Figurative language and theme of Phil Collins Songs Lyrics

ABSTRACT

Figurative language is language which employs various figures of speech. In general, figurative language is the kind of language which departs from the language employed in the traditional, literal ways of describing persons or objects. Using figurative language is making imaginative descriptions in fresh ways.

Lyric is any fairly short poem, consisting of the utterance by single speaker, who expresses a state of mind or a process of perception, though, and feeling (Abrams, 1993:108). Lyric designates a short poem which emphasizes the expression of the individual’s feelings, romantic, emotion, etc.

Theme is the central concept developed in a poem (Reaske, 1966: 42). It is the basic idea which the poet is trying to convey and he allows to direct his imagery. In music, it is a group of notes forming a recognizable melodic unit, often used as the basis of the musical material in a composition.

There are several reasons of the writer in choosing this topic, because a song can help us to understand human sentiment, interest, and problem shown by the composers and the singers. Figurative language makes a song more attractive and has aesthetic value. Whereas, theme becomes an important part of poem because theme is central concept or basic idea of author to create a poem. The writer uses the popular songs which have been familiar with people in the world, that is Phil Collins’ songs. He is a great and famous singer from London who has many experiences in his career. He has voice clarity and qualified vocal, so many people delight in his songs. Beside that, Phil Collins’ songs are meaningful and have figurative language.

In analyzing the songs of this study, the writer used descriptive qualitative method. The data are taken from Phil Collins’ songs album published by Warner Music Indonesia and from interned, selecting songs from each album which is related to the study. In this case, the writer takes ten songs from four latest albums.

From the data analysis, the writer has found the figurative languages, they are metaphor, personification, antithesis, repetition, simile, and hyperbole. The writer found repetition is the dominant one which appears in the lyrics of Phil Collins’ songs, and the figurative language which frequently appears is metaphor. The writer also found the theme Phil Collins’ songs namely love, loyalty, and expectation.

Finally, the researcher hopes that this thesis could give contribution toward the researcher herself especially, to the readers and to the further researchers figurative language and theme.