An analysis on figurative language and messages in the lyrics of Guns N Roses Songs

ABSTRACT

Literature is creative and imaginative works of art which can be used to express many aspects of life such as people emotion, idea, and feeling. The aim of literature is to entertain and give pleasure to people life. One form of the literature is poem. Poem can be expressed in a song to show people’s deep feeling.

Figurative language is usually applied in a poem in order to enlarge the meaning of certain words. The unique of figurative language is that someone can’t understand it by only reading .at a glance but we have heard to understand and to comprehend the lyrics of song which contain figurative language expressions. Moreover, the composer usually uses figurative language to make a song has more artistic value. It proves that a song shows the way of composer expresses his feeling through the lyric that he makes.
There are some reasons which provide the basic of the writer in choosing this topic. One of them is by listening and understanding the song, the students are easier to comprehend songs and to find the figurative language especially when they are in poetry class. The students find it more enjoyable. In this case, the writer uses the popular songs which have been familiar with, that is, Guns N’ Roses' songs. Guns N’ Roses is one of the famous groups of rock band in the world. It is from Los Angles.

Based on the phenomena, this study is conducted to investigate: what kinds of figurative language used in the lyrics of Guns N’ Roses’ song‘? And what are the messages used in the lyrics of Guns N’ Roses' songs?

This study is aimed at finding out the kinds of figurative language in the lyrics of Guns N’ Roses’ songs and messages used in the lyrics of Guns N’ Roses* songs. The writer limits the songs of Guns N’ Roses. In this case, she only takes ten songs which are selected from four albums.

In conducting this study, the writer explains about the theories that are related to the study. The writer used some books to analyze the data of the study. Moreover, the writer also quotes some definitions from many experts and also gives some conclusions and previous study.

A descriptive qualitative method was used in this study, because she would like to analyze and interpret the research object of rock songs and she obtains and collects the data to observe by looking and taking from Guns N’ Roses* songs. Making record the obtained from the data sources, and arranging the data in accordance the research questions. The writer decided to use triangulation of the data sources and methodological triangulation. After the data had been collected, they are analyzed by the following steps; categorizing the data into ten categories accordance with the number of song analyzed, presenting, analyzing, and concluding the data of each category. Then, making the tentative conclusion.

The result of this study shows that in every lyric of Guns N’ Roses' songs the writer can be found many kinds of figurative language expressions. They are hyperbole, repetition, metaphor, symbolism, antithesis, simile, personification, irony and tautology. Besides, there are some messages, such as about moral message, social message, and religious message.

Finally, the writer hopes that the other researchers or the students who are interested in analyzing the similar topic are able to develop this study by analyzing different point of view. Because there are still many elements that have not been analyzed yet, such as diction and other elements of poetry that exist in Guns N’ Roses1 songs.