THE CONSTRUCTION OF FEMINIST IDEOLOGY IN THE POEM ‘HOW TO TRIUMPH LIKE A GIRL’ BY ADA LIMON: A TRANSITIVITY ANALYSIS

Abstract

This study aims to examine transitivity patterns in Ada Limon’s poem ‘How to Triumph Like a Girl’. The poem has been studied earlier from literary lens, but no prior study has revealed how it builds agencies and generates meaning through various functions of language. Based on Halliday’s ideational metafunction, the study investigates different types of processes, participants and circumstances by dividing the poem into 13 clauses; extending this, it also reveals how particular word choices construct meaning through the use of modalized and modulated processes. The study applied mixed-method as there is a quantitative analysis of how many times a specific transitivity pattern occurs and a qualitative analysis on how the meanings are constructed through those instances. Analysis showed that mental processes, both modalized and modulated, were prevalent in the poem. Findings showed the participant arc moves from I-the writer to You-the reader which eventually leads to It-the heart of the writer. There is a shift of perspective too that showed uncertainty at the beginning by low modality ‘as if’ ending on high modality ‘going to’ showing absolute clarity. The study concludes that Limon’s feminist ideology as portrayed in the poem reveals a feminine triumph which is both personally felt and widely acknowledged.