a. Approaches in Literary Analysis
According to Rohberger and Woods 6, there are five kinds of approaches in analyzing a literary works. They are Formalist approach, Biographical
approach, Sociocultural-Historical approach, Mythopoeic approach, and Psychological approach.
The first approach is the “Formalist Approach.” This approach analyzes the work of art only. In other words, this approach does not need any reference
from other resources, like the author’s life, the social condition at the time the author’s live, etc. In short, the approach is mainly focusing on the work only.
The second approach is the “Biographical Approach.” This approach proposes the idea that the only way to understand literature is by asserting the
necessity and appreciation of ideas and personality of the author. The third approach is “Sociocultural-Historical Approach”. Sociocultural-
Historical Approach is an approach that examines the work of art in reference to the civilization. Then the attitude and the actions of specific group of people
become the subject matter. The fourth approach is “Mythopoeic Approach”. This approach tries to
discover certain universality and recurrent patterns of human thoughts in the works of art which are believed to have expression in the works.
The fifth approach is “Psychological Approach.” Critics that involve the effort to locate and demonstrate certain recurrent patterns of human psychology in
the works of art.
This study will apply the Sociocultural-Historical and Biographical Approaches. Sociocultural-Historical Approach is used because it is appropriate
approach to apply in analyzing the poems using the history time line and moments that happened that time, in this study specified in the Second Battle of Ypres as
part of the First World War. Rohrberger and Woods 8 mention that Biographical approach is the
necessity for an appreciation of the ideas and personality of the author to an understanding of the literary object. This approach insists that a work of art is a
reflection of a personality that in the esthetic experience of the reader shares the author’s consciousness and that at least part of the reader’s response is to the
author’s personality. According to Mario Klarer 90-91, biographical approach gives a direct
link between the literary text and the author’s background, which means that inside the author’s works there is a connection between the author’s life and the
text in the literary works that he or she creates. The biographical approach is also useful to analyze the author’s
background of creating his or her works which might also be important to catch the meaning of the literary works. However, it is important not to go too deeply
because the main discussion is not on the author but on the works.
b. Intrinsic Elements of the Poem
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