LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEET # 9

Course Title Philippine Literature

Type of Activity Synchronous/Asynchronous
Activity Title Philippine Poetry in English

Bonsai by Edith Hamilton

Duration One Week
Learning Targets By the end of the lesson, the student should have:

1. Examined their values in relation to what they consider of

primary importance in their own lives;
2. Presented their findings in class kits;
3. Read the poem “Bonsai” closely: identifying the persona
and describing the situation in the poem; identifying the
metaphors utilized by the poet in order to express and
deepen the poem’s meaning;
4. Compared a translation into Cebuano of the poem with
emphasis on the cultural nuances of the text;
5. Gained a further understanding of the cultural aspects of
love by writing a translation of the poem into the regional
language;
6. Reflected on their own attitudes towards love and family
by creating an art project.

Reference/s A Manual For Teaching Literature

Baytan, Ronald and

Internet Sources
A. Concept Digest RATIONALE:

Studying Philippine Literature cannot be considered complete without

studying the poetry of Edith Tiempo. Along her husband Edilberto
Tiempo, she brought to the Philippines the tenets and techniques of
New Criticism, which they had studied in the United States, when
they founded the Siliman Writers Workshop in 1962. The Tiempos are
credited for nurturing many Philippine writers in English and instilling
in hem a careful attention to the craft of writing. Her most famous
poem, “Bonsai”, embodies this tradition of intellectual poetry of deep
moral feeling,” rendered through metaphor and paradox.
Edith Tiempo is the only female National Artist for Literature, and the
only one from the regions. Her body of works includes highly
acclaimed poetry, short stories and novels, as well as criticism.

KEY CONCEPTS FOR UNDERSTANDING

1. Doing close reading entails the following basic assumption

from New Criticism: organic unity, which demands that each
aspect of literary text, particularly poetry’ belong to the whole,
each contributing to the meaning so crucially that if one detail
were removed, the whole would not hold up. Reading closely
asks three basic questions about a text:
. Who is speaking? (persona)
. What is happening? (situation)
.What is the meaning of the poem? (figures of speech,
particularly metaphor, irony, paradox)
2. In “Edith Tiempo, Exemplary Poet,” critic Gemino Abad
explains that Tiempo’s poetry can be characterized as
“intellectual poetry” of deep moral feeling, (exemplifying)…
faith in the hearts intuitions, and …aesthetic principles from
the American New Criticism”(171). Tiempo herself elaborates
in her essay “Beyond Extensions” how a poet transforms the
“logic” of everyday intuitively at first, then intellectually by
deploying poetic strategies. For instance in “Bonsai”, the
persona begins by listing ordinary objects in her house, which
she keeps because they remind her of what she loves. She later
transforms these mundane objects into metaphors for human as
well as divine love. Ask, “How can seashells be considered
pieces from God’s own teeth?”
3. In another essay, “Disclaimers in Four Philippine Poems,
“Tiempo discusses how the art of poetry is embodied in the art
of disclaiming “where the obvious meaning of the poem is
subtly changed, and even irrevocably reversed, by the action of
certain word or other poetic components. In Bonsai how can
the title disclaim the theme of the poem? Does the image of the
Bonsai appear, so, does it draw attention to itself? One can ask
whether the act of scaling love down “to a cupped hand’s size”
actually succeeds in expressing the true enormity of love; or
whether the act doesn’t do an injustice to the scale of God’s
love, the way a Bonsai curtails the nature of a tree.

PART II DEVELOPMENT OF THE ACTIVITY SEQUENCE

1. Pre-reading Activity
In groups of five or six, students discuss their answers to the
 guide questions. They synthesize their answer and present
them in skit.
Guide Question: If you’re in the house were on fire, what
would you try to save? Why?
2. In- class Discussion
Students compare and contrast the group’s presentation of
what they value most. Compare it to the persona in Bonsai.
3. Reading the Poem:
4. Comprehension Discussion:
Who is the persona?
What is the situation?
What metaphors are used to embody meaning?
How does the poem render the paradox of “scaling love and
life down to a cupped hand’s size’? (Relate with Tiempo’s
technique of writing poetry in the essay ‘Beyond’.
How are these techniques seen in the poem?
5. Group Writing
Working as a team the group will translate the poem freely
into Cebuano version. One will read the translated poem by
group. (free and intuitive translation)
6. Post Reading Activity
Reflect further your personal values regarding love through an
art project. Demonstrate your creativity in decoupage. Use an
ordinary box of your preferred size and decorate with the
images symbolizing” All that I Love”. Then show it to the
class.
NOTE: Decoupage is a simple technique of cutting images
from magazines and glueing them onto the box in a particular
design. The box may be given a coat of varnish for finish and
durability.

B. Examples
C. Exercises Decoupage Artwork and Cebuano Translation of the poem

Screenshot your artwork and submit to your instructor. ( 50points

Note: Each student shall submit his/her own decoupage.

Each group will submit a copy of Cebuano translation of the

poem. ( Indicate the names of the members) (50 points)