This document analyzes the use of metaphor, imagery, and allusion in John Lyly's poem "Daphne". It finds that metaphor and imagery are heavily used to describe Daphne's beauty, with references to gold, stars, roses, and warmth. Allusion is also made through the mythical figure of Daphne, who attracted Apollo's love before being transformed into a laurel tree. The analysis provides context on Lyly and the poem, and concludes that these literary devices help readers understand and appreciate the beauty described in the poem.

1. I N T R I N S I C E L E M E N T S
A N A LY S I S ;
M e t a p h o r, I m a g e r y , a n d A l l u s i o n
i n J o h n L y l y ’ s
“ D a p h n e ”
A D E L I A N ATA LY A N D A R U N I

2. Abstract
In this writing, the writer tries to analyze the intrinsic elements of “Daphne” by John Lyly.
The purpose of this writing is to understand the metaphor, imagery, and allusion the
“Daphne” poem. The writer uses theories of metaphor, imagery, and allusion with close
reading method. The writer finds that metaphor and imagery are dominated the poem.
In conclusion, the metaphor, imagery, and allusion can ease the reader to understand the
poem.
Keywords: Daphne, John Lyly, metaphor, imagery, allusion

3. Introduction
”Poetry is what gets lost in translation.”
-Robert Frost-
Poetry is a part of literature. It is a language to say something beautifully. Laurence Perrine in
“Sounds and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry” (1969:3) defines poetry as a kind of language
that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. The other definition
comes from Robert Frost in “LITERATURE: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama,
second edition” (1976:407) made a classic word to defines poetry: Poetry is the kind of thing
poets write. There are many different definition of poetry from different sources. In order to
understand a poetry, we need to understand what it is the poetry says. We cannot understand
a poetry easily, we need to analyze it. We need to analyze every words and stanzas in poetry
from many perspective to understanding the poetry itself.

4. John Lyly
John Lyly was born in Kent in 1554. He was brought up in
Canterbury and attended the King’s School. Lyly received his
Bachelor’s degree in 1573 and his Master’s degree in 1575 from
Magdalen College, University of Oxford. He started his
literary career shortly thereafter. He became instantly famous
with the publication of his prose romance. Lyly used a unique
style in his writing called euphism. Lyly’s style had a marked impact on
contemporary writers. In 1583, Lyly married Beatrice Browne, a
Yorkshire heiress. In 1589, Lyly spent most of his life at his wife’s
home in Mexborough, Yorkshire. John Lyly died in the early part of
James I’s reign. He was buried in London at St.Bartholomew the
Less on November 20, 1606.

5. Daphne
My Daphne’s hair is twisted gold,
Bright stars apiece her eyes do hold;
My Daphne’s brow enthrones the grace,
My Daphne’s beauty stains all faces;
On Daphne’s cheek grow rose and cherry,
On Daphne’s lip a sweeter berry;
Daphne’s snowy hand but touched does melt,
And then no heavenlier warmth is felt;
My Daphne’s voice tunes all the spheres,
My Daphne’s music charms all ears.
Fond am I thus to sing her praise;
These glories now are turned to bays.

6. Daphne
Rambut Daphneku adalah emas yang bergelombang,
Bintang terang bersemayam di matanya;
Alis Daphneku menobatkan keanggunan,
Kecantikan Daphneku mewarnai seluruh wajah;
Pada pipinya tumbuh mawar dan ceri,
Dan pada bibirnya sebuah beri yang lebih manis;
Tangan bersaljunya dapat menghangat,
Dan kemudian tak ada kehangatan surgawi yang terasa;
Suara Daphneku melagui seluruh semesta,
Musik Daphneku memikat tiap telinga,
Bodohnya diriku menyanyikan pujian baginya;
Keindahan ini telah menjadi daun salam.

7. The Explanation of the Poem
There is a man named Apollo who is the most powerful gods and a great warrior. Someday
he mocked the god of love, Eros (Cupid), for his use of bow and arrow. Eros then prepared
two arrows: one of gold and one of lead. He shot Apollo with the gold arrow, so Apollo will
have a passionate love for Daphne. Eros shot Daphne with the lead arrow, so she will hate
Apollo. Daphne had dedicated herself to perpetual virginity. Daphne ask her father, Peneus,
to help her to change her form, so she can be free from Apollo. And then Peneus answering
her request, and she was turned into a laurel tree. Apollo vowed to love Daphne forever.
Apollo always praise Daphne’s beauty.
My Daphne’s hair is twisted gold,
Bright stars apiece her eyes do hold;
Until Daphne turned into a Bay laurel tree, Apollo vowed to love her forever.
These glories now are turned to bays.
He used his power of eternal youth and immortality to give Daphne evergreen, so the leaves
of the Bay laurel tree do not decay.

8. Metaphor
My Daphne’s hair is twisted gold, (line 1)
John Lyly uses a metaphor “twisted gold”, to describe Daphne’s hair. Gold has a yellowish
color and it is glowing, that makes it more special than the other yellowish color. Gold
also has a high price which prove its luxury. Daphne’s hair in this poetry described as
twisted gold because it shows how special and luxury is Daphne’s hair.
On Daphne’s cheek grow rose and cherry, (line 5)
This sentence shows how rosy Daphne’s cheek. John Lyly use words “rose and cherry” as
a metaphor. We know that rose and cherry have the same color, red. It is not an ordinary
red, but it is a beautiful red. The red blush on Daphne’s cheek is so beautiful, so John Lyly
use “rose and cherry” to describe it.

9. On Daphne’s lip a sweeter berry; (line 6)
From the previous explanation we know that John Lyly wants to describe Daphne
beautifully. He always use a beautiful words that can represent Daphne’s beauty. To
describe Daphne’s lips, he use a metaphor “sweeter berry”. Berry is a fruit that has a
sweet taste. So we know that Daphne has a sweet lips as a berry.
Daphne’s snowy hand but touched does melt, (line 7)
The metaphor used in this line shown by the words “snowy hand” that refers to
something cold, but not that cold because when it touched, it does melt. We can feel
that there is something in Daphne which is cold, maybe her heart. But there might be
something that can warm it.

10. Imagery
Bright stars apiece her eyes do hold; (line 2)
Star has its own light. Bright stars have a very beautiful light. Daphne’s eyes glowing like a
bright star. John Lyly wants us to know the beautiful of Daphne’s eyes by imagining the bright
stars.
My Daphne’s brow enthrones the grace, (line 3)
John Lyly wants us to imagining that Daphne’s brow is amazingly charming. No one will have
the charming brow as Daphne’s. These brow will enthrones the grace.
My Daphne’s beauty stains all faces; (line 4)
We need to image that Daphne had all the beauty of this world and no one can beat her
beauty. Her beauty will spread and stains all faces.

11. And then no heavenlier warmth is felt; (line 8)
John Lyly wants us to imagining that the situation in this poem is really warm and there is no
heavenlier warmth is felt. This warm feeling is comes from Daphne soul.
My Daphne’s voice tunes all the spheres, (line 9)
This universe is really wide. It is impossible if there is a voice that can reverberate in all the
universe. But it different, in this line we can imagining how Daphne’s voice can tunes all the
universe beautifully.
My Daphne’s music charms all ears. (line 10)
Every people have different taste of voice or music. Someone might like a soft voice but there
is someone who like a loud voice. In this line, we can imagining how beautiful Daphne’s voice
that turns into music that can charms every people ears.

12. Allusion
My Daphne’s hair is twisted gold, (line 1)
In this poem, name Daphne is comes from an ancient Greek mythology who is a type of
female nymph associated with fountains, wells, springs, streams, brooks and other bodies
of fresh water. She is the daughter of the river god, Peneus. Because of her beauty,
Daphne attracted the attention of the god Apollo, but Daphne had dedicated herself to
perpetual virginity. From that fact, we can say that Daphne is a mythical allusion which is
not just a name, but there is a big story behind that name.

13. Conclusion
From the poetry “Daphne”, we can know that John Lyly wants to show us how Apollo
praise the beauty of Daphne. John Lyly use metaphor to describe how beautiful Daphne
and imagery so we can imagining every beauty in her. We all know that we can not
understand a poetry easily. We need time to understand every line and every stanza with
a happy soul. A poetry can not be translated same like the original one, but we can get
the idea that the poet wants to deliver to the reader. If we read a poetry with a happy
soul and a happy heart, we can find that every poem has its own beauty, because a
poetry must be treated beautifully.
“Poetry is what happens when nothing else can.”
-Charles Bukowski-