EXPERIENTIAL MEANING IN T.S. ELIOT’S THE WASTE LAND BY GLORIA MANKONTIA AFFUM (10552225) THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON, IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL IN ENGLISH DEGREE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH UNIVERSITY OF GHANA SEPTEMBER, 2021 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh DECLARATION I hereby declare that this thesis is a product of my own research under the supervision of my supervisors and that no part of this work has been presented elsewhere for the award of a degree in any University. Due acknowledgements and references have been made to where it is deemed fit. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh i ABSTRACT This study examines The Waste Land, a seminal poem by Thomas Stearne Eliot, from the Systemic Functional Grammar perspective. Using transitivity as a tool from the Experiential metafunction of the Systemic Functional Grammar, this work explores how Eliot’s grammatical choices construe his experience of the world around and within him in order to unpack the meanings encoded in the poem. To do this, the study used all the three grammatical components that the framework proposes: the processes, participants and circumstances. The work combined both the qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The analysis was done by using Burton’s (1982) steps in text analysis: parsing the clauses in the poem and determining what types of processes exist, what participants are engaged in which type of process and verifying who or what is being affected by each process, and the message that the circumstantial elements presents about the background of the poem. The analysis of the work revealed that all the three major process types: material, relational and mental processes were present in the overall transitivity analysis. Eliot uses these processes and its attendant participants and circumstances to reveal a world characterized by chaos, degeneration, desolation, sexual sterility, decay, transience, horror, lifelessness and a faint hope for regeneration. The study adds a new dimension to the study of Eliot’s poems. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ii DEDICATION To: My beloved husband, Mr. Charles Huago My father, Mr. Abraham Affum Darko My mother, Mrs. Victoria Boakye Affum University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My profound gratitude goes to God Almighty for seeing me through this academic journey. Also, words cannot express how grateful I am to my supervisors: Professor Albert A. Sackey and Dr. George K. Frimpong. My supervisors were always there to respond to the many questions I had concerning the work via WhatsApp, voice calls and face to face meetings. Their honest scholarly criticisms and encouragement helped me in this journey. Honestly, I am very grateful. Also, my appreciation goes to the Head of Department, Dr. Augustina Dzregah, for facilitating the process of my studentship and showing concern in my scholarly journey. Another gratitude goes to Dr. Kwaku Osei-Tutu who was always ready to help me with the papers and books that were not downloadable. Even though he was far away in the U.S., he always responded to my WhatsApp messages and helped me get the materials I requested for. To Prof. John F. Wiredu, Dr. Jemima Anderson, Dr. Gladys Ansah, Dr. Victoria Osei-Bonsu and Dr. J.B. Amissah-Arthur, I say thank you for always inquiring about the progress of my work. Your interest in my work really meant a lot to me as it gave me the urge to work harder and finish on time. Also, to the staff at the Department’s General Office, I say a big thank you for the support. Another appreciation goes to Beatrice Offeibea Awuku. She would always say: “we are not going for extension, we need to finish on time”. These words echoed in my mind throughout the journey of writing this thesis; hence, the need to finish on time. To my course mate Susuana Tagoe, thank you for everything. In fact, to everyone who contributed in one way or the other, thank you! University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION ......................................................................................................................... ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................ i DEDICATION .......................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ..................................................................................................... iii TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES ..................................................................................................................... x LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................. xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................................. xii CHAPTER 1 .............................................................................................................................. 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Background of the Study ................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................. 4 1.3 Objectives of the study..................................................................................................... 5 1.4 Research Questions .................................................................................................... 5 1.5 Significance of the Study ................................................................................................. 6 1.6 Scope of the Study ........................................................................................................... 6 1.7 Methodology in Brief ....................................................................................................... 7 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh v 1.9 Outline of the Thesis ........................................................................................................ 7 CHAPTER 2 .............................................................................................................................. 9 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS ......... 9 2.0 Introduction ...................................................................................................................... 9 2.1 Key Concepts that are Relevant to the Study ................................................................... 9 2.1.1 Language and Literature ........................................................................................... 9 2.1.2 T.S. Eliot and Modernism ....................................................................................... 12 2.1.3 The Poem: The Waste Land .................................................................................... 15 2.2 Related Studies on The Waste Land............................................................................... 17 2.3 Related Studies on Transitivity in Literary Works ........................................................ 20 2.4 Some Approaches to Meaning Making in Texts............................................................ 24 2.4.1 Formalism ............................................................................................................... 24 2.4.2 Reader-Response..................................................................................................... 27 2.4.3 Deconstruction ........................................................................................................ 28 2.5 Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................. 29 2.5.1 The Text .................................................................................................................. 29 2.5.2 Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) — M.A.K. Halliday ................................... 32 2.5.3 The Experiential meaning ....................................................................................... 34 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vi 2.5.4 The Transitivity System .......................................................................................... 35 2.5.5 Processes ................................................................................................................. 38 2.5.5.1 Material Process ............................................................................................... 39 2.5.5.2 Mental process ................................................................................................. 42 2.5.5.3 Relational Process ............................................................................................ 43 2.5.5.4 Verbal Process ................................................................................................. 46 2.5.5.5 Behavioural Process ......................................................................................... 46 2.5.5.6 Existential Process ........................................................................................... 47 2.5.6 Circumstances in Experiential Meaning ................................................................. 48 2.6 Choice ............................................................................................................................ 49 CHAPTER THREE ................................................................................................................. 51 METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................. 51 3.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 51 3.1 Research Design............................................................................................................. 51 3.2 Primary Data and Selection ........................................................................................... 52 3.3 Coding ............................................................................................................................ 55 3.4 Analytical Framework ................................................................................................... 56 3.5 Summary of Chapter ...................................................................................................... 58 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh vii CHAPTER FOUR .................................................................................................................... 59 RESULTS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS ...................................................................... 59 4.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 59 4.1 Presentation of Results ................................................................................................... 59 4.1.2 The Transitivity patterns in Section 3 and Section 5 together ................................ 60 4.1.2.1 Processes in Section 3 and 5 together .............................................................. 60 4.1.2.2 Participants in Sections 3 and 5 together ......................................................... 61 4.1.2.3 Circumstances in Sections 3 and 5 together .................................................... 62 4.1.3 Transitivity patterns in Section 3 of The Waste Land: “The Fire Sermon” (TFS) . 63 4.1.3.1 Processes in Section 3 (TFS) ............................................................................... 64 4.1.3.2 Participants in TFS ............................................................................................... 71 4.1.3.3 Circumstances in TFS .......................................................................................... 73 4.1.4 The transitivity system of Section 5: “What the Thunder Said” (WTS) ................. 75 4.1.4.1 Process types in Section 5: What the Thunder Said (WTS) ............................ 76 4.1.4.2 Participants in WTS ......................................................................................... 78 4.1.4.2 Circumstances in WTS .................................................................................... 80 4.2 Analysis and Discussions ............................................................................................... 81 4.2.1 Interpretation of Material Processes and their participants in TFS ......................... 81 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh viii 4.2.2 The Interpretation of Relational Process and its Participants in TFS ..................... 88 4.2.3 The interpretation of Mental Process and its Participants in TFS .......................... 90 4.2.4 The Interpretation of the Circumstances in TFS ..................................................... 92 4.2.5 Interpretation of material process and its participants in WTS ............................... 94 4.2.6 Interpretation of relational process and its participants in WTS ............................. 95 4.2.7 Interpretation of Existential Process and its Participants in WTS .......................... 97 4.2.8 Circumstances in Section 5 (WTS) ......................................................................... 99 4.3 Summary of the Chapter .............................................................................................. 102 CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................... 103 CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 103 5.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 103 5.2 Summary of Major Findings ........................................................................................ 103 5.2.1 Research Question 1 ............................................................................................. 103 5.2.2 Research Question 2 ............................................................................................. 104 5.2.3 Research Question 3 ............................................................................................. 105 5.3 Limitations ................................................................................................................... 106 5.4 Conclusion ................................................................................................................... 106 5.5 Implications and Recommendations for Future Studies .............................................. 106 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh ix 5.5 Summary of the Chapter ........................................................................................ 107 5.6 Conclusion of the Study ............................................................................................... 107 Bibliography .......................................................................................................................... 108 APPENDICES ....................................................................................................................... 116 APPENDIX A: A Sample of the Analysed Data on “The Fire Sermon” (Section 3 of The Waste Land). ...................................................................................................................... 116 APPENDIX B: A Sample of the Analysed Data on “What The Thunder Said” (Section 5 of The Waste Land) ................................................................................................................ 124 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh x LIST OF TABLES Table 2.1: Relating text to context of situation ........................................................................ 32 Table 3.1:A description of the poem (The Waste Land) ......................................................... 52 Table 4.1: Distribution of process types in TFS ...................................................................... 70 Table 4.2:Distribution of participants in TFS .......................................................................... 71 Table 4.3: Distribution of process types in WTS ..................................................................... 76 Table 4.4: Distribution of relational process types in WTS ..................................................... 78 Table 4 5: Realizations of circumstantial elements in WTS .................................................... 80 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xi LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: SFG and its metafunctions ....................................................................................... 34 Figure 2:Central and peripheral elements in the experiential structure of the clause .............. 37 Figure 3: Process types and their participants.......................................................................... 39 Figure 4: Distribution of transitivity patterns in section 3 and 5 together ............................... 60 Figure 5: Distribution of processes in section 3 and 5 together ............................................... 61 Figure 6: Distribution graph for participants in section 3 and 5 together ................................ 62 Figure 7: Distribution of circumstantial elements in section 3 and 5 together ........................ 63 Figure 8: Transitivity patterns in TFS ...................................................................................... 64 Figure 9: Distribution of processes in TFS .............................................................................. 64 Figure 10: Distribution of material process types in TFS ........................................................ 65 Figure 11: A vivid representation of relational process types in TFS ..................................... 67 Figure 12: Distribution of mental process types in TFS .......................................................... 69 Figure 13: A vivid representation of participants present in TFS ............................................ 73 Figure 14: Distribution of circumstances in TFS ..................................................................... 74 Figure 15: Realization of transitivity elements for WTS ......................................................... 75 Figure 16: Distribution of material process types in WTS ...................................................... 77 Figure 17: Distribution of participants in WTS ....................................................................... 79 University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh xii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS SFG Systemic Functional Grammar TFS The Fire Sermon WTS What the Thunder Said MAT Material MENT Mental REL Relational VERB. Verbal BEH Behavioural EXT Existential University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 1 CHAPTER 1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1.0 Introduction This study examines The Waste Land, a poem by Thomas Stearne Eliot (henceforth Eliot) from the perspective of Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG). The study analyzes the language of the poem by using the transitivity model of the experiential metafunction (Halliday, 2004; Thompson, 2014; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). The study finds out how Eliot’s grammatical choices construe his experience of the world around and within him in order to unpack the meanings in the poem and contribute to the discussions of the timelessness and eternal relevance of this influential and powerful poem. This chapter gives an overview of the work and discusses a brief theoretical and methodological framework within which the study was conducted. 1.2 Background of the Study Language is the medium through which literary writers portray their experiences of the society in their works. From this, it can be noted that literature is not only the mirror of society but it can be used to mirror social thought (Adebanwi, 2014). It is for this reason that Ohmann (1976:303) argues that “there is just no sense in pondering the function of literature without relating it to the actual society that uses it”. In the same light, Diamond (1989), as cited in Adebanwi (2014: 407), observes that “the literature of any society tells a lot about the culture, social structure and politics of the society”. He further opines that literature has the potential of bringing the experience of the poet and society to light more than formal scholarship of historians or social scientists. Hence, this work considers it important to bring to bear these University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 2 concepts by examining the linguistic choices made in The Waste Land. The study does this by using the experiential metafunction. Eliot through the poem entitled The Waste Land engages readers about the post-World War I society which can be extended to the contemporary society in which we live. The Waste Land has been described by critics as the most influential and powerful work of the twentieth century ( Kaiser, 1998; Lawrence, 2006; Black et al., 2010 ). Eliot wrote this poem in the aftermath of the First World War. The death and destruction that humans had witnessed after the First World War was unfathomable. This is emphasized by Dash (2021:4) when he asserts that “the death, destruction and despair took its toll on the psyche of humans as they struggled to come to terms with a world beyond their comprehension”. Eliot is cognizant of the fact that human desires like power, greed, cruelty and sexual perversion were the root cause of the destruction of Europe during the First World War. Hence, through the language of the poem (The Waste Land), he relays the experience of this First World War and its aftermath to his readers. He also attempts to find solutions to the problems caused by the war. Eliot draws on so many myths and allusions (intertextuality) to portray the alienation and despair of Modern life (life during the 20th century literature times). Abrams & Harpham (2009:364) note that: the term intertextuality, popularized especially by Julia Kristeva, is used to signify the multiple ways in which any one literary text is in fact made up of other texts, by means of its open or covert citations and allusions, its repetitions and transformations of the formal and substantive features of earlier texts, or simply its unavoidable participation in the common stock of linguistic and literary conventions and procedures that are “always-already” in place and constitute the discourses into which we are born. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 3 Observably, Eliot’s poem, The Waste Land, is full of intertexts. References are made from both the western and eastern cultural traditions. They include the Bible, Dante, Baudelaire, Milton, Shakespeare, Wagner, Ovid, Spenser, Augustine, the Buddhist and the Hindu Scriptures. He also uses the Italian, French, German and the Sanskrit languages in the poem. The notion of intertextuality is emphasized when Eliot, in his essay, “Tradition and the Individual Talent”, states that good poetry …involves in the first place, the historical sense, which we may call nearly indispensable to anyone who would continue to be a poet beyond his twenty-fifth year; and the historical sense involves a perception, not only of the pastness of the past, but of its presence; the historical sense compels a man to write, not merely with his own generations in his bones, but with a feeling that the whole of the literature of his own country has a simultaneous existence and composes a simultaneous order. This historical sense, which is a sense of the timeless as well as of the temporal and of the timeless and of the temporal together is what makes a writer traditional (Eliot, 1971:784 as cited in Davis & Womack, 2002). The historical sense, in other words means that the literature of a writer must be traced to his ancestors (Homer and the classics) as most often than not these ancestors “assert their immortality most vigorously” (Eliot, 1971:784 as cited in Davis & Womack, 2002) on the works of the poets. Also, perceiving history as a timeless and temporal thing as mentioned in Eliot’s essay on “Tradition and the Individual Talent” means that the literature of a poet was written for a time or generation (temporalness). But what makes it traditional is that it transcends that University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 4 temporalness and makes it timeless; timeless in the sense that at any given time the poem is read, it makes sense to the reader; the way the work meant at the time it was written is not what it will mean to another reader at another point in time. 1.2 Statement of the Problem Linguistic analysis of literary discourse has received some level of attention from researchers globally. The relationship between language and literature is evident: language is used as a tool to represent ideas in literary works (prose, drama and poetry). However, various researchers who have attempted to occupy the border between language and literature have focused more on the linguistic analysis of prose (Halliday, 1971; Burton, 1982; Adika & Denkabe, 1997; Mwinlaaru, 2012; Koussouhon & Tchibozo-Laine, 2016; Somone, 2017) with markedly inadequate linguistic investigation in the area of poetry and drama, especially, from the Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) perspective. The number of literature engaging the theory of SFG to poetry are very few and most of them have been published in seemingly suspicious journals (with poor quality of language1). More especially on seminal literary works in poetry, there have been minimal linguistic attention. Most works on this seminal poem—The Waste Land— have been done from the literary perspective (Puhvel, 1965; Koestenbaum 1988: Kaiser, 1998; Bolton, 2007; Ahmed & Alshara, 2015; Darwish & Al-Widyan, 2016). Interestingly, these seminal poems serve as 1 This is a sensitive observation and so I wish not to cite any works. However, it is quite frustrating to find so many materials which upon reading through one realizes they cannot be cited for the numerous fundamental grammatical gaffes. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 5 models for their era and convey timeless messages, hence the need to study them from different perspectives like this one (linguistics/stylistics). Acquah (2010: 83) intimates that a stylistic approach which involves a close study of the linguistic organization of a writer’s work “will yield far greater insights into his art and message”. It is therefore worthy to note that an exploration of The Waste Land from the linguistic perspective and more especially using the transitivity framework of the ideational metafunction can help unpack the linguistic choices made by the poet to construe the world around him, thereby bringing out its meaning. 1.3 Objectives of the study The study sought to: 1. Investigate how transitivity elements are distributed in The Waste Land. 2. Explore the meanings that reflect through predominant process types and their participants in The Waste Land. 3. Examine the message that the circumstantial elements present about the background of the poem. 1.4 Research Questions To achieve these goals, the study will answer the following questions: 1. How are transitivity elements distributed in The Waste Land? 2. What meanings reflect through the predominant process types and their participants in The Waste Land? University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 6 3. What message do circumstantial elements present about the background of the poem? 1.5 Significance of the Study This thesis relies on the premise that two closely allied fields of research are linguistic analysis and literary criticism. The literary critic will find a systematic and rational way of looking at the deeper structural features of a language by using the techniques of linguistics; the linguist will also find that he or she is virtually a literary critic by analyzing the prominent features from the data extracted from the linguistic description (Sui Man, 1967). An exploration of the linguistic choices of the poet in the poem would help the reader to understand complex texts like The Waste Land. Seminal works like The Waste Land serve as canons in their traditions/disciplines and it is when explored from multi-dimensional perspectives that their timelessness and influence are assured. Fortunately, Systemic Functional Grammar and its models such as the experiential metafunction offer insight into the psycho-social underpinnings of texts; hence its potential to make significant contribution to the literature. This study can also help demystify the fear associated with a complex and difficult poem like The Waste Land. 1.6 Scope of the Study Halliday has argued that language is not just functional but it performs three strands of meaning (ideational, interpersonal and textual) concurrently (Halliday 2004, Halliday & Mathiessen 2014, Thompson 2014). The study, however, focuses on the transitivity framework of the ideational metafunction found in Halliday’s Systemic Functional Grammar. The study applies the transitivity framework to a poem written by T.S. Eliot entitled The Waste Land. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 7 It is worthy of note that the entire poem, which constitutes 442 clauses, could not be studied within the scope of this study. Hence, a purposive sampling method was applied to selected sections of the poem i.e. section three (The Fire Sermon) and section five (What the Thunder Said) in a metonymic study. These stanzas are representative of the poem in the sense that while section 3 is the core of the poem, section 5 brings the pieces of all the sections together. 1.7 Methodology in Brief The study does a close content textual analysis of Thomas Stearne Eliot’s poem —The Waste Land— by using the transitivity model of the experiential metafunction. The online version of the poem was downloaded, studied and analyzed. The analysis was done by using Burton’s (1982) steps in text analysis: parsing the clauses in the poem and determining what types of processes exist, what participants are engaged in which type of process and verifying who or what is being affected by each process. Also, the circumstances that characterized each of the clauses was included. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted for this study. The qualitative analysis was used to give a final interpretation of the data analyzed and a quantitative analysis was carried out to give empirical support to the study. (A detailed discussion on Methodology can be found in chapter 3). 1.9 Outline of the Thesis The study is made up of five chapters. Chapter one is the foundation for this work. It focuses on the introduction, background and outlines the research questions for the study. Chapter 2 reviews the relevant literature on transitivity and The Waste land. The chapter goes on to present the theoretical underpinnings of the study. Concepts like reader-response, deconstruction, formalism, and text are discussed. Chapter 3 outlines the methodology for the analysis of the data. Chapter 4 presents the results on the distribution of transitivity patterns in University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 8 the poem as well as the interpretation of the distributional patterns. Finally, chapter 5 presents the summary of the findings which responded to the research questions in chapter one; implications and recommendations are presented. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 9 CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS 2.0 Introduction This chapter reviews the related literature and the theoretical underpinnings of the study. The sub-themes that are related and relevant to the study like language and literature, T.S. Eliot and his literary background and a background of The Waste Land are discussed in this chapter. A review of related works on The Waste Land and also a review of related studies that used Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG), especially, transitivity, which is found in the experiential metafunction to analyse literary works were also made. Additionally, there is a discussion on meaning making which focuses on some theories (such as formalism, reader response and deconstruction) that are used for text analysis. Finally, the theoretical framework within which this work is situated is discussed. 2.1 Key Concepts that are Relevant to the Study 2.1.1 Language and Literature The interconnectedness between language and literature cannot be underestimated. It can best be captured as two sides of the same coin in the sense that language is used artistically to stimulate the fear or hope, pessimism or optimism, desperation or faith, anxiety or assurance, love or hatred of humankind. Traugott & Pratt (1980) assert that “since texts are the primary data for all literary criticism, adequate means of textual description are essential if any criticism University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 10 is to be properly founded. Linguistics helps to ensure a proper foundation for an analysis by enabling the critic to examine the system regularities in the language of a text” (p. 20). The creative use of language in literature helps to make a literary work unique. It helps one to learn more about a religion, culture or other people (Koussouhon & Tchibozo-Laine, 2016). Pearce (1977) then points out that “linguistic analysis becomes an integral part of the process of understanding literature, a means of formulating intuition, a means of objectifying it and rendering it susceptible to investigation, and in so doing, a means of feeling out and revising our interpretation” (p.4). In other words, linguistic analysis of a literary work contributes to a deeper understanding and at the end of the analysis “what seemed flat becomes rounded: what was rounded still has other dimensions added to it” (Halliday, 1989:8). To bridge the gap between language and literature is the discipline stylistics (McRae & Clark 2006). Halliday (2002) defines stylistics as “the description of literary texts by methods derived from general linguistic theory, using the categories of the description of the language as a whole and the comparison of each text with others, by the same and by different authors, in the same and in different genres” (p.9). In consonance with Halliday (2002), McRae & Clark (2006) also define stylistics as the use of linguistic models to approach literary texts. In this regard, the study therefore uses the transitivity model to analyse The Waste Land. However, Abdulmughni (2019) makes a distinction between linguistic analysis and stylistics when he argues that linguistics and stylistics share a relationship; stylistics feeds on linguistics in the sense that linguistic elements constitute the tools for stylistic analysis. He points out that “stylistic analysis differs from linguistic analysis as the linguistics analyses the word structures, phrase structures, clause structures, and sentence structures, which are bases for stylistic text analysis” (P.414). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 11 McRae & Clark (2006) also opine that stylistics analyzes texts from an objective point of view rather than a subjective point of view. This is opposed by Birch (2005, p.xii) when he points out that “no description of the language of texts can be neutral and objective, for the socio- cultural positioning of the analyst will mean that the description is unavoidably political”. Hence, it is worthy to note that during the analysis of texts, critics make some choices as to what to analyze and what not to. This decision by critics in itself is subjective in nature. In relation to the current study, Awonuga et al. (2018) opine that transitivity patterns are subject to social and cultural factors as well as to any individual mind-set. This is because different social structures and value systems require different analyses. Hence, the analysis of the process types, more often than not, is based on the analyst’s cultural orientation and subjective interpretation to certain process types in relation to their attendant participants and circumstances. In order to get the total meaning of texts, it is important to realise the part language plays in literature. Birch (2005) confirms this when he pointed out that “analysis of literary texts by linguistic means is not a brutalizing of a work of art, but a worthwhile intellectual pursuit that sees the text as a series of clues to understanding a significance beyond language; beyond what the text means” (p.98). To the formalists, the relevance of literature is in its meaning and not its function since it is an object of knowledge. Hence, to them the new criticism must aim at the interpretation of the meaning of literature and not at the moral lesson that may be derived from literature. In relation to this, by using SFG and its model of experiential metafunction, the study explores language use in The Waste Land to unpack the meaning encoded in the poem which was written in the modernist style. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 12 2.1.2 T.S. Eliot and Modernism Thomas Stearne Eliot is considered as one of the eminent American-British modernist poets (Howarth, 2021). He was born and bred in St. Louis, Missouri (USA) but later settled in London, UK, when the World War I began. Eliot’s poetry and criticism largely dominated the period between the two world wars (Perkins & Perkins, 1999). He shaped the taste and the critical vocabulary of a whole generation. In 1917, after his meeting with Ezra Pound, he published his first book of Poems—Prufrock and Other Observations. Later in 1922, he wrote The Waste Land which became the poem that set the tone for the post war era, a poem that he dedicated to Ezra Pound for his immense contribution in editing it. His poem was seen as a major trope for modern despair and the decay of modern culture. According to Perkins & Perkins (1999) “its fragmented style—an interweaving of reminiscences, vignettes, literary allusions, and anthropological lore— became models of modernist techniques” (p.1597). This contributes to why Eliot was regarded as an eminent poet in the modernist era. Additionally, Eliot, like most modernist poets, was well known for using stream of consciousness. Fernihough (2013:87) intimates that stream of consciousness involves rendering of ‘human consciousness in all its randomness, disregarding conventional syntax and punctuation in order to convey the flow of myriad impressions and sensations, the spontaneous associations and fragmentary thoughts that constitute consciousness’. This is very characteristic of Eliot’s The Waste Land. Additionally, stream of consciousness takes as its preoccupation, ‘the random flow of thought’ and its ‘illogical, ungrammatical, associative nature’ (Prince 1988: 92). Hence, stream of consciousness is responsible for sentence fragments which may influence the choice of certain process types (verbal groups) in the poem under study. It is also a factor that is responsible for the experiential, experimental and complex nature of Eliot’s poems, in this case The Waste Land. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 13 Also, the word “modern” is generally understood as a term used to characterize recent times as opposed to the past. However, the term “modern”/ “Modernism” in literary criticism relates to a period of experimentation in the arts from the late 19th century to the mid-20th century (Howarth, 2005). Modernism as a literary movement is typically associated to the period after World War I (ibid). To understand Modernism, the study will review it by discussing issues such as the social, cultural and philosophical background of the period. The twentieth century, which experienced the First World War (1914-1918), was characterized by a global disaster for mankind. Many people were killed in most parts of Europe giving people the sense that life was fragmented, chaotic and dislocated. This period also saw the rapid rise of science and this destroyed man’s ability to believe unquestioningly, hence a total loss of faith in God (Greenblatt et al., 2013). These radical changes also birthed some philosophical ideas. An example is Friedrich Nietzche’s philosophy which proposes that existence is meaningless, moral codes are worthless, and God is dead. This led to Nietzche’s 1882 announcement of “the death of God” (Young, 2007). As a nihilist, he argues that the idea that life has no meaning or value cannot be avoided; we go through it, as frightening and lonely as that will be. This is buttressed by Greenblatt et al. (2013) when he posits that: By the dawn of the twentieth century, traditional stabilities of society, religion, and culture seemed to have weakened, the pace of change to be accelerating. The unsettling force of modernity profoundly challenged traditional ways of structuring and making sense of human experience. Because of the rapid pace of social and technological change, because of the mass dislocation of populations by war, empire, and economic migration; and because of the mixing in close quarters of cultures and classes in rapidly expanding cities, University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 14 modernity disrupted the old order, upended ethical and social codes, cast into doubt previously stable assumptions about self, community, the world, and the divine (p. 2369). It is noteworthy that these social, cultural and philosophical factors provided the backdrop for Modernism. Characterized by a lot of sub-movements such as symbolism, dadaism, surrealism, vorticism, cubism, futurism and imagism (Xiao, 2006), it is difficult to define Modernism precisely. Attempted definitions suggest that Modernism refers to the radical shift in aesthetic and cultural sensibilities evident in the arts and literature of the early 20th century. Abrams & Harpham (2009), also refer to Modernism as the “new distinctive features in the subjects, forms, concepts and styles of literature and the other arts in the early decades of the twentieth century, but especially after the World War I (1914-1918) (p.201)”. Also, Modernism was characterized by a period that was related to revolutionary ideas in philosophy, science, arts and literature. Just as the root word “modern” implies, in relation to literature, writers revolted against the dominant literary traditions (Romanticism, for instance) which resulted in bringing up something new (modern). The writers of the time tried to capture the mood and to represent the crisis of the time through literature. The devastation of the First World War (WW1), the rise of irrational philosophies, and the rapid growth in science inspired writers like Eliot to make representations through their writings, in this case, The Waste Land. The content of Eliot’s poems as well as his poetic style (fragmentation, free verse, allusions, multiple points of view) gives credence to the modern movement that was famous during his time. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 15 2.1.3 The Poem: The Waste Land The Waste Land is a poem written by Anglo-American poet Thomas Stearne Eliot in 1922. The title, The Waste Land, gives an image of an unproductive, lifeless and dry place that symbolizes the post-World War I modern Europe. The poem is about brokenness, loss, and spiritual dryness. Spiritual dryness is a form of spiritual crisis that is experienced subjectively and depicts a separation from God. It happens when the heart is separated from God, with no taste for thoughts, memories and feelings of the things of God (Catholic Church, 2012). The battle against spiritual dryness requires conversion (the need for regeneration) and that is what is portrayed in the poem when Eliot goes East to seek for remedy to the spiritual dryness through religion (Budhism) as portrayed in Section V of the poem— “What the Thunder Said”. Eliot tries to find solution for all the problems he has observed, hence the quest for salvation which is reflected as one of the themes in the poem. In the poem, this spiritual dryness leads to a kind of existence in which no regenerating belief gives significance to men’s daily activities: sex is seen as a pastime (sexual promiscuity) and not a means for regeneration, and death heralds no resurrection. Eliot’s own internal notes and evidence suggests that The Waste Land was inspired by four books: Grail Legend: From Ritual to Romance by Jessie L. Weston; The Golden Bough by Sir James Fraser, The Divine Comedy especially “L’Inferno” and “II Purgatorio” by Dante Allegri, and The Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. The first two books talk about rejuvenation, renewal, and hope in rebirth and the last two books talk about a descent into hell and into the heart of darkness, i.e. the depths of man’s heart where lies horror without hope. Each of these four sources are structured in the language and organization of the poem. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 16 Many critics have taken reference to the Fisher King story found in Weston’s Grail Legend book to be the central allusion in The Waste Land (Spears, 1986; Sufian, 2014: Ahmed & Alshara, 2015; Stewart et al. 2020). Eliot uses this story as an allegory for the modern world. The Fisher King in the story was wounded in his genitals; the genitals are usually thought to symbolize sexual longing and the kind of sexual and lustful behaviour that Eliot cautions against in The Waste Land. The wound was magical and would not heal. It also affected the king’s fertility—in other words the kingdom over which he rules. This caused sterility, making his land a waste land. According to the Arthurian Legend, only a male virgin can undertake a quest to heal the king and until then the king passes his time fishing (hence the name Fisher King). The legend suggests that the land will regain its fertility when the king is healed. Eliot uses the Fisher King’s legend to symbolize the state of the modern society as a waste land. The idea is that the present world is a spiritual, cultural and emotional waste land, hence a contemporary waste land. Mankind and the world can only be healed by purity and a religious reawakening. This is clearly one of Eliot’s central themes in the poem—hope for regeneration/ rebirth. The poem is dense with literary, philosophical, religious and mythological allusions. Eliot uses religious and mythological allusions from both the oriental and occidental sources in order to paint a symbolic picture of the modern waste land and the need for regeneration or rebirth. The poem is divided into five sections: 1. “The Burial of the Dead”, 2. “A Game of Chess”, 3. “The Fire Sermon”, 4. “Death by Water”, and 5. “What the Thunder Said”. These five sections symbolically represent a mundane and futile modern lifestyle which is a cause of spiritual dryness. The fragmented nature of the poem depicts the disordered life of the individual and the society through loss of faith in divinely ordered events (Darwish & Al-Widyan, 2016). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 Ahmed & Alshara (2015) also intimate that Eliot used the technique of fragmentation to signify that our modern (contemporary) life is fragmented like this poem. 2.2 Related Studies on The Waste Land A perusal of The Waste Land brings to bear Eliot’s method of coalescing disparate images into integral poetic units thereby making his poems complex. The Waste Land has been noted by scholars as one of the seminal and complex poems of the 20th century (Aiken, 1966; Cox & Hinchliffe, 1968; Darwish & Al-Widyan, 2016 ). Many approaches and theoretical bases have been applied in these studies but hardly has any critic used the transitivity model. Pilar (2007) examines the possible adoption of The Waste Land to the Teaching of English as a Second Language (TESL). The study postulates that literature provides many linguistic opportunities that permit the teacher to design activities that are “based on material capable of stimulating greater interest and involvement” than many other non-literary texts (Carter & Long 1991: 3). Pilar (2007) argues that The Waste Land as a text for studies in the English as Second Language (ESL) classroom helps develop linguistic and communicative competence due to its high pedagogic potential as regards its content and its form. Additionally, the modernist philosophy that underlies The Waste Land stimulates the learner’s interest in the culture of the language. Students learn about the history, politics and society of the country described in the text. Through this experience, students are exposed to understanding and appreciating ideologies, traditions and artisitic forms within the heritage the literature of such culture is made up of (Koutsompou, 2015). The study concludes that The Waste Land is culturally, historically and literarily relevant hence, its use and study is encouraged. The findings of the study were that when instructors are able to give different activities based on The Waste Land to ESL learners, not only literary competencies can be devloped but also University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 18 lexical, morpho-syntactic and socio-communicative competence. Pilar's (2007) study is relevant to this study because the current work views The Waste Land as a linguistic opportunity worth exploring from the systemic functional grammar point of view. Also, Saeedi (2011) analyzes The Waste Land in the context of the impact of World War I and the rise of nationalism. Saeedi (2011) contends that the heteroglossia of The Waste Land along with its fragmentary structure is a reaction to the emerging nationalisms that were engulfing Europe at the turn of the previous century and beyond. He uses three of Anderson’s (1991) hypotheses of the emergence of nationalism to foreground his study. Anderson (1991:36) notes that: three fundamental cultural conceptions, all of great antiquity lost their axiomatic grip on men’s minds. The first of these was the idea that a particular script-language offered privileged access to ontological truth…Second was the belief that society was naturally organized around and under high centres – monarchs were persons apart from human beings who ruled by some form of cosmological (divine) dispensation … Third was a conception of temporality in which cosmology and history were indistinguishable, the origins of the world and of men essentially identical. Saeedi (2011) relates these two hypotheses to The Waste Land. First, as regards the loss of axiomatic grip on access to certain script-languages as access to ontological truth, Saeedi (2011) points out that the poem begins on a sombre note in Latin and then branches into several languages (Greek, German, French, Italian, etc.). As has been observed above, the aftermath of World War I saw the surge in nationalism which fueled fanatic sentiments. This is portrayed in line 12: “Bin gar keine Russin, stamm’ aus Litauen, echt deutsch” which translates “I am not Russian at all; I come from Lithuania, I am a real German”. Hence, the presence of different tongues in the poem portrays Anderson’s first hypothesis. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 19 Secondly, Saeedi (2011) in using Anderson’s (1991) hypothesis claims that the belief that society was organized around certain human beings (monarchs) who ruled by some form of divine disepensation had failed as portrayed in The Waste Land poem. He associates this with the presence of the myth of the Fisher King. The waste land happens in the wake of the impotence of the Fisher King and this is “testimony enough to the crumbling of undivided centrality accorded the kings in previous centuries and along with it the collapse of monolithic figure heads whose influence used to suffice to keep people of diverse languages and race united” (Saeedi 2011:5). Ahmed & Alshara (2015) explore the first section of The Waste Land (“The Burial of the Dead”) in order to give a reinterpretation of the poem. They intimate that the poem is about rejuvenation and hope associated with rebirth, rather than despair, decay and death. Ahmed & Alshara (2015) opine that Eliot portrays in his poem the real promise of life and hope after resurrection. They point to the fact that, in the first section of the poem, Eliot is saying that out of the death of winter comes spring which symbolizes life. Even though The Waste Land, according to Ahmed & Alshara (2015) expresses the fear and terror about the fate of humanity and culture as seen in the poems which precede it (Prufrock and Other Observations, Sweeney Erect, Sweeney among the Nightingales, The Hippopotamus, Mr. Eliot’s Sunday Morning Service), the poem ends with an appeal for regeneration. It is also worthy to note that the same world is shown in The Waste Land i.e. the crisis of modern culture and the breakup of civilization. Darwish & Al-Widyan (2016) study the ethical approaches in T.S. Eliot’s poetry and relate the poem to modern lives. They argue that the poem is about ethical approaches that characterized University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 20 the times in which he lived and opine that present-day people need ethics to co-exist well. The study portrays that The Waste Land reflects the breakdown of tradition in contemporary society. Darwish & Al-Widyan relate sexual corruption in The Waste Land to today’s society. Humanity has changed the sacred, creative and beautiful purpose of love making into a loveless, mindless machine that brings about exploitation and murder; hence sexual corruption. Sex was celebrated for its physical need rather than the emotional and spiritual aspect of it. Darwish & Al-Widyan (2016) postulate that Eliot instills in the readers that anything in this world which is not productive is a wasteland. They argue that in The Waste Land many characters are sexually frustrated or dysfunctional. 2.3 Related Studies on Transitivity in Literary Works This section focuses on literary works that the transitivity model of SFG has been applied to. Koussouhon (2009) focuses on the process types. In his analysis of The Beautiful Ones Are Not Yet Born by Ayi Kwei Armah, Koussouhon (2009) draws our attention to the contrast between the abundance of material processes and the lack of causatives in the text studied. The lack of causative processes, he argues, points to the evidence that nobody gets anybody to do anything in order to bring about change in the novel. Koussouhon’s (2009) final interpretation of his findings is that the excerpts, and probably the whole novel, depict a world of ineffectuality and pessimism… which is Ghana’s or Africa’s lot as viewed by Ayi Kwei Armah. Mwinlaaru (2012) applies transitivity in analysing the narrative style adopted in a key passage in Ngugi’s Weep Not Child. The study reveals that the transitivity patterns reveal the psychological view point of the narrator. Specifically, it argues that the writer tends to absolve victimisers from the responsibility of their actions in order to focus readers’ attention on the victims of the political conflict presented in the novel. This stylistic strategy foregrounds the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 21 universal theme of suffering in the novel. Mwinlaaru’s (2012) study is related to this study because the present study aims to use the transitivity patterns found in the poem to bring out the psychosocial state of the inhabitants The Waste Land. Mehmood et al. (2014) study the representation of love in Oscar Wilde’s short story The Nightingale and the Rose by using transitivity as a framework. They argue that language forms are not just used for their sake, rather they perform a communicative function. By using transitivity, the study relates the processes (verbal groups) to the participants (characters) in the text and brings out Wilde’s debated views of love portrayed by the nightingale and the student of philosophy. On a cursory glance, one may be tempted to think that the concept of love tilts towards the nightingale who is the protagonist in the story but this is not the case when the transitivity framework is applied. This makes the reading and analysis a more objective one. Mehmood et al. (2014) considers the frequency of the processes and the participants in the story. The material, verbal and relational processes were the dominant process types found in the text. This is contrary to Halliday & Matthiessen’s (2014) view of the three main process types which are material, mental and relational. The predominant realization of material process types in the text as compared to the mental processes showed a more physical nature of actions as compared to the psychological nature of characters in the story. The verbal processes construe the dialogue carried out by the characters in the text and the relational processes construes some relationship between the actions and the actors along with certain attributes that are attributed them. Mehmood et al.’s, (2014) study is useful to the present study because it considers the frequency of the processes and participants in the text to bring out the meaning related to the text. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 22 Just like Mwinlaaru (2012) and Mehmood et al. (2014), Somone (2017) examines the transitivity patterns attributed to the three characters (Okonkwo, Ekwefi and Mr. Smith) in Chinua Achebe’s Things Fall Apart, and what those patterns reveal about them and the writer’s thematic concern. Both quantitative and qualitative research designs were employed. The study revealed that of all the process types, the Material Process dominated the text, followed by the relational and verbal. According to Somone (2017), this suggests that Achebe uses these processes to enable him to educate the world about Africans. Again, the study showed that even though the three characters are active participants, Okonkwo is characterised as effectual while Ekwefi and Mr Smith are ineffectual. Okonkwo is characterised as effectual because his actions (processes) affect entities or circumstances. Ekwefi and Mr. Smith are characterised as ineffectual because their actions were goalless (did not affect entities). Somone’s (2017) study is related to this study because her study focused on a literary genre; the novel while this study focuses on the poem (another literary genre). Somone’s (2017) study also focused on some sections of a single novel. This becomes a motivation for the present study to also focus on some sections of the poem by using the transitivity model. In the area of poetry, Wulansari & Wulayo (2016) examines the ideas contained in three poems (I wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth, The Battle of Blenheim by Robert Southey, and London by William Blake) in the romantic era. Both qualitative and quantitative method of analysis were employed in analysing the process types that occurred in the three poems. Wulansari & Wulayo’s (2016) findings revealed that there were 7 material processes, 2 mental processes, 9 behavioural processes, and 2 relational attributives in the poem entitled “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”. Then in “The Battle of Blenheim”, the processes that were found were 9 relational attributive, 10 behavioural, 4 mental, 24 material, 1 existential, and 9 verbal processes. Meanwhile in “London”, the processes were 6 material and 3 mental. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 23 According to the study, these processes found in the poems represent experiences. The material processes in “The Battle of Blenheim” and “London”, for instance, portray to the reader the actions of the actors during France Revolution. Wulansari & Wulayo’s (2016) study inspires the current study because the current study also works on all the lines in the poems and focuses on the dominant processes found in the poem which is in tandem with the objectives of the current work. Also, Frimpong et al. (in press) use the transitivity model of the experiential metafunction to explore the meaning underlying Anyidoho’s poem entitled “The Place We Call Home”. In their study, they argue that the poem “The Place We Call Home” is not just a collection of words because through the grammar of the poem, one may get a deeper meaning of the vision and ideological philosophies that have engaged the poet in the course of his entire life. The study revealed that there were 42 processes identified together with 44 circumstances. Circumstances are optional elements in the transitivity system. Interestingly, for a poem of that length to realize 44 circumstances, according to the study, meant that the poem is structured to reflect the self (a person’s essential being), the place (location(s) representing home) and the Times of the events of his cherished memories. In relation to the process types, the study revealed that the dominant patterns revealed by the process types were the material and relational process types. Interestingly, with a poem about nostalgia, one would expect to see mental process dominate. However, the close textual analysis revealed that the part of the poem that captures the persona’s memories are embedded in a stream of consciousness which are expressed through a list of memories slipping through his reflections. Frimpong et al.’s study relates to the current study because their study analyses a poem with the aim of bringing out its meaning by using transitivity as a tool just like this study. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 24 2.4 Some Approaches to Meaning Making in Texts This section looks at meaning making in a text. To make meaning in a text, there are various approaches or theories that can be used. Some of these theories include Formalism, Reader- Response and Deconstruction. It also takes a critical look at these three theories and justifies why Systemic Functional Grammar (Transitivity) is appropriate for this study. 2.4.1 Formalism Formalism is a theory that can be used to make meaning in a text. It began in the 1920’s when critics like T.S. Eliot, I.A. Richards, W.K. Wimsatt, Cleanth Brooks, Monroe C. Beardsley, among others, decided to move away from the various forms of biographical, sociological, historical and moral criticisms that characterised earlier ideologies. These New Critics, instead, focused on the formal aspects of the art; i.e. they emphasised on close reading. Close reading is described by these critics as an objective and rigorous method for extracting the correct meaning in texts (Richards, 1929; Stauffer & Brooks, 1947). This type of reading has the purpose of discovering a text’s “precise” meaning by carefully analysing patterns in its language and the way the patterns combine throughout a text (Hinchman & Moore, 2013). In other words, the emphasis is laid on the object expressed and the means of expressing that object. So, as regards the ‘means’; was it through certain literary devices such as metaphors, irony, simile, etc.? Close reading views the text as a self-contained entity and does not entertain anything outside the text. In journals such as the Fugitive, Southern Review, Kenyon Review, and Sewanee Review, critics stridently proposed that “we must honour art for art’s sake, not for the sake of University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 25 the artist’s life or for some political cause” (Davis & Womack, 2002: 14). In other words, when one wants to analyse a text, according to the Formalists, it is expedient to start analysing the text proper and not to consider the author or the author’s historical background. Attention must be given to the form/structure of a word and literary devices operating in it. A work of art when taken as an object is artificial, made up of language whose relevance is in its meaning as seen in its structure. Hence, it is expedient for an analyst of a work of art to get rid of all collateral and excessive meanings and focus only on the power of language to evoke meaning. The formalist approach to meaning making can be used in analysing poetry since the text is ‘self- contained’ and anything needed to appreciate the text can be found in and not outside the text. The downside of this approach is that, since it fails to acknowledge the context in which the work of art was written, allusions are difficult to handle in the text because no extraneous ideas are to be tolerated (Somone, 2017). However, Davis & Womack (2002) argue that the goal of a close formalist reading is to bring the critic experientially closer to what other humans may have felt or encountered. The question is, how can this be achieved if it fails to acknowledge the context within which the work of art was produced? If this is the case, then the situational context which is known by Halliday & Hasan (1989) as “context of situation” must be taken into account lest we end up with a rigid analysis of the text. Context of situation helps to interpret the environment in which meanings are exchanged. To arrive at this, what is happening (field), who are taking part (Tenor) and what part the language is playing (mode) must be taken into account. Interestingly, it is worthy to note that Systemic Functional Grammar, the theory for this study, takes into consideration the situational context in meaning making. The analysis of the lexico- grammatical features of the text as well as its external relation to phenomena are taken into consideration. Brooks & Warren (1938) suggest that “poetry gives us knowledge. It is a University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 26 knowledge of ourselves in relation to the world of experience…” (xii). The poem, according to Brooks (1948) is a “simulacrum of reality” because it is “an experience itself rather than any mere statement about experience” (213). This ties in to the fact that if poetry is an “experience”, then a theory the experiential metafunction of SFG which uses the transitivity system is appropriate for the study of The Waste Land because unlike formalism, SFG acknowledges the context within which the work of art was produced. Saussure (1916) notes that Linguistics works in the borderland where the elements of sound and thought combine; their combination produces a form. In relation to Systemic Functional Grammar, meaning is embedded in the structures/forms of language. The meaning is already in the mind and language is needed to communicate it, so what comes out is built on meaning, hence meaning is at the very core of language. Using SFG to analyse The Waste Land is a way in which the reader/analyst through a scientific method ‘fishes out’ the language in order to interpret the text. Systemic Functional Grammar has it that the structures of language do not just affect meaning but meaning is at the core of linguistic expressions (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). This is because first of all, someone has something to say, and that is the meaning or an idea to be expressed, then the person finds words (form) to capture the idea in his mind. This is what SFG refers to as Ideation; in other words, putting our ideas into language (Thompson, 2014). Halliday (1978) opines that the semiotic resources of language are shaped by how people use them to make meaning—the social functions they are put to. He holds the view that every sign serves three functions simultaneously: they express something about the world (ideational metafunction), position people in relation to one another (interpersonal metafunction) and form connections with other signs to produce coherent text (textual metafunction). For Halliday University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 27 (1994, 1885), “language is interpreted as a system of meanings accompanied by forms through which the meanings can be realized and answers the question ‘how are these meanings expressed?”’. It can therefore be argued that systemic functional grammar is essentially formalist because meaning is associated with linguistic forms. The understanding of how meaning is made in these two traditions (formalism and functionalism) gives credence to the fact that language and literature are interwoven. 2.4.2 Reader-Response Reader-response criticism is one of the literary theories that has gained prominence over the years (Beach, 1993). Reader-Response Criticism, according to Davis & Womack (2002), is the act of reading itself, particularly, the many ways in which readers respond to literary texts. Eagleton (1983:74), as cited in (Beach, 1993), characterizes the history of modern literary theory as occurring in three stages by expanding M. H. Abrams’s notable “triangle” of author, work, and reader into a Romantic “preoccupation with the author”, a New Critical “exclusive concern with the text” and finally “a marked shift of attention to the reader.” This marked shift of attention to the reader concerns itself with how readers make meaning from their experiences with the text. According to Richards (1929:175), “readers establish an ‘attitude’ about a narrative, ‘some special direction, bias, or accentuation of interest towards it, some personal flavor or coloring of feeling; and we use language to express these feelings, this nuance of interest”. The Reader-Response criticism, unlike Formalism, opposes the belief that meaning completely and exclusively resides in the literary text. In the literature, the reader-response critics believe that their work is a radical departure from the New Critical principles. However, Tompkins (1980) asserts that “they have not revolutionized literary theory but merely transposed formalist University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 28 principles into a new key” (p.201). The dichotomy between the New Criticism and Reader- Response exists at the point where they are of the opinion as to whether meaning should be located in the text or in the reader. However, both critics agree that the ultimate aim of criticism is meaning making. 2.4.3 Deconstruction Deconstruction is a strategy of critical analysis applied to literary texts which postulates that no text can have a stable or definite meaning (Raval, 1986). Trying to get the ‘full’ meaning of a text, therefore, will only end up with a spiral of meanings. Hence, for Derrida (1967), a single fixed meaning can never be determined; it is constantly postponed and deferred. Derrida (1967) also argues that: a text is not a finished corpus of writing, some content enclosed in a book or its margins, but a differential network, a fabric of traces referring endlessly to something other than itself, to other differential traces. Thus, the text overruns all the limits assigned to it (p.84). In other words, a text to Derrida, opens to outside contexts. Each text as a fabric of traces is part of other texts. This therefore calls for intertextuality; a recognition that “one text reads another” (Derrida 1979: 107); a recognition that each text, each meaning, no matter how complete it may look like, is actually always a fragment (de Man, 1976b:41). This assertion is in tandem with Halliday’s (1985) concept of context of situation explained above. Also, according to Raval (1986) “deconstruction” is a powerful expression used to describe a critical practice that rejects the traditional idea that assumes literary texts to be “structures of determinate meaning accessible by objective critical procedures” (p. 116). Deconstruction gives us the notion that there is nothing like definite or complete meaning. Selection and University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 29 suppression are techniques that the critic uses when deconstructing. The critic selects the information relevant for deconstruction and suppresses the rest. In deconstruction the critic can also create a context—biblical, literary, mythical or historical context for his deconstruction. Deconstruction sees formalism as a reading and not the reading since there could be several meanings related to a text and not just one meaning. This makes it subjective as opposed to formalism which specifically does not look at anything outside the forms of words. 2.5 Theoretical Framework This section discusses the theoretical framework that underpins this study and other related concepts that are relevant to the study. Theories relevant to this study which have been adopted to foreground the study include Text, Systemic Functional Grammar, and Choice. 2.5.1 The Text Systemic Functional Linguistics concerns itself with the analysis of texts which is very crucial to the study of language and literature. Text, according to (Halliday & Hasan, 1989), can be defined as: “language that is functional…doing some job in some context, as opposed to some isolated words or sentences. It may be either spoken or written, or indeed in any other medium of expression that we like to think of” (p.10). In other words, every text happens in some context of use. Unlike some isolated words, texts are used to perform specific functions like the expression of thoughts and emotions or the establishment of relationships. Again, Halliday and Hasan (1976) assert that: “the word TEXT is used in linguistics to refer to any passage spoken or written, of whatever length, that does form a unified whole […]. A text is a unit of language in use. It is not a grammatical unit University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 30 like a clause or a sentence; and it is not defined by its size […]. A text is best regarded as a semantic unit, a unit not of form but of meaning” (p. 1-2). By the definitions above, this means that a text must be in a spoken or written form, as in poetry, prose or drama. Also, the text must be above the sentence rank, make meaning when taken as a whole, and serve a communicative purpose. It must have texture (cohesion and coherence) and not fragmented; there must be unity. Coherence refers to the way a group of clauses or sentences relate to the context (Halliday & Hasan 1976:23) and cohesion according to Halliday & Hasan (1976:4): occurs where the interpretation of some elements in the discourse is dependent on that of another. The one presupposes the other, in the sense that it cannot be effectively decoded except by recourse to it. When this happens, a relation of cohesion is set up, and the two elements, the presupposing and the presupposed, are thereby at least potentially integrated into the text. Eggins (2004) goes on to explain that the main idea behind cohesion is that there is a semantic tie between an item at one point in the text and an item at another point. The texture of The Waste Land makes it safe to argue that the poem is a ‘Macro text’ consisting of ‘five micro texts’. The poem is divided into five parts (micro texts): “The burial of the dead”, “A game of chess”, “The fire sermon”, “Death by water”, and “What the thunder said”. These parts even though taken as one poem lacks coherence when transiting into the other various parts. This brings some disunity in the poem when taken as a whole. Hence, the argument is that, The Waste Land could be described as a ‘Macro text’ with five ‘micro texts’ embedded therein. Additionally, Halliday & Hasan (1989:11) assert that “a text is both an object in its own right (it may be a highly valued object, for example something that is recognised as a great poem) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 31 and an instance—an instance of social meaning in a particular context of situation. It is a product of its environment….” In other words, a text is an object of social exchange of meanings (an interactive event) and there is a dynamic relation between text and context of situation. Context precedes text. This means that the context of situation is prior to the discourse that relates to it. The text is an instance of the process and product of social meaning in a particular context of situation (Halliday & Hasan 1989). The context of situation is captured in the text through a systemic relationship between the social environment on the one hand, and the functional organisation of language on the other. According to (Halliday & Hasan, 1989) the context of situation consists of three variables: the Field, Tenor and Mode. Field describes what the language is being used to talk about (the purpose, subject matter), what is going on, and the nature of the social interaction taking place. Tenor relates to how language is used to determine the relationship of the interactants and Mode focuses on the role language is playing in the interaction including the channel that is being used and what is being achieved by the text in terms of categories such as persuasive, didactive, informative etc. All these three variables (Field, Tenor and Mode) are captured simultaneously in the text as a unit of meanings and expressed as the Experiential, Interpersonal and Textual metafunctions in Systemic Functional Grammar. In other words, a speaker always simultaneously talks about something (i.e. Field which has the functional component of the semantic system known as experiential metafunction), enacts a relationship with the listener (i.e. Tenor which corresponds to the functional component of the semantic system known as the interpersonal metafunction) and creates a textual context for the presentation of the message (i.e. Mode which corresponds to the functional component of the semantic system known as the textual metafunction). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 32 It is worthy to note that the present study focuses on only one aspect of the functional component of the semantic system, i.e. the Experiential metafunction. Table 2.1: Relating text to context of situation SITUATION: Feature of the context (realised by) TEXT: Functional component of the semantic system Field of discourse (what is going on) Experiential meanings (transitivity) Tenor of discourse (who are taking part) Interpersonal meanings (mood, modality, person etc.) Mode of discourse (role assigned to language) Textual meanings (theme, information, cohesive relations) The current study looks at The Waste Land (a text) which is an object in its own right (seminal poem) and which was produced in the context of the aftermath of the First World War (context). The Waste Land, as the title indicates, is Eliot’s attitude towards his contemporary society, as he uses the idea of a dry and sterile wasteland as a metaphor for Europe devastated by war and desperate for spiritual rejuvenation (purpose); this is the context of situation. 2.5.2 Systemic Functional Grammar (SFG) — M.A.K. Halliday Systemic Functional Grammar is a significant linguistic model which has gained particular attention from researchers working in language and literature. It was developed by Michael Alexander Kirkwood Halliday (henceforth Halliday) as a continuation from his predecessors University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 33 (Malinowski, Firth, Hymes and Hjemslev). Malinowski’s (1923;1935) theory of context of situation and Firth’s (1957; 1968) concept of seeing language as a set of systems, and context in the interpretation of meaning contributed greatly to the theory of Systemic Functional Grammar. SFL argues that language operates in context. This means that for language to achieve its goal as a meaning making resource, the context within which the language was used must be understood. The claim of SFL is that language in use has three metafunctions: Ideational, Interpersonal, Textual and (Halliday, 1985a; Halliday, 2002; Halliday and Hasan, 1985, 1989; Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004; Eggins, 2004; Bloor & Bloor, 2004). These strands of meaning are all interwoven in the fabric of the discourse and are realized simultaneously in a text. The Ideational metafunction expresses something about the world, the interpersonal metafunction position people in relation to each other and the textual metafunction form connections with other signs to produce coherent text. The interpersonal metafunction focuses on the MOOD system; the textual metafunction looks at the theme system; and the ideational metafunction focuses on two systems: the experiential meaning (employs the transitivity system in analyzing text) and the logical meaning (employs the clause complex for textual analysis). Figure 1 shows the composition of Systemic Functional Grammar. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 34 Figure 1: SFG and its metafunctions 2.5.3 The Experiential meaning According to this concept of SFG, language is used to construe human experience. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) expound that “there is no facet of human experience that cannot be transformed into meaning. In other words, language provides a theory for human experience, and certain of the resources of the lexicogrammar of every language are dedicated to that function” (p. 30). The resource of the lexicogrammar used, in this instance, is what is referred to as the ideational metafunction. The ideational metafunction can be divided into two components: the experiential and the logical metafunctions. The clause of the grammar in this Systemic Functional Grammar Ideational Metafunction Experiential Metafunction Transitivity System Process Types Participants Circumstances Logical Metafunction Interpersonal Metafunction Textual Metafunction University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 35 case is used to represent some process—some doing or happening, saying or sensing, being or having—in relation to its various participants and circumstances. The experiential meaning, a strand of the ideational metafunction, is a linguistic model which construes the meaning arrived from a transitivity analysis; with transitivity analysis being the grammatical tool for extracting the experiences of the author in a text. The writer or speaker translates both the physical experience of the real world and the mental experience of his consciousness into words through this function (Sui Man, 1967). According to Halliday & Matthiessen (2014), one key focus of SFG is its focus on text, not sentences. The Experiential meaning, which will be the focus of this work, deals with how the experiences of the writer are construed in the linguistic choices (Process types, Participants and Circumstances) he makes. Each of the language functions which SFG specifies is manifested in different lexico- grammatical systems, and transitivity is the system by which the experiential function of language is realized in a text. 2.5.4 The Transitivity System Many researchers over the years have used Transitivity in their stylistic analysis (Halliday, 1971; Kies, 1992; Montgomery, 1993; Koussouhon, 2009; Mwinlaaru, 2012; Somone, 2017; Frimpong et al., in press). Transitivity is a structural concept which refers to the way a writer or speaker represents at the clausal level of language, his experience of the external world or internal world of consciousness (Halliday, 1973). Halliday & Matthiessen (2004) assert that “transitivity structures express representational meaning: what the clause is about, which is typically some Process with its attendant Participants and Circumstances” (p. 309). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 36 Again, according to Halliday (1971) the term transitivity refers to: the set of options whereby the speaker encodes his (or her) experience of the processes of the external world and of the internal world of his (or her) own consciousness, together with the participants in these processes and their attendant circumstances; and it embodies a very basic distinction of processes into two types, those that are regarded as due to an external cause, an agency other than the person or object involved, and those that are not (p. 354). The transitivity system therefore construes human experience through language, by making sense of “reality”. It is viewed as a theory of reality and a resource for reflecting the world (Koussouhon & Dossoumou, 2015). In traditional grammar, transitivity is the use of an object or the lack of an object after the verb, and they are classified into three types: transitive, intransitive and ditransitive verbs (Quirk & Greenbaum, 1985). However, in SFG, Transitivity applies to a whole clause description scheme, rather than just the verb and its object (Thompson, 2014) as opposed to traditional grammar. It looks at the linguistic representation of events (goings-on) and entities involved in the process by using the term processes and participants respectively. Transitivity is made up of three elements; first the Process which is the nucleus of the clause— represented by the verbal group. Second is the participant(s) which is/are the entity/entities directly involved in the process and is represented by the nominal group. Third is the circumstance(s)which is/are attendant on or associated with the process and not directly involved in it. This means they are optional elements; these contrast participants which are inherent in the experiential type of clause. The circumstance is represented by the adverbial group or prepositional phrase. Halliday & Matthiessen (2014) propound that in the experiential structure of the clause, the University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 37 process is the most central element, participants are close to the centre and circumstances are more peripheral; this means that they are not directly involved in the process unlike participants. Figure 2 shows the central and peripheral elements in the experiential structure of the clause. Figure 2: Central and peripheral elements in the experiential structure of the clause In SFG, the concept of transitivity has been revised to emphasize function rather than form. Hence, transitivity in functional grammar does not only impact the verb serving as process alone but also participants and circumstances. Transitivity also tells “why and how the text means what it does” (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004:3) by looking at the processes, participants, and circumstances. For example, by analysing Process (verbal group) Participants (nominal group) Circumstance (adverbial group; prepositional phrase) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 38 the processes alone, the literary text can tell the reader how the author construes his world. It can also help make clear the text by telling the reader who is doing what and to whom through the actor and the goals; and through the mental processes the reader can decipher what is happening in the writer’s mind i.e. the writer’s perception of the world. 2.5.5 Processes Process in SFG is a technical term that is used to refer to what is going on in the entire clause and it is represented by the part of the clause with the verbal group (Bloor & Bloor, 2004). It is the lexico-grammatical feature through which the experiential function of language is realized. It is the nucleus of the clause (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). Thompson (2014) identifies six types of transitivity processes: Material, Relational, Mental, Verbal, Behavioural and Existential. The major types of processes include the Material, Mental and Relational (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014) while Verbal, Behavioural and Existential processes form the minor types of processes. Figure 3 below shows the process types and their participants. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 39 Figure 3: Process types and their major participants 2.5.5.1 Material Process The material process construes an outer experience. This means that it is used to describe events or ‘goings-on’ in the external world. They are those involved in physical actions, such as dancing, cooking, throwing, etc. This can be made clearer when we consider the traditional definition of a verb which is a ‘doing or an action’ word (Thompson, 2014). Hence, the material process is normally depicted by action verbs. Eggins (2004) states that there are two main Process Types Material +actor goal scope Mental +senser phenomenon Relational attributive +carrier +attribute identifying +token +value Verbal +sayer Behavioural +behaver (conscious) phenomenon Existential +existent University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 40 participants in the material process. They are the actor and goal. The actor is the entity that performs the action in the clause. The actor is represented by a nominal group while the goal is the point of impact or that which is directly affected by the action (the receiver of the action); also represented by a nominal group (Thompson, 2014). Example: i. She (actor) smoothes (process: Material) her hair (Goal). ii. They (actor) wash (process: Material) their feet (goal) It is worthy of note that the subject role in the material process can be filled by the goal in the passive clause. Examples: iii. The food (Goal) was eaten (process: Material) by Kingsley (Actor). iv. He (goal) was beaten (process: material) mercilessly (circumstance). In example iii) this is so because as discussed earlier, ‘He’ is the entity which receives the action of ‘beating’ and therefore becomes the goal despite it occupying the subject position. Other types of participants in the material process include the beneficiary and scope. The beneficiary, as the name suggests, is the entity that benefits from the action. The beneficiary is equivalent to the indirect object in traditional terms. It can be construed with or without a preposition depending on whether it comes before or after the goal. Examples: v. Ama (actor) gave (process: material) Kofi (beneficiary) the book (goal) which can be reworded as: vi. Ama (actor) gave (process: material) the book (goal) to Kofi (beneficiary: recipient) University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 41 vii. The woman (actor) bought (process: material) her daughter (beneficiary) some books ( goal) which can be reworded as: The woman (actor) bought (process: material) some books (goal) for her daughter (beneficiary: client). Additionally, the scope is another aspect of the material process. Thompson (2014:112) identifies two subcategories of scope. The first category deals with an entity which “is more like a circumstantial element in that it specifies an aspect of the process, like an adverbial”. The second sub-category of scope deals with the process and “covers the cases where the ‘objects’ are an extension of the verb: either they are derived from the verb itself or they form a semantic unit with the verb”. This usually results in common delexical phrases. Delexical phrases contain verbs which have no meaning in their own right. These verbs are known as delexical verbs. Such verbs lose their full lexical content and become almost ‘dummies’ (Bloor & Bloor, 2004). Examples of clauses containing a scope include: viii. The girl was singing a song. ix. The child took a cold shower In example (viii) ‘a song’ is a scope because it is an extension of the verb singing. In example (ix) ‘a cold shower’ is a scope because it forms a semantic unit with the verb ‘took’. This means that the verb ‘took’ has been delexicalized. Hence, the meaning of ‘took’ can be found in the nominal group ‘a cold shower’. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 42 It is also worthy to note that, Material process can be classified into Transformative and Creative Material processes. Transformative Material processes are happenings or physical actions that are done to existing goals. In the case where there is no goal, but an actor only, this process relates to the change of state of the actor (Thompson, 2014). Additionally, creative material processes are the type of processes that bring goals into existence. However, when there are no goals in the clause, the Creative Material process is responsible for the coming into existence of the actor. In view of that, this study analyses the transformative and creative material processes in the poem. 2.5.5.2 Mental process The Mental process encodes the speaker or writer’s experience of the internal world of his own consciousness (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). In other words, they describe the speaker or writer’s state of mind or psychological events. They involve cognition (encoded in verbs such as think, decide, know, understand, etc.), emotion (encoded in verbs such as love, like, hate, adore, worship etc.), perception (encoded in verbs such as hear, see, taste, feel etc.) and desideration (encoded in verbs such as want, crave, desire, wish, need etc.). The mental role selects two participants known as the Senser and the Phenomenon. The Senser is a sentient being (a human or a creature; except in metaphorical uses) who experiences the process and that which is experienced is known as the Phenomenon. The Phenomenon can be a person, an abstraction, a concrete object, etc. The examples below are extracts from the poem The Waste Land: x. I (senser) hear (process: mental, perceptive) the rattle of bones and chuckle spread from ear to ear (phenomenon). xi. I (senser) love (process: mental, emotion) syntax and literature (phenomenon). University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 43 xii. She (senser) heard (process: mental, perceptive) the doorbell ring (phenomenon). xiii. His vanity (senser) requires (process: mental, desiderative) no response (phenomenon). It is noteworthy that the subject role can be filled by a human participant who gets the mental reaction or by the phenomenon that triggers the process. For instance: xiv. The announcement of the team’s failure (Phenomenon) disturbed (Process: mental, emotive) them (senser). In this example, the subject role has been filled by the phenomenon which triggers the action. 2.5.5.3 Relational Process Relational processes encode the relationship of ‘being’ and ‘having’. In other words, it expresses the concept of attributes or identity of an entity. It is the third major type of process and this serves to characterize and identify (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014: 259). It construes both the outer (material) and inner (mental) experience of the outer world (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). In relational clause, a relationship of ‘being’ or ‘having’ is set up between two separate entities (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014; 261). This means that there are always two inherent participants in the relational clause unlike the material and mental clauses (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2004). For instance, in the material clause we can have “the man was eating” but in a relational clause we may have “the man was hungry” where “the man” and “hungry” are participants but only “the man” is a participant in the relational clause. The relational process is construed by the verb “be” or copular verbs, for example: become, seem, get, sound, feel, look, taste, grew, etc. University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 44 Relational clauses can be classified into attributive and identifying processes. The attributive process ascribes quality or serves to characterize. It is made up of one participant known as the Carrier (the entity being described or characterised) and then an Attribute (the description or characterisation of the entity) (Halliday & Mathiessen, 2014). The attributive process can be subdivided into intensive, possessive, and circumstantial. The intensive relational process in the relational clause shows a relationship of sameness between the carrier and the attribute. This means that the attribute refers back to the carrier. The example below is an extract from the poem: xv. The river’s tent (Carrier) is (process: Relational, Intensive) broken (attribute). The possessive relational process in the relational clause encodes a relationship of ownership between the possessor (the one owning the entity) and the possessed (the enti