Minggu, 06 Juni 2010

COMPARING CHAIRIL ANWAR’S PRAJURIT JAGA MALAM WITH EMILY DICKINSON’S HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

COMPARING CHAIRIL ANWAR’S PRAJURIT JAGA MALAM

WITH EMILY DICKINSON’S HOPE IS THE THING WITH FEATHERS

A. INTRODUCTION

There are so many kinds of literary works, there is novel, poetry, and prose etc. poem is one kind of literary work which is defined as a composition written in verse (although verse has been equally used for epic and dramatic fiction). Poem has its special and unique language. Every person has different interpretation in reading the same poem. Every author also has his own style of language that they use in writing a poem. An author usually writes a poem based on his own experience or the setting of his life. Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam can be used as the example of the poem which is written based on the Chairil Anwar’s setting of life. Emily Dickinson also wrote a poem based on her setting of life, it is called Hope is the Thing with Feathers. Chairil Anwar and Emily Dickinson have their own character in writing their poem. Especially their gender will differentiate them in writing a poem.

B. DISCUSSION

1. Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam and Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers.

Chairil Anwar is a famous Indonesian poem writer. Chairil Anwar was born in Medan and he mastered three kinds of languages, English, Dutch and Germany. Chairil Anwar life when Indonesia was colonilez by Dutch and then Japan. Chairil Anwar loved to read book and write poem and then he became a good writer. He published his outstanding work which are Deru Campur Debu (1949); Kerikil Tajam Yang Terampas dan Yang Putus (1949); dan Tiga Menguak Takdir (1950). One of his awesome poems is Prajurit Jaga Malam.

Prajurit Jaga Malam

Waktu jalan. Aku tidak tahu apa nasib waktu ?

Pemuda-pemuda yang lincah yang tua-tua keras,

bermata tajam

Mimpinya kemerdekaan bintang-bintangnya

kepastian

ada di sisiku selama menjaga daerah mati ini

Aku suka pada mereka yang berani hidup

Aku suka pada mereka yang masuk menemu malam

Malam yang berwangi mimpi, terlucut debu......

Waktu jalan. Aku tidak tahu apa nasib waktu !

While Emily Dickinson is was an American poet. Born in Amherst, Massachusetts, to a successful family with strong community ties, she lived a mostly introverted and reclusive life. After she studied at the Amherst Academy for seven years in her youth, she spent a short time at Mount Holyoke Female Seminary before returning to her family's house in Amherst. Thought of as an eccentric by the locals, she became known for her penchant for white clothing and her reluctance to greet guests or, later in life, even leave her room. Most of her friendships were therefore carried out by correspondence. Although Dickinson was a prolific private poet, fewer than a dozen of her nearly eighteen hundred poems were published during her lifetime. One of her famous work is Hope is the Thing with Feathers.

Hope is the Thing with Feathers

"Hope" is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;

And sore must be the storm

That could abash the little bird

That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land

And on the strangest sea,

Yet never, in extremity,

It asked a crumb of me.

Chairil Anwar and Emily Dickinson have different character in writing their poems. It is because Chairil Anwar and Emily Dickinson live in different period of time, different country and the most basic things is they are different in gender. Chairil Anwar is a male and Emily Dickinson is a female. It is become the basic thing why they are different in writing their work. The differences include in theme and language style.

2. THEME

Prajurit Jaga Malam was written on 1948. Chairil Anwar chose struggle and heroism as the theme of Prajurit Jaga Malam. It is because when Chairil wrote this poem Indonesia got the freedom from colonialism of Dutch and then Japan. He wrote Prajurit Jaga Malam still in struggle situation although Indonesia got its freedom and celebrated Independence Day in 17th August 1945. Struggle and heroic theme of this poem can be seen from the interpretation of some lines of that poem as follows:

Pemuda-pemuda yang lincah yang tua-tua keras,

bermata tajam

Mimpinya kemerdekaan bintang-bintangnya

kepastian

Those lines show that whoever old or young man, they still dream about freedom and they believe of it. They never give up to do some struggle, they are blend with the other to struggle the freedom and they are so heroic. No matter what will happen, they are still doing so many effort and struggles to their country, old and young. They still awake till the sun rise again in order to get full freedom for Indonesia and for themselves.

The bravery also appears in this poem. To get full freedom, they need to do so many efforts and struggles and to also the bravery to fight the colony. They struggle to stay alive for Indonesia, they sacrifice their rest time to get freedom for Indonesia and they are brave to face everything in front of them to get freedom for Indonesia. Those braveries are can be seen in these following lines:

Aku suka pada mereka yang berani hidup

Aku suka pada mereka yang masuk menemu malam

Malam yang berwangi mimpi, terlucut debu......

It is clear enough that the themes in Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam are struggle, bravery and heroic. Day and night are passed to get freedom for Indonesia. The title also reflects the loyalty of the guards to save Indonesia and to struggle the freedom of Indonesia. They don’t care and they don’t afraid of what will happen which is shown in the line:

Waktu jalan. Aku tidak tahu apa nasib waktu ?

Struggle and fight the colony to get the freedom of Indonesia, bravery and heroic are theirs. The freedom of Indonesian is based on the bravery of the Indonesians and the guards. Even sick, even night, even die they will fight the colony to get freedom for Indonesia. Those are the theme of Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam.

Male is described as strong, brave, and physic struggle. But female is described as something smooth and strong in the inside. Perhaps this is the differentiation of the theme chosen by Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam and Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. Chairil Anwar chooses physic struggle in his poem and it is different from Emily Dickinson’ poem.

The theme of Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers is the enduring deathlessness of hope. It is shown in the title of this poem and the line three and four of the first stanza:

And sings the tune without the words

And never stops at all,

The title of this poem is Hope is the Thing with Feathers, it is clear that it is about hope just like in the first word of the title of this poem “hope”. But then the third and fourth line of the first stanza describe the another kind of hope. It is described as deathlessness of hope. It can be seen from the sentence “and sing the tune without the words”. How people sing the tune without the worlds, it is difficult and hopeless. Then the fourth line of the first stanza describes the long lasting deathlessness of hope. It is shown in this sentence “and never stop at all”.

From the explanation above, it can be seen that the theme of Chairil Anwar’s poem is different from Emily Dickinson’s poem. It can be caused by the different gender, the life setting of them, the interest, and the experience etc. The differences of Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam and Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers are not only in the theme, but it also in the language they used and also the symbol they used.

3. LANGUAGE STYLE

The language that is used in the Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam is different from the language used in Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. The language that is used in Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam is easy to be understood and easy to be interpreted. There is no deep meaning in the language that is used in the poem. The language that is used is clearly being understood. When people read this poem, they will be understood easier that this poem is about struggle, heroic, bravery and the loyalty to their country. It can be seen from the words such as “prajurit”, “mimpinya kemerdekaan”, “menjaga daerah mati” etc. The languages that are used in Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malama are so male. There are “tentara”, “menjaga”, “pemuda-pemuda” and “terlucut debu”. Those languages refer to male.

It is quite different from the language that is used in Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. There are so many sign and it is difficult to be understood. The language in the Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers is difficult to be understood and interpreted. There are some sign and implicit language. As the example the third line of the first stanza “and sing the tune without the words”, it’s really need deep thought and difficult to be interpreted. The language in Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers sounds to be so female, there are “sweetest”, “birds” etc that are often used by women. There is no physical struggle or relate with something strong and course in Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. So it is quite different with Chairil Anwar’s Tentara Jaga Malam.

4. SYMBOL

Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam uses small number of symbols if it is compared with Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. The first symbol is the word “prajurit” which refers to a strong people and loyal people. The words “daerah mati” means areas which are taken away by the Indonesian from the colony. So the lone six means the guard preserve the areas that they have taken from the colony in order not to be retaken by the colony from Indonesia. The word “malam” in the eighth line means danger and difficulty.

So only a few number of symbols found in Chairil Anwar’s Prajurit Jaga Malam. But there are a lot of numbers of symbols in Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. The “bird” is characterized as having feathers and perching in the soul; its tune is “without words,” which attributes to the fact that hope is essentially personal to each and every individual and no one’s sense of hope is similar to that of another. The other symbol is in the first line of the second stanza “And sweetest in the Gale is heard“means a strong juxtaposition of images presented by the author. The author that hopes is “sweetest,” meaning that one’s hope is positive and uplifting, even through adversity such as “in the Gale.” However, the choice of using the word “Gale” is particularly interesting because of the play on words of the name Gail, which is a Hebrew name for “joy.” While “sweetest” and “joy” are very similar adjectives and images, “sweetest” and “forceful winds” do not seemingly complement each other, thus introducing a rich, contrasting image. The loyalty of hope makes it so seemingly nourishing and beneficial to its host; yet, it is still perceived to be “small” since it is perched within one’s soul. However, it is arguable that one takes something so important for granted, and hope’s presence may appear to be small but, in actuality, is foundationally crucial.

Chairil Anwar setting of life influences him to takes some symbols just like “tentara”, “daerah mati” etc. When Chairil Anwar wrote Tentara Jaga Malam poem, Indonesia was on the transition era from the colonialism to the freedom. It influenced Chairil Anwar to write a poem about bravery, heroic, struggle and loyalty to the country. Chairil Anwar also used some symbols which relates with the transition era of Indonesia in 1948’s. It is different from Emily Dickinson. Emily Dickinson was an American poet. She was born in America. Newton likely introduced her to the writings of William Wordsworth, and his gift to her of Ralph Waldo Emerson's first book of collected poems had a liberating effect. Much or less those influence Emily Dickinson in writing her poem. Because of that she graft so many difficult symbols in her poem include in Hope is the Thing with Feathers.

C. CONCLUSION

Each author has its own character in writing poem. Chairil Anwar and Emily Dickinson have different style and character in writing their poem. Chairil Anwar’s Tentara Jaga Malam has struggle, bravery, loyalty and heroic theme. The theme of Chairil Anwar’s Tentara Jaga Malam sounds so male. It is different from Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers. In Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers the theme is the enduring deathlessness of hope. It looks like so female, so weak and hopeless. Chairil Anwar’s Tentara Jaga Malam is so easy to be understood and it doesn’t have deep meaning but the language used in Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers is difficult to be understood. Emily Dickinson used a lot of symbols in her poem but Chairil Anwar used only a small numbers of symbols.

The differences between Chairil Anwar’s Tentara Jaga Malam and Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers in writing their poem are influenced by the difference of gender, the difference of setting of life, the difference of culture, the difference of experience. It is not only happen in Chairil Anwar’s Tentara Jaga Malam and Emily Dickinson’s Hope is the Thing with Feathers, but it can happen in every author.



REFERENCE

Emily Dickinson. Accessed on 9th November 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_dickinson

Hope is the Thing with Feathers. Accessed on 9th November 2009. http://quotations.about.com/cs/poemlyrics/a/Hope_IsTheThing.htm

Puisi-puisi Chairil Anwar. Accessed on 9th November 2009. http://chairil-anwar.blogspot.com/

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