Saturday, December 24, 2016

Review of Related Literature - Semiotics



CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
In this chapter, this study will discuss about literature review that consists of three undergraduate theses that become reference in this study than it also tell about the concepts of this study. There are three concepts they are: the concept of literature, concept of poem, and the concept of poetry. The last subject discussed in this chapter is theoretical framework.
2.1 Review of Literature
There are three undergraduate theses that reviewed in this section. The first undergraduate thesis is written by Sri Imawati (2011) entitled “Symbols of Life Used by Robert Frost in His Poems”. The problem that is discussed in this thesis is the symbols of life in Robert Frost’s poem. The method that is used in analyzing the data is literature criticism by using symbolism approach. Based on analysis of the the poem, the result shows that there are three kind of symbols, they are archetype (universal), conventional, and personal symbol. This undergraduate thesis focuses on analyzing the context of life symbol in its poem.
The second undergraduate thesis is written by Fizah Rotin Jannah (2012) entitled “Symbolism in Charles Dicken’s Great Expectation”. The problem of the thesis is discussed in is the symbols in Charles Dicken’s poem which is Great Expectation. The method that is used in analyzing the data is literature criticism by using symbolism theory. Based on analysis of the the poem, the result shows that there are three kind of symbols, they are private, universal, and conventional symbol.
The third undergraduate thesis is written by Laily Maghfuroh (2015) entitled “Sign of Love in Robert Frost Poem”. The problem that is discussed in this thesis is the sign and symbol of love in Robert Frost’s poem. The method that is used in analyzing the data is literature criticism by using theory of riffaterre (semiotic poetry). Based on analysis of the the poem, the result shows that there are some signs and symbols of love in Robert Frost’s poem.
2.2 Concept
This concept in this study is the general idea about the definition of the title of this study. Concept in this study divided into three concepts they are: the concept of literature, concept of poem, and the concept of poetry.
2.2.1 Literature
 Literature is concerned with all aspect of human life and the universe in their entirety, surely every work of literatures is about something, and the more of a person reads, the better stocked will his mind be with knowledge. Literature is a feature of any human culture at any time. Literature in that sense is now coming to an end, as new media gradually replace the printed book (Miller, 2002: 2). Besides that, Wellek and Warren (1959: 21) said that one way is to define literature as everything in print. Another way of defining literature is to limit it to great books, books which, whatever their subject, are notable for literary expression.
Literature is generally divided into tree groups, respectively prose, drama, and poetry.
Prose uses language not in verse form, e.g, novels, short stories, novellas, etc. Drama is play
with its act(s) and its scenes in dialogues, conversations, comedies, tragedies, tragic-comedies, etc. Poetry is the art of poets; poems, in verse form, e.g. ballads, epics, lyrical poetry, etc.
2.2.2 Poem
A poem has deep meanings in every words, it depends how a poet tries to explain many things in life into a poem. People try to analyze poem because in a poem contains many specific elements and how these specific elements relate to daily life. A theme is the top point in a poem, because a poet makes a poem based on specific theme and a reader tries to understand and analyze the poem to get the whole point of the poem. Once a poem is understood at its firsthand, a reader can try to define it.
Samuel Johnson (1984: 5) describes that “the poem as spontaneous expression of feelings, which full of power and based on emotion get together in peace”. From the explanation above, the writer can say that a poem is an expressing deep feeling which is full of power and based on emotion that the writer has experienced. Yet, the power embedded inside the poem is not easily being understood by reading it at once.
How beautiful a poem is, if only we can understand inside the use of imageries in beauty of the poem itself. Therefore, all the components of a poem can make special enjoyment for the readers itself. Then they can judge, whether the poem is beautiful, amusing, interesting, full of hatred or emotion or full of pleasure.
2.2.3 Poetry
There are many definition of poetry coming from the poets and critics so it is almost impossible to define poetry. The words of poetry derived from the Greek word, Poiein. Poiein means that it to make or to construct. According to S. T Coleridge, a well-known writer, poetry is the product of the poet’s imagination and the best words in the best order. Ralp Waldo Emerson says that poetry is the perpetual endeavor to express the spirit of thing, to pass the brute body and search the life and reason which cause it to be exist. For it isn’t meter, but a meter making argument (idea) that, make a poem. Edgar Allan Poe says that the poetry is the rhythmical creation of beauty. It is sole arbiter is with intellectual or with the conscious it has only collateral relation. Wordsworth in Peck and Loyle (1984: 11) states that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling, expression of emotion, and it is always concerned with ordinary human concerns, with the daily matters of one’s life. It may say that poetry is words which are arranged in a regular pattern of rhymed and accented lines or the art of writing of literary words in metrical form. But poem is a meditation or reflection upon life and also argument about something (Marsitowarni; 2003).
Poetry may be a matter of grace and beauty, but it may also represent sheer impractical fancy. The association of the word with beauty and with imagination instead of actuality is supported by the meaning usually provided by the dictionary, which stresses poetry’s being beautiful and capable of arousing an imaginative emotional response. (Danzinger &Johnson, 1968: 13)
According to Hornby (2002) Poetry is a collection of poems; poems in general. It is literature in its most intense, most imaginative, and most rhythmic forms. Basically, poetry is written in lines of arbitrary length instead of in paragraph. In general, poetry’s richness in imagery, particularly in metaphor, results in a far greater concentration of meaning (Morner, 1991: 169).
According to Holman (1960) in his book “A Handbook to Literature”, Poetry is a term applied to the many forms in which man has given a rhythmic expression to his most imaginative and intense perception of his own world and the relationship of the two. Only through and examination of its significance can a definition be made about poetry. Poetry is written in many languages but the language of poetry is quite different from the language of science, journalism or history and language of philosophy. There are some qualities of poetry’s language in terms of diction, imagery and figurative language.
2.3 Theoretical Framework
2.3.1 Sociology Literary Criticism
Sociological literary criticism is the type of literary criticism which is defined as criticism that focuses on the social context that the literature is created in. Sociological Criticism is literary criticism directed to understanding literature in its larger social context. Sociological criticism analyzes both how the social functions in literature and how literature works in society. This form of literary criticism was introduced by Kenneth Burke, a 20th-century literary and critical theorist, whose article "Literature As Equipment for Living" outlines the specification and significance of such a critique.
Sociological Criticism is influenced by New Criticism, however it adds a sociological element as found with critical theory (Frankfurt School), and considers art as a manifestation of society, one that contains metaphors and references directly applicable to the existing society at the time of its creation.
2.3.2 Semiotics
Semiotics is the study of signs and symbols and of their meaning and use (Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 2007). Semiotics as the science of signs in society. The study of social semiotics offers the promise of a systematic, comprehensive, and coherent study of communication phenomena as a whole, not just as instances of it (Saussure, 1983). But, according to Pierce (in Barthes, 1983) semiotic is an account of signification, representation, reference, and meaning.
Semiology is study about sign. Semiology therefore aims to take in any system of signs, whatever their sub­stance and limits; images, gestures, musical sounds, objects, and the complex associations of all these (Barthes, 1983: 9).
2.3.3 Sign
According to Oxford Dictionary, sign is an object, quality, or event whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. Then, Saussure (1983:67) defines a sign in terms of signifier and signified. But according to Pierce (in Endraswara, 2003: 65) there are three types of sign based on the relationship between the sign and signifier. They are icon, symbol, and index. Thus, Pierce does not focus on just material or concrete signs, but any kind of sign.
2.3.3 Symbol
Symbol/symbolic is a mode in which the signifier does not resemble the signified but which is fundamentally arbitrary or purely conventional so that the relationship must be learnt. Symbol is assigned arbitrarily or is accepted as societal convention. (Pierce, 1931: 58) Folley (1997:112) defines symbol as a sign in which the relationship between its form and meaning is strictly conventional, neither due to physical similarity or contextual constraints.
Etimologically, a symbol is “something thrown together”. The ultimate source is Greek, sumballein, it formed from the prefix sum-“together” and the suffix ballein “throw”. So symbol is something thrown together (Ayto:1990). The notion of ‘throwing or putting things together’ led on to the notion of ‘contrast’ and so sumballein came to be used for ‘compare’. it was derived from sumbolon, which denoted an ‘indentifying token’—because such tokens were compared with a counterpart to make sure that were genuine — and hence an ‘outward sign’ of something”. (Ayto, Dictionary of word origins. Arcade,1990).
The word symbol who is derived from the Greek word symbolon in ancient Greece it was a custom to break a slate of burned clay into several pieces and give each individual in a group one piece as a mark of identification. When, at a later date, they met and fitted the pieces together (Greek symbollein) it confirmed that the persons were the same ones, or representatives of those, who had received the pieces of clay in the first place.
The use of the word symbol was widened to include the engraved shells that were employed by those initiated in the mysteries, both as marks of identification and as essential components in ritual gatherings. It was only a short step away to the word’s eventual meaning, in which an object, either through a visual similarity or a common agreement between those using it, represented something other than itself.
For example, Angel is a symbol of Hope, goodness, purity, protection, comfort and consolation. They also represent the spiritual nature of the being. A word, a phrase, or an image used with some kind of special reference (which is what a symbol is usually taken to mean) are all symbols when they are distinguishable elements in critical analysis. From the word symbol came the concept of symbolism where one object is used to refer to something else. Even the letters a writer spells his words with form part of his symbolism in this sense: they would be isolated only in special cases, such as alliteration or dialect spellings, but we are still aware that they symbolize sounds. Criticism as a whole, in terms of this definition, would begin with, and largely consist of, the systematizing of literary symbolism. It follows that other words must be used to classify the different types of symbolism.
Symbolism is used in literature to give to the literary work meaning that goes beyond what is evident to the reader. Symbolism helps in giving the piece of writing feeling and mood without the writer having to actually spell out the same. By giving certain things human like characteristics and also defining them with certain qualities, the writer can manage to give the novel another level that may refer to things that are completely alien from what is mentioned in the piece of writing. A symbol, in a broadest use of term, is anything which signifies something else; in this sense, all words are symbols. As commonly used in criticism, however, “symbol’ is applied only to a word or phrase signifying an object which itself has significance; that is, the object referred to has a range of meaning beyond itself. Some symbols are conventional and public, Klarer (1976:140) says a symbol is a thing that suggest more than its literal meaning in a literary text. He divides symbol into two kinds; they are conventional and private symbol.

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