Melissa Halim/EE6N1/202211211008

Formalism Approach on ‘America’ by Herman Melville

Introduction

Literature is an expression of society. This statement is stated by Luxemburg in Noor

(2004:12) on his explanation about literature as an imaginative story. Literature is everything
which is written down, creating the writer’s imagination and inspiration as a portrait of human
beings and then presented in a literary work as well. As the above explanation, Literary works,
like novel, short story, poetry and play, portray a human life, culture, and behavior. By reading a
literary work, it is important to understand not only the content of the story, but also the moral
value or other aspects besides the structural aspects which are useful for us as well. In this paper,
the author will discuss a poem called ‘America’ by Herman Melville.

According to Hornby (1985: 644), poetry is “the art of a poet or poems” and as pieces of
creative writing in poet or poem, especially people who express deep feeling or noble thought in
beautiful language, composed with the will to speak experience. Matthew Arnold stated, that
poetry may be a criticism of life under the conditions fixed for such a criticism by laws of poetic
truth and wonder. According to Wordsworth (1800) poetry is the imaginative expression of
strong feeling, usually rhythmical the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in
tranquility. Edgar Alan Poe (1999) said that the poetry of words or speech which that the
rhythmical creation of beauty which its sole arbiter is taste. It does not pay attention whatever
either with obligation or with truth. Furthermore, Thomas in Carl Woodring, James S. Shapiro
(1994) gives statement that poetry is that the rhythmic, definite narrative, movement from an
overclothed blindness to an unadorned vision.

Review of the Related Literature

“Formalist criticism regards literature as a unique form of human knowledge that needs
to be examined on its own terms” (Kennedy 1468). Formalism allows the reader to analyze a
literary piece with complete objectivity. Formalists pay special attention to “the formal features
of the text – the style, structure, imagery, tone, and genre” (Kennedy 1468).
(Di Yanni 1561)Formalists analyze the tension and ambiguity in a piece:
Tension: “the way elements of a text’s language reflect conflict and opposition”.
Ambiguity: “the ways texts remain open to more than a single, unified definitive interpretation”
 Formalists believe that looking at the psychology and biography of the author inform the
writing process, not the composition itself (Kennedy 1469). Formalism does not evaluate or
consider the religious, moral, or political value of a piece. It strives to force literary or artwork to
stand on its own – people (i.e., author, reader) are not considered so the piece can be analyzed as
a separate, independent entity. Because formalism ignores peripheral aspects, it is very limiting
in its effectiveness to analyze literature.

Analysis

The poem “America" tells us about how Melville ponders onmthe changes that the Civil
War had brought, and what would bring about in the future in the United States. In the 4 stanza
included in the poem, there are exactly 2 tension and ambiguity. There would be tension in
Stanza 2 and 3, and ambiguity in stanza 1 and 4.

In Stanza 1, Herman Melville mostly talks about what a normal life in America is. Its is
peaceful, written on the 8th line, ‘The Land reposed in peace below’. Continued with ‘The
children in their Glee’. What people would call as a happy place to be. Herman Melville uses
poetic words to express the happiness to create an image in the reader’s mind of what pure joy
feels and seems like.

In Stanza 2, as if it is the peace before the storm, war happened. Where the peaceful and
happy moment dissapear immediately. In the 1 st line, he expressed ‘Later, and it streamed in
fight.’ Where people scream and fight. People fight to live, they do their best to maintain the
peace they are desperately holding on. The earlier happiness and joy are taken away by the war.
In seconds, everything is gone.

In Stanza 3, going back to ambiguity, Herman Melville go back to the peaceful route.
Where he said ‘Little availed the shining shroud, though ruddy in hue, to cheer or warm’. It is
peace again, where ‘she’ sleeps and enjoy the silence. The noisy world outside are not seen by
‘her’. She dream and hide in a place where she knows she is safe. This is ambiguity since it is not
as clear as the first and second stanza. But we can see it is ambiguity with the sudden change of
emotion and words used.

Finally in the last stanza, Stanza 4. The tension appear again. In the 1 st line; it said ‘ But
from the trance she sudden broke.’ This shows that the peace, and the ‘trance’ she was in,
dissapear. It shows that whether she likes it or not, she is in a war. The pain and emotions, was
clear. The fight she was fighting, is coming to an end for her. From the line 6 th line ‘A clear calm
look. It spake of pain’. We can assume she was shot, and throughout the whole stanza, Herman
Melville uses poetic words to express that she was killed in the war. Where she won’t feel any of
the peace and happiness she previously felt in her life.
Reference

DiYanni, Robert. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw
Hill, 2008. Print.

Kennedy, X. J. and Gioia, Dana. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and
Writing. Revised edition for Burlington County College. NY: Pearson, 2011. Print.

Niaz, A., Stanikzai, S. M., & Sahibzada, J. (2019). Review of Freud’s psychoanalysis approach
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Sulistyorini, H. (2007). A FORMALISM APPROACH ON DAPHNE DU MAURIER'S

REBECCA. LITE: Jurnal Bahasa, Sastra, dan Budaya, 3(1), 33-40.