Analysis of The Linguistic Deviations in e.e.cummings' Poems.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT …………………………………………………… i
TABLE OF CONTENTS …………………………………………………….. ii
ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………iii
CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study ………………………….….………………… 1
Statement of the Problem ………………………………….…………….5
Purpose of the Study ……………………………………….…………….5
Methods of Research …………………………………………………….5
Organization of the Thesis ………………………………………………6
CHAPTER TWO: THEORY OF LINGUISTIC DEVIATION...…………….7
CHAPTER THREE: ANALYSIS OF THE LINGUISTIC DEVIATIONS
IN e.e cummings’ POEMS ….…………………………15
CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION …………………………………………33
BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………..38
APPENDIX
“(listen)”……………………..……………………………………..….....40
“in Just-”………...………………………………………………………..42

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ABSTRACT

Tugas Akhir ini berisi suatu analisis terhadap deviasi linguistik yang
terdapat di dalam dua puisi e.e. cummings, yaitu “(listen)” dan “in Just-”. Analisis
tersebut merupakan bagian dari stilistika, ilmu yang (1) meneliti ungkapanungkapan yang spesifik dalam bahasa dan (2) mendeskripsikan tujuan dan efek
dari penggunaan ungkapan-ungkapan tersebut (Verdonk 4). Dalam tugas akhir
ini, deviasi linguistik yang ada dalam data penelitian ini dideskripsikan,
diklasifikasi, dan efek deviasi yang mungkin terjadi pada pembaca puisi-puisi
tersebut diinterpretasikan.
Edward Estlin Cummings dilahirkan di Cambridge, Massachusetts pada
tanggal 14 Oktober 1894. Akan tetapi, dalam puisi-puisinya namanya ditulis
sebagai e.e. cummings. Penyair ini sangat terkenal karena gaya tulisannya yang
berbeda dari penulis puisi lainnya. Buku kumpulan puisi cummings yang pertama
adalah “Tulips&Chimneys” (1923). Salah satu puisi cummings yang terkenal
adalah “r-p-o-p-h-e-s-s-a-g-r” atau “grasshopper”. cummings sering sekali
menggunakan tanda baca yang tidak lazim, contohnya penggunaan huruf kapital
di tengah kalimat, penggunaan tanda kurung, titik koma, serta koma dan titik
untuk memenggal kata dalam puisinya.

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“(listen)” dan “in Just-” adalah dua puisi cummings yang masing-masing
mengandung tiga macam deviasi, yaitu deviasi grafologi, gramatikal, dan
semantik. Kedua puisi ini bercerita tentang musim semi. Akan tetapi, musim semi
dalam

“(listen)”

digunakan

oleh

sang

penyair

untuk

menggambarkan

kegembiraannya ketika menyambut musim semi dan untuk memberitahukan
perasaan senangnya tersebut kepada orang yang dia sayangi.
Puisi kedua, “in Just-”, menceritakan tentang sukacita musim semi yang
dirasakan sekumpulan anak. Ini terlihat dari baris “and edieandbill come/ running
from marbles” (6-7), “and bettyandisbel come dancing” (14). Deviasi linguistik
dalam puisi ini membantu pembaca membayangkan suatu gambaran tentang
musim semi yang penuh kegembiraan masa kanak-kanak.
Dari hasil analisis deviasi linguistik dalam kedua puisi tersebut dapat
disimpulkan bahwa cummings memang berhasil menggunakan deviasi linguistik
untuk mengokohkan citranya sebagai penyair yang memiliki gaya tersendiri.

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APPENDIX
Data source 1: “(listen)”
[1]

[5]

(listen)
this a dog barks and
how crazily houses
eyes people smiles
faces streets
steeples are eagerly
tumbl

ing through wonder
ful sunlight
[10] - look selves,stir:writhe
o-p-e-n-i-n-g
are(leaves;flowers)dreams
,come quickly come
[15] run run
with me now
jump shout(laugh
dance cry sing)for
it's Spring
[20] - irrevocably;

and in
earth sky trees
:every
where a miracle arrives

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[25] (yes)

[30]

you and I may not
hurry it with
a thousand poems
my darling
but nobody will stop it
With All The Policemen In The
World
e.e. cummings

(http://www./lancs.ac.uk/fass/projects/stylistics/print/poetrysa.doc)

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Data source 3: “in Just-“
[1] in Just[2] spring
when the world is mud[3] luscious the little
[4] lame balloonman
[5] whistles
far and wee
[6] and eddieandbill come
[7] running from marbles and
[8] piracies and it's
[9] spring
[10] when the world is puddle-wonderful
[11] the queer
[12] old balloonman whistles
[13] far
and
wee

[14] and bettyandisbel come dancing
[15] from hop-scotch and jump-rope and
[16] it's
[17] spring
[18] and
[19]
the
[20]
goat-footed
[21] balloonMan whistles
[22] far
[23] and
[24] wee
(http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/in Just-)

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study
This study analyses the linguistic deviations in two poems of cummings,
namely “(listen)” and “in Just-”. Both poems portray the people’s feelings when
spring is coming. The first poem, “(listen)”, tells about the poet’s excitement
when s/he is welcoming spring. The second, ‘in Just-”, tells about some children’s
happiness at the beginning of spring. Poems are the most suitable data source for
the analysis of linguistic deviations because of their shortness. Moreover,
cummings’ “(listen)” and “in Just-” show so many linguistic deviations in so short
texts that the collection of the data becomes more manageable.
Many people love to read and write poems. People commonly write poems
to show their feelings, thoughts, dreams, etc, which are presented in a creative
way, as a poem is “verbal composition designed to convey experiences, ideas, or
emotions in a vivid and imaginative way, characterized by the use of language
chosen for its sound and suggestive power” (Free Dictionary para 1).

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Unfortunately, not all people can understand the message or feelings that

the poet is trying to express in the poem because the language of poetry has the
following characteristics:
Its meaning is often ambiguous and elusive, it may flout the
conventional rule of grammar, it has a peculiar sound structure; it
is spatially arranged in metrical lines and stanzas: it often reveals
foregrounded patterns in its sounds, vocabulary, grammar, or
syntax, and last but not least, it frequently contains indirect
references to other texts ( Verdonk 11).
Poetry is also related to the art of language and therefore it can make the
readers think about an image or a strong feeling in a pleasant way. Poets have to
use a certain way to make their poems interesting and unique but understandable
because the readers will feel less interested to read a plain poem. To make the
readers more interested to read their poems, some poets may deviate from the
acceptable linguistic rules. However, this study chooses the topic of linguistic
deviations in cummings’ poems not because they make the readers interested in
the unusual forms of the linguistic elements in the poems, but because the
deviations are potential to make the readers confused about the poet’s messages.
The analysis of linguistic deviations belongs to stylistics, the study of
style, which investigates distinctive expression in language and describes its
purpose and effect (Verdonk 4). The term linguistic deviation comes from the

adjective linguistic and the noun deviation. According to Oxford Advanced
Learner’s Dictionary, deviation is “the act of moving away from what is normal or
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acceptable; a difference from what is expected or acceptable” (Oxford 363).
Therefore, linguistic deviation is the deviation from the linguistic rules for a
certain purpose. This phenomenon is frequent in e.e. cummings’ poems so that
this study intentionally focuses on the linguistic deviations in e.e. cummings’
poems entitled “(listen)” and in “Just-”.
According to A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry, there are several types
of deviations in language use, such as lexical deviation, phonological deviation,
grammatical deviation, graphological deviation, deviation of register, deviation of
historical period, dialectal deviation, and semantic deviation (Leech 42). The
poet’s use of linguistic deviations may give the readers some effects, which will
enable them to understand the poem better. In this study, the research data are
investigated to find out the types of deviations used by the poet. After this, the
investigations are analysed to explain their possible effects on the readers.
cummings’ poems are unusual like none other. “He was well-known for

his deviation to the proper structure of grammar; he breaks language like he
breaks a glass and the shattered pieces are beautiful” (Word Press). cummings
always plays with language by separating words, using unusual punctuation, etc.
He wrote many poems with his peculiar, inappropriate use of punctuation,
capitalization, line, and word as can be seen in “(listen)” and “in Just-“. The
arrangement of the structure of a sentence and the position of a letter in
cummings’ poems sometimes are extraordinary, as “for him, capitalization and
punctuation have implicit meaning; become expressive devices, not just symbols
to be used” (Leech 47) .
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Considering that deviations are frequently used in cummings’ poems, the
topic of linguistic deviations becomes challenging because e.e. cummings’ poems
are conspicuously unusual. In fact, the use of linguistic deviations in his poems
has been his characteristics and his style in writing poems. Everyone feels
interested or even feels confused whenever they read cummings’ poems, which
makes the decision to analyse his poems more challenging.
This thesis can give additional knowledge to the English Department
students. Poems are commonly analysed by using literary theories but this study
will show the students that a poem can be analyzed through its linguistic
deviations. Since only few people are aware of this fact, this knowledge can be
important.

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Statement of the Problem
The analysis of the poems is carried out to answer the following questions:
1. What linguistic deviations are found in cummings’ “(listen)” and “in Just-”?
2. How may the linguistic deviations affect the readers?

Purpose of the Study
This study has the followings purposes:
1. To analyse the linguistic deviations found in cummings’ “(listen)” and “in
Just-”.
2. To show how the linguistic deviations may affect the readers.

Method of Research
The data of this study are collected from two of cummings’ poems,
namely “(listen)” and “in Just-”. The poems are read several times to identify the
linguistic deviations. After that, the linguistic deviations are collected and
classified. The classification is based on the theories of Geoffrey N. Leech.
Afterwards, the linguistic deviations in the two poems of cummings’ are analyzed
one by one. Finally, how the linguistic deviations may affect the readers is
explained.

Organization of Thesis
This thesis consists of four chapters, which are preceded by the Preface,
Table of Contents, and Abstract. Chapter One is the Introduction, which contains
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the Background of the Study, Statement of the Problem, Purpose of the Study,
Method of Research, and Organization of Thesis. Chapter Two is the Theoretical
Framework, which contains the theories used to analyze the linguistic deviations
found in the data. Chapter Three presents the analysis of the linguistic deviations
in the two poems and how they may affect the readers. Chapter Four is the
Conclusion, which sums up the study. The last part of this thesis consists of the
Bibliography and the Appendix, which presents two poems of cummings’ that are
used as the data source in this study.

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CHAPTER FOUR

CONCLUSION
This study analyses the linguistic deviations in cummings’ two poems:
“(listen)” and “in Just-“, both of which are related to spring. In the first poem,
spring is compared with someone’s excitement when welcoming spring, whereas
in the second, spring is the time when children can play happily. The analysis is
based on the theory of linguistic deviations of Leech, which consist of eight types.
However, the analysis has found only three types of linguistic deviations in the
poems. How the deviations may affect the readers have also been discussed.
The first poem, “(listen)”, contains 14 data of graphological deviations,
three data of grammatical deviations, and three data of semantic deviations. On
the other hand, the second poem, “in Just-”, contains nine data of graphological
deviations, six data of grammatical deviations, and four data of semantic
deviations. Evidently, the graphological deviations in the two poems occur more
frequently than the other two types perhaps because graphological deviations are
more conspicuous than the others. However, the graphological deviations in
“(listen)” are more than those in “in Just-” because the first poem is longer than
the second.
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The shortness of the second poem may also cause the poet to use more
grammatical and semantic deviations than the graphological deviations in the
second poem.
The linguistic deviations in the first poem may give some possible effects
on the readers. The effects of the graphological deviations in “(listen)” seem to
emphasize that the poet is so excited when s/he is welcoming spring. Furthermore,
the poet’s excitement is portrayed by irregular forms of the graphology of the
poem.
The effects of the grammatical deviations in the poem possibly emphasize
the poet’s enthusiasm when spring is coming and the idea that some events are
happening at the same time. The poet has successfully used graphological
deviations to affect the readers, who are interested to get the poet’s message.
The semantic deviations found in the poem are used by the poet to
describe his/her feelings. Spring has not only encouraged the poet to hope for
his/her dreams come true but also represented the poet’s excitement to welcome
spring, which comes naturally and cannot be hurried.
The linguistic deviations in the second poem may result in some effects on
the readers. The effect that may be resulted from the graphological deviation is the
happiness and joy which are felt by some children when it is spring. The
graphological deviation and the grammatical deviation in the poem can help the
readers to better imagine the situations in spring, when children can play happily.
The semantic deviation in this poem may also describe that everything in spring is
wonderful.
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After analyzing the linguistic deviations in the two poems it can be
concluded that the linguistic deviations in the poems may confuse the readers but
the analysis of linguistic deviations can help them understand the poems better.
Moreover, the readers can see why the first poem shows more linguistic
deviations than the second. The second poem is about children, that is why the
linguistic deviations in the poem are not as complicated as those in the first poem.
Children’s feelings are simpler than adults’ and children are not as complicated as
adults. Therefore, the linguistic deviations in “in Just-” seem simpler and easier to
analyse. On the other hand, the first poem tells about someone’s feelings when
welcoming spring; as a result, the linguistic deviations in the poem are more
difficult than those in the second. In the first poem, the poet describes an adult’s
feelings which are rather complicated because when people get mature, their
feelings, their thought and their point of view become complex, not as simple as
children’s feelings anymore. For this reason, when the readers read these two
poems, they may notice that the second poem is not as complicated as the first.
The linguistic deviations in the two poems make the readers think that the
poet is extraordinary. Unlike other poets, cummings often deviates from the
proper structure of grammar; he also breaks language like he breaks a glass. He
always plays with language by separating words, using unusual punctuation, etc.
The arrangement of the structure of a sentence and the position of a letter in
cummings’ poems sometimes are odd, however the capitalization and punctuation
have some hidden meanings and become a meaningful strategy and not just
symbols to be used.
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cummings has successfully used the linguistic deviations in his poems. In
other words, cummings has effectively used linguistic deviations to make his
poems more impressive. Specifically, cummings’ poems make the readers get
more interested in the distinctive language of the poem and they will learn that
cummings’ poems are smart, because most of the extraordinary forms in his
poems have a special message. This is something that a common poet does not
always do. His poems are unusual and the way he writes his poems can stimulate
more imagination of the readers.
This study has analysed the linguistic deviations in only two of cumming’s
poems and it has focused on graphological, grammatical, and semantic deviations
because the data show only these three kinds of linguistic deviations. It is
recommended that students who are interested in analysing linguistic deviations
should find other poems that contain other kinds of linguistic deviations. This
attempt is expected to vary the results of the analysis. Moreover, the interpretation
of the findings in this study is limited to the researcher’s knowledge background.
Therefore, it is still possible for another researcher to have a different analysis and
different interpretation of cummings’ poems.
Most of people are not aware that a poem can be analysed linguistically.
They are more familiar with the literary analysis of poems. However, this study
has shown that literary and linguistic knowledge are both necessary in
comprehending poems. Therefore, when people want to analyse a poem, they can
choose whether they will use a linguistic, literary, or stilistic analysis. This idea
can eliminate the belief that poems can only be analysed by using literary theories.
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Finally, this study is meant to support the idea that an analysis of cummings’
poems can be used to broaden both the literary and linguistic knowledge of
English Department students.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

References
Chand, Nihal. Grammar And Composition. New Delhi: Newlight Publishers,
(n.d.).
Hornby, A. S. Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. Sixth Edition. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2000.
Leech, Geoffrey N. A Linguistic Guide to English Poetry. London: Longman
Group, Ltd, 1969.
Verdonk, Peter. Stylistics. New York: Oxford University, 2002.

Internet
“in Just-“. Poem Hunter.com. 2009. 2 March 2009.

Linguistic- Journal.com. 2008. .
“Master e.e.cummings”. Word Press.com. 2008. 27 April 2008
.
Mcintyre, Dan. Round-up and self assesment. Stylistics analysis. 2009. 10 April
2009. .

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. “Orthography”. Dictionary.reference.com. 2008. 7 September 2008
.
“Pan”. Lugodoc.demon.co.uk. 2009. 21 April 2009

“Poem”. The Free Dictionary.com. 2008. 27 April 2008.
.
“Poetry in the language classroom”. Oxford Journals.org. 2008. 29 April 2008.
.
Round-up and self-assesment. Poetry.doc. 2008. 10 April 2008.
.

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