RAINBOW 3 (1) (2014)

Rainbow: Journal of Literature,

Linguistics and Cultural Studies

http://journal.unnes.ac.id/sju/index.php/rainbow

ANALYSIS OF METAPHORS IN TERM OF SLAVERY RESISTANCE

AS REFLECTED IN BOB MARLEY’S SONGS LYRIC;

REDEMPTION SONG AND BUFFALO SOLDIER

Abdus Shomad

English Department, Faculty of Languages and Arts, State University of Semarang, Indonesia

Article Info

________________
Article History:

Received in April 2014

Approved in May 2014

Published in June 2014

________________
Keywords:

songs lyrics, metaphor,

meanings.

____________________

Abstract
___________________________________________________________________

This study is attempted to analyze metaphor in Bob Marley’s selected lyrics; entitled Redemption

Song and Buffalo Soldier. The problems of the study are 1) what types and meanings of each

metaphor found in Bob Marley’s selected lyrics? 2) How those metaphorical expressions intensify

slavery resistance as the content of the songs? The aim of this research is to find out the types of

metaphors used in those lyrics and to understand the meanings of words, phrases or sentences

contained the data. To achieve the objectives of the study, I used qualitative descriptive research and

semantics as the approach in order to interpret the meanings. I collected the data from the songs

lyrics, then classified them into types of metaphor. Based on the theories provided, the data were

analyzed one by one to know the types of metaphor used and the meaning of them. Metaphorical

expressions found mostly in the songs lyrics are structural metaphor and ontological metaphor. In

the beginning, the metaphorical expressions were explained in their literal meanings, so they could

show the influence of using metaphor in the phrase or sentence. Through songs lyrics as the object of

my analysis, it could be concluded that those songs lyrics generally contained metaphorical

expressions.

 Correspondent Address:

B3 Building FBS Unnes

Sekaran, Gunungpati, Semarang, 50229

E-mail: abdusshomad69@gmail.com

ISSN 2252-6463

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

INTRODUCTION

We need to communicate with others to

fulfill our necessities by using the language

because it is the most means of communication.

People have various ways to communicate to

each others, by using spoken language, written

language, or gesture. According to Kreidler

(2002:19), language is only one of the common

activities of a society. For instance, a songwriter

conveys ideas, thoughts, and feelings through the

lyrics of the songs that he created. Lyric is a

media which is used to convey the message of the

songwriters to the listener. In addition, as a

means of entertainment, song lyrics can be used

as a media to provide information and opinions

on the social problems that occur in our society.

It can be concluded that language also constitutes

as the form of the author’s medium in producing

his or her literary work in order to express their

thoughts or ideas.

The use of language can be various ways to

be expressed. One of them is called language

style. Style becomes part of the diction by the

choice of words that indicates whether it is

suitable or not in using the word, phrase, or

sentence to express certain situation (Keraf,

1991:136). In my further discussion I would like

to analyze the metaphors in term of slavery

resistance as reflected in Bob Marley’s songs lyric;

Redemption Song and Buffalo Soldier. In terms of

song, lyric is a literary work. As today's popular

culture that can reflect social phenomena at

certain of time and it may reflect the aspect of

history that is very interesting to study. Lakoff

and Johnson (1980: 156) say metaphors may

create realities for us, especially social realities.

By observing his work, we can see the point and

understand author’s feelings and the messages

that is expressed from the use of language style

used by the author. It can be explored from the

analysis by finding metaphorical expressions and

explicating each part of the lyrics.

Those two selected songs lyrics are used as

the data of the analysis because some metaphors

were found and it is assumed that there are many

metaphors existed in lyrics which are going to be

analyzed semantically. In these lyrics, Bob

Marley employs metaphors to strengthen and

enhance his ideas about slavery resistance on

black people.Metaphor is widely used in

literature such as in poetry, song lyrics and

novels. It is important for us to know and

understand about metaphor precisely, because it

is inseparable that metaphor has revealed many

facts about how the human mind use the

metaphors in daily life.

DISCUSSIONS

Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 3) explain

metaphor is pervasive in everday life, not just in

language but in thought and action. Our ordinary

conceptual system, in terms of which we both

think and act is fundamentally metaphorical in

nature. In addition they explained that the

essence of metaphor is understanding and

experiencing one kind of thing in terms of

another. In conceptual metaphor, the experiential

correlations divide into two types: experiential

concurrence and experiential similarity. An

example of experiential concurrence would be

more is up because it is grounded in the

concurrence of experiences, adding more of

substance and seeing the level of the substance

rise. An example of experiential similarity is life is

a gambling game, where one experiences actions

are percieved as winning or losing. When such a

metaphor is extended, we may experience new

similarities between life and gambling games

(Lakoff and Johnson, 1980: 155).

Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 14) made a

classification of metaphor into three types

according to their form and content which are

often based on correlations we perceived in our

experiences:

1. Structural Metaphor

It is a conventional metaphor in which one

concept is understood and expressed in terms of

another structured, sharply defined concept.

For example Please sit in the apple-juice seat.

Apple is a kind of fruit, apple-juice seat is

not a conventional way of referring to any kind of

object to arrive at a logical sense. The sentence

must be interpreted figuratively. The sentence

http://www-01.sil.org/linguistics/GlossaryOfLinguisticTerms/WhatIsAConventionalMetaphor.htm

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

makes perfect sense in the context in which it was

uttered.

2. Orientational Metaphor

Orientational metaphor is the metaphor

that associated with space and place that can be

determined through the physical and experience.

These spatial orientations arise from the fact that

we have bodies and their function as they do in

our physical environment.

For example : Happy is up

The fact that the concept happy is oriented

up leads to English expressions like “I’m feeling

up today”. This metaphor is based on human

physical experience in regulating the orientation

toward life. The use of the word up is to give a

positive impression, such as happy and healthy.

While we provide information on the word down

which sound is negative. For example in the

sentence: my spirits sank means my spirits

descending.

3. Ontological Metaphor

Ontological metaphor involves the

projection of entity or substance upon something

that does not have status inherently.

For example: his religion tells him that he

cannot drink fine French wines.

In this sentence implies that religion can do

such activities that are often done by human.

Fainsilber and Ortony quoted by Laurie

(1999:17) give the explanation that metaphor is

used primarily to satisfy specific communicative

needs of the speaker. In addition, they explain the

three most common of communicative functions

in metaphor as follow:

1. Inexpressibility: metaphors are used to

express ideas that are difficult to

communicate with general language.

2. Compactness: unlike literal language, which

is composed of discrete information units,

metaphors communicate larger “chunks” of

information. Thus, metaphoric utterances

can represent and communicate ideas more

efficiently than literal language.

3. Vividness: by appealing to sensory and

perceptual inputs, metaphors help capture

and express the vividness of our subjective

experiences. This has also been referred to as

the emotional force or resonance of

metaphor.

DATA DESCRIPTION

The data will be taken from the lyrics of the

songs by Bob Marley; Redemption Songs and

Buffalo Soldier. The analysis method uses the

conceptual metaphor theory in order to discover

what types and meanings of metaphorical

expressions contained in selected songs lyrics.

The following data shows the research finding

about metaphorical expressions and their

meanings. Each of the datum display is followed

by the analysis. All of the metaphorical

expressions which are underlined, firstly

interpreted by the literal definition which are

taken from Oxford Advanced Learner’s

Dictionary. The literal definition is used to

support the analysis of the figurative expressions

used in the song lyrics

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

Table 1. Types and Meanings of Metaphor Found in Redemption Song

Datum No Song Lyrics Types Meanings

1 Old pirates yes they rob I Structural Metaphor European colony

2 My hand was made strong Structural Metaphor Power or energy

3 My hand was made strong
Orientational

Metaphor
Up

4 By the hand of the almighty
Ontological

Metaphor
God’s help

5 Won’t you help to sing
Ontological

Metaphor
To conceive

6 These songs of freedom
Ontological

Metaphor
Marcus Garvey’s speech

7 Cause all I ever had redemption songs
Ontological

Metaphor
The act of redeeming

8
Emancipate yourselves from mental

slavery

Ontological

Metaphor
Fatuous

9 Have no fear of atomic energy
Ontological

Metaphor
Threats and dangers

10 Cause none of them can stop the time
Ontological

Metaphor
Stop the condition

11 How long shall they kill our prophets Structural Metaphor Virtuous authority

12 We’ve got to fulfill the book
Ontological

Metaphor
To undergo in destiny

Explanations:

1. Old pirates yes they rob I

Old literally means known for a long time

or former, belonging to past times or a past time

in your life. While Pirate means a person on a ship

who attacks other ship at sea in order to steal from

them. The Old Pirates here refers to European

colony. It is one of experience in concurrence

history. As it has been described which this

happened in the past and it has been known for a

long time that the slaves from Africa were

brought by European colony in applying slave

trade.

This metaphor belongs to structural

metaphor because it is clear that it comprehend

one aspect of a concept in terms of another. Here

the concept of European colony is delivered

metaphorically by the concept of old pirates and

it’s characteristic who robs the black people to

work as slaves.

2. But my hand was made strong

3. But my hand was made strong

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

Hand has literal meaning the part of the

body at the end of the arm, including the fingers

and thumb. The meaning of this sentence could

be understood easily no matter if the sentence

could be interpreted into everyday use and the

exact meaning would be achieved. But the

sentence above contains metaphorical sense.

Hand identically means a very significant part of

the body that used to run something as pleased

such as can grab, take up, and put down

according to the functions and purposes. Based

on experiential similarity, the phrase my hand

represents my power or energy. This interpretation

is supported by the line following this metaphor.

It can be seen from some of the possibility that

could be a comparison in the words strong. It is

associated by showing a great power or good

feeling in achieving something. Based on the

analysis above, this metaphor includes structural

metaphor because it illustrates an idea which can

be expressed in other ways. Here the concept of

power is delivered metaphorically by the concept

of hand as a part of the body.

While Strong literally means having a lot of

physical power or having great power. In

addition, with the utterance was made, the word

strong means Up. It indicates that cause something

to appear as a result based on physical

experiences. It is a grounded in the experiential

concurrence of seeing the level of the substance

rise. Since this substance refers to power or

energy related to previous metaphor. So this

metaphor belongs to orientational metaphor. In

metaphor this sentence means ‘my energy was

up’.

4. By the hand of the almighty

Hand has literal meaning the part of the

body at the end of the arm, including the fingers

and thumb. While the word Almighty definitely

having absolute power over all. The word hand in

this sentence is impossible to interpret literally

because the sense in the sentence would be very

difficult to understand, it must be interpreted

figuratively to get the right meaning.

It is an experiential concurrence since there

is no experiential similarity at all. It could be

stated that the sentence contained a metaphor

sense namely ontological metaphor because the

range of ontological metaphors used for such

purposes is enormous. This sentence described in

referring of the act of helping somebody,

figurativelly by the word hand. So the right

interpretation of this metaphorical expression is

‘by God’s help’.

THE METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS

INTENSIFY SLAVERY RESISTANCE AS

THE CONTENT OF REDEMPTION SONG

In order to get detailed meaning and how

those metaphorical expressions intensify the

content of the song, it is important to explicate

each part of this song lyric.

Redemption Song was released by Bob

Marley in 1980. It was the last song on the last

album he released before his death in 1981. It

consists of 5 stanzas and each stanza consist of 4

lines. The author here is the singer of this song.

He uses the word ‘I’ as a subject for the entire

lyric. ‘I’ or ‘my’ is a pronoun referring to the

African slaves. The form of this song that shown

by the author is ballad, means a song that tells a

story. He tells a series of events about himself and

his society that have ever experienced through the

Redemption Song.

The first stanza,

Old pirates yes they rob I

Sold I to the merchant ships

The author clarify that he and million

Africans were robbed of their freedom and sent to

the America as slaves by the pirates. Old pirates

here means European colony. The use of

metaphor old pirates is to intensify the character of

European colony which is identical with the

authority of being wicked. This metaphor

introduces idea of preceding event with the

characterization of European colony as the

objective. According to the history that the

existence of black people in America because of

slave trading by the merchant ships, where loaded

with slaves which were bound to serve a person

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

of money. Slave is a person who is owned by

another person and is forced to work for them.

They are supplying colonies with human labor.

Minutes after they took I

From the bottomless bit

He is referring to the terrible conditions

underneath the decks of the ships which the

slaves were transported with. In this case Bob

Marley as a Black People who always become an

object of slavery. From the bottom less pit, it

explains about the their sufferings situation which

seems never to end because of the colonizer. As a

matter of fact where situation without freedom of

the slaves are treated cruelly and arbitrary. The

movement of the structure in first stanza has a

relation to the content, it contained the ideas that

developed chronologically about the background

of slave.

The second stanza,

But my hand was made strong

By the hand of the Almighty

The author tells about he found his energy

is up or a strong enthusiasm feeling that has been

strengthened because of the God’s help when

they have been in the misery conditions. The hand

of the Almighty is a metaphorical expression of

belief that makes his lives could be better in

religion aspect that makes him stay withstand.

Though all his sufferings, he is convinced with the

stregth of God. In these two lines, the lyric’s

structure develops by cause and effect that

reflected the movement from sufferings into

spirit. His belief to the God cause of his spirit.

Those metaphors show idea of situations by

person’s feelings as the objective.

Table 2. Types and Meanings of Metaphor Found in Buffalo Soldier

Datum No Song Lyrics Types Meanings

1 Buffalo Soldier Structural Metaphor Black calvary troops

2 Dreadlock Rasta Structural Metaphor Rastafarians

3
There was a buffalo soldier in the heart

of America
Ontological metaphor The central of America

4 I mean it, when I analyze the stench Structural Metaphor The unpleasant truth

5 To me it makes a lot of sense Ontological metaphor Obvious

6 Buffalo soldier troddin through the land Structural Metaphor
The regulation of slavery

system

7 Said he wanna ran, Structural Metaphor Escape

8 then you wanna hand Structural Metaphor Help

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

9
Driven from the mainland to the heart of

the Caribbean

Ontological

Metaphor

The the central of

Carribean

10
Trodding’ through san juan in the arms

of America

Ontological

Metaphor
Every place

Explanations

1. Buffalo soldier,

2. dreadlock Rasta

Buffalo literally means a large wild animal

of the cow family which has wide, curved horns

and black coloured. Soldier means a member of

army, especially one who is not an officer. If the

sentence interpreted literally, the sense in the

sentence would be unclear and might be

confusing if the reader read or hear it. Therefore

to make it logical, it must be figuratively

interpreted. The word buffalo is identical with

strong and having a lot of physical power,

bravery, and dexterity. While soldier is identical

with assertiveness and be in charge in taking a

part in a war or battle againts the enemy. This

interpretation is supported by the other proper

word following this metaphor as a comparison in

the word fighting is associated with ‘to battle

againts the enemy’.

It is one of experiential similarity if this

metaphor is simply interpreted as there were

black people (army). But it is a reference to

experiential concurrence in history that Buffalo

Soldier has been described which happened in the

past, it is an appellation to black cavalry troops in

America. This belongs to structural metaphor

because one concept is understood and expressed

in terms of another structured, sharply defined

concept of black calvary troops.

In connection with next metaphor is the

word dreadlock means hair that is twisted into long

thick pieces that hang down from the head, worn

especially by Rastafarians. The Rastafarians is

identically with black people as a member of a

Jamaican religious group. It is a grounded in the

experiential concurrence. Based on the analysis

above, this metaphor belongs to structural

metaphor because the author would like to

describe the nature of an animal named buffalo as

a representative of human as a concept. Then the

human concept refers to Rastafarians people that

become soldiers.

3. There was a buffalo soldier in the heart of

America.

Heart means the organ of the chest that

sends blood around the body, usually on the left

in humans. America is a name of a country. If the

sentence is interpreted literally, the sense of the

sentence will sound vague and clumsy. It is

impossible to say that America has a heart. In this

term the word heart in this sentence is the central

and it is an important thing. It is grounded in

correlation within experiential similarity and

experiential concurrence that could be stated the

sentence contained a metaphor sense.

The metaphor heart of America categorized

to ontological metaphor because it is identifying

aspect of abstraction an idea ‘the central of

America’. In metaphor this sentence means ‘there

was black people in the central of America that

become most important object in enslavement

system’.

4. I mean it, when I analyze the stench

Analyze means to examine the nature or

structure of something, especially by separating it

into its parts, in order to understand or explain it.

While stench is a strong and very unpleasant

smell. The word stench in this sentence is

impossible to interpret literally because the sense

in the sentence would be very difficult to

understand. It must be interpreted figuratively to

get the right meaning. Because it tied together

with the word analyze that associated with

examine something real and has connection with

certain context. In this term the word stench

metaphorically means the unpleasant truth based

on the context. This interpretation is supported by

the lines following this metaphor. It can be seen

from some of the possibilities that could be a

comparison by the words stolen and brought is

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

associated with ‘the unpleasant truth’. There is an

experiential similarities between the

characteristic of stench and the states of being

suffered. It also could be stated as experiential

concurrence which is grounded in seeing the

stench as a certain situation, in this cases is the

unpleasant truth based on the context of the song.

Based on the analysis above this metaphor

belongs to structural metaphor because the

concept of the suspiciousness (unpleasant truth)

was expressed in the form of the stench. In

metaphor this sentence means ‘it’s really

happened when I experienced the ‘unpleasant

truth’.

THE METAPHORICAL EXPRESSIONS

INTENSIFY SLAVERY RESISTANCE AS

THE CONTENT OF BUFFALO SOLDIER

Song entitled Buffalo Soldier by Bob

Marley which is chosen by the writer released in

1983. It consists of 7 stanzas and each stanza

consists of different number of lines. This lyrics

tell a story that occur in certain event in America

as described in the following analysis.

The first stanza,

Buffalo soldier, dreadlock rasta

There was a buffalo soldier in the heart of

America

The tittle of this song is appear in this line.

Absolutely it related to the overall content about

buffalo soldier which has correlation with the

history. The buffalo soldier will have a figurative

meaning that signify the black people resembled

buffalos because of their dreadlocks. This line is

about the buffalo soldier who just so happened to

be a Buffalo Soldier was part of the Rastafarian.

The Rastafarian was a type of religious

movement that included the believers growing

out dreadlocks. Actually the word Buffalo Soldier

is an appellation black soldiers fought in the

American Civil War againts Native Americans.

The author named in the heart of America, as a

fact that African Americans have served in

American war during the Civil War. Those three

metaphors show ideas of the certain person’s by

making of characterization, identifying features

of the black soldiers and a place as the objectives.

Stolen from Africa, brought to America

Fighting on arrival, fighting for survival

This line means that black slaves were

fighting as soon as they arrived in America from

Africa. There is a circle back to where the buffalo

started through the words brought to America. The

author draws similarity between the fate of

slavery and Buffalo Soldiers that had been stolen

from Africa and brought to America that is

exactly happened. He uses the Buffalo Soldiers'

fight for survival during the Indian Wars as a

symbol of black resistance. Fighting on arrival,

fighting for survival, it really showcases the bravery

that Buffalo soldier showed in this line.

Second Stanza,

I mean it, when I analyze the stench

To me it makes a lot of sense

The author convince through the word the

stench that it makes sense with the fact that the

black people were the victim of slavery. There is

an emotion expressed in these lyrics through the

metaphor. The concept of the suspiciousness

(unpleasant truth) was expressed in the form of

the stench. This metaphor adds to the meaning of

the lyric and to intensify the effect of the song. He

is talking about how the stench is analysing

followed by next lines:

If you know your history

Then you would know where you coming from

Then you wouldn't have to ask me

Who the 'eck do I think I am

The history of the black people and their

sufferings were told by the author. He talked to

the listener especially black people that their

history come from slaves in slavery trade. If this

line is defined in general meaning which is related

to the content of the lyrics, as a result it is easy to

be understood. It goes without saying that the

subject in this songs is clearly portrayed.

Abdus Shomad / Rainbow: Journal of Literature, Linguistics and Cultural Studies 3 (1) (2014)

CONCLUSIONS

First, there are three types of metaphors

according to Lakoff and Johnson (1980). They

are structural metaphor, orientational metaphor,

and ontological metaphor. First, structural

metaphor is conceive when metaphorical concept

formed through the use of other concepts. I found

8 data in the object of study. Second, orientational

metaphor is conceive when metaphor is

associated with space and place that can be

determined through the physical and experience.

It is found 1 datum in the object of the study. The

last types of metaphor is ontological metaphor, it

conceives since the metaphors are physical object

which is further specified as being a person. In

addition, we can perceive that the personification

as a form of ontological metaphor. It is the most

dominating type. It can be seen by looking 13

data of metaphor found in the object of study.

After analyzing all the data, both of songs lyrics;

redemption song and buffalo soldier have

metaphorical expressions. There are 22

metaphors found from the overall data that can

be analyzed it’s type and meaning.

Second, through songs lyrics as the object

of my analysis, it can be concluded that those

songs lyrics generally contain metaphorical

expressions. They are used to beautify the songs

and convey deeper meaning than the literal one.

Those metaphorical expressions show how it can

influence the lyrics. Because they are more

expressive and evokes a particular sense which

can help the readers to conceive what the author

means. It is expressing emotions of the author,

developing chronologically of the content,

making cause and effect or making movement

from one attitude to a different attitude of the

lyrics. This reflects that Bob Marley revealed

social criticism in term of slavery resistance by

using conceptual metaphor. Based on the analysis

in chapter IV, all of them associated with the

slavery resistance which is examined through

metaphorical analysis.

The last, my points that understanding the

concept ideas or contexts are the most important

thing to understand and conceive the

metaphorical expression’s meaning. It is the main

of conceptual metaphor, how we can understand

the concept of an idea that is expressed in other

ways.

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