A Systemic Functional Analysis on William Shakespeare’s Selected Sonnets

Abstract

This thesis analyses the written literary text of William Shakespeare’s three sonnets: “Sonnet 29”, “Sonnet 138” and “Sonnet 144”. This analysis concerns with systemic text analysis which is proposed by Halliday and semiotic system of verbal art theory that is proposed by Hasan. The problems of this thesis deal with two main dimensions, they are how to find subject matters, the first order meaning (the deep level of meaning), the second order meaning (the deeper level of meaning) and the deepest level of meaning; and how to acquire a better comprehension of the selected sonnets. In analyzing the sonnets the writer uses the descriptive method to analyze semantics (ideational, interpersonal and textual meanings), lexical cohesion and subject matter. The foregrounded patterns create meanings in terms of the semiotic system of verbal art. The consistency of foregrounding makes the foregrounded patterns produce consistently foregrounded meaning which is called the first order meaning. The first order meaning functions as a sign, symbol, or metaphor of the second order meaning. Then, the second order meaning creates the deepest level of meaning of the selected sonnets.