An Analysys of A Red, Red Rose.

1. By : Haninta Murti Setyandari
A Red, Red Rose Analysis

2. Abstract
 In this paper, the writer tries to analyze a poem,
entitled “A Red, Red Rose" written by Robert
Burn. The purpose of this writing is to analyze the
poem intrinsically. This research uses metaphor,
simile, and symbol as a figurative language.
 Keywords: Metaphor, Simile, Symbol.

3. Introduction
 1.1 Background of the study
Poetry mostly used as a mediator for emotion
and feelings of the author into a piece of art.
Therefore, poetry often makes the readers to feel
what the author feels. A lot of people tend to think
that poetry is not something important, but the
truth is, behind every poem there is a deep
message, even if it is hidden or written. And this
is exactly what makes poetry become something
that we need to learn. And also based on this
reason that our group interested to study a little
bit deeper about one of the most famous poetries
from an amazing poet, Robert Burns with his
masterpiece “A Red, Red Rose”.

4.  1.2 Objectives of the Study
 To describe the figurative languages used in Burns’
‘A Red, Red Rose’.
 To discuss about the real meaning in ‘A Red, Red
Rose’.
 1.3 Scope
 Discussing metaphor as one figurative languages
usedin A Red, Red Rose.
 Discussing simile as one figurative languages used
in A Red, Red Rose
 Discussing symbol as one figurative languages
used in A Red, Red Rose

5. A Red, Red Rose
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.
So fair art thou, my bonnie
lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will luve the still, my
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.
And fare-thee-weel, my
only luve!
And fare-thee-weel awhile!
And I will come again, my
luve,
Though it were ten

6. Literary Review
In this poetry “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns, we can figure out that
figurative language used almost in all stanzas. Figurative language itself means
speech or writing that departs from literal meaning in order to achieve a special
effect or meaning, speech or writing employing figures of speech (any expressive
use of language). The figurative languages that are used the most in this poetry
are metaphor, simile, and symbol. All the figurative languages that are used in
this poetry help the readers to be able to understand the real meaning of this
poetry, the message that the poet wants to deliver.
As read in Metaphor We Live By, the book written by George Lakoff and
Mark Johnson (1980:3) “metaphor is a device of the poetic imagination and the
rethorical flourish—a matter of extraordinary rather than ordinary language.
…typically viewed as characteristic of language alone, a matter of words rather
than thought or action.”As for metaphor, we can find it in the fourth line of the
third stanza.
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
the rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
Burns uses sands o’ lifeas a metaphor of the time of his life. Why does he
use sand? Because as we all know, hourglass is commonly used to measure
time with sands in it. Thus, the poet represents the love of the guy in this poem
will last as the sands stream down the hourglass. In other words, he will love the
bonnie lass until time stops running.

7. Based on the book Understanding the Elements of Literatureby
Richard Taylor(1981: 167-168) simile is comparison and substitution
being made using the words ‘like’ or ‘as’. The similes in this poetry are
so recognized in the opening of the poetry, which is in the first stanza
there is word ‘like’ in the first and third line.
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 compares the love to a red rose that is newly sprung in
June. As we all know, a flower that has just grown is a new and fresh
thing. Then he defines his love is new, fresh and young.
Richard Taylor (1981: 175-176) also said in his book that symbol
means to represent or to stand for (stand in place of) …include under
subdivisions or distinctions according to the kind of meaning and the
way in which it is a sign. It can be said that symbol acquires meaning
through the context of particular work, because symbols mean beyond
the dictionary meaning of the words. For the symbol itself, we can see it
from the title of this poetry, Red Red Rose. The poet uses red rose as a
symbol for the love. It symbolizes how deep and passionate the love is.

8. Discussion
This love poem from Robert Burns is clearly pointing to the way
the poet sees the guy’s love and how deep he praises and loves his
love. To see it, we can analyze there are three figurative languages that
are used to talk about his love in this poetry. They are metaphor, simile
and symbol.
Firstly, we are going to discuss this poetry stanza by stanza, one
stanza at a time. At the first stanza we can see:
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.
‘Luve’ in the first line means ‘love’. The word comes from English
in Scottish dialect. There is existence of this dialect is caused of the
poet, Robert Burns, is a Scottish and well known with his notable
Scottish language poems. In this stanza, the author is trying to say that
the love in this poem is so fresh and new just like a flower that has just
bloomed in summer days, that the love is still lively and will be livelier as
the time goes by, just like a blooming flower. Red rose is often used as a
symbol of love and for us;it does also symbolize a bold, deep and
passionate love.

9. “…the melody; That’s sweetly played in tune…’
symbolizes a good music, a mixed of notes that
played in tune, a good music produced by a mix
of melodies that is beautifully arranged with
perfect pitch, or in the other words, “That’s
sweetly played in tune”. Also, he used melody to
identify the love that flows really smoothly. We
can see that simile is the most used figurative
language in this stanza, by using the word ‘like’.

10. As for the following second stanza, we can see a metaphor
as a figurative language used by Burns in order to show the way
he praises his bonnie lass.
So fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in love am I;
And I will luve the still, my dear,
Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Here still we can see the Scottish word “luve”. Besides, “a’”
is commonly used in Scottish dialect to shorten the word “all”.
Also “bonnie” means pretty in Scottish dialect, which it
strengthens the next word the poet uses to praise the pretty
lass—lady. Fair art is used as a metaphor to identify the beauty
of the loved lady. How the guy sees the lady is really pretty,
beautiful (and even magnificent) like a piece of fair art. Here we
can see how the guy in this poem praises the lady so high, so
high until he equalizes the girl with an art. Because, what can be
more magnificent and classy than a piece of fair art? In this
stanza we can also really understand that the guy really is in love
so deeply with this beautiful figure. So deeply in love with the
lady until he will love her, and he will not stop loving her until “the
seas gang dry”.

11. There is another metaphor used in this poetry and we can
figure it out in this following third stanza:
Till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear,
The rocks melt wi’ the sun;
I will love thee still, my dear,
While the sands o’ life shall run.
Burns uses the sands o’ life as a metaphor for the time of
life. He identifies the time of the guy’s life with sands of life.
Sands are mostly known as a media in an hourglass that is used
to measure time, therefore this line means “as long as there is a
time to live / until the end of his life”. Like the drops of sands that
are still running show that there are moments and time of life that
still going on. In this stanza, the poet shows how big the
commitment of the love in this poem is. The stanza shows that
he will still love his dear “till a’ the seas gang dry, my dear; the
rocks melt wi’ the sun”. ‘Gang’ itself means ‘gone’ in Scott-
English, as the poet is a Scottish so no wonder there are some
Scottish dialects found in this poetry. Until the seas gone dry,
until the rocks will melt with the sun, The guy declares that he
will love his dear still. The seas will dry and the rocks will melt
with the sun only if the world ends. Therefore, it shows us that it
measures that his love will last until the end of the time, the end
of the world, which is very long and can be forever.

12. In the fourth and also last stanza, it clearly shows
the Scottish side of Robert Burns. It can be seen in
the first and second line of the fourth stanza.
And fare-thee-weel, my luve!
And fare-thee-weel awhile!
And I will come again, my luve,
Though it were ten thousand mile!
In slightly seeing, people may think the ‘weel’
means a ‘wheel’. But, let us say it aloud, and we are
going to hear that weel is the Scottish accent of ‘well’
rather than ‘wheel’. Thus, we can say that those two
lines refer to farewell. Here, the poet wants to say that
even though they have to be separated by the
distance, it will not last, and the guy in the poet will
come again to see his lady, no matter how far it is.

13.  Read it again, and feel it more deeply. We will see
the very romantic words with a very romantic
meaning that is shown bythe guy in the poet that
he doesn’t want any other girl in his life, but that
one bonnie lass. It can be seen in the third and
fourth line of the fourth stanza. In spite of finding
new people and perhaps new girls in a new place
in even thousand miles away, it will never change
his mind. He will back still, and they will never be
separated by anything.

14. Conclusion
The poem “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns is clearly a
love poem that has its hyperbole yet romantic way to show how
deep the poet’s love is to a lady. Burns’ poem also represents all
men when they love someone, how they will show how much
they love by words, by illustrating the lady and his love to
another beautiful image.
To emphasize the love felt in this poem, Burns uses some
of figurative languages which are metaphor, simile, and symbol
so the readers can also feel the image of the love. While the
poet’s background affects the poem a lot, since there are some
Scottish-English words found in this poem, the imagery of love in
this poem still can be obviously seen.
The love that is told in this poem is a beautiful eternal love.
A love that is beautiful is imaged by a red rose that symbolizes a
romantic and passionate love, and a love that is eternal is
imaged by the measuring of the time of life, until the world ends
up.Such a beautiful eternal love, this poem brings a perfect
symbol and imagery of love that can be accepted by most people
in the world.

15. References
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