THE ANALYSIS OF RHYME IN “THE NAKED AND THE NUDE” BY ROBERT GRAVES

INTRODUCTION

Robert von Ranke Graves (July 24, 1895 –December 7, 1985) was an English scholar, best remembered for his work as a poet and novelist. During his long life, he produced more than 140 works in total. He was the son of Alfred Perceval Graves, the Irish writer. Graves, born in Wimbledon, England, received his early education at Charterhouse School and won a scholarship to St John's College, Oxford University. However, the prospect of spending another four years of his life studying Latin and Greek did not appeal to the nineteen-year-old Graves, and with the outbreak of World War I he enlisted almost immediately in the Royal Welch Fusiliers (RWF).

The horror of his wartime experiences had a profound effect upon him; he published his first volume of poems, Over The Brazier, in 1916, but he later tried to suppress his war poetry. At the Battle of the Somme in 1916 he received such serious injuries that his family were informed of his death. However, he recovered, at the cost of permanent damage to his lungs, and, after a brief spell back in France, spent the remainder of the war in England, despite his efforts to return to the front.

His other works are  A Survey of Modernist Poetry, A Pamphlet Against Anthologies, Lawrence and the Arabs, Goodbye to All That, Count Belisarius, The Long Week-End,  The Reader Over Your Shoulder,The Use and Abuse of the English Language, King Jesus, The White Goddess, The Gospel of the Nazarene Restored  The Greek Myths , Catacrok! Mostly Stories, Mostly Funny, The White Goddess and Claudius and Count Belisarius.

In this paper, the writer would like to explain about the rhyme of The naked and the Nude poem by Robert Graves. Like rhythm, rhyme is a sound-oriented poetical feature. It offers about the sound in the last line of poem in a verse or stanza. Two words rhyme if they are identical or similar from the last stressed vowel. Rhyme divided into two kinds as follow:

·         Pure rhyme or a perfect rhyme when the rhyming bits are identical in sound (ran/man, bright/night, many/any)

·         Half rhyme or slant rhyme is one in which the rhyming parts are only similar in sound (often it is exactly the vowels that differ: load/lid, stone/frown, over/recover).

There are two main exceptions:

• Eye rhyme links two words that look as if they ought to rhyme perfectly but in reality do not, e.g., daughter and laughter. Usually, an eye rhyme is only a half rhyme.
• Rich rhyme links two words that sound wholly alike (homophones), e.g., reed/read, rite/right.

Furthermore, rhyme commonly distinguished concern the position of rhymes and the number of syllables involved:

• An end rhyme is one in which the rhyming words occur at the end of two lines.
• An internal rhyme is one in which one of the rhyming words occurs in the middle and the other at the end of a line.
• A masculine rhyme is one that ends in a single stressed syllable (ran/man).
• A feminine rhyme is one that ends in one or more unstressed syllables (Niger/tiger).

Rhymes have a variety of functions in poem. They emphasize the end of a line, memorize verses and they link and bind verse sequences. The two most common and basic rhyming patterns are alternate rhymes and embracing rhymes:

• An alternate rhyme is a verse sequence that rhymes aabb (or similarly, such as xxaa);

An embracing rhyme is a verse sequence that rhymes abba (or similarly, such as axxa). 

DISCUSSION

Before the writer going to the discussion session, the writer would like to show the poem itself, “the Naked and the Nude” by Robert Graves.

Robert Graves - The Naked And The Nude

For me, the naked and the nude

(By lexicographers construed

As synonyms that should express

The same deficiency of dress

Or shelter) stand as wide apart

As love from lies, or truth from art.

Lovers without reproach will gaze

On bodies naked and ablaze;

The Hippocratic eye will see

In nakedness, anatomy;

And naked shines the Goddess when

She mounts her lion among men.

The nude are bold, the nude are sly

To hold each treasonable eye.

While draping by a showman's trick

Their dishabille in rhetoric,

They grin a mock-religious grin

Of scorn at those of naked skin.

The naked, therefore, who compete

Against the nude may know defeat;

Yet when they both together tread

The briary pastures of the dead,

By Gorgons with long whips pursued,

How naked go the sometime nude!

The poem above tells about the comparison of contrasts the words “naked” and “nude.” The Naked is associated with the love, medicine, truth and godliness. The Nude is associated with lies, sex, slyness and badness. That was really contrast and like the opposite circumstances. Naked is honesty, for each individual is born naked. Doctors look upon naked bodies as nothing more than naked bodies. Naked is for those in love. It does not evoke powerful sexual thrills from strangers, only from the one love. Naked is history. In the Bible, Adam and Eve were created naked, and it was natural and honest.

Nude is a lie, for one is not born nude. Nude is a flagrant display of the body to evoke sexual thrills from any eyes, not solely from they eyes of one lover. Nude is something created from sin. When Eve commits the first sin, she and Adam becomes Nude. Graves does not paint a powerful picture through his poem, but he does send a powerful message through his artist construction of words. He offers insight on a subject most tend to accept as common. The differences between the meaning of Naked and Nude are not often contemplated in the way Graves contemplates them, and causes his readers to contemplate them.

The rhyme in that poem is aabbcc. Based on the position of the rhyming, it is included to the End Rhyme, that is the rhyming words occur at the end of two lines, every two lines. The writer divided it into three parts, that are as follow:

For me, the naked and the nude  (a)

(By lexicographers construed  (a)

As synonyms that should express  (b)

The same deficiency of dress   (b)

Or shelter) stand as wide apart  (c)

As love from lies, or truth from art.  (c)

Lovers without reproach will gaze  (a)

On bodies naked and ablaze;   (a)

The Hippocratic eye will see   (b)

In nakedness, anatomy;   (b)

And naked shines the Goddess when  (c)

She mounts her lion among men.  (c)

The nude are bold, the nude are sly  (a)

To hold each treasonable eye.  (a)

While draping by a showman's trick  (b)

Their dishabille in rhetoric,   (b)

They grin a mock-religious grin   (c)

Of scorn at those of naked skin.   (c)

The naked, therefore, who compete  (a)

Against the nude may know defeat;   (a)

Yet when they both together tread  (b)

The briary pastures of the dead,  (b)

By Gorgons with long whips pursued  (c)

How naked go the sometime nude!  (c)

For the other analysis, the writer included them poem into the alternative rhyme. Because the rhymes was happened in the form as aabbcc. If it divided by one stanza and one stanza, it becomes  aabbdd. But if it is analyzed wholly, it becomes aabbcc, ddeeff, gghhii and  jjkkll rhymes.

Based on the pronunciation rhyme, it is included into the eye rhyme and rich rhyme. Because the rhyme contents about the sound that is pronounced as a wholly and alike. For the eye rhyme is happened in line 3,4,5,6,7,8,11,1217,18,21 and 22. For the rich rhyme is happened in line 1,2,9,10,13,14,15,6,19,20,23 and 23.

CONCLUSION

The Naked and the Nude tells the contrast circumstances. The Naked is associated with the love, medicine, truth and godliness. The Nude is associated with lies, sex, slyness and badness. That was really contrast and like the opposite circumstances. Naked is honesty, for each individual is born naked. Doctors look upon naked bodies as nothing more than naked bodies. Naked is for those in love. It does not evoke powerful sexual thrills from strangers, only from the one love.

For the rhyme analysis, the poem is included to the alternative rhyme. Because the rhyme was happened in the form as aabbcc. According to the pronunciation of poem, it is included to the eye and rich rhyme, where the pronunciation is divided into the holly and just alike.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Kenney, William, 1966, How to Analyze Fiction, USA: Monarch press.

Tarigan, Henry Guntur, 1986, Prinsip-prinsip Dasar Sastra, Bandung: PT. Angkasa

Thank you a bunch..

I wish that this analysis will be useful for all the student of English Department specially and for all the readers as well generally, and particularly for the writer herself. However, she realizes there are some incorrect things in this writing. Hence, all the improvement and the better opinion will be appreciated well.