International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 148

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES
SPRING 2016
your idle chatter will be of no account
as long as you are spirited, assured and quite confident
The very model of a minister in fact.

(ibid.p.39)

The poet’s hope for the unborn child is that he be taught to fight. Future generations will
have to be vigilant for
‘an enemy is evil always
And must be hit until he’s crushed
This is the essence of the art of self-survival’

(Ibid.)

His scathing assessments include denigration of the police as well as the military:
‘If he can, let him be a policeman or a soldier
So that he doesn’t have to buy rice
But gets it from the state
with a nice uniform’

(Ibid.p.41)

He ends this poem by reiterating how everything remains the same, day after day.
Rendra’s literary style
The poetic styles Rendra used to voice his social criticism were dominated by a narrative
approach in free verse; some of his poems are ballad-like in structure. Within this structure,
he uses the rhythm and beat of words and the repetition of words to create mood and to
accentuate the nature of human responses to passionate action. Sometimes his use of
sounds in this way is similar to those he may well have used in creating dialogue and
atmosphere in his plays. This is apparent in the poem, ‘Khotbah’ (‘Sermon’) in which words
form beats that are played out and repeated in rhythms to accentuate the message.
His poetry incorporated the use of numerous poetic techniques including metaphors,
similes, double entendres, repetitions, paradoxes, ironic twists, rhetorical questions, ironies,
and satire. He would vehemently castigate the masses as well as their oppressors with his
cutting use of these devices.
The nature of the Indonesian language promotes the use of repetition as plural
nouns are repeated. Rendra uses this to his poetic advantage. The hard/soft/hard/soft
cadence of Indonesian speech produces a regular beat. Repetition and rhythm is evident in
the following from Sajak Burung-Burung Kondor (Birds Condor 1973):
Beribu-ribuburungkondor,
berjuta-jutaburungkondor,
bergerakmenujukegunungtinggi,
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