Syair Siti Sianah: Raja Ali Haji Poetic Characteristics from a Linguistic Perspective

Raja Ali Haji was a famous figure from Indonesia and is well known in Malaysia especially as a Malay history and language writer. He had also written several works of poetry. This paper will concentrate on a poem called Syair Siti Sianah with a focus on some characteristics of his style, from the language perspectives based on the point of view of a prominent Malaysian, Zainal Abidin bin Ahmad, in his book called Ilmu Mengarang Melayu. The text of Syair Siti Sianah is contained in a book, compiled by Abu Hassan Sham in 1993, entitled Puisi-puisi Raja Ali Haji