Sound was the preliminary foundation of human communication in poetry. It may indicate an event, a feeling or a message through the combination of its phonetic elements (i.e. rhyme, rhythm and metre). Indonesian poetry started as a verbal form of expression through pantun and syair, thus the sound was a vital foundation. Pantun was found all across our archipelago but the first examples of it were found in the 15th century in the Malay Annals whereas syair possibly came from the Middle East. The term syair itself was derived from the Arabic term of poetry (shi’r) and poet (sha’ir).
These two main forms of classic Indonesian poetry have four words and four lines in each stanza (i.e. quatrain). One of their main differences can be found in their rhyming schemes. Pantuna usually have alternating rhyming schemes, a-b-a-b (i.e. rima silang), while syairs have a-a-a-a patterned rhyming schemes (i.e. rima menerus). Syairs have longer verses, which includes more than one quatrain, whereas a quatrain in itself is enough to be a pantun. The subject in syairs varies from love to historical accounts. For pantun, a quatrain typically consists of two couplets. The first two lines are called sampiran which contains illustration of nature or agrarian culture (e.g. description of a landscape, plants, or fruits) and the second is isi in which the intention of the pantun is revealed. Similar to syair, pantun can be used to express one’s love to another, but it can also be a social tool to communicate proverbs, moral propositions, jokes and farewell messages. In addition, the rhyming sound in a pantun was used as a mnemonic aid for the listener to help him/her to remember the message intended by the speaker. Below is an example from an infamous wisdom pantun:
“Berakit-rakit dahulu
Berenang ketepian
Bersakit-sakit dahulu
Bersenang-senang kemudian”
The highly repetitive rhyming scheme written by Pujangga Lama, who wrote traditional pantun and syairs, has a significant influence on subsequent writing composition and styles of Indonesian poetry. However, the function of rhyme had and is still changing as writers keep on pushing their creative boundaries. In poems written by Pujangga Baru (from 1933), the writers usually have poetic dictions and illustrate beautiful entities or landscapes. Here’s Amir Hamzah’s poem Berdiri Aku:
“Pohon pepaya di dalam semak
Pohon manggis sebasar lengan
Kawan tertawa memang banyak
Kawan menangis diharap jangan
Angin pulang menyejuk bumi
Menepuk teluk mengempas emas
Lari ke gunung memuncak sunyi
Berayun-ayun di atas alas”
A lot of Pujangga Baru poets employed the pantun rhyme scheme, with or without the sampiran and isi, despite of the prominent influence of the western poetry form, particularly the sonnet. In the poem above, the first stanza is a pantun and the second only retains its a-b-a-b rhyme composition. This kind of rhyme was used to create a flowing harmonious melody. Other than that, the rhyme produced by similar sounding vowels also creates a bond between words in each line of a poem. The meanings embedded in those words and how they sound holistically would evoke a feeling manifested in the poem.
It was Chairil Anwar, a poet from Angkatan ’45, who first deviated from the traditional romanticism found in preceding poets, especially the Pujangga Baru writers. In Aku, he had made use of repetitive rhymes from -u, similar to a syair. In his poem, Derai-Derai Cemara and Pantun Kiasan, readers are again presented with the dominating Malay Pantun rhyme composition. Chairil used a pantun rhyme composition to produce a flowing melody and create cohesiveness in his poem similar to other poets before him. However, Chairil refused to romanticize his diction by using bahasa yang mendayu-dayu that was renowned by his predecessors. A striking difference in Chairil’s diction is that it was not bounded by what then were considered as conception of beauty (i.e. nature and bahasa mendayu-dayu).
Agreeing with French linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, I think that language is dependent on its convention, which includes the sound of a word. In Indonesia, the word binatang jalang (i.e. bitch) that Chairil used in his poem is not immediately associated with beauty. In some contexts, it even carries a negative connotation. Moreover, less objectively, I would say that the sound -ng is not as pleasant as a mendayu sound from words that often ends with a vowel. In ‘Aku’ he used words such as seorang, binatang jalang, terbuang, meradang, menerjang. Those words indicate his resistance to use melancholic diction that is often found in poems preceding his. In these lines “Aku ini binatang jalang/Dari kumpulannya terbuang”, the poet demonstrates that the beauty of a poem does not have to depend on sacred and pretty words. Indeed, Aku is the most well known poem in Indonesia. Chairil was the first to demonstrate that banal words from the street and slums, reinforced by the -ng sound, can create deeper impressions on readers. Furthermore, I think that the -ng sound give a revolutionary edge to the message implied in the following poem.
“Kalau sampai waktuku
Ku mau tak seorang kan merayu
Tidak juga kau
Tak perlu sedu sedan itu
Aku ini binatang jalang
Dari kumpulannya terbuang
Biar peluru menembus kulitku
Aku tetap meradang menerjang
Luka dan bisa kubawa berlari
Berlari
Hingga hilang pedih peri
Dan aku akan lebih tidak perduli
Aku mau hidup seribu tahun lagi”
Similar to Chairil Anwar who re-defined the writing style of modern Indonesian poetry, Sutardji Calzoum Bachri from Angkatan ’66 also took a road less travelled. For previous poets, a word carries a certain meaning and you create creative perspectives by aligning them with another word to create a sentence. Unlike them, Bachri’s poems demonstrate how a novel creative perspective would emerge when words are liberated from their conventional meanings. Here is one of his most surreal poems, Sepisausepi:
“Sepisau luka sepisau duri
sepikul dosa sepukau sepi
sepisau duka serisau diri
sepisau sepi sepisau nyanyi
sepisaupa sepisaupi
sepisapanya sepikau sepi
sepisaupa sepisaupoi
sepikul diri keranjang duri
sepisaupa sepisaupi
sepisaupa sepisaupi
sepisaupa sepisaupi
sampai pisauNya ke dalam nyanyi.”
It is quite obvious that an innovation of Bachri is in the mantra-like impression of his poem. In ‘Sepisausepi’ this effect is created from the repitition of sounds like -se, -sau, and -pi. Furthermore, this poem is also similar to a mantra because the words that he used and created have a whimsical charm. This poem was mainly developed from words such as pisau and sepi that we often use everyday. Bachri experimented with those words by adding and fused them together to become sepisau and pisausepi, which created novel sounds that presented unprecedented meanings. Because the words are untied from their usual meaning, words in that poem seem to carry secret hidden meaning, which is similar to a mantra.
Bachri’s writing method overcame what he perceived as the dogmatism of Indonesian language (e.g. conventional syntax). With this method he wanted to convey the metaphysical understanding of spirituality and emotions to alienated modern individuals. He believed that, in this modern age, the essential understanding of such concepts and experiences does not necessarily get communicated through well-formed sentences. Alternatively, by focusing on the phonetic aspect of human speech, a poem could transcend the reader into the spiritual or emotional realm intended by the poet. Catching the meaning behind his poems might be harder than reading the meaning of a lyrical poem that describe and represent the poet’s experience or feelings.
These different poems created in different eras reveal how sound in Indonesian poetry, particularly through the use of rhyme, is still retained, although its function has changed as years passed. Rhyme has been utilized as a mnemonic aid, glue in a poem’s structure and as an artistic expression of a poet’s message. The role of rhyme was very much related to the form and content of the poem. Then, Bachri innovatively used sound as a tool that allows a poem to communicate with its readers in a transcendental level by presenting words as themselves, not as words with certain meanings slipped in by language convention. With less emphasis on the form and content, this particular approach allows poetry to bring back the spiritual component of art. Some contemporary Indonesian poets may no longer use rhyme regularly in their work, however, some would still use it to emphasize on the meaning implied in the lines that rhymes. After all, rhyme certainly could add spice to a poem.
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References
Prasetya, E. & Utami, A. (2015). Estetika Banal & Spiritualisme Kritis. Jakarta: Kepustakaan
Populer Gramedia.
Rahman J. D. (Eds.). (2014). 33 Tokoh Sastra Indonesia Paling Berpengaruh. Jakarta:
Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia.
Ricklefs, M. C. (2008). A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1200 (4th Ed). Retrieved from
http://www.palgrave.com/page/detail/a-history-of-modern-indonesia-since-c.1200-mc-ricklefs/?sf1=barcode&st1=9781137149183
A writer can document the prevalent socio-cultural problems that occur in his or her environment. In literature, the writer responds to what he or she sees and transforms it into illustrative words or fictional stories and characters. This is perhaps why some fictional stories can convey the reality (or the truth) better than our filtered and constructed mainstream news publications. Thus, literature may represent the social reality of a certain era. Some of the themes used in old literary works are timeless and when you read those books the past and the present socio-cultural problems become indistinct. This is what I experienced when I read ‘Layar Terkembang’ by Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana (STA).
Sutan Takdir Alisjahbana was one of the prominent Indonesian writers and thinkers in Indonesia. He suggested that Indonesian language must dissociate from Dutch language and grammar style and instead base it on Malay language. His career did not only involve teaching but also establishing a literary magazine, creating literary works and writing about the Indonesian language. On the international level he is known as a philosopher rather than as a writer (Mahayana in Rahman et al., 130-142).
‘Layar Terkembang’ (1936) is one of STA most famous work. In this book, which was published before our nation’s independence, he communicates noteworthy ideas and insights to us who lives in this Reformation era. In the 1930s, his perspective about youth, religion, the relationship between life and death that were discussed in that book would be considered unconventional. One of the primary themes within ‘Layar Terkembang’ that is still relevant today is about the emancipation of women. STA’s perspective about this socio-cultural issue is embedded in the lives (i.e. their thoughts and social relations) of the female protagonist in this novel.
This novel tells a story of a woman who struggle to achieve her life aspiration, which is for women to have equal rights as men, and the frictions that may rise from it. Tuti and Maria, daughters of Wiriatmadja, have very different traits and life aspirations. Tuti, twenty-five years old, is portrayed as a serious woman who is active in a feminist organization known as Putri Sedar while teaching in a primary school in Petojo. She works tirelessly to achieve gender equality rights and this goal is grounded in her life principles and values.
Maria is five years younger than Tuti. She is still finishing her last year at Hogere Burger School (Sekolah Menengah Atas) Carpentier Alting Stichting. Contrary to Tuti, she is a sweet talker who easily expresses her feelings and give praises to other people. Her vulnerability to emotions is shown not only through her reactions in social situations but also in her preferred conversation topics such as her friends, school and holidays. These are not as substantial as Tuti’s subject matters that usually include women’s rights, youth movement and religion.
In a speech at her organization’s national congress, Tuti express to her peers that women need to be and are capable of being decision-makers in domains such as knowledge development, business affairs and the arts. This statement indicates Tuti’s hope for women to get involved in deciding the fate of their nation, which was not independent from the Dutch colony. Underlying that statement is also Tuti’s disagreement to a traditional norm that women should only work in domestic sphere to serve their men’s needs and a stereotype that women’s judgment are always clouded by emotions. Tuti’s organizational activity demonstrates her holistic self-image that does not only include an illustration that she is a feminist, but also an analytical thinker who is not easily influenced by emotions.
At numerous times, Tuti’s self-image as an independent woman and a thinker are at odds with her needs for love. For instance, after Maria and Yusuf got engaged, Tuti, who initially embraced her organizational work, suddenly feels an emptiness and silence in her heart. This inner tension within her increases when she sees a shadow of Maria and Yusuf and hears their conversations from inside of her room. On some days, Tuti also recall memories of her previous wedding engagement that failed to last because she prioritized her organization works instead of her fiancé. During this internal turmoil Supomo, who teaches at the same school as Tuti, expresses his feelings for her. He is a kind and respectful man. Alas, Supomo is not a man that she looks up to because he does not share her passion for youth movements. Following a painful self-introspection, Tuti decides that she cannot accept his proposal. If she did, their relationship would not be more than an escape of loneliness, which she thinks would dishonor marriage. This signifies that Tuti appreciate marriage not as a step to validate one’s womanhood, a popular notion that persists today, but as an end that must be based on mutual respect and understanding between two individuals.
When Maria fell sick from Tuberculosis, Tuti lives with Saleh, her cousin, in his home at Sindanglaya. Together with his wife, Ratna, they both educate female farmers around the area. Ratna, who followed her husband to work at a farm, also write several magazine articles for Dunia Istri and Widuri to change the public perception about women’s role in the development of a nation, particularly through agriculture. From then on Tuti understands that being a wife who is willing to follow her husband does not necessarily imply that a woman is weak and unable to be her own person.
Tuti also starts to comprehend the beauty of nature she observed in the mountainous location, which does not entail Tuti’s typical analytical mode of understanding. The event symbolizes the unification of Tuti’s rational and emotive halves. This enlightenment allows Tuti to see her goal for gender equality with a higher purpose and meaning. Immersing one’s self in a tranquil nature does not make her secular battle for gender equality trivial, instead it shows her that this issue is not merely a power and intellectual issue. Conversely, the battle for gender equality is about the balance between gender roles and this balance, similar to how it is in nature, is the innate condition of human existence.
Similar to the discussion in Putri Sedar, nowadays we can still find debates about the roles of females in our society. We also have more female-oriented or feminist organizations than Tuti’s time. Several opinions about gender have also been published here in Whiteboard Journal. Most women believe that she, and other women, must push themselves to develop their talents and abilities to actualize their aspirations. This belief is identical to Tuti’s perspective about women. Owing to the fact that literature is a reflection of the problems and issues within the period of time it was written, the resemblance between our present reality and ‘Layar Terkembang’ shows that, similar to how it was in the past, this issue is still largely relevant today.
Another resemblance is when women nowadays still feel that they sometimes have to choose to boost their career or social relationship. This is a dilemma that the protagonist also experience. Furthermore, Indonesian women today still often refer to the dichotomy of the self, her emotional versus rational self. Especially when handling social relationships such as how a woman should act or relate with the person whom she is fond with. This is also very much like how STA illustrate his female protagonist in 1930s.
‘Layar Terkembang’ offer the readers an insight on how women can approach those matters. Tuti initially thought that she needed to liberate herself from the society’s stereotypical emotional woman attributes in order to be an independent one. However, through the development of Tuti’s character, STA illustrates that being an independent woman does not imply the annihilation of woman’s emotional vulnerability and needs. Here the author indirectly conveys that such a black-and-white perspective is as flawed as the notion that a woman is more often inclined to emotions than rationality. From Tuti’s life, we can pick up that it’s not only more accurate but perhaps actually better for a woman to see herself not as a two interchanging rational-emotional selves but instead to see oneself from a holistic level. Such perspectives may provide an insight to integrate one’s career aspirations and socio-emotional needs.
This very old Indonesian literature work is still relevant for us today, especially for women. Other than the moral and social ideas in it, the reader can also have a peek on what it was like in the old Jakarta and Bandung. Particular in ‘Layar Terkembang’, the reader may also see how much our nation has move forward in regards to women’s rights and public perception about women’s identity. Women are already involved in domains that Tuti described in her speech at Putri Sedar National Congress. However, we still struggle to alienate women’s identity with domestic duties. For example, I am sure you have heard that women can be independent and choose their own jobs as long as they do not abandon their domestic duties. In some industries, the expectation for women to carry out their female duties may limit them to get their access to the same opportunity as men and to perform their best at work. Fortunately, there are more and more female-oriented and feminist organizations today. Just like how it started in the past, as illustrated in ‘Layar Terkembang’, hopefully women today will also keep their emancipation spirit high without having to give up their emotional vulnerabilities.
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Bibliography
Alisjahbana, S. T. (1936). Layar Terkembang (15th ed.). Jakarta: Balai Pustaka.
Mahayana, M. S. (2014). 33 Tokoh Sastra Indonesia Paling Berpengaruh. J. D. Rahman et al. (Eds.). Jakarta: Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia.
On her recent visit Japan, our avid art enthusiast, Mitha Budhyarto shares her eye opening experience in one of Japan's promising art festival, the Setouchi Triennale. Despite the common idea of exhibitions being held in an indoor gallery, In this piece, we learn how the coastal area of “Setouchi” region challenges the ordinary contemporary art spaces.
Art appreciation courses are mostly formulated for students in the art and design department. However, the challenge arises for Mitha Budhyarto to take the context of appreciation into a setting where students have limited interest of the arts. How does one push for a knowledgable art engagement? Mitha Budhyarto shares her story.
Mitha Budhyarto questions the practice of our education system. Here, she explains boldly why a theory-based education in our art department may lead to a much favorable impact.
