Ppt poetry

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AN ANALYSIS OF PEOPLE’S FOOLISHNESS IN SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH BEYOND THE LIFE AS DEPICTED IN THE POEM "NEITHER OUT FAR NOR IN DEEP" BY ROBERT FROST

Transcript of Ppt poetry

AN ANALYSIS OF PEOPLE’S FOOLISHNESS IN SEARCHING FOR THE TRUTH BEYOND THE LIFE AS DEPICTED IN THE POEM "NEITHER OUT FAR NOR IN DEEP" BY ROBERT FROST

INTRODUCTION

It is human nature to have a high curiosity and the desire to dream. Life’s greatest mystery—the afterlife—seems to have a high impact in stealing people’s attention to solve it. However, it does not mean that we have to spend all of our time to only think about it, for we have another purpose of life to live our own live.

Poetry is mostly used as a mediator for emotion and feelings of the poet into a piece of art. People express their feelings about many kinds of topics.

“Initially, poetry might be defined as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language” (Perrine, Sound and Sense, 1988:3).

Robert Frost, in his poem ‘Neither out Far nor in Deep’ depicts the way people unbalance their live through seeking for the truth beyond the life that they are dying to know.

The Poet

Robert Lee Frost, who was the most celebrated poet in America by the 1920s, was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, California. When he was eleven years old, his father, William Prescott Frost Jr., died from tuberculosis. Thus he and his mother, Isabelle Moodie, also his sister, Jeanie, who was two years younger, moved to Lawrence, Massachusetts. Frost became interested in reading and writing poetry during his high school years in Lawrence, where he met his wife, Elinor Miriam White, who later became his wife and his major inspiration for his poetry. He went to Darmouth College in Hanover, Hew Hampshire, in 1892 for several months, and later at Harvard University in Boston, but not until finished due to the health factor. Frost worked as a teacher, cobbler and editor of the Lawrence Sentinel after leaving school.

Frost’s first published poem was My Butterfly appeared on November 8 1892, in the New York newspaper The Independent. His life was tough. He wasn’t recognized in his first 40 years of his life, and he had to face some failures in his life. He had six children from his marriage with Elinor. Two of them had mental illness, and unfortunately, two others died from certain illnesses. Perhaps, this priceless experience of life inspired Frost to make poems that commonly talk about the meaning of life, death and also the nature of reality. In 192, he moved to England, and he was influenced by some poets: Edward Thomas, Rupert Brooke and Robert Graves. He also established a friendship with Ezra Pond. He returned to United States in 1915, and he was welcomed very well.Frost died of complications from prostate surgery in Boston on January, 29, 1963. During his life, he had won four Pulitzer Prizes and became a special guest at President John F. Kennedy’s inauguration. Some of his works are in the Clearing (Hold Rinehart & Winston, 1962), Steeple Bush (Henry Holt and Company, 1947), The Lone Striker (Knopf, 1933), etc.

The Poem

Neither Out Far nor In DeepThe People along the sandAll turn and look one way.

They turn their back on the land.They look at the sea all day.

As long as it takes to passA ship keeps raising its hull;The wetter ground like glass

Reflects a standing gull.

The land may vary more;But wherever the truth may be---

The water comes ashore,And the people look at the sea.

They cannot look out far.They cannot look in deep.

But when was that ever a barTo any watch they keep?

Translation

Tidak Jauh ke Luar ataupun ke DalamOrang-orang sepanjang pasirSemua berbalik dan melihat satu arah.Mereka membalik punggung mereka ke tanah.Mereka melihat ke laut sepanjang hari.

Selama ini mengambil waktu untuk berlalu Sebuah kapal tetap menaikkan lambungnya;Tanah basah seperti gelasMencerminkan seekor burung camar yang berdiri.

Tanah bisa lebih beragam;Tetapi di mana pun kebenaran bisa saja ada---Air datang ke darat,Dan orang-orang menatap laut.

Mereka tidak bisa melihat jauh ke luar.Mereka tidak bisa melihat dalam.Tetapi akankah menjadi penghalangUntuk setiap tontonan yang mereka lakukan?

LITERARY REVIEW

3.1 Intrinsic Elements3.1.1 Figurative Language - Symbol

Based on the book Understanding the Elements of Literature by Richard Taylor (1981: 175-176), “symbol means to represent or to stand for (stand in place of).......include under subdivisions or distinctions according to the kind of meaning and the way in which it is a sign”. It can be said that symbol acquires meaning through the context of particular work, because symbols mean beyond the dictionary meaning of the words. As in an example quoted from Robert Frost’s Red Red Rose, “O my Luve is like a red, red rose”, we can see that the rose symbolizes the love.

3.1.2 Imagery“Imagery may be defined as the

representation through language of sense experience.” (Perrine, Sound and Sense, 1988: 54). As written in the book The Criticism of Poetry (1974: 98), “Images can be classified according to the sense to which they are directed: sound; sight (colour or shape images); taste; smell; touch (thermal or tactile images); movement (kinaesthetic images).”

3.1.2.1 Sight (Visual Imagery)The example of visual imagery in William Carlos Williams’ poem ‘The Widow’s Lament in Spring Time’:masses of flowers load the cherry branches and color some bushes yellow and some redThe poem allows us to see the scenery of flowers which grow in the cherry branches, and we can also see the yellow and red bushes.

3.1.3 Form and Meter3.1.3.1 ABAB Rhyme Scheme

“A rhyme is a repetition of similar sounding words occurring at the end of lines in poems or songs.” (www.literarydevices.net). “The ABAB rhyme scheme means that for every four lines, the first and third lines will rhyme with each other and the second and fourth lines will also rhyme with each other.” (www.study.com).

The colors caressing each other up high (rhyme: a)Mixing and mating to create something new (b)The setting sun painting a cloudy sky (a)Presenting to us a spectacular view (b)

3.1.3.2 Iambic Trimeter“An iamb is a literary device that can be defined as a foot

containing unaccented and short syllables followed by a long and accented syllable in a single line of a poem (unstressed/stressed syllables).” (www.literarydevices.net). “Trimeter is a poetic device that is defined as a meter or a line that consists of three iambic feet. It is one of the five main types of iamb. An iamb is a foot that contains an unaccented syllable followed by an accented syllable).” (www.literarydevices.net). Here is the example from the poem ‘The Idle Life I Lead’ by Robert Bridges”

Is like a pleasant sleepWherein I rest and heedThe dreams that by me sweep.

3.2 Extrinsic Elements3.2.1 Human’s Existence

The existence of humans must be for some reasons. The Bible states the purposes of human’s existence in two ways: general purpose and personal purpose. General purpose means “A purpose that applies to all humans is that of knowing and enjoying God” (www.compellingtruth.org). While personal purpose means that God has given us the personal touch so that we are different from others, and with that we have a specific purpose in this world that God has planned. “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.” (Romans 12: 6-8).

3.2.2 After-Life (Mystery)The after-life can be considered as the life’s

greatest mystery. Nobody knows clearly about it. Generally, after-life means the eternal life that we will get after we die. The Bible mentions it in many verses, and two of them are:• then the dust will return to the earth as it was, and the spirit will return to God who gave it. (Ecclesiastes 12:7)• "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matthew 25:46)

3.2.3 Human’s Foolishness and Folly If we see it through Bible, It has much to say about fools and

their foolishness. In general, it is related to disregarding God’s Word. There are some characteristics of the fools that The Bible mentions. The foolishness and folly that the poem means are mentioned in these verses:• Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. (John 4:7)• Do not excessively righteous and do not be overly wise. Why should you ruin yourself?• But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. (Matthew 6: 33-34)

DISCUSSION

4.1. Intrinsic Aspects4.1.1 Figurative Language – Symbol

Frost uses a lot symbols in this poem. We can find them almost in all stanzas. In the first stanza, we can find three symbols:The People along the sandAll turn and look one way.They turn their back on the land.They look at the sea all day.The people along the sand symbolizes a group of time-wasters that spend all their time to stand on the sand (that we can interpret as a beach). It is perfectly shown us that people is plural. They all look and do the same thing, just like robots that are controlled. In this case, they are controlled by their own mind to look at one way—a very narrow scope, which is the sea, that symbolizes a very mesmerizing thing that people keep looking at. They seem to think that through keep staring at the sea all the time, they will unlock the life’s greatest mystery, that perhaps an after-life. They forget to take care of their own life, as symbolized by the land in line three. The land is a perfect word in this poem to represent all the stuff on life that those people forget.

One more symbol appears on the eighth line:The wetter ground like glassReflects a standing gull.This gull symbolizes the people that isolate themselves while they are thinking about the things they do not see or understand—the sea. Why a gull? Frost says a standing gull. It is strange since gulls are rarely seen alone. This gull is isolated. The people are standing along, but they isolate themselves, because their minds and souls are not there, just like this gull, who is supposed to be with its group.

4.1.2 Imagery (Visual Imagery)Frost allows the readers to see the scenery of the sea that can be seen

through the beach by using the visual imagery as seen in the second stanza: As long as it takes to passA ship keeps raising its hull;The wetter ground like glassReflects a standing gull.The first and second line of this second stanza show us what is happening on the sea. It says that there is a ship that is sailing, and this kind of view happens all the time. No matter how long and how often they stare at the sea, the view they see will be just exactly the same. It means that no matter how hard they try to see what probably there in the after-life, which is symbolized by the sea, they will only see the sailing ship, which means nothing special happens—never. They know they will only see that “sailing ship”, but they keep gazing the sea in hope that they will find something to solve the mystery there.

This clearly gives the readers the atmosphere of a beach. The third stanza produces the image of the ground that becomes wet because of the water of the sea, and it makes the ground shines like a glass. The fourth line of this second stanza pictures the silhouette of a standing gull that is reflected by the wetter ground. The meaning of it has been explained in the previous part (Symbol).

4.1.3 Rhyme and Meter4.1.3.1 ABAB Rhyme SchemeThe readers will notice that the poem contains four stanzas, and every stanza each contain four lines. Each line ends with ABAB rhyme which may be a common form for a poem. Frost may have a specific purpose of making such a rhyme. It sounds like the wave that moves up and down, for Frost sets the poem to have the beach atmosphere.

4.1.3.2 Iambic TrimeterThe unstressed and stressed syllabic pattern of three iambs

may let us to feel the sensation of the sea. As the readers can see in the second line:

All turn and look one way.This pattern may allow us to feel that we are right above the

sea with its big wave that moves up and down. Although Frost does not write the word “wave” at all, but through reading this, we may feel it, for Frost strongly gives the proper pattern to depict it. However, Frost does not rigidly write the poem in the pattern of iambic trimeter, as seen in line 4 when it comes to the words “at the”. It shows that this poem is a good balance between the conventional and modern form and meter, for Frost writes it traditional form with the ABAB rhythm and the iambic trimeter, yet he keeps the flexibility.

4.2 Extrinsic Elements4.2.1 People’s Foolishness in Searching for the Truth beyond the Life

It has been explained in the literary review that people have two ways of purpose within their lives: general purpose and personal purpose. However, not a small number of people ignore this. A lot of people do not understand and close their eyes with what they should do to their lives. Indeed, there is a general purpose that God wants all the human beings to know and enjoy Him. However, God also has the personal touch on people’s lives. The prophet Abraham, Noah, Joseph and others were personally called by God for specific time with their abilities to do His specific purposes. God also create all human beings with different characteristics and abilities. All people are unique, so that no one is exactly the same as the others. Some people are good at teaching, and some others are good at leading. People have to use these abilities to fulfill the personal purposes to God in this world. However, a lot of people tend to loose balance on their lives. They tend to be worried, and they put too much curiosity on thing that they will not see or clearly understand while they still live in this world—the after-life.

The after-life is the life’s greatest mystery that nobody can clearly solve. This is God’s mystery. Nothing can be eternal, but in the after-life. If people do good things in this world, they will get the eternal happiness in the after-life, yet for those who disobey God will get the eternal punishment. Everything in its time will return to God. These are what people should know. However, a lot of people are too busy to worry, and they do not realize that they have fallen themselves down into a well of emptiness. They prefer doing this to trying to get into the best place in the after-life.

These people are overwhelmed by their foolishness. They ignore their world’s stuffs and only think about the greatest mystery of life.

The land may vary more;But wherever the truth may be---The water comes ashore,And the people look at the sea.This third stanza means that even if the land is more various, they only care about gazing the sea, something they cannot reach out. Nobody cares about their world’s stuffs, even if the water comes ashore. The third and fourth line means that even if when a little bit of the truth of the world’s greatest mystery that they are trying to solve is coming to them, they will not care about it, and they will not even realize because they are too busy to stare at the sea. They are too busy to look for something which in an uncertainty. They are just too foolish to realize what they are really doing.

They cannot look out far.They cannot look in deep.But when was that ever a barTo any watch they keep?No matter how long or how deep they try to see, there is nothing they will get. Since it is the life’s greatest mystery, it will keep being mysterious even if they spend their whole life seeking on it. How could they hope that the after-life world will welcome and love them if they do not even respect and love themselves? It may be a part of human nature to have a high curiosity and to dream, yet they do it too much that they do not have time to love themselves even more the people around them because they even forget to live the life that is in front of them.

A transcendentalist poem that has a very interesting deep meaning in the theme of foolishness as something that people have yet often do not realize. Setting the poem in the situation and atmosphere of a beach with the use of the ABAB rhyme and the iambic trimeter pattern that allows the readers to feel the sensation or at least the view of the waves that move up and down, Frost depicts the way people show their foolishness through gazing at the sea, that symbolizes something beyond the life, which means the life’s greatest mystery—the afterlife—all the time. These people do not care about their world’s stuffs. They keep gazing at the sea even if all they see is only a sailing ship, and no more surprising or interesting thing.

The after-life always becomes an interesting topic, and it is something that brings a high curiosity, especially for the people that has a high curiosity as the human nature. Frost wants to depict how foolish these people are, for they waste their time dreaming and waiting for the uncertainty, instead of trying to get into the best place in the “after-life”. They have no balance in life. They are dreaming, instead of living their lives.