Answer:
Abstract
This study aimed to identify the types of figurative language used in poems about
COVID-19 and to explain the messages of these poems. This research was conducted
by using descriptive qualitative methods. The data were taken from five poems about
COVID-19 on the Internet. The data were analyzed by using Leech’s theory to identify
the types of figurative language and Nurgiyantoro’s theory to explain the meanings of
the figurative language. There were eight types of figurative language found in the
poems: metaphor (14.5 %), personification (13.3 %), simile (16.9%), hyperbole (13.3%),
irony (8.5%), litotes (1.2%), metonymy (28.9%), and oxymoron (3.7%). The dominant
type of figurative language used was therefore metonymy. There were two kinds of
messages found, namely social messages and moral messages.
Keywords: Figurative Language, Poems, COVID-19.
1. Introduction
Human and language cannot be separated each other; humans need language as a
media to communicate and to express their feeling both spoken and written. Spoken
communication can be expressed through conversation, speech, singing, debate, and
so on. While some other people do not have a good way in speaking ability, then
the written communication can be an alternative. Written language is categorized as
a literary work commonly found in novel, newspaper, poem, and magazine, etc. This
statement is supported by Gleason and Ratner (1998) stating that language is basic
need to human existence and life without words is difficult to envision.
On 30th January 2020, WHO declared the Chinese outbreak of COVID-19 to be
a Public Health Emergency of International Concern posing a high risk to countries
with vulnerable health systems (WHO, 2020). Pandemic Covid-19 gives a big effect of
human interactions. All the people around the world should stay at home, to prevent
