2. Abstract
This writing is to analyse love of the author’s life in her
poem entitled “Love Is Not All”. This writing focuses on
metaphor, diction, and irony. This writing uses textual or
intrinsic theory, and uses close reading method. From this
writing, love is not everything in our life and love also
cannot safe us from war. Through this writing, it can be
concluded that not all loves are happy ending and can be
understood how to differentiate metaphor, symbol and
irony in poem.
Keyword: metaphor, diction, irony. love, life.
3. 1. Introduction
1.1 Background
The poem untitled "Love is Not All" by Edna St. Vincent Millay
is one the poem which is tell about a young female who does
not believe in the power of love. In fact that this poem tell
about the author experience and thought about love. Where
from her poem, she shows that love is unnecessary.
1.2 Research Problem
This writing is written to analyze metaphor, diction and irony
in poem "Love Is Not All" by Edna St. Vincent Millay.
4. 2. Theory and Methodology
2.1 Theory
Metaphor: Metaphor is a comparison of two different
phenomena which share some common points.
Diction: diction refers to the choice of words and style of
expression that an author makes and uses in a work of
literature.
Irony: Verbal irony, saying the opposite of what one means, is
often confused with sarcasm and with satire, and for that
reason it may be well to look at the meaning of all three terms.
2.2 Methodology
1. Analyzing the using of metaphor in the poem.
2. Analyzing the using of diction in the poem.
3. Analyzing the using of metaphor in the poem
5. 3. Biography
Born : February 22, 1892 Rockland, Maine
Died : October 19, 1950 (aged 58) Austerlitz, New York
Pen name : Nancy Boyd
Occupation : Poet
Nationality : American
Notable awards : Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (1923) Robert Frost Medal (1943)
Poem:
Make Bright the Arrows (1940)
There Are No Islands Any More (1940)
Huntsman, What Quarry? (1939)
Conversations at Midnight (1937)
Play:
The Murder of Lidice (1942)
The Princess Marries the Page (1932)
The King's Henchmanv (1927)Three Plays (1926)
6. Love Is Not All by Edna St.
Vincent Millay - Poetry Reading
7. 4. Research Object
4.1 Poem
Love Is Not All
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
And rise and sink and rise and sink again;
Love can not fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Yet many a man is making friends with death
Even as I speak, for lack of love alone.
It well may be that in a difficult hour,
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.
8. 4.2 Paraphrase
Love is not everything that cannot make you survive from
hunger and thirst. Neither bed to sleep in nor roof to save
you against the rain, It is not a floating spar to save
people's life from sinking And love also cannot make you
always keep breathing and keep healthy. Yet people are
dying or choose death because they are lack of love. When
there is a bad time, Time when we feel suffer and distress,
Or we feel powerless and hopeless, Sometimes she want to
give up from her thought of love; she give up love for
peace, Or give up her memory of everything for food. Of
course that can happen. But she doesn't think she want to
do that.
9. 5. Discussion
5.1 Metaphor
Pinned down by pain and moaning for release,
Or nagged by want past resolution's power,
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
The only one who can pinning down, nagging and driving is human or person. Exactly,
pain, desire, and love in that poem are compared to human action or common
activity doing by human. For example, pain cannot pin down something, and of course
desire or want cannot nag to someone. The only possible who can so those are
human.
5.2 Diction
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
Nor slumber nor a roof against the rain;
The author uses words meet, drink, slumber, and roof to compare the basic
necessities of life. These basic necessities are very important to survive in our daily
life.
Nor yet a floating spar to men that sink
Floating spar in this poem is such a diction to compare to life preserver that can save
us from sinking ship.
Love cannot fill the thickened lung with breath,
Nor clean the blood, nor set the fractured bone;
Words breath, blood, and bone in this this stanza is compared to healing quantities. It
means that breath, blood and bone is the most important vital part of our body.
10. 5.3 Irony
Love is not all: it is not meat nor drink
The author believe that love is not everything, love cannot
save you from hunger or thirst, live cannot keep you alive,
love cannot heal you from any problem that you have.
I might be driven to sell your love for peace,
Or trade the memory of this night for food.
It well may be. I do not think I would.
No matter what the author believe or explain about love, there is
time when she is in trouble, she must say she might sell her love
for peace or trade her memory of that night for food, whereas
she say that love is not everything, love is nothing. But the fact is
she is need love to save her life. Or even though she say that love
is not everything, she would not trade her love for anything.
11. 6. Conclusion
It can be concluded that the author shows us about her own
experience and thought about love through metaphor,
diction and irony in this poem. She definitely say that love
is nothing, love is not everything to our life. Because love is
not meat, drink, slumber or roof to save us from suffering.
And love is not floating spar that can save us from sinking.
And also love cannot heal you or solve all problems. Even
though she think that love is not everything or nothing, she
would not trade her love for anything.
12. Reference
Clark, Herbert H. (1984) On the Pretense Theory of Irony.
Journal of Experimental Psychology. 113 (1). 121-126.
Barney, Sylvan, William Bruto, and William E. Cain. 2008.
An Introduction of Literature: fiction, poetry and drama.
Person/Longman. New York.
Fadaee, Elaheh. (2012). Symbols, metaphors and similes in
literature: A case study of "Animal Farm". Journal of English
and Literature. 2(2), 19-27.
Shanahan, T. (2012). What is close reading? Retrieved from
http://www.shanahanonliteracy.com/2012/06/what-is-
close-reading.htm
Poetry Fondation. (2016). Edna St. Vincent Millay. Retriever
from https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-
poets/poets/detail/edna-st-vincent-millay
