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1.6 Method of Study 1.6.1 Research Method
The method of the study in this paper is descriptive qualitative approach. A qualitative approach is defined as a description of observations which is not
ordinary expressed in quality terms. Nazir 1998:64 says that descriptive method is a method of research that makes description of the situation of event or
occurrence. 1.6.2 Data Collecting Method
Nawawi 1991: 157 says that sample is a part of population to represent the whole population. The sample of this analysis are collected from William
Blake‟s selected poems. In the sample of analysis, the writer applies purposive sampling method. Nawawi 1991:157 saya that in this technique, sampling is
adjusted with the purpose of the study. In another word, sample is adjusted with the certain criteria, which is decided based on the purpose of the study.
1.6.3 Data Analyzing Method
The process of analyzing data will be done in group. First, all data from William Blake‟s poem is selected to find non literal meaning. Then, the data will
be grouped according to the kinds of non literal meaning. For example, the first term is about personification, so I will collect all example of personification from
the whole poem which is selected in group. The same thing will be done for other non literal meaning. And the last is to describe the meaning of each data. All the
analysis will be done in the descriptive way by explaining one by one to each non literal meaning and find what the most dominant non literal meaning expression
are found.
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2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 2.1 The Definition of Semantics
The history of linguistics shows periods in which semantics received more or less attention. In the nineteenth century linguists concentrated more on
phonology and morphology and semantics suffered from comparative neglect. With the advent of structuralism at the beginning of the 20th century, it
looked as if semantics might achieve the status it deserved. However, the development of American structuralism between the two world wars did
nothing to further linguistic interest in semantics. Such prominent linguists as Leonard Bloomfield active in the 1920s and 1930s regarded semantics as too
difficult to deal with scientifically and left it to one side. The same is true of early transformational grammar in the 1950s. Only in the mid 1960s did the interest of
linguists turn to semantics once more. Since then there have been many works on semantics both within models of grammar and outside. Despite these
efforts there are no coherent theories of semantics on a par with those in syntax and phonology.
Semantics is the study of meaning in language. Meaning is a much less tangible notion than those introduces in the above chapters on phonology,
morphology and syntax. Meaning has a strong subjective element to it and it is spread across other levels of language as will be discussed below. It is also a
contact area with other disciplines such as philosophy and logic. Philosophical semantics looks at the relations between linguistic expressions and
the phenomena in the nonlinguistic world to which they refer and examines the
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conditions under which they are true or false. This type of semantics goes back to Classical Greece, to the three main philosophers Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. In
the sphere of logic, semantics is important as a system of logical analysis where it is not so much the relation between language and the outside world which is of
concern but rather the internal formal relationships between terms in a logical system.
According some linguists, semantic can be defined as follows : 1
Semantic is the study of the meaning. It concerned with what sentences and other linguistics object express, not with the arrangement of their syntactic
parts of their pronounciation Katz, 1972:2 2
Semantic is generally defined as the study of meaning Lyons, 1977:2 3
Semantic is the study of meaning communicated through language Saeed, 1997:1
4 Semantic is a mayor branch of linguistics devoted to the studyof meaning in
language Crystal, 1980:315 5
Semantics is the technical term used to refer to the study of meaning Palmer, 1976:1
2.2 The Scope of Semantics
