PHILIPPINE LITERARY

THEORY AND CRITICISM

By: Francisco Balagtas

SUBMITTED BY:

LACSON, JESSICA MARIE I.

AB LIT 2
About the Title

Florante at Laura is an 1838 awit written by Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtas. It is considered
one of the masterpieces of Philippine literature. Balagtas wrote the epic during his
imprisonment. He dedicated it to his former sweetheart María Asuncion Rivera, whom he
nicknamed "M.A.R." and is referenced to as "Selya" in the dedication "Kay Selya".

About the Author

Francisco Baltazar, known much more widely through his nom-de-plume Francisco Balagtas,
was a prominent Filipino poet, and is widely considered as the Tagalog equivalent of William
Shakespeare for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic, "Florante at Laura", is
regarded as his defining work. Balagtas adopted the legal surname, Baltasar, as part of the edict
issued by Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua in 1849, that mandated the native
population to adopt Standard Spanish surnames. Which was commonly misspelled as Baltazar
and sometimes misinterpreted as his pen name. The Philippines has released currency honoring
Kiko Balagtas on the 10 centavo coin.

Overview of the Text: (Historical Approach)

A great deal of people view Francisco "Balagtas" Baltazar's "Florante and Laura" as a literary
classic as well as a historical and cultural masterpiece. The awit, a form of Filipino poem with
four stanzas and twelve syllables that is frequently interpreted as a tale about how love
overcomes all obstacles, centers on lovers who are torn apart by cruel circumstances.

But "Florante and Laura" is more than just a love story; it's a masterwork that discusses unfair
treatment, poor leadership, and rebellion. By highlighting events "between father and son, ruler
and ruled, lover and beloved, Christian and Muslim and man and woman," This clearly indicates
that it was inspired by personal knowledge and awareness of the political environment at the
time when the Spanish government's dominance over the Filipino people disrupted their
independence and peace. "Florante at Laura" engages in a "prolonged poetic interrogation about
the nature of justice, truth, and the human commitment to social-political equity."

The lessons and awakening that "Florante at Laura" aims to convey through its words
demonstrate why it serves as an honorable legacy to Balagtas, the "Prinsipe ng Makatang
Tagalog," with all of these that the significant Filipino poet pointed out remaining essential to the
present day.
Flaurante at Laura Analysis

Considered to be an awit, or lengthy narrative poem, is Florante at Laura Poem. The genre
contains of subjects with fantastical or chivalric-heroic elements that are expressed in long,
rhyming quatrains with hundreds or even thousands of lines. Even a quick reading of the text
exposes analogous problems in Filipino life, despite the story appearing to be set in a faraway
place with non-Filipino individuals.

Florante at Laura takes place in a far-off continent, but the main characters share many of the
same hardships as Filipinos during the Spanish colonial era. Florante, the main character, is the
second in charge of the Kingdom of Albania and is his son. The second title character is Laura,
the son of King Linceus, who took her inspiration after Rivera, a former muse of Baltazar.

The piece appears to be a classic Filipino komedya or moro-moro, a morality play that portrays
the ongoing conflict between Muslims and Christians in a fantastical or distant world. The
words, however, ventured to portray the injustices that Filipinos had endured at the hands of
Spaniards as well as the normal horrors that haunted them throughout the colonial
administration, and this is why when the Filipinos first heard Baltazar's work, it sounded nearly
revolutionary.

The secular canonization of the poet and his poem was inspired by a desire for and imagination
of a Philippine country. This is demonstrated by the historical events that established, honored,
and protected Balagtas and Florante at Laura as a component of the Philippine national heritage.
Florante at Laura provides readers with portions on leading a moral life, showing respect for
seniors, and upholding the virtues of nationalism, hard work, and patriotism. One of its main
topics is that people of other religions shouldn't be treated unfairly because of their beliefs.

Conclusion

Flourante at laura depicts the sufferings of the Filipino people under the oppressive Spanish
colonial regime. Balagtas employed elements from nineteenth-century Philippine society to get
his poem past the strict censorship of the government and the Church.

“Florante and Laura” was able to denote the different kinds of cruelty and corruption of the
government. The same misruling, as well as the greed and lust for money and power that
officials had, described in Balagtas’ story continue to be seen to this day.