VISUAL IMAGERY IN WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS POEMS A “Thesis” Submitted to Adab and Humanities Faculty In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Strata 1 (S1) Degree ZAENAL ABIDIN NO.103026027639 ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH” JAKARTA 2010 APPROVAL SHEET VISUAL IMAGERY IN WILLIAM CARLOS WILLIAMS POEMS A “Thesis” Submitted to Adab and Humanities Faculty In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Strata 1 (S1) Degree ZAENAL ABIDIN NO. 103026027639 Approved by Advisor Elve Oktafiyani S.S, M.Hum NIP. 19781003 200112 2002 ENGLISH LETTERS DEPARTMENT ADAB AND HUMANITIES FACULTY STATE ISLAMIC UNIVERSITY “SYARIF HIDAYATULLAH” JAKARTA 2010 i ABSTRACT ZAENAL ABIDIN, Visual Imagery in William Carlos Williams’ Poems, conducted literature research on William Carlos Williams. The objective of this research is finding visual imagery expressions (word, phrase, or action) in William Carlos Williams’ poems under the theme spring and discovering their contribution to the theme. The poutries selected are The Red Wheelbarrow, April, and The Widow’s Lament in The Springtime. Poem is defined as a kind of language that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. On the other hand, Visual imagery is one of the kinds of imagery in poutry that expresses an idea through written way that touches sight sense. The methodology of this research is qualitative. To find the visual imagery in William Carlow Williams poems, firstly, the researcher started with seperating his poems that included into spring, and then selected three of them. After seperation, the researcher conducted data collection method named content analysis, that is seperating visual imagery words in the three poems and analayzing where—in which order of lines—they were situated, and explained the reason why they were included into visual imagery. The final step is seperating those visual imagery words that reveal explicitly the symbols or signs of springtime. In The Research Finding, it is discovered that In The Red Wheelbarrow, the visual imagery reveals in the presence of many objects that are contrasted with the wheelbarrow in red color beside chicken in white color. The visual imagery that contributes to the theme of spring in this poem is rain water. In general, The Red Wheelbarrow composed of words that touch sight sense. Meanwhile, in April, the visual imagery reveals in the presence of natural phenomenon of spring that can easily be enjoyed with eyes, like “Too much of sumac buds, pink in the head”. The visual words in this poem contribute so much to build springtime, there many words that indicate the existence of spring explicitly, like “buds”, “opening of Lilac leaves”, and etc. And in Widow’s Lament in The Springtime, the natural phenomenon of spring comes in almost every lines and touch sight sense. Both April and Widow’s Lament in The Springtime contains visual imagery expressions that contribute to the theme spring. The conclution of this research is that The Red Wheelbarrow, April, and Widow’s Lament in the Springtime use visual imagery in many lines of their body of poetry. Nevertheless, the visual imagery that reveal explicitly the symbols or signs of—in the other word, contribute to—springtime appears only in few places. In short, this research may be the step to conduct another research of other American poems in the same theme. ii LEGALIZATION Name : Zaenal Abidin Reg. Number : 103026027639 Title : Visual Imagery in William Carlos Williams’ Poems The thesis entitled “Visual Imagery in William Carlos Williams’ Poems” has been defended before the Letters and Humanities Faculty’s Examination Committee on August 10th, 2010. It has already been accepted as a partial fulfillment of the requirement for the Strata One Degree. Jakarta, August 10th, 2010 Examining Committee Signature Date 1. Dr. H. Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd (Chair Person)________ ________ NIP. 19650919 200003 1002 2. Drs. A. Saefuddin, M.Pd (Secretary) ________ ________ NIP. 19640710 199303 1006 3. Elve Oktafiyani S.S, M.Hum (Advisor) ________ ________ NIP. 19781003 200112 2002 4. Danti Pudjiati, S.Pd. MM, M.Hum (Examiner I) ________ ________ NIP. 19731220 199903 2004 5. M. Supardi, S.S, M.Hum (Examiner II) ________ ________ NIP. iii DECLARATION I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person nor material which to substantial extent has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of the university or other institute of higher learning, except where due acknowledgment has been made in text. Jakarta, August 10th ,2010 Zaenal Abidin iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT First of all, praises due to the one and only, the master of all creation Allah SWT, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful of the world, the Lord of the Universe for all chance has been given to observe His world with full of guidance and aid to pass it through. May peace and blessing of Allah be upon His messenger, Muhammad SAW, who has filled our heart with love and showed us the light above, his family and his companions. On this occasion, the writer would like to thank beloved parents who have given him their spiritual support and full-financial during his study and the process of making the paper. Thanks to the most meaningful persons, that the writer assures for this work would not finish without their aid and supports. Therefore, the writer would like to thank to: 1. Dr. H. Abdul Wahid Hasyim, M.Ag., the Dean of the Faculty of Adab and Humanities Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta. 2. Dr. Muhammad Farkhan, M.Pd, the Head of English Letters Department, the academic advisor and the guidance counselor of this study, and Drs. A. Saefuddin, M.Pd, the secretary of the English Letters Department. 3. His parents H.EK. Zaenuddin and Hj. Siti Aisyah, the perfect parents he had, who always give their everlasting cares, their contribution, and moral encouragement that they always give to the writer. His brothers and sisters Kang Hasan, A Nunu, A Iyus, The Apong, The ‘Ai, and his beloved younger sister Siti Nur Azizah. All his big Family especially Mang Ade and Mang Ujang. v 4. All lecturers in the English Letters Department, and all the staffs of Adab and Humanities Faculty. 5. The staffs of the Adab and Humanities Library, the staffs of State Islamic University Syarif Hidayatullah Jakarta Library, the staffs of Indonesian University Library, the staffs Atma Jaya Library for all references of this study. 6. His great appreciation especially for Mr. Ari Murthaza who has spent his time to guide the writer in finishing this research paper. And also Mr. Kenzo Fry (An English Native Speaker) and his girl friend Eun Ah for their kindness in sharing idea and giving some references for this paper. 7. All staff and teachers in Keraton Nurul Amal for all support and pray. 8. His girl friend, Neng Rika, that has been supporting him during the study. 9. His friends Borjoe, Sipit, Ema, D’nay, Sanwani, Enjang, Aloy, Aki, Acep, Dani Padang, Neo, Imam, Tabla, Kinz, Bu Meila, Punkchoy, Fitri, Indro Kulo, his past girl Zeky and Uni and all names that are not mentioned in this paper. 10. His beloved students in Nurul Amal Foundation especially Al Khudri for accompanying the writer to face his advisor. And his students in Al Barkah Boarding School. You are all great students. The words are not enough to say any appreciation for your help and contribution on this paper. May Allah, the Almighty bless them all and give them happiness. Jakarta, August 10th, 2010 The Writer vi TABLE OF TABLES 1. Table 1: Kinds of Imagery ................................................................. 15 2. Table 2: Visual Imagery in Red Wheelbarrow .................................. 29 3. Table 3: Red Wheelbarrow’s Contribution to the Theme “Spring” ... 30 4. Table 4: Visual Imagery in April ....................................................... 36 5. Table 5: Red Wheelbarrow’s Contribution to the Theme “Spring” ..... 38 6. Table 6: Visual Imagery in Widow’s Lament in the Springtime ....... 45 7. Table 7: Widow’s Lament’s Contribution to the Theme “Spring” ...... 47 vii TABLE OF CONTENT APPROVAL SHEET ..................................................................................... i ABSTRACT .................................................................................................... ii LEGALIZATION .......................................................................................... iii DECLARATION ........................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGMENT .............................................................................. v TABLE OF TABLES .................................................................................... vii TABLE OF CONTENT .................................................................................... viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ................................................................ 1 A. Background of Study ............................................................................ 1 B. Focus of the Research ........................................................................... 7 C. Question of the Research ...................................................................... 7 D. Significance of the Research ................................................................ 8 E. Objective of the Research ..................................................................... 8 F. The Research Methodology .................................................................. 8 1. Method of the Research .................................................................... 8 2. Object of the Research ...................................................................... 9 3. The Technique of Data Collection .................................................... 9 4. The Technique of Data Analysis ...................................................... 9 viii CHAPTER II: THE THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .......................... 10 A. Definition of Poetry .............................................................................. 11 B. Imagery ................................................................................................. 12 C. Kinds of Imagery .................................................................................. 15 1. Visual Imagery ............................................................................... 16 2. Auditory Imagery ............................................................................. 17 3. Olfactory Imagery ............................................................................. 18 4. Gustatory Imagery ........................................................................... 19 5. Tactile Imagery ................................................................................. 20 6. Organic Imagery ............................................................................... 20 7. Kinesthetic Imagery .......................................................................... 21 D. Spring ...................................................................................................... 22 CHAPTER III: RESEARCH FINDING ...................................................... 24 A. The Red Wheelbarrow .......................................................................... 24 1. Explication of The Red Wheelbarrow .............................................. 24 2. Visual Imagery in The Red Wheelbarrow ........................................ 25 3. Contribution to the Theme ................................................................ 29 B. April ...................................................................................................... 31 1. Explication of April .......................................................................... 31 2. Visual Imagery in April .................................................................... 33 3. Contribution to the Theme ................................................................ 37 C. The Widow’s Lament in the Springtime .............................................. 45 1. Explication of The Widow’s Lament in the Springtime ................... 39 2. Visual Imagery in The Widow’s Lament in the Springtime ............ 41 3. Contribution to The Theme .............................................................. 46 ix