What is the message of the song on my own from the opera Les Misérables?

Title
On My Own (Les Miserables OST)
Writer(s)
John Caird, Jean Marc Natel, Trevor Robert Nunn, Alain Albert Boubil, Herbert Kretzmer, Claude Michel Schonberg.
Genre
Romance, Musical and Drama.
Short Description
Actually this song is one of original soundtracks in drama musical called “Les Miserables” based on book by Victor Hugo with the same name that published on 1862. On My Own is the song that sang by one of the character name Eponine. Eponine sang this song to express her unrequited love for the character Marius who has somebody that he loves but not Eponine.

Reason why I choose this song for analyze because…
This song is one of my favorite songs. I like musical drama and when I watch “Les Miserables 10th Anniversary Dream Cast” I heard this song and I’m directly enchanted to this song because the voice of the singer (Lea Salonga) is very sweet and clear when she expressed her feeling with this song. And also the lyric of this song is easy for me to understand, because I’m not an expert on poem and poetry so this song can touch me easily. So that’s why I choose this song for me to analyze.

ANALYSIS
GENERAL ANALYSIS
I’ve red the lyric and I’ve concluded that this song generally talking about one-sided love from a woman to a man. That woman is really loving the man but because that’s only her who love him, she only can imagine the existence of him being in love with her, because in the fact their togetherness is not exist.
The very clear lyric that is showing this one-sided love is “I love him, but only on my own,” (in the last couplet, third and fourth line) this is very clear to understand, that “only on my own” means one-sided love from the woman side only.
And also the lyric “On my own pretending he’s beside me, all alone, I walk with him till morning” (third couplet, first and second line), “And I know it’s only in my mind, that I’m talking to myself and not to him” (fifth couplet, first and second line), and “I love him but everyday I’m learning, all my life I’ve only been pretending” (seventh couplet, first and second line), from this lyric we can easily conclude that like I’ve said before, their togetherness is not really exist in the real life, it just in that woman minds, only her dream’s because of the one-sided love she cannot be together with the man.
So in conclusion, once again, I will say that this song is story about one-sided love.

LYRIC
The lyric of this song using the direct type of lyric where when we read this lyric we can easily feel connected with the lyric, with the experience that’s being explained by the lyric. It makes us easy to understand what the writer(s) want to tell us about what the story of this song is talking about.
And also this song is using the musical type of lyric, because like I’ve told before actually this song is one of soundtracks from a musical drama “Les Miserables” so it has its own musical qualities, like usually the sound and the lyric are carefully planned by the writer(s) to add the sense.

FIGURE OF SPEECH
Simile (unrelated things that have similarity)
– (forth couplet, first line) In the rain the pavement shines like silver. (= When it is raining, usually pavement wet and make it shines because of the rain water so it looks like silver)
Metaphor (comparison between things that have similarity)
– (fifth couplet, third line) And although I know that he is blind. (= Actually he’s not really blind, but because the woman think that man cannot see her love toward him even if she already show it, so she called him “blind”)

Personification (human characteristics for inanimate things)

– (second couplet, third line) The city goes to bed. (= city is an inanimate thing so it can’t be “really” sleep)

Synecdoche (mention a part to represent a whole)
– (third couplet, third line) Without him, I feel his arms around me. (= Actually the girl doesn’t feel only the existence of his arms but whole)
Metonymy (naming object that has associated with another word)
– (first couplet, second line) Without a face to say hello to. (= Face-somebody)
Hyperbole (exaggeration)
– (fourth couplet, fourth line) And all I see is him and me forever and forever. (= the “forever” word is said twice to emphasise and exaggerating)
Antithesis (contrasting one term to another)
– (second couplet, first line) Sometimes I walk alone at night when everybody else is sleeping. (= When at night usually other people sleep and rest, she’s awake and wandering)
– (fifth couplet, third line) And altough I know that he is blind, still I say there’s a way for us. (= Even if she knows that the man doesn’t recognize her love toward him and it makes them impossible to be together, the girl still thinks the there will be a way to make them possible to be together).

STANZA
(1)
And now I’m all alone again nowhere to turn, no one to go to (A)
Without a home, without a friend, without a face to say hello to (A)
And now the night is near (B)
Now I can make believe he’s here (B)
(2)
Sometimes I walk alone at night, when everybody else is sleeping (A)
I think of him and then I’m happy, with the company I’m keeping (A)
The city goes to bed (B)
And I can live inside my head (B)
(3)
On my own, pretending he’s beside me (A)
All alone, I walk with him ’til morning (B)
Without him, I feel his arms around me (A)
And when I lose my way I close my eyes And he has found me (A)
(4)
In the rain, the pavement shines like silver (A)
All the lights are misty in the river (A)
In the darkness, the trees are full of starlight (B)
And all I see is him and me forever and forever (A)
(5)
And I know it’s only in my mind (A)
That I’m talking to myself and not to him (B)
And although I know that he is blind (A)
Still I say, there’s a way for us (C)
(6)
I love him, but when the night is over (A)
He is gone, the river’s just a river (A)
Without him, the world around me changes (B)
The trees are bare and everywhere the streets are full of strangers (B)
(7)
I love him, but every day I’m learning (A)
All my life, I’ve only been pretending (A)
Without me, His world would go on turning (A)
A world that’s full of happiness that I have never known (B)
(8)
I love him… (A)
I love him… (A)
I love him… (A)
But only on my own… (B)

*JUST BONUS hehee

If you’re interested with this song and maybe want to watch the drama musical you can watch below

“LES MISERABLES 10th ANNIVERSARY DREAM CAST”

ENJOY YOUR DAY

AND THANK YOU FOR COMING! ^^