Analysis of The Linguistic Deviations in e.e.cummings' Poems.

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ABSTRACT

Tugas Akhir ini berisi suatu analisis terhadap deviasi linguistik yang terdapat di dalam dua puisi e.e. cummings, yaitu “(listen)” dan “in Just-”. Analisis tersebut merupakan bagian dari stilistika, ilmu yang (1) meneliti ungkapan-ungkapan yang spesifik dalam bahasa dan (2) mendeskripsikan tujuan dan efek dari penggunaan ungkapan-ungkapan tersebut (Verdonk 4). Dalam tugas akhir ini, deviasi linguistik yang ada dalam data penelitian ini dideskripsikan, diklasifikasi, dan efek deviasi yang mungkin terjadi pada pembaca puisi-puisi tersebut diinterpretasikan.

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“(listen)” dan “in Just-” adalah dua puisi cummings yang masing-masing mengandung tiga macam deviasi, yaitu deviasi grafologi, gramatikal, dan semantik. Kedua puisi ini bercerita tentang musim semi. Akan tetapi, musim semi dalam “(listen)” digunakan oleh sang penyair untuk menggambarkan kegembiraannya ketika menyambut musim semi dan untuk memberitahukan perasaan senangnya tersebut kepada orang yang dia sayangi.

Puisi kedua, “in Just-”, menceritakan tentang sukacita musim semi yang dirasakan sekumpulan anak. Ini terlihat dari baris “and edieandbill come/ running from marbles” (6-7), “and bettyandisbel come dancing” (14). Deviasi linguistik dalam puisi ini membantu pembaca membayangkan suatu gambaran tentang musim semi yang penuh kegembiraan masa kanak-kanak.

Dari hasil analisis deviasi linguistik dalam kedua puisi tersebut dapat disimpulkan bahwa cummings memang berhasil menggunakan deviasi linguistik untuk mengokohkan citranya sebagai penyair yang memiliki gaya tersendiri.

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41 [25] (yes)

you and I may not hurry it with a thousand poems my darling

[30] but nobody will stop it

With All The Policemen In The World

e.e. cummings

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[10] when the world is puddle-wonderful [11] the queer

[12] old balloonman whistles [13] far and wee

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

This study analyses the linguistic deviations in two poems of cummings, namely “(listen)” and “in Just-”. Both poems portray the people’s feelings when spring is coming. The first poem, “(listen)”, tells about the poet’s excitement when s/he is welcoming spring. The second, ‘in Just-”, tells about some children’s happiness at the beginning of spring. Poems are the most suitable data source for the analysis of linguistic deviations because of their shortness. Moreover, cummings’ “(listen)” and “in Just-” show so many linguistic deviations in so short texts that the collection of the data becomes more manageable.

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2 Maranatha Christian University Unfortunately, not all people can understand the message or feelings that the poet is trying to express in the poem because the language of poetry has the following characteristics:

Its meaning is often ambiguous and elusive, it may flout the conventional rule of grammar, it has a peculiar sound structure; it is spatially arranged in metrical lines and stanzas: it often reveals foregrounded patterns in its sounds, vocabulary, grammar, or syntax, and last but not least, it frequently contains indirect references to other texts ( Verdonk 11).

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3 Maranatha Christian University acceptable; a difference from what is expected or acceptable” (Oxford 363). Therefore, linguistic deviation is the deviation from the linguistic rules for a certain purpose. This phenomenon is frequent in e.e. cummings’ poems so that this study intentionally focuses on the linguistic deviations in e.e. cummings’ poems entitled “(listen)” and in “Just-”.

According to A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry, there are several types of deviations in language use, such as lexical deviation, phonological deviation, grammatical deviation, graphological deviation, deviation of register, deviation of historical period, dialectal deviation, and semantic deviation (Leech 42). The poet’s use of linguistic deviations may give the readers some effects, which will enable them to understand the poem better. In this study, the research data are investigated to find out the types of deviations used by the poet. After this, the investigations are analysed to explain their possible effects on the readers.

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4 Maranatha Christian University Considering that deviations are frequently used in cummings’ poems, the topic of linguistic deviations becomes challenging because e.e. cummings’ poems are conspicuously unusual. In fact, the use of linguistic deviations in his poems has been his characteristics and his style in writing poems. Everyone feels interested or even feels confused whenever they read cummings’ poems, which makes the decision to analyse his poems more challenging.

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Statement of the Problem

The analysis of the poems is carried out to answer the following questions:

1. What linguistic deviations are found in cummings’ “(listen)” and “in Just-”? 2. How may the linguistic deviations affect the readers?

Purpose of the Study

This study has the followings purposes:

1. To analyse the linguistic deviations found in cummings’ “(listen)” and “in Just-”.

2. To show how the linguistic deviations may affect the readers.

Method of Research

The data of this study are collected from two of cummings’ poems, namely “(listen)” and “in Just-”. The poems are read several times to identify the linguistic deviations. After that, the linguistic deviations are collected and classified. The classification is based on the theories of Geoffrey N. Leech. Afterwards, the linguistic deviations in the two poems of cummings’ are analyzed one by one. Finally, how the linguistic deviations may affect the readers is explained.

Organization of Thesis

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION

This study analyses the linguistic deviations in cummings’ two poems: “(listen)” and “in Just-“, both of which are related to spring. In the first poem, spring is compared with someone’s excitement when welcoming spring, whereas in the second, spring is the time when children can play happily. The analysis is based on the theory of linguistic deviations of Leech, which consist of eight types. However, the analysis has found only three types of linguistic deviations in the poems. How the deviations may affect the readers have also been discussed.

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The shortness of the second poem may also cause the poet to use more grammatical and semantic deviations than the graphological deviations in the second poem.

The linguistic deviations in the first poem may give some possible effects on the readers. The effects of the graphological deviations in “(listen)” seem to emphasize that the poet is so excited when s/he is welcoming spring. Furthermore, the poet’s excitement is portrayed by irregular forms of the graphology of the poem.

The effects of the grammatical deviations in the poem possibly emphasize the poet’s enthusiasm when spring is coming and the idea that some events are happening at the same time. The poet has successfully used graphological deviations to affect the readers, who are interested to get the poet’s message.

The semantic deviations found in the poem are used by the poet to describe his/her feelings. Spring has not only encouraged the poet to hope for his/her dreams come true but also represented the poet’s excitement to welcome spring, which comes naturally and cannot be hurried.

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After analyzing the linguistic deviations in the two poems it can be concluded that the linguistic deviations in the poems may confuse the readers but the analysis of linguistic deviations can help them understand the poems better. Moreover, the readers can see why the first poem shows more linguistic deviations than the second. The second poem is about children, that is why the linguistic deviations in the poem are not as complicated as those in the first poem. Children’s feelings are simpler than adults’ and children are not as complicated as adults. Therefore, the linguistic deviations in “in Just-” seem simpler and easier to analyse. On the other hand, the first poem tells about someone’s feelings when welcoming spring; as a result, the linguistic deviations in the poem are more difficult than those in the second. In the first poem, the poet describes an adult’s feelings which are rather complicated because when people get mature, their feelings, their thought and their point of view become complex, not as simple as children’s feelings anymore. For this reason, when the readers read these two poems, they may notice that the second poem is not as complicated as the first.

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cummings has successfully used the linguistic deviations in his poems. In other words, cummings has effectively used linguistic deviations to make his poems more impressive. Specifically, cummings’ poems make the readers get more interested in the distinctive language of the poem and they will learn that cummings’ poems are smart, because most of the extraordinary forms in his poems have a special message. This is something that a common poet does not always do. His poems are unusual and the way he writes his poems can stimulate more imagination of the readers.

This study has analysed the linguistic deviations in only two of cumming’s poems and it has focused on graphological, grammatical, and semantic deviations because the data show only these three kinds of linguistic deviations. It is recommended that students who are interested in analysing linguistic deviations should find other poems that contain other kinds of linguistic deviations. This attempt is expected to vary the results of the analysis. Moreover, the interpretation of the findings in this study is limited to the researcher’s knowledge background. Therefore, it is still possible for another researcher to have a different analysis and different interpretation of cummings’ poems.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References

Chand, Nihal. Grammar And Composition. New Delhi: Newlight Publishers, (n.d.).

Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Sixth Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Leech, Geoffrey N. A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. London: Longman Group, Ltd, 1969.

Verdonk, Peter. Stylistics. New York: Oxford University, 2002.

Internet

“in Just-“. Poem Hunter.com. 2009. 2 March 2009. <http://www.poemhunter.com>

Linguistic- Journal.com. 2008. <http://www.linguistics-journal.com/>. “Master e.e.cummings”. Word Press.com. 2008. 27 April 2008

<http://jetwrites.wordpress.com>.

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. “Orthography”. Dictionary.reference.com. 2008. 7 September 2008 <http://dictionary.reference.com>.

“Pan”. Lugodoc.demon.co.uk. 2009. 21 April 2009 <http://www.lugodoc.demon.co.uk/PAN.HTM> “Poem”. The Free Dictionary.com. 2008. 27 April 2008. <http://www.thefreedictionary.com>.

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