SEMANTIC ANALYSIS IN DJAKARTA POST’S ARTICLE :

“Poetry Sales Rise — Thanks to Millennials in Search of Meaning, Clarity”

A. Background of the study

Semantic is one of the branch in linguistic study that learns about the meaning conducted
in a language, code, or another things. The study of semantic discusses many things focusly
on the meaning interpretation. One of the populer study in Semantic is Semantic Roles.
In linguistic theory, a thematic relationship or commonly known as Semantic Roles, are
the various roles played by noun phrases in connection with actions or circumstances that are
explained by the regulating verb, usually the main verb of sentence. In semantic roles, there
are three valencies respectively the valencies zero, valencies one, valencies two, and
valencies three considered as type of a whole group of predication. As an example, the clause
“it is snowing” is a kind of valency zero, or “Waldi is playing computer” is typically known
as the valency one.
Doing a study or analysis about Semantic is an interesting topic, especially for them who
is working in or love to know more about Semantic. Therefore, the writer, that is also a
student in Language Study and love the linguistic segment, have an intention to analysis the
use of Semantic Roles contained in an international article. This article is entitled “Poetry
Sales Rise — Thanks to Millennials in Search of Meaning, Clarity” which is published on
January 25th 2019 from an international media, Djakarta Post. In this occasion, the writer is
about to analysis each paragraphs in the article and try to identify the use of valency in each
of the paragraph.

B. Content of Article
Who says poetry is dead? It is pretty much alive and thriving — in the United
Kingdom, at least — whose poetry sales hit a record £12 million (around $15 million) in the
past year. A total of 1.3 million poetry books were sold in 2018 alone, with two-thirds of its
buyers younger than 34 years old, as per UK book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan via The
Guardian on Jan. 21. It was also reported that girls and young women were poetry’s biggest
consumers, with 41 percent aged 13 to 22 years old.
Rupi Kaur emerged as number one in the bestsellers list, as per the report, with almost
£1 million of the sales coming just from her. Kaur, whose fame can be credited to her use of
Instagram in making poetry more accessible to her fans, is known for her minimalist and
simplistic style of poetry often accompanied by childlike doodles. The 26-year-old Kaur, an
Indian who immigrated to Canada, boasts almost 3.5 million followers on the social media
site alone.
But it was not just Kaur who was a big name in last year’s sales. Poetry by Seamus
Heaney, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy and Homer, among others, also sold well. Andre
Breedt from Nielsen said the boom in poetry sales can be chucked to the context of the times:
during uncertainty and political instability, people turn to poetry for lucidity and attunement.
 “Poetry is resonating with people who are looking for understanding,” Breedt was
quoted as saying. “It is a really good way to explore complex, difficult emotions and
uncertainty.” Breedt also shared that it was poetry’s brevity that makes it easy and instant to
consume on social media and gadgets.
The report further noted how pieces of poetry would usually trend during national
casualties and calamities. For one, Tony Walsh’s poem “This Is the Place” trended after the
Manchester Arena Bombing in May 2017, when it was shared thousands of times on social
media. Ben Okri’s poem “Grenfell Tower, June, 2017”, which was penned just after the fire
that saw 72 people dead, also had the same reception.
For Katy Shaw, a professor of contemporary writings at Northumbria University,
there seems to be no coincidence when it comes to poetry being used to critically discuss
events like Grenfell, the Manchester bombing, and even Brexit. “It’s being repurposed as this
really dynamic and vital form that can capture, in a very condensed way, the turbulent nature
of contemporary society — and give us the space to struggle with our desire to understand
and negotiate a lot of what is going on at the moment,” Shaw said in the report. She also
noted the advantage of technology today, which gives people the speed to share new writing
to reach anybody, just about anywhere in the world: “The one great advantage we have now
is the speed at which we can share new work.”

C. Analysis
Paragraph 1
“Who says poetry is dead? It is pretty much alive and thriving — in the United
Kingdom, at least — whose poetry sales hit a record £12 million (around $15 million) in the
past year. A total of 1.3 million poetry books were sold in 2018 alone, with two-thirds of its
buyers younger than 34 years old, as per UK book sales monitor Nielsen BookScan via The
Guardian on Jan. 21. It was also reported that girls and young women were poetry’s biggest
consumers, with 41 percent aged 13 to 22 years old.”

Valency Sentences
Valency Zero -
Valency One  “It is pretty much alive..” (S2)
 “A total of 1.3 million poetry books were sold in 2018 alone..”
 “It was also reported..”

Valency Two  “Who says poetry is dead?”

Valency Three -

Paragraph 2
“Rupi Kaur emerged as number one in the bestsellers list, as per the report, with
almost £1 million of the sales coming just from her. Kaur, whose fame can be credited to her
use of Instagram in making poetry more accessible to her fans, is known for her minimalist
and simplistic style of poetry often accompanied by childlike doodles. The 26-year-old Kaur,
an Indian who immigrated to Canada, boasts almost 3.5 million followers on the social
media site alone.”

Valency Sentences
Valency Zero -
Valency One  “who immigrated to Canada”
 “The 26-year-old Kaur, an Indian who immigrated to Canada,
boasts almost 3.5 million followers...”
Valency Two  “Rupi Kaur emerged as number one in the bestsellers list”
 “whose fame can be credited to her use of Instagram”
Valency Three -

Paragraph 3
“But it was not just Kaur who was a big name in last year’s sales. Poetry by Seamus
Heaney, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy and Homer, among others, also sold well. Andre
Breedt from Nielsen said the boom in poetry sales can be chucked to the context of the times:
during uncertainty and political instability, people turn to poetry for lucidity and
attunement.”

Valency Sentences
Valency Zero
Valency One  “Poetry by Seamus Heaney, Leonard Cohen, Carol Ann Duffy
and Homer, among others, also sold well”

Valency Two  “Andre Breedt from Nielsen said the boom in poetry sales”
 “people turn to poetry”
Valency Three  “Andre Breedt from Nielsen said the boom in poetry sales can
be chucked to the context of the times”

Paragraph 4
“ “Poetry is resonating with people who are looking for understanding,” Breedt was
quoted as saying. “It is a really good way to explore complex, difficult emotions and
uncertainty.” Breedt also shared that it was poetry’s brevity that makes it easy and instant to
consume on social media and gadgets. ”

Valency Sentences
Valency Zero -
Valency One -
Valency Two  “Poetry is resonating with people”
 “Breedt also shared that”
 “that makes it easy and instant”
Valency Three -
Paragraph 5
“The report further noted how pieces of poetry would usually trend during national
casualties and calamities. For one, Tony Walsh’s poem “This Is the Place” trended after the
Manchester Arena Bombing in May 2017, when it was shared thousands of times on social
media. Ben Okri’s poem “Grenfell Tower, June, 2017”, which was penned just after the fire
that saw 72 people dead, also had the same reception.”

Valency Sentences
Valency Zero -
Valency One  “Tony Walsh’s poem “This Is the Place” trended after the
Manchester Arena Bombing in May 2017”
 “..it was shared thousands of times on social media.”
Valency Two  “Ben Okri’s poem “Grenfell Tower, June, 2017”, which was
penned just after the fire that saw 72 people dead, also had the
same reception.”
Valency Three -

Paragraph 6
“ For Katy Shaw, a professor of contemporary writings at Northumbria University,
there seems to be no coincidence when it comes to poetry being used to critically discuss
events like Grenfell, the Manchester bombing, and even Brexit. “It’s being repurposed as this
really dynamic and vital form that can capture, in a very condensed way, the turbulent
nature of contemporary society — and give us the space to struggle with our desire to
understand and negotiate a lot of what is going on at the moment,” Shaw said in the report.
She also noted the advantage of technology today, which gives people the speed to share new
writing to reach anybody, just about anywhere in the world: “The one great advantage we
have now is the speed at which we can share new work.” “

Valency Sentences
Valency Zero
Valency One  “..it comes to poetry..”
Valency Two  “She also noted the advantage of technology today”
Valency Three  “which gives people the speed..”
 “The one great advantage we have now is the speed at which
we can share new work.”

D. CONCLUSION
Seperti yang kita lihat pada pembahasan diatas, kalimat-kalimat yang ada di setiap
paragraph setidaknya memiliki tipe kalimat yang bertipe Valency One dan Valency Two.
Untuk article ini, penulis mendapati tidak adanya pemakaian kalimat bertipe Valency Zero
pada setiap paragraph.