Bundel ke 2 LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/2 April 2009 1 UNFORGETTABLE DREAM IN BRENNAN’S POEM Henriono Nugroho – University of Jember h-nugroho@hotmail.com Abstract This article concerns with a stylistic analysis on a poem in terms of Systemic Functional Linguistics and Verbal Art Semiotics. The writing uses library research, qualitative data, documentary study, descriptive method and intrinsic-objective approach. The semantic analysis results in both automatized and foregrounded meanings. Then the automatized meaning produces lexical cohesion and in turn, it produces subject matter. Meanwhile, the foregrounded meaning produces the literary meaning and in turn, it creates theme. Finally, the analysis indicates that the subject matter is about a young man in his girlfriend‟s dream, the literary meaning is about the memory of dream and the theme is about the unforgettable dream. Keyword: automatized meaning, foregrounded meaning, subject matter, literary meaning, theme Introduction Generally, there are several theories of stylistics namely formal, functional, feminine, pragmatic, affective, cognitive, pedagogical and critical (Webber, 1996). Particularly the functional stylistics includes Functionalism, Systemic Functionalism, Tagmemics, Prague School Functionalism and West Coast Functionalism (Matthiessen, 1995). Based on Systemic Functional Linguistics, language can be ordered in contexts with cline of instantiation (actualization over time): context of culture and language, situation types and registers, situations and texts, and situation and text (Halliday & Matthiessen, 1999). According to Halliday and Matthiessen (1999), moreover, context of culture (cultural context) concerns with meaning potential (overall meaning), and context of situation (situational context) deals with the actualization of meaning potential (actualized meaning potential). Meanwhile, Kluckhohn (1953) claims that culture (cultural context) refers to notions, values and norms, whereas the domain of socio-cultural context corresponds to universal categories such as language, art, science, technology, economy, social organization and religion. The language order is outlined in Figure 1. mailto:h-nugroho@hotmail.com 2 LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/1 April 2009 Fig. 1 The Interrelatedness of Context, Language, Situation and Text context of culture situation types situations situation (cultural context) (socio-cultural context) (social context) (situational context) language registers texts text Note: stratification = instantiation = In fact, a text is a semantic unit and a clause is a grammatical unit (Halliday, 1994). Then, semantics is an interface between context of situation and lexicogrammar; in this sense the semantic systems are related “upward” to contextual systems and they are related “downward” to lexicogrammatical systems (Halliday, 1993). The contextual systems are Field, Tenor and Mode. The semantic systems are Ideational, Interpersonal and Textual Meanings. The lexicogrammatical systems are Complexing, Transitivity, Mood and Theme. In addition, the semantic systems are related “sideways” to discoursal systems (Eggins, 1994). The discoursal systems are structural conjunction, lexical cohesion, conversational structure and grammatical cohesion. The interrelationship of situation, discourse, semantics and lexicogrammar is diagrammed in Table 1. Table 1 The Relation of Context, Text and Clause C o n te x t Situation Field Subject Matter Tenor Role Relation Mode Rhetoric T e x t Discourse Structural Conjunction ** Lexical Cohesion Conversational Structure * Grammatical Cohesion LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/2 April 2009 3 Semantics # Logical Meaning # Experiential Meaning Interpersonal Meaning Textual Meaning C la u s e Lexicogrammar Complexing Transitivity *** Mood Theme Note: # Logical Meaning & Experiential Meaning = Ideational Meaning * Including Reference, Substitution, Ellipsis and Cohesive Conjunction ** Including Reiteration & Collocation *** Including Polarity and Modality Moreover, literariness is defined as the difference between automatization or background and defamiliarization or foreground (Jefferson, 1995: 37). Background is also called ground, automatization, familiarization, and the normal, habitual, canonical, common, automatized or familiarizing pattern, whereas foreground(ing) is also called figure, deautomatization, defamiliar-ization, and the foregrounded, motivated, prominent, dominant, deautomatized or defamiliarizing pattern (Jefferson 1995, Hasan 1985, Halliday 1971). Then, the concept of background and foreground is used by Hasan (1985: 99) to propose the semiotic system of verbal art. The verbal art semiotics deals with verbalization, symbolic articulation and theme, and verbalization itself is the semiotic system of language concerned with phonology, lexicogrammar and semantics. Especially, Verbalization – the lowest stratum – is where the point of primary contact with work reveals the meaning of language (the deep level of meaning). Symbolic articulation – the middle stratum – is where the deep level of meaning functions as a sign, symbol or metaphor for the deeper level of meaning. Finally, Theme – the highest stratum is where the deeper level of meaning creates the deepest level of meaning. This article is concerned with a stylistic analysis on a poem of Christopher Brennan as follows. 4 LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/1 April 2009 Dream There is a breath at midnight that comes in Sadness as a sigh, and then the day is dead And the young man doth his course begin, Sowing new dreams in many a dreamer‟s head And two dreams have waked in one dark bed Just as the last stroke fades in lonely air, Having whispered and having sped With silent feet into sleep‟s poppied lair, In the morning she woke away he was gone; Her tears and kisses were of no avail; Perchance it was his good bye murmured on The midnight in death‟s visionary dale; She thought it was in sleep‟s fairyland When in the dark he pressed her warm soft hand (Christopher Brennan) The Semiotic System of Language Logical Meaning, Logical Metafunction or Logical Semantic Logical meaning is a resource for construing logical relations (Halliday, 1994: 36), and logical meaning describes a clause type (clause complex). In fact, the poem is realized by 2 clauses complexes consisting of 2 main clauses and 14 expanding clauses. Out of 14 expanding clauses, there are 6 paratactic extending clauses, 5 hypotactic elaborating clauses, 2 hypotactic enhancing clauses and 1 hypotactic projected clause. Thus, extension is the automatized pattern, because the poem is frequently realized by extending clauses. Then, logical meaning is realized by complexing (clause complex), and the complexing analysis is presented in Table 2. Table 2 Complexing Analysis No. Notation Logical Relation Clause 1. 1 α Main clause There is a breath at midnight LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/2 April 2009 5 2. 1 =β Elaboration That comes in sadness as a sigh 3. 2 α Extension And the young man doth begin his course 4. 2 =β Elaboration Sowing new dreams in many a dreamer‟s head 5. +3 α α Extension And two dreams have waked in one dark bed 6. 3 α α β Enhancement Just as the last stroke fades in lonely air 7. 3 =β 1 Elaboration Having whispered 8. 3 =β 2 Elaboration And having sped with silent feet into sleep‟s poppied lair 9. 1 Main clause In the morning she woke 10. +2 Extension Away he was gone 11. +3 Extension Her tears and kisses were of no avail 12. +4 α Extension Perchance it was his good bye 13. 4 =β Elaboration Murmured on midnight in death‟s visionary dale 14. +5 α Extension She thought 15. 5 „β Projection It was in sleep‟s fairyland 16. 5 β α β Enhancement When in the dark he pressed her warm soft hand Experiential Meaning, Experiential Meta- function or Experimental Semantics Experiential meaning is a resource for construing experience (Halliday, 1994: 36), and experiential meaning discusses a process type (processes). Actually, the poem is encoded by 7 clauses of material process, 3 clauses of relational process, 2 clauses of behavioral process, 1 clause of mental process and 1 clause of existential process. Therefore, material process is automatized pattern, because it is frequently used in the poem. Then, experiential meaning is encoded by transitivity, and the transitivity analysis is outlined in Table 3. Table 3: Transitivity Analysis No. Process Tenses Clause 1. Existential Present There is a breath at midnight 2. Material Present That comes in sadness as a sigh 3. Material Present continues And the young man doth begin his course 4. Material Present Sowing new dreams in many a dreamer‟s head 5. Material Present And two dreams have waked in one dark bed 6 LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/1 April 2009 6. Material Present Just as the last stroke fades in lonely air 7. Behavioral Present perfect Having whispered 8. Material Present perfect And having sped with silent feet into sleep‟s poppied lair 9. Material Past In the morning she woke 10. Material Past Away he was gone 11. Relational Past Her tears and kisses were of no avail 12. Relational Past Perchance it was his good bye 13. Behavioral Past Murmured on midnight in death‟s visionary dale 14. Mental Past She thought 15. Relational Past It was in sleep‟s fairyland 16. Material Past When in the dark he pressed her warm soft hand Textual Meaning, Textual Metafunction or Textual Semantics Textual meaning is a resource for creating message (Halliday, 1994: 36), and textual meaning explains a theme type (unmarked theme and marked theme). The poem is expressed by 13 clauses of unmarked theme and 3 clauses of marked theme. In fact, the marked theme takes place in clause 9 (circumstance: in the morning), clause 10 (circumstance: away) and clause 16 (circumstance: in the dark). Then, textual meaning is expressed by theme, and theme analysis displayed in Table 4. Table 4: Theme Analysis No. Theme Rheme Textual Marked Unmarked 1. There is a breath 2. That come in the sadness…. 3. And the young man doth begin …. 4. Sowing 5. And two dreams have waked …. 6. Just as the last stroke fades in…… 7. Having whispered 8. And having sped 9. In the morning she woke 10. Away he was gone LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/2 April 2009 7 11. Her tears…… were of no avail 12. Perchance it was his good bye 13. Murmured on…. 14. She thought 15. It was in sleep‟s….. 16. When in the dark he pressed ….. Logogenetic Process According to Halliday and Matthiessen (1998: 184-5), logogenesis is a process of making meaning through an instantial system (a changing system) when text unfolds (in the unfolding text). The speaker/writer uses the instantial system (the changing system) as a resource to create a text, whereas the listener/reader uses the instantial system (the changing system) as a resource to interpret the text. Moreover, Matthiessen (1995: 40) adds that logogenetic process reveals that lexicogrammatical shift (Cf. Butt, 1988: 83 on “latent patterning”) coincides with episodic shift (Hasan, 1988: 60 on “textual structure”). Textual structure is also called narrative structure (O‟Toole, 1983), schematic structure (Martin, 1985), staging structure (Plum, 1988) and generic structure (Eggins, 1994). In this poem, shifts (changes) are described as follow: Shift from unmarked theme (clause 8) to marked theme (clause 9) coincides with shift from the appearance of dream to the memory of dream. Thus, the instantial system of theme is used as a resource for making meanings in the poem, and logogenetic process is demonstrated in Table 5. Table 5 Logogenetic Process Clause number Lexicogrammatical shift Cf. latent patterning Episodic shift Cf. generic structure 1 8 Unmarked theme Unmarked theme The Appearance of Dream 9 16 Marked theme Marked theme The Memory of Dream 8 LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/1 April 2009 Lexical Cohesion Lexical cohesion is made up of several lexical chains, and each chain consists of a number of lexical items. The poem is constructed by 10 lexical chains consisting of 38 lexical items. The lexical chains include He (3), She (2), Material Process (9), Relational Process (3), Behavioral Process (2), Mental Process (1), Existential Process (1), Repetition (8), Synonym (6) and Hyponym (2). Thus, the poem is frequently realized by the main lexical chains of he, material process and repetition. The lexical cohesion is tabulated in Table 6. Table 6 Lexical Cohesion No. Lexical Chain Lexical Item Total 1. He A young man, he, he 3 2. She She, she 2 3. Material Process Comes, doth begin, sowing, have waked, fades, having sped, woke, was gone, pressed 9 4. Relational Process Were, was, was 3 5. Behavioral Process Having whispered, murmured 2 6. Mental Process Thought 1 7. Existential Process There was 1 8. Repetition Midnight-midnight, dark-dark, dreams-dreams, sleep-sleep 8 9. Synonym Sadness = tears, silent = lonely, dead = death 6 11. Hyponym Day-morning 2 Overall total 38 Subject Matter In section 2.2, experiential meaning is frequently realized by material process. In section 2.5, lexical cohesion is frequently encoded by material process. In other words, subject matter is frequently constructed by material process. The analysis of material processes indicates that the functional elements are Actor (the young man), Material Process (appears), Goal (her dream) and Circumstance (at midnight). In brief, subject matter describes that a young man appears in his girlfriend’s dream at midnight. The analysis of material process is outlined in Table 7. Table 7 The Analysis of Material Process LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/2 April 2009 9 No. Actor Process Goal Circumstance 1. Midnight comes in sadness 2. The young man begins his course 3. The young man sows new dreams in a dreamer‟s head 4. Two dreams have waked in the dark bed 5. The last stroke fades in lonely air 6. Two dreams have sped into sleep‟s poppied lair 7. She woke in the morning 8. he was gone away 9. He pressed her soft hand in the dark The Semiotic System of Verbal Art Verbalization: The Deep Level of Meaning In section 2.1, extension is automatized, so a combination of extension, elaboration, enhancement and projection is foregrounded. Thus, the foregrounding of logical relation takes place in clauses 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. In section 2.2, material process is automatized, so other processes (relational, mental and existential) are foregrounded. Therefore, the foregrounding of process occurs in clauses 1, 7, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15. In section 2.3, unmarked theme is automatized, so marked theme is foregrounded. Accordingly, the foregrounding of theme exists in clauses 9, 10, and 16. Then, the pattern of foregrounding is mapped out in Table 8. Table 8 Patterns of Foregrounding No. Logical Relation Process Theme 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. - - - - - - - - X - - - - - X - - - - - - - - - 9. 10. X X - - X X 10 LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/1 April 2009 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. X X X X X X X X X X X - - - - - - X Table 8 reveals that patterning of the various foregrounded patterns points toward clauses 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16. Thus, consistency of foregrounding converges to ward the last clause complex because of the foregrounding of logical relation, process and theme. Then, the consistency of foregrounding makes the foregrounded patterns of the last clause complex produce consistently foregrounded meaning which is also called the deep level of meaning and the first order meaning. In short, the consistently foregrounded meaning is called the deep level of meaning: in the morning she woke but he was gone away; her tears and kisses were of no avail; perchance it was his good bye murmured on midnight in death‟s visionary dale; she thought it was in sleep‟s fairy land when in the dark he pressed her warm, soft hand. Symbolic Articulation: The Deeper Level of Meaning In section 3.1, the deep level of meaning refers to the last clause complex because of the foregrounding of logical relation, process and theme. Then, the deep level of meaning function as the sign, symbol or metaphor of the deeper level of meaning, which is also called the second order meaning and literary meaning. The deep level of meaning suggests that she woke in the morning but he had gone away and her tears and kisses disappeared; in her dreams, he said good bye when he pressed her warm, soft hand. In conclusion, the deep level meaning is the memory of dream. Theme: The Deepest Level of Meaning The deeper level of meaning creates the deepest level of meaning which is also called Theme and the third order meaning. Hasan (1985: 97) states that Theme is the deepest level of meaning in verbal art; it is what a text is about when dissociated from the particularities of that text. In its nature, the Theme of verbal art is very close to generalizations which can be viewed as a hypothesis about some aspect of the social life of man. Moreover, Hasan (1985: 54) adds LANGUAGE CIRCLE Journal of Language and Literature Vol. III/2 April 2009 11 that the deepest level of meaning is a meaning that arises from saying one thing and meaning another. In this poem, saying one thing (the memory of dream) means another (the unforgettable dream). In summary, the deepest level of meaning is the unforgettable dream. Conclusion The lexicogrammatical analysis produces semantic components and there are two kinds of semantic patterns such as automatized and foregrounded. On the one hand, the automatized pattern produces the automatized meaning, and in turn the automatized meaning produces subject matter. At the stratum of Verbalization, on the other hand, consistency of foregrounding makes some foregrounded patterns produce consistently foregrounded meaning which is also called the deep level of meaning and the first order meaning. At the stratum of symbolic articulation, the deep level of meaning functions as symbol, sign or metaphor of the deeper level of meaning which is also called the second order meaning and literary meaning. At the stratum of Theme, the deeper level of meaning creates the deepest level of meaning which is also called Theme and the third order meaning. In summary, there is a symbolic relation between lexicogrammar and Theme in verbal art. Then the meanings in the poem are outlined in Table 8. Table 8 Meanings of Verbal Art Semiotics Verbalization Symbolic Articulation Theme Consistenly Foregrounded Meaning Literary Meaning Theme The Deep Level of Meaning The Deeper Level of Meaning The Deepest Level of Meaning The First Order Meaning The Second Order Meaning The Third Order Meaning References Butt, D. 1988. “Randomness, Order and the Latent Patterning of Text” in David Birch and Michael O‟ Toole (eds.) Functions of Style. London: Pinter Publishers. Butt, D. et al. 1995. Using Functional Grammar. Sydney: Macquarie University. Eggins, S. 1994. An Introduction to Systemic Functional Linguistics. London: Pinter Publishers. Halliday, MAK and R. Hasan. 1985. 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