Edgar Allan Poe´s “Silence”: Intertextuality in the Meaning-Making Process within Systemic-Functional approach

Abstract

This study analyses the semiotic elements that make up Edgar Allan Poe's short story "Silence," so as to stir up a discussion about the place of the reader as the one who will construct meaning by bringing to the text his intertextuality and his reality. The study draws on Hasan's (1989) theory of Verbal Art and Halliday's (2004) Systemic-Functional Grammar (SFG). This choice stems from understanding language as an expression of social activity and as a representation of the meanings produced in that context. The results highlight that the text's architecture develops through choices on its expression plane towards the content plane. At a deeper level, by incorporating intertextuality into the analysis process, the textual architecture of the short story alludes to that of the biblical narrative, portraying the drama of a self, confronted with emotional and spiritual dilemmas.