Francisco Baltazar (popularly known as Francisco Balagtas) was born on April 2, 1788 in Bigaa, Bulacan. He learned how to write poetry from another famous Filipino poet, José de la Cruz. Because of him, Balagtas was constantly pushed to develop and progress his writing. Considered the Filipino version of William Shakespeare, most of his early works were, like Shakespeare, comedies. Also like Shakespeare, his work gradually matured over time; Balagtas’ masterpiece entitled Florante at Laura is an epic written when he was imprisoned during the 19th century. This high regard given to Balagtas is the reason why the poetic form, balagtasan, is given its name. As stated before, the name of the form itself was coined outside the range of our research; however the turmoil happening from the early 1900’s were influential in creating the literary form as it is today. Balagtasan came about, at least politically, as the manifestation of Filipino sentiment in that a sense of self and identity was lost due to American rule. It strives to declare independence from America by highlighting Filipino culture such as their old customs and traditions.
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 06:03:50 +0000
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