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AN ANALYSIS OF METAPHOR IN ONE DIRECTION
ALBUM
Tuti Dwi Agustin
Amri Tanduklangi
Yulius Tandi Sapan
English Department
Halu Oleo University
Email: tutidwiagustin@gmail.com
Abstract
Lyrics in song are intended to send a message to the audience or
music lovers. Composers use figurative language as the media to
convey their message. One of the figurative languages that is mostly
used in song’s lyrics is Metaphor. This study was intended to
investigate the types of metaphor used in One Direction Album. The
objective of this study to identify the types of metaphor found in the
song lyrics and to analyze metaphor meaning in One Direction song.
This study adopted a descriptive qualitative research design. Three
songs by One Direction had been chosen as the data of this study;
Story of My Life, Steal My Girl and Drag Me Down. The data were
analyzed its metaphor by using Lakoff and Johnson theory, while in
investigating the meaning, Chaer’s theory of contextual meaning was
used. The result of the study showed that based on the three types of
metaphor, structural metaphor becomes the most frequently used in
the song lyrics, meanwhile 2 of 3 songs used all of the three types of
metaphor; Orientation, Structural and Ontological Metaphor. In
answering the second research question about the meaning of each
metaphor, each lyric has been analyzed through content analysis to
know the true meaning of what the song writer want to express in
his/her lyrics and each lyric has different contextual meaning which
is elaborated further in this study.
Keywords: Metaphor, Meaning, One Direction’s Album
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Introduction
Lyric is expressions of the writer’s feeling of or composed for singing. It
means that lyric of a song can be written depending on someone’s experiences of
life such as, love, happiness, sorrow, family and friendships. To comprehend the
lyric well, the readers must be able to identify words or phrases that consist of
figurative languages and to find their meaning. Therefore, since studying poem
is worth and interesting to do, studying song is worth and interesting too. There
are some kinds of figurative language usually applied in the song by composers.
To achieve the purpose of writing the lyrics, the dominant element used in the
song is metaphor. Metaphor or figure of speech is used in the lyrics with
aesthetic purposes in order to create a beautiful song, pleasant to hear, and
helpful for the listeners to understand the information in the songs. In
Summary, lyric is a fairly short poem, consisting of the utterance by a single
speaker who expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, thought, and
feeling.
Furthermore, song is not only used to convey a life story, but also as an
amusement for the listeners. To make a song become more artistic, the
composers often use figurative language to express their work. One of the types
of figurative language as well as the way to make song become more artistic is
Metaphor. Related to the above background, this study is aimed at analyzing the
use of metaphor in song. This writer is interested in analyzing the song from One
Direction because One Direction’s songs are very well known throughout the
world and the lyrics contain many expressions of the singer who imagine about
the condition or situation that the singer had. In the other words, this study
intends to know the types of metaphor in the lyric from One Direction as well as
the meaning of the metaphor. The songs were Story of My Life”, “Dark Me Down”,
and “Steal My Girl”.
This study is expected to be beneficial to English Teacher and students
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since it will be useful for teaching vocabulary and listening skills for the
students and it is useful for learning figurative language. In addition, it is
presumed to increase student’s engagement in learning because most students
favor learning language through song. Moreover, this study will also give more
information about figurative language, because when we study about language
especially song, we will find the figurative language that mostly used in order to
give a deep comprehension about the songs. This information can be used as
well for teaching and learning process, especially in teaching listening and
reading about figuring the metaphor of the song.
This study was focused on three types of metaphor; Structural Metaphor,
Orientation Metaphor and Ontological Metaphor. Besides, this study used
Contextual Meaning as the standard of investigated meaning in each metaphor.
Literature Review
Lakoff and Jhonson (1980) defined metaphor as pervasive in everyday life,
not only just in language but also in thought and action. Our ordinary
conceptual system, in term of thinking and acting is fundamentally
metaphorical in nature. Metaphor is something that has another meaning and
its main function is to understand. In other words, metaphor is part of a
figurative language that compares one thing with another. Lakoff and Johnson
observe that all human language uses the metaphorical meaning to
communicating at different levels of abstraction from concrete reality. Lakoff and
Johnson’s theory is better known as the conceptual metaphor theory. Lakoff and
Johnson divide metaphors into tree types: structural metaphors, orientation
metaphors and ontological metaphors (Lakoof and Johnson, 1998)
According to Lakoff and Jhonson (1980), metaphor consists of three types.
The first type is Structural metaphor. Structural metaphor is the concept in the
form of metaphorically using another concept. This structural metaphor is based
on two domains, namely the domain of the source and target domains.
Structural metaphor is based on a systematic correlation in daily experience. In
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short, a metaphor in which a complex concept (mostly abstract) is presented in a
more concrete term. Example: Argument is War,
The second type is orientation metaphor. It is the metaphor which is
associated with spatial orientation, such as up-down, inside-out, front-rear, and
many others. This spatial orientation arises from the fact that we are thinking
about the body and the body to function in the physical environment. This
metaphor is based on human physical experience in organizing orientation in
their daily lives, such as up–down measured by physical human experience.
Orientation metaphors reflect different spatial concept in physical experience or
culture of the people. Therefore metaphor orientation is different in every culture
because every culture has a difference from what is in the mind. Orientation
metaphor gives a concept a spatial orientation. In summary, it is a metaphor
that involves an orientation. For example: “Speak up” and “Keep your voice
down”.
The last type is ontological metaphor which is defined as a metaphor views
events, activities emotions, and ideas as entities and substance. Example: “the
mind is machine” in the phrase “My mind just isn’t operating today”. Ontological
metaphor is a metaphor for conceptualizing the thoughts, experience and
processes it into something which is more abstract thinking about the physical
properties. In other words, Ontological metaphor considers abstract noun as
concrete nouns.
Furthermore, contextual meaning is also used in this study. Contextual
meaning is the meaning of a lexeme or word inside a context (Chaer 1994).
Context is a situation that occurs depends on whether phrase or sentence
appears. A contextual definition is also a definition in which the term is used
by embedding it in a larger expression containing its explanation. In the
same side, Mansoer Pateda (2010) stated contextual meaning could be regarded
as a situational meaning. It appears as a result of the relationship between
speech and context (2010: 116).
Requejo (2007) stated that contextual meaning is that whenever a
linguistic expression cannot be straightforwardly interpreted, we turn to context
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to find some extra cues in order to get the right meaning. It means that, context
is used here in its broadest sense, since anything around a particular word
can potentially affect its meaning. In other words, when a word is used in a
piece of text, it usually has only one meaning, but sometimes it has meaning
variation depending on the topic of discussion. We must know the hidden
meaning of word to provide useful information for understanding meaning in a
sentence or phrase based on context meaning. Furthermore, contextual meaning
is used in this paper as the standard to define the meaning of each selected
metaphor.
Research Method
This study used descriptive qualitative method to describe phenomenon of
figurative language, types of metaphor used in lyric song from One Direction. It
used qualitative method through an inductive approach in the analysis because
the data were not in the form of numbers but words in describing the kinds of
metaphor used in One Direction songs lyric.
In this study, the writer was the main instrument in collecting the required
data by applying the theories, interpreting the data based on the general
contextual meaning of the song lyrics, interpreting the data based on the way of
One Direction expresses figurative language and the last making conclusion
based on data analysis.
Moreover, the writer used qualitative data through content analysis by
selecting the data which were obtained from various sources and information.
The writer firstly listened to the songs that were analyzed, and then read the
lyrics carefully and noted any songs containing a figurative speech metaphor.
FINDINGS
The writer analyzed the types of figurative language that were found in
“Story of My Life”, “Dark Me Down”, and “Steal My Girl” by One Direction.
Types of Metaphor in “Story of My Life”
The writer analyzed the song lyric of “Story of My Life” by One Direction. It
was conducted to find out the figurative language use in that song. The
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figurative language used in that song can be seen in table 4.1, meanwhile the
meaning of each metaphor will be presented to answer the next research
problem.
Table 1. Type of Metaphor in Story of My Life
No
Song Lyric
Type of Metaphor
1
I leave my heart open (Verse1, line #2)
Ontological
Metaphor
2
Until she's broken inside (Chorus, line #5)
Orientation
Metaphor
3
But it stays right here in its cage (Verse
line 2, #4)
Structural
Metaphor
4
I'll see us in the light up on the hill (Verse
2, line #6)
Orientation
Metaphor
5
Although I am broken, my heart is
untamed still (Verse 2, line #7)
Structural
Metaphor
6
The fire beneath my feet is burning bright
(Pre-Chorus, line #2)
Orientation
Metaphor
7
The way that I’ve been holding on so tight
With nothing in between( Pre-Chorus, line
#3 and #4)
Orientation
Metaphor
8
And time is frozen (Chorus, line #3)
Structural
Metaphor
9
But, baby, running after you
Is like chasing the clouds (Bridge, line #2)
Structural
metaphor
Based on the above table, it is clearly shown that the lyrics “Story of My
Life” by One Direction used all the three types of Metaphor; Structural Metaphor,
Orientation Metaphor and Ontological Metaphor. It leads us to the conclusion
that this song is full of metaphor meaning. The writer expresses their feeling or
what they want to confess to the listener through the using of metaphor. For
example, the writer used the lyrics “But baby running after you/ is like chasing
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the clouds”. By using this lyric, the writer tried to express that it is nearly
impossible to get what he/she needs in his/her life. The writer used the
structural metaphor to explain one complex concept by using more concrete
term metaphorically.
Type of Metaphor in “Steal My Girl”
Table 2. Type of Metaphor in Steal My Girl
No
Song Lyric
Type of Metaphor
1
Couple billion in the whole wide world
(Chorus, line #3)
Structural Metaphor
2
Everybody wanna take her heart away
(Chorus, line2)
Ontological Metaphor
3
Kisses like cream, her walk is so mean
(Verse 2, Line #2 and #4)
Structural Metaphor
4
And every jaw drops when she's in those
jeans (Verse, line#3 and #4)
Structural Metaphor
5
I don't exist, if I don't have her. The sun
doesn't shine, the world doesn't turn, (Verse
2, line #5 to #8)
Ontological Metaphor
Based on the above table, it is clearly shown that the lyrics “Steal My Girl”
by One Direction only used two types of Metaphor; Structural Metaphor, and
Ontological Metaphor. Moreover, from all the lyrics, only 5 were indicated as
metaphor. This may also leads us to the conclusion that this song uses less
metaphor than the other songs and may have more figurative languages which
were not covered in this study.
Type of Metaphor in “Drag Me Down”
Table 3. Type of Metaphor in Drag Me Down
No
Type of Metaphor
1
Structural
Metaphor
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2
Structural
Metaphor
3
Ontological
Metaphor
4
Ontological
Metaphor
5
Orientation
Metaphor
6
Ontological
Metaphor
7
Orientation
Metaphor
Based on the above table, it is clearly shown that the lyrics “Drag Me
Down” by One Direction used all the three types of Metaphor; Structural
Metaphor, Orientation Metaphor and Ontological Metaphor. It leads us to the
conclusion that this song is full of metaphor meaning. The writers express their
feeling or what they want to confess to the listener through the use of metaphor.
The Meaning of Metaphor
After analyzing and categorizing each lyric into several metaphors, the next
analysis is to define the meaning of each song based on the used metaphor. In
this case, the meaning used in this paper is Conceptual Meaning. There are 21
metaphors found in “Story of My Life”, “Dark Me Down”, and “Steal My Girl” of
One Direction. These lyrics then categorized into Ontological Metaphor,
Orientation Metaphor and Structural Metaphor. As been mentioned in the
previous paragraph, the contextual meaning of these metaphor were analyzed
and divided into three section based on each type of metaphor.
The Meaning of Ontological Metaphor
Example Data:
“Written in these walls are the stories that I can't explain
I leave my heart open
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But it stays right here empty for days”
(Story of My Life: Verse 1 Line 1-3)
In this paragraph, the writer explains that their 'real self' is within the walls
of their family's home. Even though they can be and go whatever they want, at
some point they just want to stay a little bit the way they were before being
famous. Here they explain that with their families, they see the real person they
are. their real 'self' doesn't change and even if they go somewhere else, their
heart stays with their moms imprisoned with their love. “I leave my heart open”
means that they are ready to receive any love besides the family. But their heart
will forever stay with the family.
Moreover in this context, “I leave my heart open” is similar to “I leave the
door open”. In other words, the word “heart” is expressed similarly with “door”
which can be opened or closed, depends on the owner choice. The use of the
word depends on the context of what is being expressed. Since this song is
talking more about love and family, therefore the word “heart” is appropriate to
be used in this context.
The Meaning of Orientation Metaphor
Example Data
The story of my life
I give her hope
I spend her love
Until she's broken inside
(Story of My Life, Chorus Line 6-9)
The writers talk about the unconditional love that their moms have for
them and how the little moments they spend together are more meaningful now
and how they would like those moments to last longer. They convince her mom
that is for a good reason that they are leaving, knowing that their mom's heart
will broke inside after giving it all for them It is proven by the previous lyrics and
by reading the whole lyrics of the song.
Moreover, the use of word “broke” in the lyric “Until she’s broke inside” is
different from the word “broke” in the sentence “I broke my glasses yesterday”.
“broke my glasses yesterday”, means we made the glasses into pieces or more
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from the original form. However, in the lyrics, “Broke” means “feeling hurt”
because theay are talking about heart or feeling.
The Meaning of Structural Metaphor
Example Data:
Written on these walls are the colours that I can't change
Leave my heart open
But it stays right here in its cage
(Story of My Life, Verse 2)
Data 1 shows that the writers try to express their feeling by saying “But it stays
right here in its cage”. This implies that even if they go somewhere else, their
heart stays with their moms imprisoned with their love. Moreover, the use of
word “cage” in the lyrics is different from the sentence “I stay in a cage for one
night”. Since the song is mostly talking about family and their loves one, so
“cage” refers to them. In other words, their true feeling and love will be forever
with them.
Discussion
Types of Metaphors Found in this research
According to the result found in each song, it is found that the three types
of metaphor (Structural, Orientation and Ontological) were found in two songs of
One Direction; Story of My Life and Drag Me Down. Meanwhile, in Steal My Girl
only have 2 types of metaphor; Structural and Ontological Metaphor. This
indicates that not all of the One Direction’s song used the three types of
metaphor in their lyrics to replace the real meaning they want to express.
Sometimes, there are also another figurative language used in their song, such
as personification and etc. Similar result has also been found in Lestari (2017)
who has also conducted the same research to find the metaphor in Green Day’s
song. In her research, she found that that all types of metaphor are found in the
data.
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Moreover, Lestari (2017) also found that ontological metaphor as the most
frequently used type of metaphor based on Lakoff and Johnson theory. It is
similar with the current study which found that one of the One Direction song
“Drag Me Down” which has 3 ontological metaphor of 7 metaphor found in this
song. Meanwhile, if the total of metaphor found is compiled, structural metaphor
is the most frequently used in the three songs analyzed in this current research,
which is contradictive with the result form Lestari (2017). Structural metaphors
are the prevalent type of metaphors in the data and as Lakoff and Johnson
(1980) explain, these provide the richest source for elaborating concepts (p. 61).
This can be seen in the analysis as well.
The Meaning of Each Metaphor
Related to this current study, Pateda (2010) stated contextual meaning
could be regarded as a situational meaning. It appears as a result of the
relationship between speech and context (2010: 116). Contextual meaning
is the meaning according to the context. Contextual meaning is the meaning
according to the context in a sentence. As has been stated previously, Requejo
(2007) stated that contextual meaning is that whenever a linguistic expression
cannot be straightforwardly interpreted, we turn to context to find some extra
cues in order to get the right meaning. It means that, context is used here in its
broadest sense, since anything around a particular word can potentially affect
its meaning. In other words, when a word is used in a piece of text, it usually
has only one meaning, but sometimes it has meaning variation depending on the
topic of discussion. Therefore, we must know the hidden meaning of word to
provide useful information for understanding meaning in a sentence or phrase
based on context meaning.
Conclusion
Related to the first research question, it is found that the three types of
metaphor (Structural, Orientation and Ontological) were found in two songs
of One Direction; Story of My Life and Drag Me Down. Meanwhile, in Steal My
Girl only have 2 types of metaphor; Structural and Ontological Metaphor.
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This indicates that not all of the One Direction’s song used the three types of
metaphor in their lyrics to replace the real meaning they want to express.
Sometimes, there are also another figurative language used in their song,
such as personification and etc. In conclusion, the one direction song mostly
used structural metaphor in their songs. It is proven by the three songs used
as the sample of this study. From the 21 metaphor found in the three songs
of one direction, nine of them are structural metaphor or almost half of them
categorized as structural metaphor.
Meanwhile, in the second research question, the meaning of metaphors
also revealed from the analysis process, It is only focus to find the contextual
meaning. It is because song lyrics have the communicative value of an
expression over and above its purely contextual content. Moreover, it is
something that goes beyond mere referent of a word and hints at its attribute
in the real word. It is also regarded as incidental, comparatively unstable, in
determinant, open ended, variable according to age, culture, and individual.
Metaphor also shows the concept and point of view from this band toward the
actual situation.
After analyzing the data and summarizing the conclusion, it is suggested
for researchers who want to do a research in semantics approach, to deeply
explore about conceptual Metaphor theory, for instance, observing other
media or clues such as poem to find the types of metaphor. In the song
lyrics, theory of conceptual metaphor used to convey the concept of
metaphor that leads to understand the meaning of metaphor.
Meanwhile, in poem we can also use this theory in order to know what the
poem is actually talking about. Therefore, the writer hopes that there will be
other writers who will conduct the research using conceptual metaphor as a
theory.
REFEERENCES
Chaer, A. (1994). Linguistik Umum. Jakarta: Rineka Cipta.
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Lakoff, G. and Jhonson, M. (1980) Conceptual Metaphor in Everyday
Language. Journal of Philosophy, 77(8):
pp. 453-486, http://WWW.jstor.Org/stable/2025464 \
Lestari, W (2017) Metaphor in the Song Lyrics of GreenDay. Unpublished
Thesis: Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University.
Mansoer Pateda (2010). Semantic Leksikal. Jakarta: PT. Rineka Cipta.
Requejo. (2007). The Role of Context in Word Meaning Construction: A Case
Study. International Journal of English Studies. IJES, 7(1).