Syifa Rahma Izzati

THE VIRTUOUS CHOICE IN THE RICH MAN BY FRANKLIN P.

ADAMS

In this research, the writer tried to analyse the poem by Franklin P. Adams, entitled The Rich Man. The purpose of this research is to increase understanding about the content of the poem. The theories will be used in this paper are textual, contextual and hyper textual. The methodology will be used in this paper is close reading. The writer found the intrinsic elements in the play which are diction, imagery, musical devices and also the extrinsic element which is the the virtuous choice shown in the poem. In conclusion, by analyzing the intrinsic and the extrinsic elements can increase understanding about the content of the poem.Keywords: diction, imagery, musical devices, virtuous choice.

ABSTRACT

Poetry is a literary art which can describes or expresses human’s feeling words by words. It needs understanding to understand what the author had expressed. 

“Poetry might be defined as a kind of languages that says more and says it more intensely than does ordinary language. In order to understand this fully, we need to understand what poetry says. For language is employed o different occasions to say quite different kinds of things; in other words, language has different uses.” (Perrine, Sound and Sense, 1988:509) A poem can be analyzed what is the meaning of it content. Poem analyzing is an activity that we are concerned with explaining the methods and techniques of taking poem apart in order to arrive at a greater understanding of both its construction and each meaning. The author uses the poem “The Rich Man” by Franklin P. Adams to be analyzed.

1. INTRODUCTION

Theory : Textual, Hyper Textual, ContextualMethodology : Close ReadingIntrinsic Elements1. Dictions : the choice and use of words and phrases in speech or writing2. Imagery : Visual imagery is pertained the sense of sight. Olfactory

imagery is pertained the sense of smell. Gustatory imagery is pertained the sense of taste. Organic imagery is pertained the sense of internal, like hunger, fear, etc. Kinesthetic imagery is pertained the sense of movement.

3. Musical Devices : Rhyme means the repetition of sound between words or the endings of words

Extrinsic ElementVirtuous means having or showing high moral standards. Virtuous choice is made after thoughtful consideration, puposefully chooses the right path. Virtuous person choose to act virtuously for its own sake, not for some selfish or other reason.

2. THEORY AND METHODOLOGY

Franklin Pierce Adams or well known by his initials F.P.A, eventhough was one lesser known as an American poet, he was famouos as an American columnist. Best known for his newspaper column, “The Conning Tower” that became immensely popular with readers because of its witty and satirical style. He was born on November 15th, 1881 in Chicago, USA. Graduated from the Armour Scientific Academy (now llinois Institute of Technology) in 1899, then after that he attended the University of Michigan for one year and worked in insurance for three years. During his time on the Evening Mail, Adams wrote what remains his best known work, the poem Baseball’s Sad Lexicon, a tribute to the Chicago Cubs double play combination of “Tinker to Evers to Chance”. In 1911, he added a second column, a parody of Samuel Pepsys’s Diary, with notes drawn from F.P.A.’s personal experiences. In 1914, he moved his column to the New-York Tribune, where it was famously retitled “The Conning Tower”.

3. POET’S BIOGRAPHY

Franklin P. Adams

1. THE POEMThe Rich Man

 The rich man has his motor-car,His country and his town estate,

He smokes a fifty-cent cigarAnd jeers at Fate

 He frivols though the livelong day,He knows not Poverty her pinch.

His lot seems light, his heart seems gay,He has a cinch.

 Yet though my lamp burns low and dim,

Though I must slave for livelihood—Think you that I would change with him?

You bet I would! 

Franklin P. Adams (1881 – 1960)

4. RESEARCH OBJECTS

2. POET’S PARAPHRASE

The rich man has it all. Motor car, county, town estate, and a fifty-cent cigar. He is jeering at Fate because he is so rich. He does what he wants all day long. He does not know anything about poverty. He never experiences it. He is so happy because he is getting rich and he can gets something as easy as a cinch.Meanwhile, the poet’s life is so poor. His lamp burning low and dim. He has to become a slave for his livelihood. Even with all the miserability, the poet doesn’t want to change his life with the rich man. He rather become a poor man but still with dignity than the rich man with his bad attitude. This is the virtuous choice that the poor man made.

4. RESEARCH OBJECTS

5.1. INTRINSIC ELEMENTS5.1.1. DictionStanza 1 Line 4

And jeers at Fate. Here the poet used the phrase jeers at fate. Jeer means to shout insulting words at someone or to laugh at or criticize someone in a loud and angry way. He used jeers because in this line, he positioned the word fate as an object for the rich man to laugh at. Means that the rich man is laughing or jeering at how he think that fate can not control him because he is rich. Stanza 2 Line 1

He frivols through the livelong day, According to Merriam-Webster Dictionary, frivol means to act frivously or to act something just like the person want to do, even it’s damage others. The poet chose this word to describe how the rich man acted through livelong day frivously just because he is rich.   

5. DISCUSSION

Stanza 2 Line 2He knows not Poverty, her pinch

 The poet used pinch to describe the poverty as what the woman (the poor) have. Again, because the rich man is rich, it explained that he never experienced poverty in his lifetime. Stanza 2 Line 3

His lot seems light, his heart seems gay; Here the poet used the words his lot seems light, means that he is getting richer. His heart seems gay, explained how happy he was when he knew he is getting richer.  

5. DISCUSSION

Stanza 2 Line 4He has a cinch

 Here used the word cinch. Cinch means a strap that holds a saddle on a horse or something that is very easy to do. It explained how he got something or got something to do easily just because he is rich. Just like a strap that holds a saddle on a horse which makes people easily to ride a horse, his wealthy makes him can do or get something easily without a hardwork.

5.1.2. Imagery5.1.2.1 Visual Imagery

The rich man has his motor-car, 

His country and his town estate 

Yet though my lamp burns low and dim 

5. DISCUSSION

In Stanza 1 Line 1 and 2, when the poet used the sentence The rich man has his motor-car and His country and his town estate, we could see how rich the rich man was by seeing his property, like motor-car, country and town estate. Meanwhile in Stanza 3 Line 1, the sentence Yet though my lamp burns low and dim showed us how poor the poet was because his burned lamp getting low and dim.

5.1.2.2. Kinesthethic ImageryHe smokes a fiftty cent-cigar

 And jeers at Fate

 In the first stanza of the poem line 3 and 4, the word smokes on He smokes a fifty-cent cigar and the word jeers on And jeers at Fate are the words about action or movement. We could imagine the rich man was smoking his cigar, and then he was jeering.

5. DISCUSSION

5.1.2.3. Organic Imagery

His lot seems light, his heart seems gay; 

In Stanza 2 Line 3, His lot seems light, his heart seems gay, showed to us how the rich man was happy. He was happy knowing that his wealth was getting more and he was getting richer.

 5.1.2.4. Gustatory Imagery and Olfactory Imagery

He smokes a fifty-cent cigar 

In Stanza 1 Line 3, the rich man was smoking. The word smokes or smoking makes you taste something and smell something from the burned cigar. Here the author found the gustatory imagery which is when the rich man was tasting his cigar, and olfactory imagery when the rich man was burning his cigar.

 

5. DISCUSSION

5.1.3. Musical Devices5.1.3.1. Rhyme

The Rich Man The rich man has his motor-car, aHis country and his town estate, bHe smokes a fifty-cent cigar aAnd jeers at Fate b He frivols though the livelong day, cHe knows not Poverty her pinch. dHis lot seems light, his heart seems gay, cHe has a cinch. d Yet though my lamp burns low and dim, eThough I must slave for livelihood— fThink you that I would change with him? eYou bet I would! f

  

 

In here, we could know that the poem The Rich Man has rhyme pattern a-b-a-b-c-d-c-d-e-f-e-f. The rhyme could make such a pattern because of the similarity between the ending sound made of one sentence to another sentence. This pattern makes the poem sounds beautiful if it is read aloud. We also could see how clever the poet was by using these words to make beautiful rhyme in his poem.

5. DISCUSSION

5.2. EXTRINSIC ELEMENT The virtuous choice we could see in this poem is on the final line the third stanza You bet I would!. After all the descriptions about the rich man in stanza 1 and 2, The rich man has his motor-car, His country and his town estate we know that the rich man is so rich that he got almost everything. However his attitude is very unlikeable as he was frivously, like in the line He frivols through the livelong day, and even jeering at fate in the line And jeers at Fate. As in the line He has a cinch, means that he could do what he wants easily because he thinks his wealth will get him to the position where no one could disturb him or block his way.  The poet, however, saw that the rich man was blind by his wealth. That is why, worried that it might happens to him if he’s living in luxuriousity, he chose to live just like now in poverty even we could see his burned lamp getting low and dim like in the line Yet though my lamp burns low and dim, and even he must slaving like in the line Though I must slave for livelihood. He choose that way. That is virtuous choice made shown in the poem by the poet. Choosing after thoughtful consideration not just choosing after desire. The poem gives us the lesson that in our life, we need to becareful about the choice we made. We should think it over and over before we make the choice. Like the positive and negative effects of the choice we will make.

5. DISCUSSION

Best known for his satirical column, Franklin P. Adams once again made a literary work which is poem full of satire which pointed to the life of the rich man. He described how luxurious the rich man life was, and how the rich man got almost everything and can do everything he wants because of his wealth. However Adams also explained to us how bad the rich man behaviour was. As the rich man was acted frivously, thinking he was better than others, and even jeering at fate. These bad behaviours made him realized that even the wealth could made us into bad person who never think about others. That is why in this poem, Adams chose to live in poverty rather than in property because he thought that was the virtuous choice.  In this poem also contained diction, imagery and musical devices. The using of diction in this poem is to give detailed description of the rich man, and also the poor (the woman and the poet). The using of imagery in the poem is emphasized the condition of both the rich man and the poor. The using of musical devices in the poem is to show how beautiful the poem is if it is read aloud with beautiful rhyme. These elements is used to make the poem more meaningful and interesting to read.

6. CONCLUSION

Aristotle. Nichomachean Ethics Book Two. Translated by W.D. Ross. 1908.Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Ashley, Sally. F.P.A.: The Life and Times of Franklin Pierce Adams.Beaufort, 1986.

Kennedy, X. J . LITERATURE. An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Second Edition. Boston : Little, Brown and Company.

Merriam-Webster, Inc. 1994. Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of English Usage.Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, Inc.

Perrine, Laurence. 1988 . Structure, Sound and Sense. Florida : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

Wellek, Rene & Austin Warren. 1977 . Theory of Literature .Florida : Harcourt Brace Jovanovich.

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REFERENCES