Poem Review: Our Mother Tongue by Rizal

Our Mother Tongue

IF truly a people dearly love
The tongue to them by Heaven sent,
They'll surely yearn for liberty
Like a bird above in the firmament.

BECAUSE by its language one can judge
A town, a barrio, and kingdom;
And like any other created thing
Every human being loves his freedom.

ONE who doesn't love his native tongue,
Is worse than putrid fish and beast;
AND like a truly precious thing
It therefore deserves to be cherished.

THE Tagalog language's akin to Latin,
To English, Spanish, angelical tongue;
For God who knows how to look after us
This language He bestowed us upon.

AS others, our language is the same
With alphabet and letters of its own,
It was lost because a storm did destroy
On the lake the bangka 1 in years bygone.

§  What is the poem about? OR What is the theme of the poem?

-       It talks about the love for Filipino Language

§  Who is the speaker?

-       Rizal

§  Who is the poem addressed to?

-       Filipino People

§  What is the tone of speaking?

-       Third person

§  Does the poem belong to any particular category? (Ode, sonnet, ballad, dramatic monologue, lyric, confessional, modern, post-modern, etc.)

-       poem

§  What is the mood of the poem? (Happy, sad)

-       nationalistic

§  How does the poem begin? (Most poems begin either with a description of something or a statement)

-       It begins with contrast by conditional statement that love for language must result to freedom.

§  How does the poem proceed? (When writing, include a short summary of the poem.)

-       It opens up with classification of a nationalist individual, and then points the importance of language as means of identity. The 3^rd stanza contrast unloving people as animal. Stanza 4 compares Tagalog to foreign language as God’s gift. The 5^th stanza concludes the Subject as lost.

§  Does the initial mood change? Why?

-       no

§  How does the poem end?

-       With awareness of language extinction

§  What is the philosophy of life expressed in the poem? (Optimistic, pessimistic, religious, pantheistic, mystical, cynical, etc.)

-       It warns readers

§  Are there any autobiographical elements in the poem?

-       none

§  Has the poet used any figures of speech? Are they apt and suitable to the situation? How do they enhance the meaning? (One great quality of good poets is to find similarity in quite dissimilar things.)

-       Simile

§  Are there things like a rhyme scheme, alliteration, assonance, etc.? Do they add to the charm of the poem?

-       add

§  Has the poem got any contemporary significance? Is the theme universal?

-       yes

§  Does the poem remind you of any other poem? What are the similarities and differences?

-       no

§  What feeling has the poem created in you? Is it touching, for example?

-       inspirational