The Study of Personification and Hyperbole in Sharon Hendricks’s Poems

Abstract

Personification and Hyperbole are categorized as figurative language in the scope of
in linguistics studies. Both kinds of figurative language appear in literary work such in poems
and also in human utterance. This research examines personification and hyperbole in Sharon
Hendricks’s poems, with the aim of understanding the figurative language used in the poems.
Personification is the attribution of human characteristics to something that is not
human (Paxon, 1994). Meanwhile, personification is divided into two kinds that appear in the
Sharon Hendricks poems. According to Perine, personification is giving human attribute to
animal and object. It can be seen that the first kind is animal personification and the second is
object personification. In addition, this research is also focused on hyperbole in which Sharon
Hendricks’s poems might have exaggeration material in it. Hyperbole is an exaggeration used
for special effect which means that hyperbole is a exaggeration meaning to adds specific
intention ( Knickerbocker, 1963 ).
The research is using descriptive method. Descriptive method can give a descriptive
data in the form of words, written or spoken ( Lexy J, 2002). The object in this research is
poems by Sharon Hendricks. The poems are Dinnertime chorus, My Town, Games, Nature’s
Chorus, The Gastronomic Gym, My Dog, My dinner loves dancing, Appetite, Who am I,
Thanksgiving, and Summertime is here. The technique of data collection are : (a) choosing the
research in number and line of poems that contains personification and hyperbole which is
taken via internet (b) reading the poems, (c) find the meaning of the poems, (d) describe the
data, (e) analyzing data and, (f) conclusion.
The results are that personification and hyperbole were found in Sharon Hendricks’s
poems. The personification occurs in Sharon Hendricks’s poems in the form of animal
personification the poems (Games, Nature’s chorus, and My Dog). Object personification
consists two kinds : dead object found in poems (Dinnertime chorus, My town, The
Gastronomic Gym, and My dinner loves dancing) and plants found in poems(My Town,
Nature’s Chorus, The Gastronomic Gym and My Dinner Loves Dancing ), Hyperbole is also
found in Sharon Hendricks’s poems ( My Dog, Appetite, Who am I, Thanksgiving, and
Summertime is here. There is one poem which is using both personification and hyperbole in
poems( My Dog ). Sharon Hendricks uses personification to make the poems more attractive
like human being and uses hyperbole to make the poems intention strong and have more
meaningful intention.
Keywords : Personification, Hyperbole in Sharon Hendricks’s poems