Exploring Semantic Roles as Elements of Meaning in Men are Pregnant By Irany

This paper examines how Irany uses semantic roles as meaning-related components in Men are Pregnant as it places emphasis on how these roles support the text’s relational and thematic differences. The study fills in the knowledge gap about how the poem uses linguistic elements like Agent, Patient, Experiencer, Theme, and Goal to express feelings, abstract ideas, and complex societal issues. Fillmore and Jackendoff's theory of semantic roles, which sheds light on the relationships between various sentence entities and actions and states, serves as the theoretical foundation for this study. Also, a qualitative descriptive methodology is used in this study, which includes the analysis and purposeful selection of twelve poems from Irany's collection. By carefully examining these poems, the study reveals how semantic features contribute to the representation of power relationships, emotional sensitivity, and the universal themes of hope and love. The findings show how themes can be evoked by agents like “they” in the context of political exploitation and “we” in the promise of rescue. The study concludes that semantic roles are essential for revealing meanings and improving readers’ comprehension of the poems.