaning: [v] living inside the knee
Table 4.5. List of Metaphors in “Manhattan” No. Metaphor in the lyrics
1. You can have Manhattan
Dictionary Meaning: [n] an island and Borough of New York City in New York Bay, between the Hudson River and the East River. It is the business and cultural centre of New York City. When people say that they have visited New York, they often mean that they have been to Manhattan.
Metaphorical Meaning: good future
2. I’ll gather up the avenues and leave them on your doorstep
Dictionary Meaning: [n] used in the names of streets in a town or city Metaphorical Meaning: chance
3. That holding us in place is simple fear of what’s already change Dictionary Meaning: [n] the feeling you get when you are afraid or worried that something bad is going to happen
Metaphorical Meaning: the bad past 4. When I was one half of two
Dictionary Meaning: [adj] one of two equal parts of something Metaphorical Meaning: alone
The following metaphor are classified into dead metaphor and live metaphor in order to narrow the scope of classification of the metaphor. According to Larson (Larson 1998: 249), there are two types of metaphor, they are dead metaphor and
live metaphor. Classification of discussion and division of the type of lyrics as follow:
1. Dead Metaphor
According to Larson, dead metaphor is a metaphor that is part of idiomatic
construction of the lexicon of the language (Larson 1998: 249). When people hear
about dead metaphor, they will surely understand about the meaning of the dead
metaphor because it is commonly used in society. They will not think about every
word, but instead the whole idiomatic expression that the metaphor has. In a simple
way, dead metaphor is an idiom of a word that a language has that the speakers
This study finds some dead metaphors in Sara Bareilles songs. The writer
compares the literal meaning and the context in the lyrics. In the previous table, the
study is showing the comparison of literal meaning based on only one dictionary.
In order to gather the meaning and compare the literal meaning and transferred
meaning, the writer uses several dictionary. The result is based on several English
dictionaries. Here are the metaphor:
Table 4.6. Dead Metaphors in the 5 Chosen Sara Bareilles’s Songs
no Song Title Dead Metaphor Meaning
2. Live Metaphor
Unlike dead metaphor, live metaphor is a metaphor that is not common in
society. It needs to be explained to know the meaning of the live metaphor. Live
metaphor is usually used by the author to represent the message of the author’s
artwork such as in the songs, poems, or novel to the audience in another word or
in another concept. In some occasion, live metaphor is used by the author to create
imagination for the audience, so the audience can know the relation between the
metaphor and the context of the song. In the other hand, live metaphor is
understandable after the audience paying special attention to the comparison which
is being made (Larson 1980: 249). Most of Sara Bereilles songs contain live
metaphor. She created the metaphor in order to give brief message to the audience.
This study finds some live metaphors in Sara Bareilles songs. The study
uses several dictionaries as well in order to search the meaning behind the live
metaphor. Unlike the first table, in this table, the words of the live metaphors are
already in the transferred meaning. Here are the metaphors:
Table 4.7. Live Metaphors in the 5 Chosen Sara Bareilles’s Songs
no Song Title Live Metaphor Meaning
1. Brave You can turn phrase into
of the cage where you live
A place that is kept someone. (Longman Dictionary of
3. Love Song I’m not gonna write you a
13. Manhattan You can have Manhattan
Good future (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English)
I’ll gather up the avenues and leave them on your doorstep
That holding us in place is simple fear of what’s already change.
Bad past experience (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English) When I was one half of
two
Alone (Longman Dictionary of
Contemporary English)
B. Interpretation of Metaphors 1. Metaphor in “Brave”
Brave tells about a person who is encouraging the outcasts to speak up about their minds or perception. It is proved with the phrase contained in the song. The
line “Say, what you wanna say, and let the words fall out” is one of the way the author encouraged the audience. This song contains 4 metaphors. The metaphor are written in italic bold. The table in each discussion of the metaphors is the conclusion in the end of the discussion. Here are the following metaphor and the discussion about the meaning of the metaphor:
a. “You can turn phrase into weapon or drug”
A metaphor is defined way of comparing two things which are unlike but they share similar characteristic (Perrine, 1969: 65). In this line, the author used
and bad in one condition as well. Drug can be healing someone in good way. In the bad way, drug can also kill someone by the wrong use of its drug.
Those metaphor are used for giving the result how word can cause something to someone. The word drug has two results which are healing and killing. In this song the word drug refers to the meaning of healing. The reason is because
the word ‘or’ in the middle of the weapon and drug. According to Longman Dictionary, the word ‘or’ is used between two words or phrases to show that either of two things is possible. The possibilities of the result of the words that someone has been spoken are good or bad. Weapon is as the cause of the ‘word’ that can harm or attack someone and make someone hurts. Weapon is the bad cause of the word.
Unlike weapon, drug in here is supposed to heal. In this lyric, weapon and drug are in contrast, which mean they have different significant meaning
In this song, the weapon is aimed to insult someone. The word is the thing that is used by someone to insult other people. It caused bad result as the weapon can cause in literal meaning. In different case drug is aimed to heal someone by advice or tips for someone to encourage someone.
i. Table 4.8. Lexical Semantics of the Word Weapon and Drug
Lexical Semantic Signifier
Weapon Signified
ii. Metaphor
Weapon a thing to attack such as gun or knife A word that is aimed to insult a person
Drug a thing to heal
A word that is aimed to encourage and advice someone b. “Bow down to the mighty”
The metaphorical expression of “bow down to the mighty” is classified as
dead metaphor which means everyone who hear this metaphorical expression will know the meaning of this. “Bow” in literal meanings means bend the body to respect or greet someone. According to Longman Dictionary, “bow” means to bend the top part of your body forward in order to show respect for someone important, or as a way of thanking. In this song, “bow” is followed by “down” that gives another meaning in literal as well. According to same dictionary, “bow down” is a dead metaphor or often called as idiom which means to let someone give you orders or tell you what to do.
In the context of the song, “bow down”is followed by “the mighty” which shows that someone has to obey the orders of someone who is more powerful. In society this thing always happens because usually society is ruled by someone. If
the word “bow down” are separated, they would have different meaning. In the Lexical Semantic
Signifier Drug Signified
dictionary “bow down” can be also bend over to show respect or greet someone. This has same meaning with the word “bow” by itself. In the other hand, the word
“down” means a lower place or position or a feeling of sadness.
So, if “bow down to the mighty” is elaborated literal meaning, it will become to bend over to lower position to the mighty. Metaphorically, they will have a meaning as to obey to someone's orders without offering confrontation from the one who is more powerful.
i. Table 4.9. Lexical Semantics of the Word Bow Down
ii. Metaphor
Bow Down to bend over
Obey the powerful one
c. “stop holding your tongue”
Hold your tongue is classified as dead metaphor. This dead metaphor is
really common used in any text and context. This metaphorical expression is idiom
or in another meaning it cannot be separated or they will have different meaning
word by word.
According to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, “hold your
tongue” means to tell someone to stop talking or to not tell someone about something. In order to find the significant meaning of this popular dead metaphor, the writer compares the meaning with another dictionary. According to Cambridge
Lexical Semantic Signifier
bow down Signified
English Dictionary “hold your tongue” means to not speak. Both of the dictionaries
state that hold your tongue is an informal way to make someone stop talking. This
metaphor is usually used in informal situation ore sometimes in rude way. In the
song, “hold your tongue” comes after “stop”. The word stop change the meaning to
be “speak up about your mind”. So, if it is combined, it will become to not just keep
in silent.
“Hold your tongue” has 3 words that has different meaning in literal if they
are staying together. Lexically, if “hold your tongue” in literal meaning means
holding tongue with hands. It is has significant different meaning if literal meaning
is being compared with the metaphorical meaning. According to Longman
Dictionary of Contemporary English the word “hold” has meaning as to have something in your hand, hands, or arms and tongue has meaning as the soft part inside your mouth that you can move about and use for eating and speaking.
In the context of the song, “stop holding your tongue” is stated in the verse 2. In the context of the song this has meaning that we have to speak up to show that we are brave enough to express our self because this metaphor came up after the
word “don’t run”. The word “don’t run” strengthen the meaning of the metaphor itself.
i. Table 4.10. Lexical Semantics of the Word Hold Your Tongue
Lexical Semantic Signifier
hold your tongue Signified
ii. Metaphor
Hold your tongue holding the tongue with hands To not speak
d. “Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where you live”
Lexically, cage means a place to keep an animal. In this lyrics, the author
wants to state that there is a way for someone to free them for something that hold
someone for so long. In literal meaning, cage is used to keep animal (pet) so the
animal will stay and obey the owner. “Maybe there’s a way out of the cage where
you live” is classified as live metaphor. In general, cage can hold so many meaning in some context. As a metaphor in the lyrics, cage has significant meaning in if it is
transferred in literal meaning. It is supported by the context of the song. The author
puts a word that represent about something that makes someone cannot speak up about their mind in public. As the cage keeps the pet in its place, “cage” in the context of the song keep someone to not speak up. If it is described as a literal meaning of the cage, it will be there is no way to get out of the cage that a person lives in. It is almost impossible that person will live in cage for any reason. Even though cage in real life has so many different size, a person will not live in there because it is made of a metal bar like jail.
i. Table 4.11. Lexical Semantics of the Word Cage
ii. Metaphor
Cage A place to keep an animal
Something that hold someone to speak up
2. Metaphor in “Love Song”
Love song is Sara Bareilles debut song in the North America. It is released
in June 2006. According to her profile, she made this song when she attended
UCLA in 2004 as her very first album was released. This song tells about a girl
thought about her relationship that her boyfriend expects her to be what he wants
in relationship. He wants to have a good relationship with the girl and the girl wants
the man to accept her as she is. In this song, there are 4 metaphors. The table that
shown in the end of the discussion of every metaphor is the compartion between
signifier and signified. Here are the metaphor:
a. “Hello to high and dry”
“High and dry” is classified as dead metaphor. It is an idiom which means
if it is separated, it will have different meaning, compared if they are staying
together. According to Dictionary of idioms and their origins, “high and dry” is Lexical Semantic
Signifier cage Signified
difficult situation which a person enable to do anything about. In another
dictionary, Collins Cobuild Dictionary of Idioms, “high and dry” means to be
stranded; to be left out of things. The meaning of “high and dry” can be also as to
be under the influence of marijuana, but not alcohol according to Urban
Dictionary. In the context of the song, the metaphor “high and dry” means left
helpless in a situation because someone does not give something that they have
promised before.
In literal meaning, the word “high” and “dry” are adjective. They are used to
modify a noun, but in this metaphor they become a noun. “High” means position
that is longer than usual above the ground according to Longman Dictionary. In
another hand, “dry” means without water or liquid. If they both are together, in
literal, they will mean a position that is longer than usual and without water or
liquid.
In the context of the song, the metaphor “high and dry” means, to be left
helpless because the lover has left with false hope. The girl expects something that
the man has promised before, but the man does not give the girl the words. So, the
girl will be left in place with nothing from the men. The line before the metaphor
comes up, which is “you are not what I thought you were” is proving that the girl
was expecting something from the man.
i. Table 4.12. Lexical Semantics of the Word High and Dry
Lexical Semantic Signifier
high and dry
ii. Metaphor
High and dry position that is longer than usual and without water or liquid To be left helpless because the lover has left with false hope b. “I’m not gonna write you a love song”
The metaphor “love song” is classified as live metaphor, which means it
needs to be compared with the literal meaning and the context in order to find the
meaning of “love song” in the song. In literal meaning, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English “love” means an affection felling toward
someone and “song” means a short piece of music with words that is sung by a
singer. “Love song” means a piece of music with written love story sung by a
singer. “Love song” can be a theme of a song in general.
In the context of the song, “love song” means a good love story or
experience. It is supported by several phrases in the song. In the lyrics, the author
wrote “I’m not gonna write you a love song, cause you asked for it, cause you need
one, you see”. This means, the man expects a good relationship with the girl, but the girl disagrees with him because she thinks, the man rules everything in the relationship. It is supported in second chorus which is “if you’re on your way” that describes the man in his own ego.
say about the expectation of the man towards the girl. Therefore, the girl thinks that she does not have a good relationship with the man, it is stated in the third
chorus in the line 3 which is “I’ma need a better reason to write you a love song
today”. This line support that the girl seemed forced to be in the relationship and she does not think she has a beautiful relationship with the man as a real “love song” in general. Themetaphor “love song” is stated so many times in the song. It is stated 10 times.
i. Table 4.12. Lexical Semantics of the Word Love Song
ii. Metaphor
Love song a short piece of music about love
A good love relationship c. “I’ll walk the seven seas”
In literal, “seven seas” means the seven seas that the world have. Earth has
seven big seas that covers its surface. If they are separated, “seven” means number
after six and “sea” means the large area of salty water that covers much of the earth's surface according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.
“Seven seas” is classified as live metaphor which means they have to be compared
by the context and the literal meaning in order to find the meaning of the metaphor its self.
Lexical Semantic Signifier
Love song Signified
In literal meaning, the lyric “I’ll walk the seven seas” means someone will
walk in one sea to another sea until he or she reached the seventh sea. This is impossible, since no one can walk in the water like Jesus did. In the context of the song, the lyric means the girl is willing to do everything she could if she is really in love with the man. It is supported by the following words that come up after the
metaphor, which is “I’ll walk the seven seas when I believe that there’s a reason
to write you a love song today”. The words “…when I believe that there’s a reason
to write you a love song today” support that she does not really fall in love with the man.
In conclusion, the metaphor “I’ll walk the seven seas” is like a promise to the man that the girl will do everything if she really does love the man.
i. Table 4.13. Lexical Semantics of the Word Seven Seas
ii. Metaphor
Seven Seas salty water that covers much of the earth's surface An act to do everything for the one that someone loves
3. Metaphor in “King of Anything”
King of anything is Sara Bareilles third single in the album “Kaleidoscope
heart”. This song is released on May 10th, 2010. This song is nominated for 53rd Lexical Semantic
Signifier
Seven Seas Signified
Grammy awards 2011. This song tells about a girl’s mind about her partner that is ruled everything in her life. The man has many plans for a girl, but all of his plan is made by him without the girl contribute her own plan. In this song, there are three metaphors. Here are the metaphor:
a. “Ride off into your delusional sunset”
As a live metaphor, “delusional sunset” needs to be compared with literal
meaning and the context to know the real meaning of the metaphor. In literal,
“delusional sunset” means impossible the time of day when the sun disappears and night begins, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. The word “delusion” can be also a false belief about yourself or the situation someone is in. This means that someone think that the world will not have sunset in literal.
In the context of the song, “delusional sunset” means a false hope.
According to Penguin Dictionary of Symbol, “sunset” is the symbol of hope or expectation of someone. Sunset is described as the turnover of one thing to another
thing. In daily life, sunset often describe as a time that is beautiful in the evening
before the sky changed to dark. In the song, “sunset” comes along with “delusional”
that change the meaning into something bad. It becomes someone that is promised
a big thing so other but they keep their own words.
“Delusional Sunset” is coming up after “ride off into” which represents that
the girl should come with the boy. “Ride off into your delusional sunset” means the
girl should be with the man to do something that is impossible in the future for their
relationship. It is supported with the lyrics that come up before the metaphor. In the
good in his own way that the girl has to come up with by the lyric “you sound so
innocent, all full of good intent, swear you know the best”. The lyric “But you expect
me to….” proves that the man force the girl to obey whatever he wants.
i. Table 4.14. Lexical Semantics of the Word Delusional Sunset
ii. Metaphor
Delusional Sunset impossible time of day when sun fades and night begins
False Hope
b. “You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps”
Lexically, maps is a drawing of a particular part of the such as city or country, or even world according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English 5th Edition. In daily experience people make a map to making a plan to build a city or find a place near them. As what have been classified, “You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps” is an example of live metaphor. This
metaphor was created by the creativity of the author in making a lyric and composed it in to a song. People can easily make a new metaphor in a context because live metaphor is unlimited to everyone.
In the context of the song, “maps” means plans to someone’s future. The
man has plans in his relationship this is proved by the word “you” in the lyrics. Lexical Semantic
Signifier
Delusional Sunset
“You” is aimed to the lover of the author. Since the author is a woman, it is really
obvious that the lover is a man. “You’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps” means the man is making plan for their future that are need to be
happened but the girls does not have the contribution on making the “maps” itself.
It is supported by the lyrics “I’m not the one who’s lost, with no direction, oh, but
you’ll never see”.
In literal, “you’re so busy making maps with my name on them in all caps”
means someone is busy making a drawing of a city or a country with his girlfriend name in capital letters. The meaning in literal and when it is transferred have significant difference. There are no connection between the meaning in dictionary and meaning in metaphor. Thus, maps is not represent a drawing of a city or a country, but more like it represents plans for couple future.
i. Table 4.15. Lexical Semantics of the Word Maps
ii. Metaphor
Maps a drawing of city or country
A plan for the couple’s future Lexical Semantic
Signifier Maps Signified
c. “Who died and made you king of anything”
There are so many versions of this metaphor. In this lyric, the metaphors are
“died” and “king of anything”. The rest is common phrase that is people to show sarcasm. This phrase is commonly used to show hatred towards someone. According to The Big Apple, this phrase is an old phrase, it has been used since at least 1940. There are so many versions of this according to the site, but this is a live metaphor because there is no idiom dictionary or other source that has specific and exact meaning of this phrase. In dictionary “died”mean no longer exist while “king of anything” means the ruler of anything. As the “king” and followed by “of” itself means someone or something that people think is the most important or best of a particular type of person or thing according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Lexically, the metaphor means who is replacing the ruler of anything.
In the context of the song, “who died and made you king of anything” means person that is ruling someone’s life too much. In the song, the girl is tired of the man that pushed her to do whatever his orders are. The context of the song supports
the meaning of the metaphor. The line “so you dare tell me who to be” is supporting
that the man is ruling the girl too much.
obey the rule from the king. The comparison conclude that they both used in informal situation and they both are sarcasm to show dislike to someone.
i. Table 4.16. Lexical Semantics of the Word King of Anything
ii. Metaphor
King of anything a ruler of everything
Someone that rules someone life too much
4. Metaphor in “Gravity”
Gravity is one of Sara Bareilles’s most popular songs. This song was released on February 3, 2009. This song is actually included in her very first album entitled “Careful Confession”, but later on when she released her second album, she included this song and this song become her single to promote the album. This song tells about the girl who wants to move on from her ex-lover but she cannot do that. She keeps remembering about her lover by the thing that she does. This song has seven metaphors. Here are the metaphors:
a. “I stand so tall”
“Stand stall” is one of dead metaphors that is really common in use. This dead metaphor or idiom is in chorus of the song in the third line. According to Cambridge Dictionary Online, “stand tall” means to act in confident way. In addition, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, “stand tall”
Lexical Semantic Signifier
King of anything Signified
means to be proud and feel ready to deal with anything. In comparison of both meaning from two dictionaries, this metaphor is used to show that the speaker is confident about herself.
In literal meaning, if the idiom is separated and defined in literal meaning,
“stand” itself is defined as to be support yourself on feet in upright position while
“tall” means a a person, building, tree, etc., that has height than normal according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Consequently, if they are combined and translated into literal meaning, they will be “to support body on feet in unusual height”. The meaning in literal meaning is non-sense since they both have different direction.
As the “stand tall” is a metaphor, the meaning of this words is transferred
into “to act in confident way”. In the context of the song, “stand stall” is used to
show that the author of the song is confident that she will be okay without the ex-lover. It is supported by the lyrics which appeared before. The line “set me free, leave me be” is the supported line to make the meaning of the metaphor in the context of song. This line support that the girl wants to be free without the ex-lover.
So, “I stand so tall” to act in very confident way according to the context of the
lyric.
i. Table 4.17. Lexical Semantics of the Word Stand so Tall Lexical Semantic
Signifier
stand so tall Signified
ii. Metaphor
Stand so tall to be on the feet in great high than normal
Someone that rules someone life too much b. “You hold me without touch”
As the “touch” is classified as live metaphor, the meaning of this metaphor
is transferred into “the feeling of presence”. In the context of the song, “touch” shows that the author feels that the lover is still with her and she still can feel the presence of the lover even though the lover is not there. The word “hold me” means that the lover is used to be in relationship with the author. In addition, touch is classified as dead metaphor that has to be explained by the context to know about the appropriate meaning.
Lexically, “touch” means the sense that you use to discover what something feels like, by putting your hand or fingers on it according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. Sense that human being has is practically can be in many terms. In comparison, the literal meaning contribute to make the metaphor make
sense in its context. “hold me” in dictionary means to make something stay in its place according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. “Hold me” is
supporting the word “touch” to have the transferred meaning.
i. Table 4.18. Lexical Semantics of the Word Touch
ii. Metaphor
Touch the sense when someone put light hand or finger The feeling of someone presence
c. “You keep me without chain”
Lexically, “chain” means a thing to hold something or to put something to prevent them for being stolen according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. “You keep me without chain” is one of metaphor that is classified as live metaphor. The literal meaning and the context of the song support to create the transferred meaning. Chain is metal rings that is joined together. It is really strong to tie something. In literal, it would be “to make someone do something without
metal rings”.
In the song, the word “chain” comes after “keep me”. The word “keep me” can have several meanings in general. In the context of the song, “keep me” is
supporting “chain” to have the transferred meaning. “Keep me” means to make someone does something. In addition, the word “chain” become the things that is
really strong that cannot be ignored, in this case, chains means “controlling” thus, Lexical Semantic
Signifier
touch Signified
it will be stay in its place. “Control” in here means doing anything to make someone happy or to please someone.
The meaning of this metaphor is, the man can control the author without
him even tries to. It is because the word “without”, this prove that even though the man does not do or order something to the girl, the girl feels being controlled or ruled by the man. So, the meaning of “You keep me without chain” is to follow the control of someone even the controller does not ask to.
i. Table 4.19. Lexical Semantics of the Word Chain
ii. Metaphor
Chain a metal rings joined together Controlling
d. “Drown in your love, not feel your rain”
Lexically, someone cannot drown in “love”. “Love” in literal meaning, means an affection intense felling. Love cannot be seen, but it can be felt by a human. For that reason, in the literal meaning, “drown in your love” means drowning in affection feeling, according to Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. In the literal meaning, the phrase is not going to happen in the real life, but in transferred meaning, it does have another meaning that is possible in the real life.
Lexical Semantic Signifier
chain Signified
“Drown in your love” means that the author is deeply in love with the man. The word “drown” in general means covered in liquid, so it can be transferred as covered in love which means all over the lover.
In addition, “not feel you rain” lexically means not feeling the present of the water fall from clouds in the sky. People will only feel the glimpse or the rain and soon enough, the part of the body of a human will be dry after getting soaked by rain. If those explanation is compared to the context of the song, the transferred meaning will be something that cannot stay for long or someone cannot have it for permanent.
Thus, if both the transferred meaning is combined, the metaphorical
expression of “Drown in your love, not feel your rain” means that the author is
deeply in love with the men but, unfortunately, the author only have him not for long. It is supported by the line “I never wanted anything so much”. This show that the girl really wants to have him, but they cannot be together for a reason.
i. Table 4.20. Lexical Semantics of the Word Love and Rain Lexical Semantic
Signifier
Drown in your love Signified
covered in affection feeling Lexical Semantic
Signifier
not feel your rain Signified
