Theme and Connotative Meaning used in Hardy’s Poems The Going and We Sat At The Window
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Theme and Connotative Meaning used in Hardy’s Poems
The Going and We Sat At The Window
I Made Yudhisswara Prawedya
0818351070
ABSTRAK
Jurnal ini berjudul dengan “Theme and Connotative Meaning used in Hardy’s Poems The Going and We Sat At The Window yang mencari kata konotasi, mencari tema dan mencari pesan-pesan yang terkandung dalam puisi.
Data diambil dari puisi berjudul “The Going” dan “We Sat At The Window” karya Thomas Hardy. Metode dan teknik pengambilan data terdiri dari dua tahap. Pertama, data di ambil dari teks puisi dengan membaca seluruh teks dengan baik. Setelah itu, mencari arti konotasi, tahap ini diikuti dengan mencatat dari data yang di ambil untuk mencari arti kata konotasi dan data dipilih berdasarkan dari masalah-masalah yang siap dicantumkan dalam jurnal ini. Teori utama jurnal ini dipakai untuk menganalisa data yang diambil dari buku karya Thomas Hardy (1912), Smith(1985) untuk menganalisa tema, dan Geoffrey Leech(1974) untuk menganalisa arti konotasi.
Hasil dari jurnal ini menunjukkan enam figure of speech yg didapat dari tiap-tiap puisi, yaitu paradox, synecdoche, irony, hyperbole, metonymy and personification. Dan juga figure arti konotasi yang terdiri dalam tiap puisi. Kesimpulan dari jurnal ini adala Puisi karya Thomas Hardy sangat penting untuk dibaca. Penulis menulis karyanya ke pembaca untuk menjelaskan objek dalam tiap-tiap puisi dengan memakai tema, dan arti konotasi .
BACKGROUND
Literature is produced through a creative activity. Basically, every literary work has specific characteristic, but it is also similar in character to other art work. Literature, among them poetry, is the most familiar and most famous of all works. Poetry itself had it great development in Romanticism Period or in Elizabethan Period, where at the time there were many poets who had produced great literary work.
The connotative meaning found in a poem has a function to attract the reader to read a poem and it is also the important thing in a poem. In addition it has an ambiguous meaning because in this case we must correctly know or understand the sentence in order to find the intended meaning. Therefore, it is very interesting to choose this phenomenon to be the topic of this study.
PROBLEMS
Three problems can be formulated for this study, namely the following :
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1. What are the connotations found in the poems?
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2. What are the themes of the poems?
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3. What are the messages being conveyed in the poems?
AIMS OF STUDY
The aim of this study in using Thomas Hardy’s poems as it objects are as follows :
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1. To find the connotations which are contained in the poems.
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2. To reveal the themes in the poems.
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3. To reveal the messages those are contained in the poems.
METHOD
In doing a scientific research, research method is very important. The method is a procedure to be applied in a research in accordance with the approach used. The success or failure of the analysis depends on how relevant the method being used in the writing. The methodology that is used in doing this research includes the determination of data source, data collection and data analysis as further described below.
The data was taken from the poems “The Going” and “We Sat at the Window” written by Thomas Hardy. These poems were chosen as the data source because the construction of these poems contains many connotative meaning.
The method and technique of collecting the data consist of two phases. First, data was collected from the text of the poems by reading the poems comprehensively. After reading the poems to find the connotative meaning, this phase was followed by note taking of the data found from the source and the collected data was classified based on the problems already formulated for this study.
The data was presented descriptively and analyzed based on the theories of connotative meaning proposed by Leech (1974) and theory of theme proposed by Smith (1985).
In analyzing the data of the poems, the semantic theory written by Geoffrey Leech was used. Based on the theory mentioned in the theoretical framework, the main concern of this paper is to find out the whole meaning of the poems through line by line analysis in order to discover the connotative meanings of the language used in the poems.
ANALYSIS AND RESULT
The poems “The Going” and “We Sat At The Window” are written by Thomas Hardy. The poem “The Going” consists of six stanzas and each stanza consists of seven lines. The poem “We Sat At The Window” consists of two stanzas and each stanza consists of eight lines. Before presenting the analysis of the poems it is necessary to present about the life of the poet.
The word “swallow” founded in the sixth line carry connotative meaning. In denotatively, the swallow is kind of small bird that has long wing and deep-forked tail. It is a type of bird who’s making its nest in corner of high buildings. People usually used the swallow’s nests as an ingredient to make kinds of potion and medicines. The swallows is usually flying in small flock. In connotatively, the word “swallow” means having strength to do something but unable to complete or finish the task which being given. This is means that Hardy could not accept the death of her wife, Emma. Thomas Hardy using the word “Swallow” to describe his inability to his wife for one last time.
The word “harden” found in the fourth line carries connotative meaning. In the denotative it means to make hard or state in becoming hardened. In the connotative, the word “harden” means that to become gradually acclimates to unfavorable conditions. This is means that Hardy was shocked after seeing the death of Emma, his beloved wife.
The word “boughs” founded in third line, it carries connotative meaning. In denotatively, it means that a branch of a tree. In connotatively means that in the state in choosing two important decisions or instead being lonely. The word “sickens” founded in seventh line, carries connotative meaning. In denotatively, means that to become sick or to cause (someone) to become sick. In connotatively, it means that it is a kind of action of an aversion, whether to our self or to other people.
The word “Red-Veined” in denotatively means a thing that cover with red-colored vein. In connotatively, it means that someone’s heart were filled reds, red in here described about love. The word “Swan-necked” in denotatively means having a neck like a swan’s. In connotatively, it means
that having a beautiful-figured neck as if it was as beautiful as swan’s neck. This means that Hardy is recalling his past with his died wife, Emma were still love each other. This is explained where they were visiting a place.
The word “strive” in third line, it carries connotative meaning. In denotatively, it means that to try very hard to do or achieve something. In connotatively, it means that an action to devoting a serious effort even though it is worthless. The word “spring” in fifth line, it means that the season between winter and summer, the season when plants and trees begin to grow. In connotatively, it means that the time when a couple’s relationship was in happy moment especially for the lovers.
The word “fleeing” in fifth line, in denotatively means that to run away from danger. In connotatively it means to vanish to some place that could not be reached. This is explained that Hardy is slowly accepting the death of his wife. At the end of the poem, he is somehow portrayed pessimistic and as if he is like an old man and feels despair.
The poem “We Sat At The Window”
The word “witless” in denotatively, it means to be very foolish. It is used for emphasize. In connotatively, it means something that bothering so much. This is meaning that the couple that seeing the rain that poured down heavily as described as thing to remembering the couple’s awful past.
The word “crown” in denotatively, it means that a decorative object that is shaped like a circle and worn on the head of a king or queen for special ceremonies. In connotatively, it means that a something to be proud of his wife. He is always proud about his wife and hi thinks that his wife like a crown jewel.
The message for the readers from the poem “The Going” is that how we appreciate a woman or lover who have been admiring or loving us. We are should be take care of them with our honesty. And we can imagine if our lover has gone and they will not come back to us forever. You can also imagine if our lover has gone without saying goodbye to us. It is hurting us so much and we cannot do anything about it. We will not be able to do anything to prevent it anyhow. We just only stand frozen, plunged in our thought and burden by our stresses.
The message for the readers from the poem “We Sat At The Window” is that we must not keep remembering our bitter past with our love. The remorse may come later after we experience it first, but this must not be a burden for ourselves. So we do not become stressed with the situation when we having a situation which is making us remembering our awful past.
The theme about the poem of “The Going” is about sorrow. We can see it from how Hardy felt desperate after knowing his wife. It can be found in the whole poem. In the poem, he described his sorrow and regret.
The theme about the poem of “We Sat at The Window” is about memento of the past. We can see it from how Hardy remembering all moment with his wife. He felt his sad when the rain came
down which is making him remembering his awful past. He is disturbed by the scene of the rain. He did not know nor was the woman thinking.
CONCLUSION
In this study is more specific since the point of discussion on focused in the analysis theme and connotative meaning based on the theories proposed by Smith and by Leech as the main theories. In this study two poems which are used are “The Going” and “We Sat At The Window” written by Thomas Hardy.
Connotative meaning as the general point in this analysis is the word which has more than one meaning. So in analyzing the connotative meaning we should understand the sentence meaning. The kinds of words with connotative meanings are found in the poems including: swallow, glimpse, harden, boughs, sickens, red-veined, swan-necked, strive, spring, fleeing, witless, crown.
The poems always convey a message to the readers that would be serving as motivation in their life. Basically to find out the message in the poem is necessary to understand the story of the poems in order to catch the message. The poems are a literary work which is commonly used to convey a message to the readers. The poems are always using the figurative language, and the words used usually contain connotative meanings.
Theme is a pattern of meaning which emerges gradually from a grasp of the whole poem. Theme is where the poet starts from. There are main areas of human concern to which themes seem to relate. They are as the following: the effect of time, human relationship, human consciousness and human circumstances.
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