Background of the Study

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

This chapter provides some information about background of the study, problem formulation, objectives of the study, and benefits of the study and definition of terms. In the background of the study, I explain about the necessity of analyzing the topic and the reason for choosing the topic. Objectives of the study explain the aim of this study. The problems that will be analyzed in this thesis are stated in the problem formulation. Benefits of the study explain to whom this study will be beneficial. The last part of this chapter is the definition of some terms related to this topic.

A. Background of the Study

The First World War 1914-1918 or known as The Great War or War to End All Wars is a big history in a century of a human civilization. It is called as a Great War because more than ten countries from Europe, America, and Asia through Africa plunge themselves onto this deadly combat. France, British, Russia, Italy, Belgium, Romania, America, and Canada were joining the Allied Powers. And Germany, Austro-Hungarian, Turkey, and Bulgaria were joining the Axis Powers. These two battle groups showed the latest and massive military weapons and a large mount of soldier mobilization. This war was triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife Duchess Sophie on Sunday Morning, June 28 th in 1914, in Bosnia. No one ever guess that the sounds of a church bell that heard along the country as a sign of the Archduke dead was also the sign for many people in the battle fields. Some people predict that the battle between Hungarian Empire and the Bosnian only take time for three months. The fact is the war is spread faster through Africa and Asia Pacific and creates a four years battle of horror in the entire world. This war also dragged America to join in the middle of the war in a reason to help the British legion. There is no doubt that The First World War caused damage, destruction, suffers loss and the death of the soldier and the civilians. More than ten million people died after the war. Most people do not realize that however negative the effects of a war, there is also a silver lining hidden in it. As it is hard to see, people usually do not pay attention on this part. The most significant evidence is the influence that war contributed for poets at those times. War had given inspirations for few people and somehow they have their own point of views about war that led to a certain form of art work. One of the examples from the poets who use their own experiences or personalities into their poems is John McCrae. Lieutenant Colonel John Alexander McCrae is one of the greatest war poets during the World War I. He was a Canadian soldier for Ally Forces, and a surgeon doctor in the battle in Belgium. As a part of the Canadian Army Medical Corps that was positioned in Ypres and helped all the wounded and dying soldiers that came in from Ypres, along with other close battles as well. When the Second Battle of Ypres began, McCrae had had never seen anything like the sights he saw there before. He had never seen so many wounded soldiers, dead bodies, and shells and bullets flying before. The death of Helmer had a profound affect on McCrae, and moved him to write the poem. He wrote the poem near Essex Farm, along a canal north of Ypres after Helme’s burial ceremony. He wrote “In Flanders Fields”, which later became his most popular poem, in a lament of his friend dead. From his poems, we can learn what war brought for his life as a soldier and as a human being. I would like to know how John McCrae expresses his view on war as a soldier who defend his country and his faith and also as a victim of war through his works. We can say that a poem is the representative of the soul and mind of its poet. A work of literature, especially poetry, reflects the emotional and intellectual experience of the writer. Every poet has their own style and characteristic. Guth and Rico 472 in Discovering Literature Stories, Poems, Plays, say that “Poetry can be enjoyed and appreciated by everyone. They use a language richer in meaning than ordinary talk. As we read and study poems, we become more sensitive to the poet’s language”. Sometimes with poetry we even can have communication. The characteristic of a poet is determined by his education, religion or belief, family and the society background. John McCrae is a unique poet. Most of his poems using war as the main theme. Therefore I would like to analyze John McCrae’s view of war which reflected in his poem. Experience of life and the way the poet’s point of view influence their works of art. Guth and Rico 793 say that “As we read, we are already attuned to the poet’s way of looking at the world”. Therefore, experience held an important role for the poets because through experience the poets want to share their opinion or communicate their feelings. In order to do so, it would be helpful to see his life background. Many of John McCrae’s poems deals with war, he have ways to view it and also to express it in certain words. In fact he often uses his life experience as the theme for his poems. These experiences let him write poems about war. In his poems “In Flanders Fields”, “The Warrior” and “The Anxious Dead”, John McCrae dig out something more than just a war story, he wants to show what really happens explicitly and implicitly.

B. Problem Formulation