A Red ,Red Rose by Robert Burns

1. 1
Written by Robert Burns
Use of Figurative Language
in Poem A Red, Red Rose

2. 2
▹ Name:- Aamena Rangwala
▹ Roll no:-1
▹ Enrollment no:-4069206420210028
▹ Subject:-Literary Theory & Criticism and Indian
Aesthetics
▹ Email id:- aamenarangwala51@gmail.com
▹ Batch:- (2021-23) M.A Sem 2
▹ Submitted to:-Department of English Maharaja
Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

3. 3
▹ Writers introduction
▹ I A Richard’s :- Four kind of meanings
▹ Use of Figurative Language in Poem A
Red, Red Rose
▹ Conclusion
Content

4. ▹ This information is taken from Britannica.Com and
Poetry Foundation
▹ I.A. Richards, in full Ivor Armstrong Richards, (born Feb. 26,
1893, Sandbach, Cheshire. English critic, poet, and teacher
who was highly influential in developing a new way of
reading poetry that led to the New Criticism and that also
influenced some forms of reader-response criticism.
▹ C.K Ogden, Richards created the teaching tool Basic English,
a simplified version of the English language that, in the
interests of clear expression, limited both the number of
words and the rules of their usage.
4
Writer
introduction

5. Continue…
▹ Richards’s scholarly work includes Practical
Criticism (1929), The Philosophy of Rhetoric (1936),
and The Meaning of Meaning (1946, co-authored with
C.K. Ogden).
▹ Richards taught at Cambridge University and Harvard
University. He died in 1979, on his return home to
Cambridge from a teaching trip to China.
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6. According to I.A. Richard, words carry four kinds of meaning
or to be more precise, the total meaning of a word depends
upon four factors, i.e. sense, feeling, tone and intention.
1.Sense
Sense is what is said, or the ‘items’ referred to by a writer.
2. Feeling
Feeling refers to emotions, emotional attitudes, will, desire,
pleasure, displeasure and the rest. When we say something
we have a feeling about it, “an attitude towards it, some
special direction, bias or accentuation of interest towards it,
some personal or coloring of feeling”. Words express “these
feelings, these nuances of interest”.
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Four Kinds of
Meaning

7. Continue…
3. Tone
Tone is the writer’s attitude to his readers or audience. The
use of language is determined by the writer’s ‘recognition’ of
his relation to his readers.
4. Intention
Intention is the writer’s aim, which may be conscious or
unconscious. It refers to the effect that he tries to produce.
This purpose modifies the expression. It controls the
emphasis, shapes the arrangement, or draws attention to
something of importance.
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8. Poem A
Red,Red
Rose
This poem is taken from Poetry Foundation
O my Luve is like a red, red rose
That’s newly sprung in June;
O my Luve is like the melody
That’s sweetly played in tune.
The poet has layered with using metaphors of natural objects.
In the first stanza, the speaker compares his love to two
things. First, he compares her to a fresh red rose, second, he
compares her to a nicely played melody.
While the first comparison describes her beauty, the second
one tells us about her temperament. She is a very beautiful
lady with a nice temperament and a kind heart.
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9. Continue…
2. So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I;
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
3.Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run
In the second and third stanzas the speaker wants to assure
his beloved about his infinite and never ending love for her. In
the second stanza, he promises her that he will love her till all
the seas go dry, which is impossible. In the third stanza again,
he promises to love her till rock melts with the sun.
9

10. Continue … In the last line of the third stanza we find him telling her that
he would love till the last day of his life.
He uses the imagery of seas drying, rocks melting with the
sun and, finally 'the sands of life running'. He uses such
imageries to express his unbound and never ending love for
her.
Through such images he has been successful in expressing
his eternal love for her.
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11. Continue…
Symbolism is the use to represent ideas or qualities.
Symbolism gives a symbolic meaning of different from of
literal meanings. Here the use of 'red rose' is an example of
it. Red rose stands for love and romance. Here rose
symbolizes love between the speaker and his beloved.
Imagery is presentation of something that can be
understood through five senses. The poet used three
(visual) imageries in this poem. They are :
"O my love is like a red, red rose"
"And the rocks melt wi' the sun!“
"While the sands o' life shall run."
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12. Continue…
Hyperbole is a device used to exaggerate something than
it really is.
Here the poet has used hyperbole in two places :
1. "Till a' seas gang dry". This is hyperbole because seas
will never dry.
2. "And the rocks melt wi' the sun". This is a hyperbole
because rocks never melt.
The tone of this poem is 'exalting love'. It is passionate,
loving and celebratory. He tells how much he loves his
beloved. In the last stanza he assures her of their infinite
love.
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13. Continue…
And fare thee weel, my only luve!
And fare thee weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile.
In the final stanza, the speaker bids farewell to the
beloved, as if the speaker is planning to leave on a
journey. The beloved doesn’t need to worry, though,
because the speaker promises to return, even if the
journey is “ten thousand miles” long.
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14. Conclusion
Here writer uses figurative language to express his
love toward beloved. He compares to ' A Red Red
Rose'. And also tells he will love her till the seas
becomes dry and rocks melt which is impossible
because sea never dry’s and rocks never melt.
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15. Citation
15
“I. A. Richards.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation,
www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/i-a-
richards#:~:text=British%20poet%20and%20scholar%20Ivor,its%20e
mphasis%20on%20close%20reading.
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "I.A. Richards".
Encyclopedia Britannica, 22 Feb. 2022,
https://www.britannica.com/biography/I-A-Richards. Accessed 14 April
2022.
Burns, Robert. “A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns.” Poetry
Foundation, Poetry Foundation,
www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43812/a-red-red-rose.
“I a Richards Figurative Language.” Google Docs, Google,
docs.google.com/document/d/1Ojk-

16. Thank you