Semiotic Analysis of “Super Reader” in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” Poem by William Wordsworth

Abstract

This study aims to analyze the figure of speech in the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
by William Wordsworth. The study's design is descriptive qualitative with no changes in the
variables. It described the result of the semiotic analysis of the poetry “I Wandered Lonely
as a Cloud”. The research technique has been done by using the super reader theory of
analysis by Michael Riffaterre which focuses on three concepts: displacing, distorting, and
creating. The result of the analysis shows that William Wordsworth’s poem represents super
reader theory. Displacing the meaning of semiotic Super Reader reveals figurative language
such as metaphor, personification, simile, and synecdoche. The figurative language revealed
by the displacing and distorted meaning shows how the reflection of solitudes is described
and his view on the sound of crowded society in the romantic age. This creates meaning
when he feels lonely, angry, and alienated from it. The figurative language of metaphor has
more dominance in this poem that relates to distorting meaning that some phrases or clauses
have ambiguity, contradiction, and nonsense.