LESSON 7

REGION 5

TOPICS
1. Introduction to Region 5
2. Literary Text: To the Man I Married
3. Literary Review: Denotation and Connotation
4. Literary Text: Revolt from Hymen
5. Literary Review: Paraphrasing a Poem

LEARNING OUTCOMES
At the end of the lesson, you should be able to:
1. recognize the provinces and playwrights of Bicol Region;
2. analyze the connotation and denotation of the words which are the
requisites for critical reading; and
3. write a paraphrase of the poem.

Topic 1: Introduction to Region 5

Bicol
The Bicol region is made up of six provinces namely Albay, Camarines Norte,
Camarines Sur, Catanduanes, Masbate and Sorsogon. The provinces comprise the Bicol
peninsula including the two island provinces of Catanduanes and Masbate. Though still
attached by a common dialect, a behavior of being oragon meaning bright, a go getter,
an achiever and other such meanings the Bicolanos are easy to get along with.
The Bicol dialect is spoken by the majority although there are variations of tone
and meanings of words but the common dialect is that spoken in Naga City and Legaspi
City. Bicolanos as the people are called have proven to be resilient, patient, fun loving,
peaceful, prone to sing and dance with just a simple event as cause for celebration.
 The presence of volcanoes, the most majestic being, Mayon Volcano gave
Bicolanos an easy life through its fertile land and its sunny climate that prevails the whole
year round except for the rain drenched months of December and January.
Deeply religious, Bicolanos make religious festivities memorable such as the
September veneration to our Lady of Penafrancia.
The serene beauty of the landscapes somehow rubbed off the Bicolanos because
even with globalization efforts like e-mail, e-commerce, and satellite communication
bringing the world inside their living rooms, the values and virtues handed down from
their ancestors are still the same values and virtues that most people adhere to.
Some playwrights connected with Bicol Region are: Merlinda Bobis, Ricardo Lee,
Angela Manalang-Gloria, Jose Maria Panganiban, Kerima, Polotan-Tuvera, and Valerio Zuniga.

Topic 2: To the Man I Married

Literary Text: To The Man I Married by Angela Manalang-Gloria (Source: Philippine

Literature by Linda R. Bascarra et. al.)

Important Words

TO THE MAN I MARRIED

You are my earth and all that earth implies:
 The gravity that ballasts me in space,
The air breathed, the land that stills my cries
For food and shelter against devouring days.
You are the earth whose orbit marks my way
And sets my north and south, my east and west.
You are the final, elemental clay
The driven heart must turn to for its rest.

In your arms that hold me so near

I lift my keening thoughts to another one.
As trees long rooted to the earth uprear
Their quickening leaves and flowers to the sun.
You who are earth, O never doubt that I
Need you no less because I need the sky!

I cannot love you with a love

That outcompares the boundless sea.
For that were false, as no such love
And no such ocean can ever be.

But I can love you with a love

As finite as the wave that dies
And dying holds from crest to crest
The blue of everlasting skies

ASSESSMENT

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS

1. Compare the love poem with any love poem (e.g. “How Do I Love Thee”) you
have read.
2. Does she love him with a “finite” love?
3. How would you paraphrase any line of this poem?
You will be graded based on the following criteria:

Content/Relevance 5 points
Language 5 points
Clarity 5 points
Presentation 5 points
20 points
 Topic 3: Literary Review: Denotation and Connotation

Denotation is the actual meaning of the word or the literal and dictionary
meaning, whereas the connotation refers to associations and implications that go
beyond a word’s literal meaning. It is the meaning suggested or implied beyond the
actual meaning.

Critical reading requires the ability to understand the connotation

as well as the denotation of the words.

The personal connotation of a word is related to the experiences of the

person who uses or reads/hears it. The “strength” or “power” one meaning over
another will depend on the user/raeder/listener’s experience with it. The
negativeness and positiveness of one’s meaning of the word “authority” will
depend upon one’s experience related to this concept.
The general connotation of a word is based on one’s general experiences;
hence, a relationship exists between personal and general connotations. General
connotation refers to the general reactions of the majority of people to a certain
word. For example, the words “woman”, “man”, “mother land”, and “world” have
connotative meanings depending upon the accumulated experiences in the
collective subconscious of the race.
Words, therefore, elicit both objectives and emotional experiences.
(Source: Interactive Reading-Responding to and Writing about Philippine
Literature by Ida Yap Patron)

Topic 4: Revolt from Hymen

Literary Text: Revolt from Hymen by Angela Manalang-Gloria (Source: Philippine Literature
by Linda R. Bascarra et. al.)
Important Words

REVOLT FROM HYMEN

O to be free at last, to sleep at last

As infants sleep with the womb of rest!

To stir and stirring find no blackness vast

With passion weighted down upon the breast

To turn the fact this way and that and feel

No kisses festering on it like sores.

To be alone at last, broken the seal

That marks the flesh no better than a whore’s.

ASSESSMENT

COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
 1. Discuss the allusion to hymen.
2. What makes this an “unusual” expression of a passionate experience?
3. What is the note of surprise at the end of the poem?

You will be graded based on the following criteria:

Content/Relevance 10 points
Language 6 points
Clarity 4 points
20 points

Topic 5: Literary Review: Paraphrasing a Poem

Literary Review: Paraphrasing a Poem

One starting point for understanding a poem is the paraphrasing of its content or part of
its context. To paraphrase a poem is to restate a text in another form or other words so as to
make its prose sense as plain as possible. The paraphrase maybe longer or shorter than a poem,
but it should contain all the ideas. Figurative language should be transformed into the literal
language, methapor into similes, inverted statements into normal prose order. It is not necessary
to use the words in the original; the resulting paraphrase should be clearer and more direct.
However, the paraphrase should retain the speaker’s use of the first, second, and third person,
and the verbs tenses originally employed.
(Source: Interactive Reading-Responding to and Writing about Philippine Literature by Ida Yap
Patron)

ASSESSMENT
Paraphrase of the poem “In Defense of Poets” by A.M. Gloria
First Stanza : People call us, poets, fools. A group of stumpy
men who were unfairly judged.
Second Stanza : ____________________________________
______________________________________

Third Stanza : ______________________________________

______________________________________

Fourth Stanza : ______________________________________

_______________________________________

Fifth Stanza : ________________________________________

_______________________________________

Last Stanza : ___________________________________________

___________________________________________

You will be graded based on the following criteria:

Content/Relevance 10 points
Language 6 points
Clarity 4 points
20 points