FINAL TEST ASSIGMENT
THE HOUSE ON THE HILL: THE OBJECTIVE ANALYSIS
1. INTRODUCTION
There are great literary works to read as there are many places to travel. Literary works are the travel places of written world because they give reportage, travelogues and impression. Besides, literary works are the time machine which can bring us to old life story. In 1929, there was a Great Depression attacking
One of Edwin Arlington Robinson’s (1869-1935) works is The House on The Hill. In analyzing this poem, I use objective analysis based on New Criticism. In my analysis, I divide my explanation into several parts, illustration and interpretation per stanza and general meaning of the text.
2. ANALYSIS
In this text, we find some symbols and allegory for instance House, Hill, broken walls. Etc. symbols may be roughly defined as something that means more that what it is and allegory is a narrative or description that has a second meaning beneath the surface one. These two things are explored in my analysis because I separate away the text and its author-the death of the author. This also results in one single best interpretation because there are no affective fallacy and intentional fallacy. I believe that the text will never change its meaning if we use the text itself to analyze.
First, the analysis is about the title, The House on The Hill. Defining the meaning of The, in The House, signifies a certain or definite thing. House means a building for human habitation; a place to store; Family; a residence for religious community or students; a business; an organization; a place of business or entertainment. In this case, House is not just a house but it has underlying meaning. So, it shows a place for certain community or people. Hill means area of high land not as high as mountain; a little heap or mound as of earth; slope on a road. So, it shows that the place of the House is on high land but it is not on the mountain. Thus, The House on The Hill signifies a place for certain community in a high land.
By brainstorming these words, it must be very beautiful place in a green land. It shows peacefulness and prosperity of the people in the House. This House is made of struggle and togetherness and resulted in a settled condition-former.
In the first stanza, there are three lines. First line,”They are all gone away” shows the people have left the House. “Gone away” itself can mean death or lost. If it means “death”, it shows that the people go because they die so they no longer live in the House. If it means lost, it shows that their belongings-can be wealth- are gone and they suffer from the great loss so that they leave the House. “The House is shut and still” shows the condition of the House left by the people. “Shut” means becoming closed; stopping being opened for business and “still” means calm and quite; not developed; and quite. It is like no signal of existence. It seems like a business getting bankrupt and the people leave it. “There is nothing more to say” means that it is what happens there; there is no way to mend it and that is it.
The second stanza, there are also three lines. First line is “Trough broken wall and gray” showing the House condition. There are three things that need to be defined. “Broken” means damaged; no longer working correctly; not continuous; weakened by difficulties; or illness. “Walls” means structure; something that forms a barrier or prevents progress. “Broken walls” means the structure of the House is broken or no longer working correctly like it used to be. “Gray” means dull in color, cheerless, and dismal. Then, the first line means the House has been broken and since then, people leave the House and the House has no color become cheerless, no more hope. The next line is “The winds blow bleak and shrill”. “Bleak” means not hopeful and encouraging; cold and unpleasant and “shrill” means unpleasantly high and loud. This line mans that the condition-the atmosphere in the Hill is cold, so dead, lifeless and spiritless. The winds sound unfriendly and bring so much pain. “They are all gone away” means that it happens since people leave the House by something for many reasons they have.
The third stanza, there are three line as well. “Nor is There one today” means there is no one staying in the House. “To speak them good or ill” means to tell what s good and bad; what is supposed to do or not. “There is nothing more to say” means that there is nothing to comment then. That is it. “Nor” is put as the subject indicating that the emphasis is in negative statement, it is one of play in arranging sentence (negative in positive form.
The fourth stanza, it contains a question- rhetorical question as reminder or satire to the people (“they” and “we”). “Why is it then we stray/ Around the sunken sill?” asked why they have to get separate or deviate or be disunity when they face trouble (the sunken sill). It shows that hen they face a problem or “the sunken sill”, they get separate because of different opinion. “They are all gone away” means they leave the House because of such reason and in other side there s also questions toward their leaving.
The fifth stanza tells about fancy play and skill. “And our poor fancy play/ For them is wasted-skill” have some words to be analyzed. “Poor” means less than adequate; inferior; fairly unsatisfactory. “Fancy” means with technical skill and style; imagination; whim; idea; and fantasy. “Play” means the course of game, the act or an instant of punning gambling. “Skill” means ability to do well, well-explained. This sentence means their play for some others is waste-skill-not used well. And “There is nothing more to say” means what has been done can not be undone.
The sixth stanza tells what happens in the House of the Hill. “There is ruin and decay” tells what is there. “Ruin” means destruction; having no money; losing job. “Decay” means losing strength, power; deteriorating. It shows that they find leak or destruction; they have no money and lose their job and further they get bankrupt and lose their power. “There are all gone away” and “There is nothing more to say” mean that this is what happens in the House on the Hill; no one can stand with it; some of them would regret it but there is nothing to do.
There are points in each stanza and hey all retell he condition in the House in the Hill. In the first stanza, it is about the House left by the people. It is then about the situation of the Hill where the House is located in the second stanza. Third stanza tells about the House which has no one to maintain or no one cares with. In the fourth stanza, it asks about the reason why they get separate when the trouble comes. Fancy play and wasted-skill and different perception is told in the fifth stanza. And the last shows the chaos happening in the House on the Hill as people are gone away.
In this poem, we find pronoun “we”,”our”, “they”, and “them”. These words imply that the poem is not about personal but it refers to people or group of people. The story behind the text shows the difficult problem of several people living in the House which makes them go away from the House.
The House as in my previous explanation can mean organization. When we relate this context with organization, the story would talk about different perception that usually makes some of them leave (“They”) and other (“we”) write the expression. There is no clarity whether it is fully left by people or there are others staying but no development in the House. What I see is that it is left by people and the House, which used to be meaningful and alive, becomes lifeless, undeveloped, cheerless, and nothing. I believe that this House used to be a pride and bring prosperity as illustrated and associated in the Hill-green and peace. Then, when it is left by, it becomes gray and no happiness. It seems like the tragedy happens when they face the problem that really threaten the organization-“the sunken sill”. His causes decay and ruin in the House on the Hill so that some of them want to keep survive and others just give up hope. Thus, people leave the House and they can not stop this-they have gone.
Other possibility scratched in the text is about economic condition based on the brainstorming. The House can also mean as company. People walk away from company when there is big problem coming-bankruptcy. When people leave the company, the company does not work properly or earn as many as it used to be. There is no development or hope in the company because people leave it. No one then cares with what happens in the company; no one tries to fix or mend the condition. “The sunken sill” itself is like economic devastation that completely destroy the economic and cause people o. this devastation indeed brings “ruin” and “decay” in the House.
Actually, the Hill in this case used to bring prosperity and then after people leave the House, the Hill becomes dead land-unproductive and undeveloped. It is also a sign that the Hill can be so productive when people work hard on it-that is why hill always be associated with green and height-and when t is not made use, what is found is bleak winds and shrillness-cold, lifeless, spiritless and so dead.
When I relate this poem with family condition, it also refers to the same point as two others. If it talk about the death, this may show the people gone away is because of death. If so, the House is left by people-parts of families. When the members pass away, no one takes care of the House and it becomes lifeless. Some others would feel great suffering and stressed. The happy family (the House) then disappears and becomes memory. There must be disappointment, sadness, regret and powerless but they can do nothing toward the fate.
Impressing points in The House On The Hill is the repetition of some sentences in the stanza. “They re all gone away” is repeated four times and “There is nothing more to say” is repeated four times as well. These two sentences ate, to my analysis, important notes in the text. These show the disappointment and powerlessness to what happens. It shows that what has been done can not be undone. The glory and stability in the House on the Hill is just memory and what we see in the House now is just broken pieces of former glory. It must be very difficult to rebuild the glory of people leave it and have no attention to continue the struggle and keep survive whatever he condition. This also signifies the climate change in the stable condition
In this poem, the tension is between former condition and present condition; its former glory and present decay. We can see that the tension structures the poem as a whole through the alternation of the past tine and present condition in the poem. Though the served text is about the present condition, it can be predicted the former condition-like ups and downs. Since the poem is written in present tense, this strongly shows the narrative present condition there. It lasting long affect of the disaster happens in the House. Thus, I might hypothesize that there involves the sadness, disappointment, regret, and powerless-nothing-to-doism. Some of the lines use nominal and passive forms to reinforce the emphasis on subject’s condition. Besides, in this poem, there are emphasizes on the punctuation, stop, question mark, and pauses. The first stanza has one punctuation and a stop and so does the third stanza. Fourth stanza contains a question mark and a pause. Fifth stanza has one punctuation and a stop. And the last stanza has a punctuation, a pause, and a stop. These changes show the change condition time after time- the bits. They are like ups and down in life. These writing symbols also support the story behind the text. It implies the development of the House on the Hill from nothing-no symbol- to other changes and ends in stop. When it is close by stop, it also ends story or text illustration about the House on the Hill.
After all, the poem, which has a-b-a rhyme save the sixth (a-b-a-a), has the theme of suffering the great loss of their belonging. Why I conclude this because all interpretation and illustration lead to this theme. What we find in the text s disappointment and nothing-to-doism aspect to what happens because they seem not to be able to trace its former glory since the people are all gone away.
3. CONCLUSION
After all, this poem refers to one general theme so-called the suffering of the great loss of their belonging. This theme is covered beautifully through words and deep meaning lied within the text. There are probably some different interpretations when this text is analyzed, but by using New Criticism theory, there is still one single best interpretation.
REFERENCES
Merriam-Webster’s Desk Dictionary. 1995.
Tyson, Louis. 1999. Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide. Gardland
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