A red red rose, the romantic verses in a poetic discourse analysis

THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PHAM NGOC ANH “A RED RED ROSE”, THE ROMANTIC VERSES IN A POETIC DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (“ A Red Red Rose”, vần thơ lãng mạn lăng kính phân tích diễn ngơn) M.A THESIS Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 THAI NGUYEN - 2019 Tai ngay!!! Ban co the xoa dong chu nay!!! i THAI NGUYEN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES PHAM NGOC ANH “A RED RED ROSE”, THE ROMANTIC VERSES IN A POETIC DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (“ A Red Red Rose”, vần thơ lãng mạn lăng kính phân tích diễn ngơn) M.A THESIS (APPLICATION ORIENTATION) Field: English Linguistics Code: 8220201 Supervisor: CAO DUY TRINH (Ph.D) THAI NGUYEN - 2019 ii DECLARATION I certify my authorship of the study report entitled: “A Red Red Rose”, the romantic verses in a poetic discourse analysis In fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Master of Arts Quang Ninh, September20 th2019 Trainee Pham Ngoc Anh This study was approved by: GV hướng dẫn ký i iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am deeply indebted to a number of people for helping me to make this M.A thesis possible First and foremost, I would like to give thank to my supervisor Dr Cao Duy Trinh who deserves much of the credit not only for encouraging, guiding and supporting me to finish this paper but also giving me mental support from the beginning to the end Only for his hearty instructions that I could have completed my research paper on time I would like to sincerely thank the anonymous participants who contributed data to this study Without their outstanding cooperation, this thesis would not have been done I would like to thank my family, especially my parents and my husband for their constant source of love, support and encouragement in times of difficulty and frustration Finally, I would like to thank my readers for their interests and comments on this thesis While I am deeply indebted to all these people for their help to the fulfillment of this thesis, I myself remain responsible for any inadequacies that are found in this work ii iv ABSTRACT Different poets use different figurative words to make their poetry expressive and intensive so that it may draw the attention of the readers at once The purpose of this analysis is to spotlight the implicature of this poem to the readers This discourse analysis will find out the truths or purposes behind the written words The poet has chosen ―The Red Rose‖ to compare with his dear lover and the rose, therefore, can be the symbol of his love with romance, purity and innocence The poet has very artistically draws a picture of his profound love He paints this picture with intense emotions The speaker compares his beloved with ―a red rose‖ and ―sweet melody‖ to intensify his deep feelings for her He addresses her, proclaiming that his love will stay still until the seas dry up and the rocks melt with the sun because his beloved is so adorable For some reasons, he has to go far away from her, but he promises to return even if he has to travel thousands of miles to win her back What enchants the reader is the metaphorical representation of love through natural namely the sea and the sun iii v TABLE OF CONTENT CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.2 Aims of the study 1.3 Research question 1.4 Scope of the study 1.5 Design of the study CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1 Robert Burns 2.2 Poetry 2.3 Discourse analysis 12 2.3.1 Discourse 12 2.3.2 Significance of discourse in literature 13 2.3.3 Discourse analysis 14 2.4 "Conherence" and "Cohesion" 17 2.5 Figurative Language 19 2.5.1 Convey Meaning 20 2.5.2 Promote a New Perspective 23 2.5.3 Similes 23 2.5.4 Metaphor 27 2.6 Semantic analysis 30 2.7 Syntactic Analysis 31 2.8 Romance in poetry 33 2.9 Rose as symbol of love in poem 34 vi 2.10 Previousa studies 39 2.11 Some definitions 40 2.11.1 Stylistics 40 2.11.2 Poetry………………………………………………………………….40 CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 44 3.1 Method of the study 44 3.2 Data collection instrument 45 3.3 Data analytical method 45 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS 47 4.1 An introduction of ―A Red, Red Rose‖ 47 4.2 Literary features of ―A Red, Red Rose‖ 49 4.3 Discourse analysis of ―A Red, Red Rose‖ 51 4.3.1 First Stanza 53 4.3.2.Second Stanza 53 4.3.3 Third Stanza 54 4.3.4 Fourth Stanza 54 4.4 Summary 55 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 57 5.1 Conclusion 57 5.2 Limitations 61 5.3 Suggestions for the further studies 61 REFERENCE 63 vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Rationale Literature has always been open to interpretation and the readers interpret it in order to put certain literary, political, critical and social ideas into practice Language plays a fundamental role, for every artistic activity is prepared, accompanied, influenced and played by language This paper analyzes discourse of literary writing, namely the ― Red Red Rose‖ by Robert Burns Given the enormous stylistic and literary significance of the said poem, in times of critical turmoil, it is absurd to rely on one interpretation The title of the poem and its overall significance is enhanced with the techniques of Discourse Analysis The aim of this paper is to examine the strategies of discourse analysis and its literary and critical value Discourse, as such, is a broad term with many a definition, which ―integrates a whole palette of meanings‖ (Titscher et al., 1998: 42), ranging from linguistics, through sociology, philosophy and other disciplines For The purposes of this paper, the definition of discourse, based on Robert Burns‘ poem Red Red Rose and his general concept of discourse as text in context, seen as ―data that is liable for empirical analysis‖ is applied (Titscher et al., 1998: 44), with focus being put on discourse as action and process From this, it follows that―discourse‖ is a wider term than ―text‖: ―I shall use the term discourse to refer to the whole process of social interaction of which a text is just a part‖ (Fairclough 1989: 24) Romantic poems will always go along with years and become eternal, especially English poems about love Love has long become a familiar theme indispensable in poetry The sweet poems contain the love that is the sincerest way to express the love that couples have for each other It can be said that literary analysis is the first step in creating the pen in any field Some of them have contributed to the training of the copywriter's pen much richer, the rest more deeply express the characteristics of the perfect literary works to life A Red Red Rose was first published in 1794 in A Selection of Scots Songs, edited by Peter Urbani Robert Burns took the image of the red rose symbolizing the undying love in his poetry (Ruby and Milne, 2000) To describe the eternal nature of his love, the author uses metaphor in poetry, as well as centralized images of great love, as well as showing his love of romance and intensity, overcome barriers and obstacles of life In the end, he wanted to let his woman know that his love never lost In trying to quantify his feelings - and in searching for the perfect metaphor to describe the eternal nature of his love - the speaker inevitably comes up against love's greatest limitation, the sands o' life This image of the hourglass forces the reader to reassess of the poem's first and loveliest image: A Red, Red Rose is itself an object of an hour, newly sprung only in June and afterward subject to the decay of time A Red, Red Rose is a romantic poem about the author's undying love for her woman The poem is a beautiful work that gives readers a lot of emotion and admiration for a beautiful and intense love This treatment of time and beauty predicts the work of the later Romantic poets, who took Burns‘ work as an important influence Thus, the topic ―A Red Red Rose‖ - The romance in a poem A discourse analysis‖ is very exciting to study The most important figure of speech in this poem is the simile, which compares two different things using the words "like" or "as." In the first stanza, the speaker compares his love ("Luve") to a "red, red rose, / That's newly sprung in June." That is to say that his love is like the rose at its most vibrant state in summer, its "reddest" color (this is why the word "red" is repeated) As the rose is at its reddest color, his love is at its fullest feeling The speaker uses another simile to compare his love to a melody that's played in tune 1.2 Aims of the study The study aims to investigate the linguistic features in A Red, Red Rose in terms of non-figurative and figurative language and the romantic expressions to help learners of English further understand use of a discourse in poem The research also shows the romance in the poem as well as in the style of poetry written by Robert Burns, whose poetics are innocent, so he also borrowed folk culture to create the depth of thought or thickness of the human experience in his works 1.3 Research question 1.What are non-figurative and the romantic expressions used in A Red, Red Rose? 2.What are figurative languages and the romantic expressions used in A Red, Red Rose ? 1.4 Scope of the study The research is working out the romance in the poem A Red, Red Rose written by Robert Burns in 1794: O my Luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June: O my Luve's like the melodie, That's sweetly play'd in tune As 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 Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, A Red Red Rose as a Representative of Love: The poet, very artistically draws a picture of his profound love He paints this picture with intense emotions The speaker compares his beloved with “a red rose” and “sweet melody‖ to intensify his deep feelings for her He addresses her, proclaiming that his love will stay still until the seas dry up and the rocks melt with the sun because his beloved is so adorable For some reasons, he has to go far away from her, but he promises to return even if he has to travel thousands of miles to win her back What enchants the reader is the metaphorical representation of love through natural phenomena the sea and the sun Major themes in A Red Red Rose: Love and separation are the major themes given in the poem The poet has layered them with using metaphors of natural objects The poem is primarily concerned with the speaker‘s love for his significant other He adores her beauty and expresses his immeasurable love for her His love is so deep-rooted that it will stay forever no matter what happens 4.2 Literary features of A Red, Red Rose In A Red Red Rose, the reader is made to read about a romantic affair of two persons who are intimately in love This section will ventilate the poem with a view to analyzing its structure, theme, subject matter, characters, stylistic devices that the poet uses to convey his message and the traits of the characters that the poet uses in the poem Structure of the poem This poem contains four stanzas Each stanza comprises four lines/verses hence each of the stanzas is a quatrain Each line is further broken down into iambs or beats The beats in all the lines are not regular and this could be partly because of the many years ago that the poem was written Another reason could be because the poem was meant to be a song 49 Persona The persona in this poem is a lover who is expressing his love to his lover The use of the words “my love is like a red rose‖ illustrates this All through the entire poem, the persona praises his lover by use of a wide range of lovely words Theme The major theme discussed in this poem is love or romance The persona by use of selected romantic words portrays the love he has towards the lover in a way that leaves the reader craving for more The use of artistic and literary devices by the poet expressly shows the quantum of love that the persona has towards the ―my love‖ in the poem The use of such words as “so deep in luve am I‖ and ―my only love” illustrates this The poet expresses this theme of love through vivid metaphors, symbols and hyperbolic comparisons to portray the extent to which he loves his lover Characters There are two main characters in this poem; the “I” and the ―my luve‖ The ―I‖ in the poem is the person who is expressing his love for the subject matter of the poem, who happens to be the ―my luv‖ The artistic nature in which the ―I‖ in the poem communicates his love to the ―my luv‖ is amazing The reader can literally “feel” the touch of the words as if they were recited to them at that particular time Character traits As noted earlier in this paper, there are two main characters in this poem; the ―I‖ and the ―my luv‖ It is important that we discuss them separately for purposes of in-depth analysis of their traits The ―I‖ The ―I‖ is presumed to be a male lover although it is not expressly stated as such in the poem The choice of words may be presumed to show this The ―I‖ is extremely loving/ romantic He narrates his love to the ―my luv‖ in the poem and 50 equates her to a single rose This means that she is the only lover that he has He further says that he is so deep in love with her by use of the words ―so deep in love am I‖ Secondly, he is desperate for love He says that he is so deep in love with her and that he will come again for her These are words used by a person who is so desperate of love that the only thing they can is to put it in writing He is faithful His use of the words ―my only rose‖ shows that he does not have another lover and therefore his love is the only one that he has He is caring He wishes his lover all the best until they meet again by use of the words ―fare thee well‖ He further wishes that they are only they are only going to be away from each other for a ―while‖ The ―My Luv‖ She is the subject matter of the poem This is because all the words used by the persona in this poem are directed to her She is lovable and that is why the persona chants lovely words to her It is presumed that she is beautiful The ―I‖ says that she is like a melody which is only played in tune The ―I‖ further calls her his only red rose This flower is likened with beauty and therefore it can be concluded that she is beautiful 4.3 Discourse analysis of A Red, Red Rose A Red, Red Rose by Robert Burns is a poem that is in the ballad formation of four-line stanzas with ABBA rhyme schemes, and that format automatically links the reader to concepts of love and emotion With the addition of metaphors and similes that describe the narrator‘s affection and the woman who holds that affection, the narrator attempts throughout the lines to express the depth of his ―love.‖ This could be a final reassurance to his ―dear‖ since the ending stanza reveals that he has to leave her for ―awhile,‖ but regardless of the reason, the main element of this work remains the ―luve‖ itself Through repetition, simile, metaphor, and structure, Burns has created a work that dives into the heart of this narrator‘s affection 51 4.3.1 First Stanza 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 Without question, this first stanza expresses the core focus of the poem, which is for the narrator to declare his affection for his ―Luve.‖ That the endearment of ―Luve‖ is capitalized gives the title a higher level of significance than what a lowercase concept would address, as if this title is a proper name attached to the person The reader does not need to know the name of this lady The nickname is sufficient to distinguish who this person is to the narrator The spelling of the word, ―Luve,‖ is less modern as well, which takes this concept into a historical era That strategy elevates the amount of romance that is a part of the situation since ideas of chivalry and codes of historic courtship are evoked with the spelling From that, even if this poem were written today (which it admittedly was not), the language would reach back into those older times to resurrect outdated, but appreciated, concepts of love and romance What the narrator has to say about his ―Luve‖ is that she is ―like a red, red rose.‖ As a ―rose‖ is the flower most connected to romance, this is a strong simile In addition, ―red‖ is seen as a color of passion, so to attribute that color to the ―rose‖ twice in a row deposits a hefty amount of passion to the romance—so much that the color must be repeated Beyond the concept of the ―rose,‖ the narrator relates his ―Luve‖ to the ―new[ness]” of June and a ―melody [t]hat’s sweetly played in tune.‖ This indicates the relationship is so refreshing that he feels renewed through it like a summer day, and a song is in his life because of his ―Luve‖ that is ―sweet‖ and perfect These ideas are highly relevant to the ballad formation of this poem because they are obvious connections to things that are linked with romantic love With every new 52 idea brought to the stanza, it seems, the narrator is searching for a means to address the fullness of his ―Luve.‖ 4.3.2.Second Stanza 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 The second stanza begins by stepping back from addressing the narrator‘s feelings and actions to compliment his ―bonnie lass” for being “[s]o fair.‖ Once that compliment is set in stone, the narrator returns to his own feelings by clearly stating that he is “[s]o deep in luve.‖ It is noteworthy that ―luve‖ in this scenario is no longer capitalized, potentially because it is used as a verb rather than a noun to address the woman he cares for That differentiation could be an indication that the woman is more significant than the actual action of ―luve,‖ as if the only reason he is able to experience this grandness of emotions is because of her For any other person then, the ―luve‖ would be less significant From there, the narrator declares he ―will luve [her] still…[t]ill a’ the seas gang dry.‖ This is a clever way of saying his affection for her will continue forever, and as strong as that declaration is, the narrator feels sure of it This could be because his ―luve‖ itself is as ―deep‖ as ―the seas,‖ and just as they will not ―dry‖ up, he knows for certain his ―luve‖ will continue as well One final thing worth noting in this stanza is that the narrator utilizes a new term of endearment for his ―Luve,‖ and that is ―dear.‖ This term, however, remains lowercase, perhaps because it is not a strong enough noun to fully represent his affection for this woman It must be ―Luve‖ to successfully address it, and only once it is addressed to that full extent does it merit capitalization Otherwise, any term of endearment will fall short and merit lowercase lettering 53 4.3.3 Third Stanza 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 The narrator begins this third stanza by repeating the idea that he ―will luve‖ her ―[t]ill a’ the seas gang dry‖ and adds in the repeated endearment of ―my dear.‖ This reveals how strongly the narrator feels about this concept and how desperate he is to ensure that his beloved understands how long his affection will endure In a poem that is only sixteen lines, repeating information severely limits the ideas the poet can address, so to spend so much time on this one concept highlights how relevant and important it is to the narrator From there, the narrator continues with his declarations of how long his ―luve‖ will survive, specifically addressing ―rocks melt[ing] wi’ the sun‖ and ―the sands o’ life…run[ning].‖ What this indicates is that as long as the world continues as it is, and so long as ―the sands o’ life‖ allow him to exist, he ―will love‖ this woman Interestingly, the spelling of the word, ―luve,‖ has changed in this stanza to a more modern, ―love.‖ This in itself could represent the long reach of his affection, that it is both historic and modern - past, present, and future Overall, the narrator wants the vastness of his ―love‖ to be revealed, and the language does a remarkable job of doing just that 4.3.4 Fourth Stanza 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 54 Though the poem does not address why, it is evident in this fourth stanza that the narrator must leave his ―luve.‖ It is worth noting that the spelling of the word has returned to the more historic form, but also that he is addressing his ―luve‖ in lowercase letters in this stanza What this could indicate is that by leaving, his ―luve‖ must be set aside, and that lower level of priority is showcased in that lowercase approach Whatever reason this narrator must leave, he does not go without reassuring his ―luve‖ that he ―will come again,‖ even though ―ten thousand mile‖ separate them The pairing of the plural, ―ten thousand,‖ with the singular, ―mile‖ can be seen as evidence that the length of the distance separating them does not matter Whether it is multiple ―mile[s]” or only one, the narrator is certain he will return to his ―luve.‖ That determination is yet another indication of how deeply his ―love‖ runs, as is the repeated notion of ―fare thee weel.‖ As was already noted, repeating concepts in such a brief poem is a serious decision since so much of the poem is then represented in a handful of words That his parting words include the advice— or the plead—for her to be well highlights how much he wishes her to ―fare…weel‖ during his absence This shows a level of caring beyond what he experiences when she is physically near Though the ―louvre‖ must be put aside for ―awhile,‖ the narrator‘s affections still remain, and the depth of that affection is the key element of this poem 4.4 Summary Conclusively, In the poem ―A Red, Red Rose‖, the poet here uses a number of linguistic devices to show how he loves the subject matter of the poem Such devices include similes, metaphors, hyperbole, onomatopoeia, irony and symbolism These are illustrated below: (i) Simile In the first stanza, the poet uses two similes; the first instance is when he compares his love to a rose by saying that ―O my luve's like a red, red rose‖ The 55 second instance is when he compares his love to a melody by saying that ―O my luve's like a melody‖ The effect of these similes is to show how much he loves her (ii) Metaphor The poet uses metaphors in a number of instances The first instance is in stanza three where he says that he will love her until the seas go dry He does not mean the seas really going dry literally, but only shows the extent of his love to her The second instance is in the same stanza where he says that the rocks are melting with the sun and that the sands of life shall return As explained earlier, the effect of this is to show the extent of his love to her lover (iii) Hyperbole In the second stanza, the persona calls his lover a bonnie Bonnie is a French word that means pretty or very good He uses literary exaggeration to show his love to her His statement that the seas shall go dry and the rocks shall melt with the sun is exaggeration too (iv) Repetition The words ―my dear‖ and ―my luv‖ are used repetitively by the poet to emphasize the love that the persona has towards his lover (v) Symbolism The use of the words ―rose‖, ―rock‖ and ―seas‖ are symbolic They are used to represent not the objects they are but to portray a special meaning The use of the word rose for example, is used to mean lover Therefore, the above analysis has clarified the 2nd research question At the same time, the above analysis did not find any non-figurative and the romantic expressions used in A Red, Red Rose 56 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 5.1 Conclusion Poetry is a bright pearl in the sea of literature In the history of human literature, all the most classical poems express the simplest feelings with the most concise language, the richest imagination and the most ingenious imagery The great English peasant poet Robert Burns' ―A Red Red Rose‖ is such a well-known and classic love poem With the unique artistic expression, the poem makes it stand out from so many love poems and become a wonderful one in the history of world literature ―A Red, Red Rose‖ is the representative of Burns' Lyric poems Based on the ancient Scottish folk songs, it shows the features and charms of folk songs In this poem, the poet fully demonstrated the sincerity, simplicity and freshness of Scottish folk songs, which is a hard-won works in that time Compared to the folk songs, however, Burns‘ poetry was richer in content, more profound in artistic conception, and far beyond them in artistic taste Full of strong romantic color, his poems set an outstanding example for the English lyric poetry in the same period The main manifestations are concise and musical language, vivid and far-reaching imagery, flexible and rich rhetoric techniques in ―A Red Red Rose‖ There are four stanzas and sixteen sentences in the poem The purity and beauty of the girl and the faithfulness of the poet are perfectly reflected in the concise language of it The first stanza, ―O, my luve's like a red, red rose, that's newly sprung in June; O, my luve's like the melodie, that's sweetly played in tune‖ is the sincere praise of the poet for his lover‘s appearance and temperament in a vivid, delightful and soulful tone The second and third stanzas, ―as 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 Till a'the seas gang dry, my dear, and the rocks melt wi' the sun; I will luve thee still, my dear, while the sands o' life shall run ‖ are the essence of the 57 whole poem The language here is strong and powerful, therefore its emotion is deep and high, especially in the words "Till a'the seas gang dry" and "the rocks melt wi' the sun" The eternity, faithfulness and firmness of love, have all melted into Burns‘ lines, expressing his true love for his lover His language is simple but elegant, romantic and sincere After the passionate outburst of these two stanzas, the whole poem turns into a more deep tone ―And fare thee still, my only luve! And fare thee weel awhile! And I will come again, my luve, though it were ten thousand mile.‖ Despite the fact that they are going to leave each other, the poet firmly believed that their departure was temporary and they will meet again This is not only an expectation but also a promise The poem is written in the form of ballads, i.e each quatrain has four lines and its odd rows are in iambic tetrameter, even ones are in iambic trimeter The rhyme feet in the first two stanzas are abcb, and the rhyme feet in the next two are abab Such a rhyme arrangement emphasizes the change of the poet‘s feelings If the first two sections are the expression of love, then the last two are the pledge of faithful love In the form of interlaced rhyme, it‘s better to express poet's determination to be faithful in love Besides the end rhyme and the whole rhyme scheme, alliteration and assonance also play an important part in strengthening the rhythm of the poem In addition, the repetition of sounds and symmetry in structure and wording also produce an effect of music Imagery is another impressive point of A Red Red Rose The poets tended to blend his thoughts with some vivid symbolic things in life to create an artistic conception suitable for the language environment and express a special feeling based on their own requirements With the concise and simple words, poetry can leave infinite imagination space for readers 58 The first imagery of A Red Red Rose is a rose that‘s newly sprung in June The poet compares his beloved to a rose, which can best represent her youth, beauty, vigour and even fragrance Then, his sweetheart is also compared to the ―melody that's sweetly played in tune‖, which indicates that not only does his lover have a pretty appearance, but an elegant temperament and a kind heart Then, the imagery is enlarged into a broader conception: seas, rocks and sun All these objects are used to show poet‘s love which is as deep as sea, as staunch as rocks and as passionate as sun The discourse analysis of A Red Red Rose indicates the following conclusions: - The messages that we get from the poem is the strong feeling of Burns‟s love to Armour when they had long distance relationship Burns‟s brought the sense of love in this poem to get the reader know how deep his love to Jean Armour His love was strong and everlasting When Burns was separated, he promised that he would come back again to her - Simile: ―O my Luve's like a red, red rose‖ This sentence is used to compare two things that have similarity, between love and red By using simile, the readers can gain the deepest meaning of the sentence - Metaphor is also adopted in this poem In the line ―while the sands o' life shall run‖, poet‘s life is just like the sand that is easily gone but love is not temporary An oath of eternal love is implicitly taken to show his faithfulness In addition, repetition and alliteration are also applied by the poet The word ―luve‖ is used for times in this short poem, ―till a' the seas gang dry‖ for two times and ―my dear‖ for two times to pledge his infinite deep love And words ―luve‖ ―like” and ―red” “red” “rose‖ also strengthen the musical effect of the poem with repetition of their first consonantal sounds Symbol: Till a‟ the seas gang dry, my dear 59 - ―seas‖ can be taken as a symbol of human feeling that poet avowed his eternal and endless love to her love He used the evaporation of the ―seas‖ for the end of the world which means something that can never happen And the rocks melt wi‟ the sun - ―rocks‖ can be taken as a symbol of feeling The same as the previous line, Burns also used another symbolism of nature in his poem The melting rocks in the heat of the sun can be the end of the worlds that has never happened His love will be timeless for her The sands o‟ life shall run - The word ―sun‖ and ―run” can be taken as a symbol of life The poet comprehended about his love as something like an hourglass that had sandin it to measure time These three functions are not only a symbol standing for themselves literally but also show the immutability of the speaker's affections for his beloved - Hyperbole is another rhetorical device applied in this poem ―Till a'the seas gang dry, my dear, and the rocks melt wi' the sun; I will luve thee still, my dear, while the sands o' life shall run‖, the impossible thing is depicted here to manifest his faithful and deep love One of the most noticeable themes depicted by his piece corresponds to the notion of love which is conveyed through literacy devices as simile, metaphor, symbolism, hyperbole and so on Given that Burns is a Romanticist, the poem utilizes the expression and profession of the persona to his beloved The linguistic means have produced the coherence of the verses, creating the romance of the poem from beginning to end of the poem with the simile, metaphor, symbolism and exaggeration Another indicative theme outlined by the poem is the notion of time Here, the speaker of the poem undermines the duration of the time he will be away from his love Arguably, the analogy of how the love connects with the natural things 60 provide information on how it remains to be enduring and significant that nothing can hold it back, even time This remains to be exhibited in the last stanza of the poem Lastly, Burns connects the professed love in the poem to the natural world Specifically, different lines in the poem connect the emotions of the speaker to the things happening in nature Arguably, each part has its corresponding meaning in influencing the feelings of the speaker in the poem The poem adds depth and complexity with the author‘s use of figures of speech to denote significance and meaning Altogether, these features remain to be significant in showcasing the artistic elements evident during the specific period The discourse analysis of A Red Red Rose allows the readers to fully understanding which the author aims to convey through the employment of literary devices Additionally, the research findings also improve the learners‘ understanding of discourse analysis, facilitating the understanding and interpretation of English literature The analyst herein hope the students will know how ― to decode and enjoy‖ a poetic discourse They should be aware of the linguistic means, both figurative and non-figurative expressions used in such a discourse which make up the cohesion and coherence of the text, as well as the spirit and the message the writer means to deliver to the readers 5.2 Limitations ―A Red Red Rose‖ by Burns are famous for the indicative meanings of love, time and their connection throughout his work However, under the scope of the research, the researcher only focuses on how love is conveyed in the poem, ignoring the indicative meaning of time Additionally, the limited knowledge of discourse analysis and literary works also affects the findings of this current research 5.3.Suggestions for the further studies This current study only looks into the use of literary devices in discourse to convey the meaning of love in ―A Red Red Rose‖ Besides such literary devices as 61 simile, metaphor, symbolism, or hyperbole, such poetic devices are also meaningful devices enhancing the conveying of messages of the author Therefore, in the further studies, it is suggested that the researchers should look into how poetic devices such as stanza, quatrain, rhyme scheme, iambic trimeter, repetition or refrain convey the meaning of love and romance in ―A Red Red Rose‖ 62 REFERENCES [1] Brown, G & Yule, G (1983) Discourse Analysis Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press [2] Denroche, C T (2008) Metaphor, Metonymy, Language Learning and Translation London, UK: University of London [3] Freeman, D (1981) Essays in modern stylistics London and New York: Methuen [4] Gee, J.P (2001) An Introduction to Discourse Analysis London and New York: Routledge [5] Robinson, K (2016) Robert Frost: “The Road Not Taken” Massachusetts: Amherst College [6] Simpson, P (1993) Language, ideology and point of view London: Routledge [7] Yule, G (1996) Pragmatics Oxford: Oxford University Press [8] Verdonk, P (2002) Stylistics UK: Oxford University Press 63