We Are Seven Poetry Analysis
We Are Seven Poetry Analysis
We Are Seven Poetry Analysis
TABLE OF CONTENT........................................................................................... 2
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER V: CONCLUSION............................................................................... 16
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
“Poetry might be defined as a kind of languages that says more and says it
more intensely than does ordinary language. In order to understand this fully,
we need to understand what poetry says. For language is employed o different
occasions to say quite different kinds of things; in other words, language has
different uses.” (Perrine, Sound and Sense, 1988:509)
According to those definitions, a poem can be analyzed what is the meaning of
that poem. Poem analyzing is an activity that we are concerned with explaining the
methods and techniques of taking poem apart in order to arrive at a greater
understanding of both its construction and each meaning. The author uses the poem
We Are Seven to be analyzed.
The scope of this study is to identifying the using of imagery, figurative language
in the poem. The imagery analysis in this study is about the using of seven kinds of
imagery (Kinesthetic, Auditory, Olfactory, Tactile, Gustatory, Organic, and Visual) in
the poem. The using of figurative languages analysis in the poem is about the using
symbol and metaphor aspect in the poem. The study is about extrinsic method in the
poem such as Biographical method, the family, and childhood meaning.
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CHAPTER II
THE POEM
With the help of his two uncles, Wordsworth entered a local school and continued
his studies at Cambridge University. Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787,
when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine . In that same year he entered
St. John's College, Cambridge, from where he took his B.A. in 1791.
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II.2 The Poem
A SIMPLE Child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?
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"Their graves are green, they may be seen,"
The little Maid replied,
"Twelve steps or more from my mother's door,
And they are side by side. 40
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II.3 Translation of The Poem
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“Kuburan mereka hijau, mereka dapat terlihat,"
Jawab gadis kecil itu,
Dua belas langkah atau lebih dari liang kubur ibuku,
Dan mereka bersebelahan.
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CHAPTER III
LITERARY REVIEW
III.1 Intrinsic
III.1.1 Imagery
In a literary text, is an author's use of vivid and descriptive language to add
depth to their work. It appeals to human senses to deepen the reader's
understanding of the work.
“Imagery may be defined as the representation through language of
sense experience. Poetry appeals directly to our senses, of course,
through its music and rhythm, which we actually hear when it is read
aloud.” (Perrine, Sound and Sense, 1988:54)
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III.2.1 Symbol
III.2.2 Metaphor
III.2.3 Irony
III.2 Extrinsic
Extrinsic concerns with the setting, environment and external cause of literature. All
history, all environmental factors can be argued to shape a work of art.
When Wordsworth wrote this poem (We Are Seven), it was in romantic age.
Romantic age was an era in 1800 to 1850. In this period, it was an artistic,
literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe. The main
characteristic in this romantic period is the free expression of the feelings of
the artist. To William Wordsworth, poetry should be "the spontaneous
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overflow of powerful feelings". Not essential to Romanticism, but so
widespread as to be normative, was a strong belief and interest in the
importance of nature. However this is particularly in the effect of nature upon
the artist when he is surrounded by it, preferably alone. In contrast to the
usually very social art of the Enlightenment, Romantics were distrustful of the
human world, and tended to believe that a close connection with nature was
mentally and morally healthy. Romantic art addressed its audiences directly
and personally with what was intended to be felt as the personal voice of the
artist. So, in literature, "much of romantic poetry invited the reader to identify
the protagonists with the poets themselves".
III.2.2 Family
We can divide family into two, good relationship family and bad relationship
family. The example of good relationship family is full of love, caring each
other, and together through happiness and sadness, while the bad relationship
family is may be the one who were divorced, or when the parents were so busy
with their work and forgot their children. In the end it makes a condition where
the child is lack of affection.
III.2.3 Imagination
Imagination, also called the faculty of imagining, is the ability to form new
images and sensations that are not perceived through sight, hearing, or other
senses.
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Memory and imagination have been shown to be affected by one
another. "Images made by functional magnetic resonance imaging
technology show that remembering and imagining sends blood to
identical parts of the brain.” According to Wikipedia about relation
between imagination and memory, since imagination involves many
different brain functions, such as emotions, memory, thoughts etc.,
portions of the brain where multiple functions occur-- such as the
Thalamus and Neocortex-- are the main regions where imaginative
processing has been documented. The understanding of how memory
and imagination are linked in the brain, paves the way to better
understand one's ability to link significant past experiences with their
imagination. Based on the “We Are Seven” poem, the little maid
imagines her dead siblings that they can play, eat, and sing with her.
The imagination happens because of the little maid’s memory about
her siblings when they were still alive.
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CHAPTER IV
DISCUSSION
IV.1 Imagery
A simple girl, I met a little cottage girl: (show the little maid’s appearance)
Her hair was thick with many a curl (show the little maid’s hair)
She has a rustic woodland air, (show the little maid’s body appearance)
And she was wildly clad: (show the little maid’s clothes)
Her eyes were fair and very fair; (show the little maid’s eyes)
“Their graves are green, they may be seen,” (show the little maid’s sibling location)
And they are side by a side. (show the condition of the little maid’s sibling location)
And, when the grass was dry, (show the condition of the grass)
“And when the ground was white with snow (show the condition of the ground)
That lightly draws its breath, (show the action that the little maid takes a breath)
I take my little porringer, (show the action that the little maid takes her porringer)
And eat my supper there. (show the action that she eats her supper)
Together round her grave we played, (show the action that she plays)
And I could run and slide, (show the action that she runs and slides)
And feels its life in every limb, (show the little maid’s feeling)
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IV.1.4 Auditory imagery
VI.2.1 Symbol
The poem shows that the child (the little maid) is an innocent girl. The words
“simple child, little cottage girl, little maid, and sweet maid” are the symbol of
innocence. She doesn’t know about death (death of her siblings) because her 2
siblings are death in the church-yard, but she always says that she has 7
siblings. She can’t handle the meaning of the death. The little maid innocence
is only the refusal of her sibling death. Actually, she knows that her siblings
are death because she also mentions about where the death are buried.
She answered, "Seven are we;
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea.
"Two of us in the church-yard lied,
My sister and my brother;
This childhood also shows the optimism. The little maid more understand
about life and continues her life as good as she can do. She also has positive
thinking in understanding the death. She knows that her sibling bodies are
buried in there, but she still has memories with them and she imagines it to
play and live with them (they are death physically but life in her imagination).
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"And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
The poem shows that the man is critical man. He has already known about
death actually the meaning of death (death of the maid siblings). He know to
feel sad when his family is gone because of his experience. For the man, he
thinks that the maid doesn’t know the meaning of death. He tries to correct the
maid perception that her siblings are still life and live with her.
"You run about, my little Maid,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the church-yard laid,
Then ye are only five."
This adulthood also show the pessimism. The man stays in his opinion that the
maid must understand the death of her siblings. He also has negative thinking
because he thinks that the maid is too optimistic. Finally, the man gives up in
changing the maid’s mind.
The little maid here represents a rural girl because in the poem she is described
as a cottage girl, wildly clad and has a rustic. She represents rural perspective
maybe because of her innocence and she more understands about religion and
God. The little maid actually can move on from her sorrow when she is left by
her siblings. It is different with the man who represents urban perspective in
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understanding death. The man is growing adult that can lose his innocent and
thinks that when your siblings or family died, you must feel sad and count it as
the death.
In the beginning of the poem, the little maid says that she lives with her
siblings, but she also says that her sibling is church-yard.
She answered, "Seven are we;
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea.
"Two of us in the church-yard lie,
My sister and my brother;
When the man argues the maid’s mind that she just has only five live siblings,
the maid still stands in her mind that her siblings is still live. She also says that
he often sings and plays with them. It can be said as a verbal irony that the
maid’s siblings are died but the maid still imagines that they are live.
The real situation is the little maid siblings were dead. She just imagined that
they are still alive. She played with them in the graveyard. This condition is
caused because she is still a child who has innocence in his mind.
IV.5 Metaphor
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5. Till God released her of her pain;
In this line, the meaning is the maid’s sister died because of illness.
In the poem “We Are Seven” by William Wordsworth, the little maid is an
innocent girl who has a family. She has mother, but her father is unknown (no
information in the poem), and she has 7 siblings. The little was happy when
she still lived with their family. Based on the poem, when her siblings was still
alive, they were often eating their supper, knitting and hemming, playing and
singing together. The little maid was very happy when her sibling was still
alive. Unfortunately, her siblings were gone one by one. She began to feel
lonely and sad. To cover her sadness, she was imagining her siblings to be
alive.
In those lines, she imagines that she still can knit or hem with them even sings
to them. She also imagines that they are still eating their supper together in the
graveyard. For her brother John, she imagines that she often plays with him
when the grass was dry. Her sister Jane was also often running and sliding
with her when the ground was white with snow In fact, her siblings were dead
so all those thing that she is doing is the representation of her sadness.
People who lack the mental capacity to understand the nature of their acts may
be regarded as innocent regardless of their behavior. From this meaning comes
the term innocent to refer to a child under the age of reason. Because the little
maid still has innocence in her childhood, she still imagines that her siblings
are alive and living near her.
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CHAPTER V
CONCLUSION
From the analysis, the conclusion of the poem of William Wordsworth “We are
seven” is very touching and absolutely great. We can learn about life (Family, Childhood and
Dead) from the girl. Her innocence teaches us, that the death is not all about losing
something. After the death we have to continue the live as better as possible. Family is
always in our heart.
Although her siblings are dead, she still imagines that they are alive, and she plays
with them in around their graves. The man who has got his knowledge about death tries to
change the little maid’s mind, but it’s like wasting his word. Unlike the little maid, the man
hasn’t his innocence anymore. The little maid is optimistic about her life, and she actually
doesn’t deny that her siblings are dead. She just uses her innocence and imagination to make
her happy and not to sad.
In this poem, there are imagery and figurative language. In imagery, there are visual,
kinesthetic, auditory, and organic imagery. Then, in figurative language, there are symbol,
irony, and metaphor aspect. The using of these elements made the poem more beautiful and
amazing to read.
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CHAPTER VI
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Perrine, Laurence. 1988. Literature, Structure, Sound and Sense. Florida: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich.
Rene’Wellek and Austin Warren. 1900. Theory of Literature. England. Penguin Books.
Pradopo, Djoko. 1993. Author of “Pengkajian Puisi”. Yogyakarta: Gadjah Mada University
Press.
Minderop, Albertine. 2005. Author of Metode Karakteristik Telaah Puisi. Jakarta: Yayasan
Obor Indonesia.
Keraf, Gorys. 1984. Author of “Diksi dan Gaya Bahasa”. Jakarta: PT Gramedia Pustaka
Utama.
http://www.ehow.com/info_10073998_types-imagery-poems.html
http://id.wikipedia.org
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