Menganalisa Sebuah Puisi Karya dari Lewis Carroll

NAME                              : MUHAMMAD ILHAM KHASBULLAH
DEPARTEMENT          : ENGLISH LITERATURE
POETRY TITLE            : The Crocodile by Lewis Carroll
GENRE                            : MULTICULTURALISM

The Crocodile is a poem written by Lewis Carroll. The writer creates this poem to bring the reader imaginations recognizing the predator (Crocodile). In the poem, there is a phenomenon where the Crocodile wants to find prey using the guise as if he is very friendly to the fishes swimming around him. This also describes the character of a person in the real life world which translates that we should not completely trust anyone even they look are very good, nobody knows their inners. Like the Crocodile which smiles kindly at the swimming fishes but it has other intentions behind its smile. This poem belongs to the category of stanza.

Compendium/Analyst:

First Stanza: The Crocodile hunts its prey using such a camouflage way. I can assume from (2-4) "Improve his shining tail, / "And pour the waters of Nile",/ "On evert golden scale!". Those tell us that the Crocodile appears very shiny by smearing its whole body through the water, and yet ray makes its whole body very shiny. this way makes it look charming of its prey's eyes.

Second Stanza: The Crocodile welcomes its prey by making them feel as if they are being invited at a festive party (Eye Contraction). According to (7-8) "And welcomes little fishes in", /"With gently smiling jaws!" Those mean that the Crocodile has came a long way to see it pray. Unconsciously, the fishes come closer to the Crocodile. Therefore, from the beginning they thought it was a party, and suddenly everything changes into a nightmare for fishes because they get trapped in the Crocodile's mouth forever.

This theme tells about amount of trust in someone. From the 7th and 8th,"And welcomes little fishes in", /"With gently smiling jaws!". They make an expression that if you trust in someone excessively, you will get disappointed by them. Those things like this always happen in the real world, although not all of them but a few people out there even those who act as closest relatives are able to act like the Crocodile. They make advantage of the moment when we are on top of happiness. They act like parasites and during times when we are in trouble, they will go and let us suffer at our own expense. According to (5-6) "How cheerfully he seems to grin" (It means that the Crocodile can cover his hunger by cheerfully and acts as if it's friendly quiet on the fishes),/"How neatly spreads his claws" (it means its claws are so beautiful enough, but it's cruel as well so it concludes that the Crocodile is ready to catch its prey with the beautiful claws! How awful it is, isn't it?). This poem does fit for younger kids, those are still having an innocent journey.

Conclusion the poem:

According to 3rd and 4th, "And pour the waters of the Nile", "On Every golden scale!". Because even someone who looks formal doesn't  guarantee that they have good intentions. Fixing or shaping the character of minors are very important, so the reference of this poem is very anticipate someone for taking a step because no one knows a person's heart, intentions for someone. So, we just have to be prepared to anticipate it. This describes our point of view (POV) towards people around us, who look very good, it is possible that they are completely good. It also describes that every predator has outlooks on the animals as a prey. It's the same with the Crocodile that looks friendly to the fishes that swim to and from around it but on the other hand, the Crocodile looks them as prey. In any case, just don't judge the book too soon by its cover because this always happens in real life as well as in every single day life where there are so many people who put on bright faces but have opposite intentions. As we know, the Crocodile has unpredictable behavior, they wont hesitate to chop-chop their prey violently. Nothing matches the expectations in this world, we just have to adjust our role with the measure we give to people around us. Everything starts from meaningless of kind.