Formal Links in English Selected Poems: A Discourse Analysis

ABSTRACT: This study aims to analyze formal links in English selected poems. The researcher used the theory of formal links introduced by Guy Cook to analyze the types and the role of formal links that are used in the poems. By using descriptive qualitative methods, the researcher found that each selected poem employs at least five formal links. The data analysis shows that all formal links play some important roles to the selected poems. One of those roles is to create coherence of the poems. The other roles of formal links that the researcher finds out in the selected poem are: showing the plot of the poem, pointing out the position of the poet or the object that is told in the poem in the time sequences, creating the beauty of the poem through the rhyme, emphasizing some important point in the poem, avoiding ambiguity, avoiding the repetition of the similar words, simplifying the text, and showing the relationships between one information to the other information in the poem.

KEYWORDS:Formal Links, Cohesion, Discourse Analysis, Poem