Oleh Nur Cholis Madjid

Students of English Department 2019/2020 Faculty of Adab and Cultural Sciences

There are two main problems faced by students in understanding a poem. Poem is a piece of writing in which the words are arranged in separate lines, often ending in rhyme, and are chosen for their sound and the images they suggest (Cambridge Dictionary). To understand the meaning and the purpose of a poem, readers often face some some difficulties. First, readers often find difficulty in understanding connotative meaning of the words particularly for the new ones. In a poem, word has a crucial role, because we know that poem is the arrangement of words. To gain the aesthetics or the beauty of literary work, an author often utilizes words with connotative meaning. We can see the example in a poem ‘I Carry Your Heart with Me’ by E.E Cummings on the first verse which is i carry your heart with me. Here, the word ‘heart’ has connotative meaning of his beloved feeling. However, in literal meaning it is related to one of human organs. Second is historical background of a poem, it often becomes the cause of people’s misunderstanding. Because knowing the words’ meaning is not enough to understand the whole meaning of poem, readers also need to know about poem’s history. We can see the example of this problem in a poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost in which a lot of people have wrong interpretation about the meaning of the poem. This poem is actually humorous poem dedicated to his friend that always regret about his choice, but people interpret it as a serious poem which is about lamentation of choice. Thus, eventhough to understand is not easy, readers can still consider the connotative meaning and also the history to get right interpretation about the poem.

Referensi:

Cambridge Dicionary

Rezki, Muhammad. Student Diffiiculties in Understanding English Poem. English Department, STKIP PGRI west Sumatra.

https://www.enotes.com/topics/road-not-taken/teaching-guide/history-text

https://literarydevices.net/i-carry-your-heart-with-me/#:~:text=The%20poem%20illustrates%20love%20in,the%20poet%20for%20his%20beloved.&text=%E2%80%9CI%20Carry%20Your%20Heart%20with,intense%20emotions%20for%20his%20beloved.