Local Wisdom in the Polemic on Sundanese Poem

Abstrak

This essay investigates the polemic on Sundanese poem which occurred from 1952 to 1957 in Warga magazine, on the intention to explain the way the influence of Sundanese local wisdom works in responding to the rise of a new form of poem in Sundanese literature. This essay looks specifically at the relevance between the said polemic with Sundanese people’s wisdom, by applying Peircean semiotic concept as referred to by Aart van Van Zoest (1993), along with his description on ideology. It can be concluded that Sundanese literary figures are ideologically open to changes. They have a balanced perception on both new and old forms of Sundanese poem. Sundanese poem, arguably enough, does not diminish dangding, jangjawokan, sisindiran, or any kinds of old forms of Sundanese poem. On the contrary, the two enrich one and the other.