Analyzation of Dr.

Jose Rizal’s To the Flowers of Heidelberg

Dr. Jose Rizal lived and worked in Germany for years and also studied in Heidelberg, the beautiful old town
of the confluence of the Rivers Neckar and Rhine. He admired and loved the beauty of the place especially
the flowers along the banks of the Neckar. That is why it was said that Dr. Jose Rizal wrote the poem “To
the Flowers of Heidelberg” while he was in Germany. He felt a strong feeling of longing not only for his
family but also his beloved country and when he saw the flowers in the spring of Heidelberg, he was
fascinated by it and it became his inspiration for his poem. He asks the beautiful flowers to act as
messengers to take his thoughts of home back there and to tell everyone back home in hid motherland
that whilst he likes Germany, his true loyalties are to the Philippines. To further explain the poem, I will
analyze it by stanzas. “Go to my country, go, O foreign flowers, sown by the traveler along the road, and
under that blue heaven that watches over my loved ones, recount the devotion the pilgrim nurses for his
native sod!” This is the beginning of the poem where Rizal is speaking and requesting to the flowers to go
to his homeland, the Philippines, and speak about him there. In the next part, “Go and say, say that when
dawn opened your chalices for the first time beside the icy Neckar, you saw him silent beside you, thinking
of her constant vernal clime. Say that when dawn which steals your aroma was whispering playful love
songs to your young sweet petals, he, too, murmured canticles of love in his native tongue; that in the
morning when the sun first traces the topmost peak of Koenigssthul in gold and with a mild warmth raises
to life again the valley, the glade, the forest, he hails that sun, still in its dawning, that in his country in full
zenith blazes.” the times of the day starting from dawn and the break of sunlight were mentioned. He
beautifully asked the flowers in the spring of Heidelberg to bear witness of his undying concern and love
for his motherland, he sang native songs to the flowers at dawn in exchange of their gift of natural
perfume that he can smell. And in the morning under the soft light of the early sun, he reflects still of his
motherland where the same sun now is at its highest, as if he is connected and with his with his
motherland through the sun. “And tell of that day, when he collected you along the way among the ruins
of a feudal castle, on the banks of the Neckar, or in a forest nook. Recount the words he said as, with
great care, between the pages of a worn-out book, he pressed the flexible petals that he took.” In this
part, Rizal poetically describes or explains his plan for the flowers to carry or bring his message to his
motherland. He asks them to serve as messengers from him to his country. He plucks the flowers and
placed them in his book to preserve them. Next, “Carry, carry, flowers of Rhine, love to every love of mine,
peace to my country and her fertile loam, virtue to her women, courage to her men, salute those darling
ones again, who formed the sacred circle of our home.” this is where Rizal stated his first message which
is love to his beloved ones, peace to his country, virtue to women, and courage to the men. “When you
reach that shore, deposit the kiss I gave you on the wings of the wind above that with the wind it may
rove and I may kiss all that I worship, honor and love!” In this part, he poetically describes his will that
each kiss he gave to the flowers may be carried by the wind and will be given to everything that he
worship, honor, and love. Lastly, “But O you will arrive there, flowers, and you will keep perhaps your vivid
hues; but far from your native heroic earth to which you owe your life and worth, your fragrances you will
lose! For fragrance is a spirit that never can forsake and never forgets the sky that saw its birth.” in the
end of his poem, there is a paradox, Rizal used the flowers of Heidelberg as his symbol of his love for his
motherland. The beauty of the flowers is comparable to the way he looks at our country that anyone who
will see the flower may get in touch with Rizal’s concern for his motherland. Though noble this may seem
to be, Rizal in the last stanza reflected on its utter futility since the flower will no longer be the same when
it reaches the country. Its beauty and perfume, which should reflect Rizal’s intentions for the country, will
long be gone because it is far from its fatherland. In conclusion, Rizal’s verses in this poem had a single
symbol – The flowers of Heidelberg. However, it symbolizes two realities. First, the flowers’ beauty
symbolizes Rizal’s love for his country, and second, the flowers’ reduced quality refers to Rizal’s useless
presence in another country. And later decided to return to the country despite of the repeating warning
from his family, relatives, and friends.