Analysis of Theme through Diction in Robert Herrikc's Poems.

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ABSTRACT

Dalam tugas akhir ini saya akan membahas tema dari tiga buah puisi karya pujangga Inggris, Robert Herrick, melalui pilihan kata atau diksi. Ketiga puisi itu berjudul, “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time,” “To a Bed of Tulips,” dan “Upon

a Delaying Lady.” Ketiga puisi ini membahas tentang konsep Carpe Diem. Konsep

Carpe Diem khususnya di dalam ketiga puisi tersebut mengingatkan manusia tentang

pendeknya waktu yang mereka jalani dalam hidup ini, sehingga mereka diharapkan untuk menggunakan waktu hidupnya sebaik mungkin.

Robert Herrick hidup di jaman Raja Charles I, dimana pada jaman itu terjadi

perang saudara dan juga wabah penyakit yang mematikan. Kondisi tersebut menyebabkan semua penduduk Inggris dihantui dengan kematian yang

sewaktu-waktu dapat merenggut nyawa mereka. Situasi tersebut melatarbelakangi para penulis pada jaman itu terutama para penulis Cavalier termasuk Robert Herrick. Melalui ketiga puisi tersebut, Robert Herrick berhasil menggunakan konsep Carpe

Diem melalui pilihan kata atau diksi yang sesuai, sehingga pesan tentang konsep

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Robert Herrick is a 17th Century great English poet. He is considered to be

“… the greatest song-writer ever born of English race” (Swinburne) and one of

the famous Cavalier Poets. Cavalier poet is a group of Englishmen poets with loyalty to Charles I (1625–49). Their background as soldiers, courtiers, gallants, and wits influences their writing style in producing elegant lyrics. Unlike the other

Cavalier Poets, Robert Herrick has a different background; yet, his style in writing his elegant lyrics and carpe diem philosophy have made him as one of them

(“Cavalier poet”).

One of Cavalier Poets’ characteristics is they express Carpe diem concept

in the most of their works. Carpe diem is a Latin phrase, which expresses а philosophy to appreciate living the life to the fullest. Carpe diem concept persuades people to live every moment in their lives fully and effectively because

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In Herrick’s poetic style, he focuses on the speed of time. When the other

Cavalier Poets do not really show the haste to use the time but tend to convey that human should appreciate it, Herrick is the one who cares about that haste. The

over-riding messages of Herrick’s Carpe diem works show the urgency of time; thus, he always urges that time is very short and we have to make the most out of

it. Herrick loves to use parts of nature and natural events in his works as the analogy to compare and support the concept of time which is very short and limited. For example, in several poems, Herrick uses the daily cycle of sun,

flowers, the spring time, or the life of the lark to portray time through human life. Throughout his life, Robert Herrick has written 1400 poems, which are

divided into 2 volumes in a book, they are Hesperides, and His Noble Numbers. Like any other poets, Herrick’s works are products of his age. The poems reflect biographical facts of his life and the times in which he lived. The topics of secular

works that he has written are carpe diem concept, love, family, and his loyalty to Charles I and Ben Jonson in his Hesperides. He also wrote religious poems in His

Noble Numbers which reflects his life as a country priest in Dean Prior,

particularly the Ancient. This leads Herrick’s style to be influenced by the writing style of classical writers, for example the writing style of legendary Greek poet,

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Horace and Martial (“Robert Herrick 1591–1674”).

In Herrick’s Hesperides, Herrick addresses his poems mostly to women. It

might be that Herrick is influenced by "platonic love, another characteristics of

Cavalier poetry, where the man would show his divine love to a woman, where she would be worshipped as a creature of perfection" ("Cavalier poet"). Moreover,

he often directly addresses his poems to specific names, for examples: Julia (like

his mother’s name), Anthea, Electra, and Corrina (the names are originally from

Greek). In this thesis, I analyze three Herrick’s works which represent the notion

of carpe diem and all addressed to women. The titles are “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time,”“Upon a Delaying Lady,” and “To a Bed of Tulips.”

I am going to analyze Herrick’s poems through diction to reveal the theme.

“Diction is the choice and the order of the words within a poem. Words can often

serve multiple purposes … . When discussing dictions, the reader should consider

the different meanings that the words may have and how their arrangement in the

poem contributes to or alters those meanings” (Prudchenko). To understand the

meaning of the poem, it is very appropriate to look further the word choice of the

poem because “word choice conveys and emphasizes the meaning or theme of a poem through distinctions in sound, look, rhythm, syllable, letters, and definition”

(“Literary Analysis: Using Elements of Literature”).

Statement of the Problem

The problems I would like to discuss are as follows: 1. What are the themes of the poems?

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Purpose of the Study

The purposes of writing this thesis are:

1. To show the theme of the poems.

2. To show how dictions help revealing the themes.

Method of Research

The method that I used was library research. I started by reading three

Robert Herrick’s poems entitled “To the Virgin to Make Much of Time,” “To a

Bed of Tulips,” and “Upon a Delaying Lady,” I searched the explanation about carpe diem concept and how that concept works in most of Robert Herrick works. Then, I analyzed the poems by using formalism approach. I chose the dictions and

choice of words which reveal the theme in of each poem. I took some references and resources from the Internet and books to support the analysis and assist me to

write the thesis. Finally, I drew a conclusion from my analysis.

Organization of the Thesis

The thesis is divided into three chapters. In Chapter One, I present the Introduction, which contains The Background of the Study, The Statement of the Problem, The Purpose of the Study, The Method of Research, and The

Organization of the Thesis. Chapter Two is analysis of theme through diction in

Robert Herrick’s Poems. Chapter Three is Conclusion. The thesis ends with

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CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

Having analyzed the three poems of Robert Herrick, “To the Virgin to

Make Much of Time,” “To a Bed of Tulips,” and “Upon a Delaying Lady,” I would like to draw some conclusion from my analysis. In my opinion, all of those

three poems are worth analyzing. After determining the dictions to reveal the

theme of each poem, I have discovered a great deal of knowledge on how Robert

Herrick as a Cavalier poet lived and applied the concept of carpe diem.

In the first poem, “To the Virgins to Make Much of Time,” Herrick urges

women to make the most of their time by living their youth and getting married

while they still have plenty of time and opportunity to do it. Through analyzing

the dictions, I reveal the theme of the poem that is “Women should live out their

youth by urging themselves to get married while they still have the

opportunity to do it because youth is limited and short.” Herrick addresses this

poem to young women, as can be seen from the word virgins which clearly refers

to them. In this poem, Herrick talks about the concept of time. Herrick uses the

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also compares the brevity of human life to the short cycle of the sun. In this poem,

Herrick seems to remind and urge young women that the best time to live their

lives is when they are still young. At their young age, they still have plenty of

time and opportunity to be able to do anything they want, they could get married

at their young age as it can be seen from the word marry.

In the second poem, “To a Bed of Tulips,” Herrick reminds young women

about the brevity of human lives; therefore, he urges young woman to appreciate

and immediately live their youth before everything is too late. The theme of this

poem is, “Time flies so fast so women need to appreciate and live their youth

to the fullest while they still have time before they turn old and the death

comes.” In this poem, Herrick chooses the words tulips and virgins to represent

that this poem is clearly addressed to young women. Herrick portrays the brevity

of human lives through the word fading-time and the concept of time between the

life of human’s and tulips through the word tulips because both have limited life

span. The words wither, bemoan, and die are also used to emphasize the effect of

time that flies so fast; therefore, before young women lose their time, they should

immediately live their youth to the fullest.

Through the third poem, “Upon a Delaying Lady,” which theme is “A

woman should not waste an opportunity that comes to her by responding the

love from the man she loves, or else that opportunity will leave her.” Herrick

urges a woman not to waste her time to take the opportunity that comes to her. Based on the analysis of the poem, the woman will probably get the opportunity to be with the man she loves if she immediately decides her feeling towards the

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Herrick uses the words delay, stay, and slow to represent the time wasted by the

woman. The words spark and the peeping fire in this poem represent and show the

man’s love. It also can be seen as the opportunity that comes to the woman. The

dictions spark and the peeping fire which turn to frost and snow represent the

result of wasting time. In this context, Herrick seems to portray that time is short

just like the peeping fire which might be greater if it is continuously blown or turn

to frost and snow if it is ignored. It seems like the time or the opportunity that is

wasted in vain, it will not be had back.

There are some similarities through the dictions which are used and the

themes which are revealed in each poem. The first similarity is, all Robert

Herrick’s poems that has been analyzed are addressed to women. It can be seen

from the dictions that Herrick uses in each poem to represent young women, they

are: virgins, rosebuds, tulips, sisterhood, and lady. These dictions refer to the

characteristics of women.

The second similarity is, all themes are about the concept of Carpe diem or

living the life to the fullest that means living every moment in life fully and

effectively. The similarity is shown through each poem in which Herrick always urges young women to live and appreciate their lives by living it to the fullest or

taking opportunity that comes to them. Robert Herrick is a Cavalier poet, who lived in the reign of King Charles I in 17th_{Century. He seems highly influenced}

by the situation that happened at that time. The people of England, especially

soldiers and people who are loyal to Charles I lived in the middle of English Civil

War and deadly diseases. That condition explains that at that time what will

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That condition explains the reason why Herrick as a Cavalier poet believes in

Carpe diem.

The third similarity is, as a Cavalier poet, Herrick believes that time is

short and limited for human beings so everyone has to live every moment in their lives fully. Through those poems, Herrick focuses on the speed of time and shows different analogies through each poem by using the dictions that describe the

limited and swiftness of time. They are: old-times, sun through its cycle, today

and tomorrow, dying, tulips through its life, fading-time, wither, die, frailties, and

the peeping fire which turns to be frost, and snow.

Another similarity is Herrick uses some analogies as analogies by using

They also have given me the knowledge that Carpe diem concept in these poems

has a deeper awareness and understanding that bring a different & unique nuance

of life than other literary works. Through those Carpe diem poems, I learn that

Carpe diem is a powerful expression that applies in certain aspects in life to all,

making the most out of life is the main goal for most people. We have to

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that we can get is only regret because once the time has passed we cannot be able

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Analysis of Theme through Diction in Robert Herrikc's Poems.

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER THREE

CONCLUSION

BIBLIOGRAPHY