Analysis of Figurative Language in Taylor Swift’s Back to December Lyric

Back to December is a song written and recorded by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift for her third studio album Speak Now (2010) telling about an apology to a past lover. To beautify and create a deep impression of meaning, the songwriters commonly add figurative languages into their songs, like what Taylor did in her Back to December. Figurative language is a way of saying something other than the literal meaning of the world (Kennedy, 1979). Therefore, this essay focuses on the use of figurative language consisted in the lyric of Back to December by Taylor Swift. Thus, it aims to know the types of figurative language used and to describe the contextual meaning contained. There are five kinds of figurative languages found in Back to December lyric. They are hyperbole, personification, alliteration, symbol, and imagery.

The first figurative language found in Back to December is hyperbole. Dennis (1996:65) stated that hyperbole is a figure of speech that has statement containing exaggeration.

For example : He had tons of money (Wynne, 1989:520).

The application of hyperbole in Back to December can be seen in the line “because the last time you saw me is still burned in the back of your mind.” The word “burned”, literally, can be defined as being on fire. That word is explicitly a daily word used for describing something becomes damaged, heat, or injured by a fire. But here, the term of “burned” refers to the emotion the writer/singer felt when her ex-boyfriend saw her at the last time. It means, she still hates the man. So, the sentence “burned in the back of your mind” sounds an expression of overstatement.

The hyperbole can also be found in the line “so this is me swallowing my pride.” The word “swallowing” is defined as to take into the stomach by drawing through the throat and esophagus with a voluntary muscular action, as food, drink, or other substances. While “pride” is the state or feeling of being proud. By the lyric, the meaning of “swallowing  my pride” implicitly shows that the writer/singer regrets of her mistake for rejecting the man. That part also expresses an overstatement.

Second one is personification. It is a figure of speech in which a thing, an animal, or an abstract term (truth or nature) is made human (Kennedy, 1979:495). By the lyric of Back to December, the line “and then the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind” contains this types of figurative language. The definition of “crept” (present: creep) is to move slowly with the body close to the ground, as a reptile or an insect, or a person on hands and knees and ‘fear’ is an adjective, abstract. It means the fear able to creep as humans do. Meanwhile it is only people and living creature that has hands and feet who capable to creep. Therefore, this sentence shows that the writer/singer felt scary and the fear came slowly into her mind.

In line “and then the cold came, the dark days when fear crept into my mind”, there is alliterations. Alliteration is the commencement of two or more words in close connection with the same sound.

For example : find me fifteen friendly friars. (Drabble, 1985:18).

By seeing the lyric above, we can see that there are some first letter of words which are same, so the sound will also be same. They are then-the, cold-came, dark-days. The pair of the same letters are called alliterative.

The next is symbol. Symbol is any object or action that represents something beyond its literal (Diyanni, 2004). The line “and realized I'd loved you in the fall” in the song consists the concept of symbolism. The literal meaning of fall is moving downward, typically rapidly and freely without control, from a higher to a lower level. “I’d love you in the fall” means that the writer/singer have love story in autumn season. Because the term of “fall” here has different meaning or more than it is (not the literal meaning found in dictionary).

The last figurative language found in Back to December lyric is imagery. “I missed your tanned skin, your sweet smile, so good to me, so right” contains imagery. Imagery is the use of figurative language to represent the objects, ideas, and actions in such a way that the appeals to the physical senses. It makes the use of particular the words that create the visual representation with ideas in minds. It also includes any information that appeals to the senses of sight, hearing, taste, touch, or smell. From the lyric, the phrase “tanned skin” and “sweet smile” represents the visual which appeals to the sense of sight.

From the analysis above, it can be concluded that the writer of Back to December used figurative language to beautify the lyric and create the deep impression of the meaning to attract the listeners. There are five kind of figurative languages found in the song researched; hyperbole, personification, alliteration, symbol, and imagery. The dominant figurative language used is hyperbole, because it is found twice in the lyric of Back to December by Taylor Swift.