1. Methapor and Simile Analysis of The Falling Leaves by
Margareth Postgate Cole
Written By
Andy Satrio Ajie
2. Abstract
In this the writer are attempting to analyze the intrinsic
element of a poetry entitled "The Falling Leaves " by
Margareth Postgate Cole. The purpose of this paper is to
understand the usage of methapor and simile in a poetry.
The writer are using close reading with library research in
analyzing this poetry. The writer found that the poetry are
largery composed of methapor that are prevalent in the
poetry. In conclusion the usage of the methapor and simile
in the certain way can provide more satisfaction for its
reader.
key word: Methapor,Simile, War, Leaves, Flemish, Clay
3. CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
I. A Background of The Study
"If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I
know that is poetry;"
Emily Dickinson
Poetry is one of many genre in literature. Raymond Macdonald Alden
in his book on “Introduction To Poetry” (1923:24) define poetry as “The art
of expressing human experiences, in so far as they are lasting or universal
interest, in metrical languange, usually with chief reference to the emotion
and by means of the imagination.”. Another definition of poetry comes from
Laurence Perrine in “Sounds and Sense: An Introduction to Poetry” (1969:3)
which defines poetry as “a kind of language that says more and says it more
intensely than does ordinary language”. There is no exact definition of
poetry,but poetry itself can be understood by analyzing it. Analyzing poetry is
a process or an activity by examining the words and stanzas on the poetry
from perspective of image, obvious meanings and implied meanings in order
to have a greater understanding of the poetry itself and enrich the reader life.
4. I.B Purpose of the Study
The purposes on this study are:
1. To understand the using of methaphore in the poetry.
2. To understand the using of simile in the poetry.
3. To have a greater understanding of the poetry.
I.C Scope of The Study
The scope of this study is the analysis of visual imagery and
symbol, in poetry entitled “The Falling Leaves” by Margareth
Postgate Cole.
5. CHAPTER II: LITERARY REVIEW
II. A. Methapor
Methapor in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:931)describe methapor as”A
word or phrase used to describe something else, in a way that is diferent from its normal use”
Laurie Magnus in his book Introduction To Poetry (1902:43) as having two value “First, it is
pictorial, introducing variety and colour into the material design ; and secondly, it is a means
of interpretation, an aid to the conveyance of thought from one mind to another.”
II. B. Simile
Simile in Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2000:1383)describe simile as “a word
or phrase that compares something to something else”
Raymond Macdonald in An Introduction to poetry (1923:142) describe simile as “In
which the simile resemblance is stated;-least poetical that is, as contrasted with methapor and
allied figures, in which the resemblance is assumed by a more daring and intensiv imaginative
process.”
6. CHAPTER III: DISCUSSION
III. A. The Poem
November 1915
Margaret chooses to include this date to signify the fact that it’s on autumn the season when leaves fallen
from its tree : most of the leaves will have already dropped on november. It’s also the setting in the middle of
World War One or The Great War, which means that many more may have died died after it was written.
Today, as I rode by,
The poem is a first person narrator monologue, and opens informally as if the speaker is telling a group of
friends a story. She ‘rode’ by, rode in this case might suggests that she might have been using a bicycle,
appropriate vehicle for female at the time when the poem was written. Rode can also means the time flow
faster likening it to walking as the flow of time.
I saw the brown leaves dropping from their tree
In a still afternoon,
The leaves are an extended metaphor for human lives and, by dropping, they mean dead that happen on a
wartime.
On a still afternoon is also a methapor of imposibility or unnatural cause that make the leaves dropping. The
situation when leaves dropping in as still afternoon can not happen as the wind and rain is the only natural
cause that make the leaves to fall. But the soldiers' deaths are unnatural, and so the laws of nature are no
longer being obeyed.
7. When no wind whirled them whistling to the sky,
This line could represent the turmoil of war that was raging far longer than expected in France and Belgium.
Though the fighting is in another country, it of course impinges or affect on the still, English afternoon, and
on those who have lost loved-ones or those who loved one still fighting in the war. It also might be an
another metaphor which soldier will killed and then go to the heaven popularly depicted as in the sky.
But thickly, silently,
The leaves, like the soldiers' lives, fall ‘thickly and silently’, without disturbance, almost unnoticed. This is
also methapor on how they died in which they are killed by machine gun in massed number and instanlydied.
This also could be a comment on how, according to the poet, the fallen were viewed by those in power as a
statistic rather than be mourned individually. Of course, the families would have grieved, as does the poet.
Furthermore, the dead, like the leaves, are silent, unable to protest at their fate .
They fell, like snowflakes wiping out the noon;
And wandered slowly thence
The poem moves from autumn to the snowflakes of winter By the example of simile where leaves are
likened to snowflakes, and also suggesting that the War was to last far longer than expected betraying the
expectation that war will be over before chrismast.
The violence of the blizzard ‘wipes out the noon’, like the violence of war destroying the huge number of
men. Also word ‘fell’, which in military usage is used euphemistically as means as killed or casuality.
Now that the season has changed, the snowflakes rather than autumn leaves represent the fallen men. For
each snowflake, like each individual human, is different. Yet, the poet believed that those in command saw
only numbers, in the way that snowflakes can’t be differentiated in a blizzard.
8. For thinking of a gallant multitude
For thinking gallant multitude is another example of methapor which many young men
clamoring for war and glory before the eve of world war, suggesting that they want to die with
honour but they die without right purpose. The word ‘withering’ suggests a return to the
metaphor of the leaves, which have collected on the ground and are dying en masse. The young
lives sadly haven’t had the opportunity to blossom. withering lay, as dead body rotten in the
trench.
Slain by no wind of age or pestilence,
But in their beauty strewed
Like snowflakes falling on the Flemish clay.
The young men will never grow old, but are slaughtered unnaturally by the hand of
mankind and not age or disease, deprived of future, family and full lives.
Flemish clay is what will form their graves as the clay in this case is how they fought in the
trench, which clay is often found and also methapor of where they fought, which is Belgium
and France. However, this three last line also gives a sense of purity,beauty and youthfullnes
along with death; as the young men were innocent and trusting when they enlisted and died.
Significantly, the poem ends in winter, the season associated with sadness and curtailment of
life.
9. CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION
Margaret Postgate Cole's poem “The Falling Leaves” depicts a
woman's reaction and felling of World War I. While out for a ridein the
bicyle, the sight of autumn leaves falling makes her think of soldiers
dying in drove on the battlefields of Flanders. The poem is a mere
twelve lines long, but it has a effect that lingers after reading it. In the
space of twelve lines, Margaret Postgate Cole paints a grave picture,
paying tribute to the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I. The
comparison to autumn leaves falling creates an image of vast numbers
of men dying in second , their lives wasting away just like the leaves
withering in the autumn afternoon. The similes of snowflakes
emphasise how short the lives of the young soldiers were. It is hard to
read “The Falling Leaves” without being moved, remembering the
tragic loss of so many men without a good reason
