Sherilyn L.

Villaverde
BEEd-IV

1. To Josephine, 1895

Rizal dedicated this poem to an Irish woman, Josephine Bracken, whom he called (in
another poem) his “dulce extranjera” (sweet foreigner). When Josephine temporarily left
Dapitan to accompany Taufer to Manila, Rizal gave her this short poem which
manifested that he was really “smitten” with Josephine.

Rizal is feeling loved at the same time afraid because it is addressed to his wife Josephine
Bracken. This poem is a dramatic type of poetry. It is structured and free verse because
there are rhyming words in the end of the lines but not all. Yes there is a figure of speech
used in the poem, which is simile because of the word like. The words that Rizal used is
not too difficult.

2. To the Virgin Mary

Jose Rizal, regardless of certain views later on in his life that were controversial and
somewhat contrary to the Roman Catholic faith, was brought up Catholic. He composed
this sonnet during his stay at the Ateneo Municipal de Manila, when he was about 15
years old. This undated poem was another religious writing Jose Rizal wrote in praise of
the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

Rizal addressed this poem to Virgin mary and to the readers. There are those words that
are difficult to understand.
3. The Song of Maria Clara, 1887

This poem forms part of the Jose Rizal’s first novel, Noli Me Tangere. In the novel, one
of the main characters, Maria, upon the insistent requests of her friends, rendered a
beautiful song with the accompaniment of the harp.

4. A poem that has no title

Rizal wrote this poem because he speaks of his thanksgiving to God for soothing him
during his troubles and dark moments. The difficulties and struggles of Rizal which he
suffered and his sadness were evident in the verses of this poem.

The poem is dedicated to his Creator as a thanksgiving for the comfort he had while he
was in trouble. He believes that his Creator is a merciful and loving God. The poem has a
lot of difficult words and it is structured and it is lyric poetry.
My favorite line in the poem is “Thou did make me descend, From honorable home and
respectable stock, And a homeland thou gravest me”. Which is Rizal a expressed his
gratitude to God for allowing him to be born to a respectable and honorable family and to
belong to a rich country.
5. In Memory of My Town (Un Recuerdo A Mi Pueblo, 1876)

Rizal loved his hometown Calamba in Laguna. He fondly remembered his memories of
the said town. In 1876, Rizal as a 15-year old student in the Ateneo Municipal de Manila
wrote the poem “In Memory of My Town”. It was written to express his love and
appreciation for the place where he grew up.

It is addressed to the reader, the form of poem is free verse and it is narrative
There are a lot of difficult words because of figurative language which is personification
and metaphor. “When I remember the days that saw my early childhood” my favorite line
in poem because it recalling my happiest moment in childhood and I remember of my
childhood years were I always happy.

6. My First Inspiration (Mi Primera Inspiracion, 1874)

Most likely, “Mi Primera Inspiracion” was the first poem Jose Rizal had written during
his stint at Ateneo. This poem was written in honor of his mother’s birthday as suggested
by the terms “perfume of the flowers”, “the songs of the birds”, “feast your day of
bloom” and “festive day”.

Jose Rizal’s poetic verses show his eternal love and appreciation for his mother. This was
somewhat his way of paying tribute to all the efforts for him of her dear mother.

7. Child Jesus (Al Nino Jesus, November 1875)

During his student days, the 14-year old Jose Rizal wrote “Al Niño Jesus” (Child Jesus),
a brief religious ode which expressed his devotion as a child to Catholicism. A rather
short poem only eight lines long, it follows the traditional Spanish pattern of poetry

This poem is addressed to Jesus, a lot of difficult words and personification is the
figurative language use in this poem because of the words “Does Fortune find you a
stranger. and the word “Why have you come to earth,
Child-God, in a poor manger?” is the line that I like because Rizal addressing the child
Jesus and asking him why he had chosen a lowly manger as the place through which he
would enter the world of humanity.

8. To The Philippine Youth (A La Juventud Filipina, November 1879)

This was a winning poem in 1879. Rizal submitted it as his entry to the literary contest
held by the ‘Liceo Artistico-Literario’ (Artistic-Literary Lyceum) of Manila—a society of
literary men and artists. Written by Rizal at the age of eighteen, this artwork which was
said to be of flawless form aimed to implore the Filipinos to rise from indolence. It is
 deemed a classical piece of Philippine literature for reasons that (1) Spanish literary
authorities recognized it as an impressive poem written in Spanish by a Filipino and (2) it
was the foremost literary piece to display the nationalistic belief that Filipinos were the
“fair hope of the Fatherland.”

9. My Last Farewell (Mi Ultimo Adios, December 1896)

This untitled poem is considered as the most celebrated poem by the national hero.
Rizal’s friend, Mariano Ponce,was the one who titled the poem “Mi Ultimo
Pensamiento”(My Last Thought). Later, the poem was referred to as “My Last Farewell”
(Mi Ultimo Adios).

“Mi Ultimo Adios”, a brilliant creation, was assumed to be written the night before Jose
Rizal’s execution on December 30, 1896. As the dear visitors were leaving, Jose handed
over to his sister Trinidad an alcohol cooking stove, a gift from the Pardo de Taveras,
whispering to her in a language which the guards could not comprehend, “There is
something in it.” That ‘something’ was Rizal’s unsigned, undated, and untitled poem
consisting of 14 five-line stanzas. The Rizal family reproduced and distributed copies of
it and sent copies to the hero’s friends in the country and abroad.

Widely regarded as the most patriotic poem in the world, it has been translated into at
least 38 languages. The poem reflects the hero’s adoration to and patriotism for his
country. The poem requests Filipinos to pray for others who also have died and suffered
for the country. It begged the Filipino people to never lose hope and faith in the Lord
God. Forceful words were used to inspire them not to be the discouraged by the
oppressions of the Spaniards.

At the last part of the poem, Jose Rizal mentioned of his “sweet stranger” as his friend
and joy. This implied his farewell to his beloved “dulce estranjera”, Josephine. Lately,
asong based on the poem “Mi Ultimo Adios” was composed by contemporary artist Joey
Ayala.

This poem of Rizal is addressed to Philippines, family and relatives, and future people
who’ll visit the grave, it is a free verse and narrative poetry and yes there are a lot of
challenging words in the poem because there is figurative language in the poem like
personification, simile and metaphor. My favorite line in the poem is the first line in 13th
stanza its says “My idolized Country, for whom I most gravely pine,” which is Rizal
show a deep respect and admiration to the country and it show how much he loves our
country.

10. Our Mother Tongue

Rizal wrote this poem because he wants to promote Tagalog (Filipino) language to the
Filipino people. He wrote it in 1869 at the age of eight. A poem about the love of one's
native language written in Tagalog.
This poem is addressed to the Filipino people and it is narrative poetry and structured
because of the rhyming words. There is figure of speech used in the poem like metaphor,
the word “language is the same with alphabet”
My favorite lines are “Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita Mahigit sa hayop at
malansang isda” I like this lines because it says that the Filipinos must work to make the
language richer, that Filipinos must love their own language.