FRANCISCO BALAGTAS: STATEMENT OF APPRECIATION👈    

       One of the most valuable assets which a person can have is a love for a good books.    

From this topic, let us know more Francisco Balagtas, the great orator and poet hails from the province of Bulacan. Let us know his life, his contributions and works, and also how he went on such poets he made.

FRANCISCO BALAGTAS

        Francisco Balagtas (born Francisco Baltazar y de la Cruz; April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), also known as Francisco Baltazar, was a prominent Filipino poet, and is widely considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic, Florante at Laura, is regarded as his defining work.

        The surname "Baltazar", sometimes misconstrued as a pen name, was a legal surname Balagtas adopted after the 1849 edict of Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, which mandated that the native population adopt standard Spanish surnames instead of native ones. His mentor was José de la Cruz, otherwise known as Joseng Sisiw.

Sources of Balagtas' work

😲No original manuscript in Balagtas' handwriting of any of his works has survived to the present day. This is due mainly to two great fires that razed Udyong (Now Balagtas in Orion, Bataan) and destroyed much of the poet's works.

😲The most notable of his works, "Florante at Laura" or "Pinagdaanang Buhay ni Florante at Laura sa Kaharian ng Albanya" has been published in numerous editions from its original publication in 1838. The oldest extant edition of the Florante is believed to be the 1861 edition published in Manila, while a handwritten manuscript written down by Apolinario Mabini exists and is in the possession of the Philippine National Library.

Complete works

Only 3 of Balagtas' works survived complete and intact to this day. Out of the 3, "Florante at Laura" is considered Balagtas' defining work and is a cultural touchstone for the Philippines.

👏Florante at Laura or Pinagdaanang Buhay ni Florante at Laura sa Kaharian ng Albanya

👏La India elegante y el negrito amante – a short play in one part

👏Orosman at Zafira – a comedia in three parts

               We are not very familiar with his works, but we really enjoyed his story entitled "Florante at Laura”. His choice of words created a very beautiful and vivid image in our mind. He described the scene so perfectly; we could see every detail, we could hear the whisper of his breath and the gentle reply of the story. It gave us chills for it has a great lessons everyone could learn. It gives us the lesson that "love conquers all".

             We hope to one day construct story as beautiful as this. We teenagers should still adapt on loving literature especially from the past because all the efforts and love from that literature can really be seen and feel for it came from a deep meaning and struggles in creating that particular story or poems, and Francisco Balagtas is one of the good example of the above characteristics mention above. 

                    We should keep in our mind that we should read more books today rather than surfing the internet because it gives you more knowledge from the literatures in the past.