CL 150 Exam

<!–DIV {margin:0px;}–>

1) Of the poems discussed in class, choose 3 poems you liked best.Justify your answer Of the poems of Filipino poets discussed in class, I like “Ang Pagbabalik”, “Brief Beauty is Brave”, and “My Islands.” These are which I like most because they are for me examples of good poems that made me think of it in a deeper.sense. “Ang Pagbabalik” by Jose Corazon de Jesus belong to the Philippine literature during the span of 1890s. The poem has a narrative element which makes its plot evident. It is written in the kind of Tagalog language which makes it true to its time. Because of the melancholic tone of the poem, the intense emotion is heightened to the extent that I as its reader understood the feeling of the male persona. This makes de Jesus’ poem my favorite. The other poem entitled “Brief Beauty is Brave” was written by Bienvinido Santos. This time, It belongs to Philippine Literature in Ebglish. One fetaure of the poem is free verse quatrains which goes well with the persona’s commemoration of his own country. It all happens when he sat in a classroom listening to a lecture, all of a sudden he comes to a discussion on beauty on his time away from home. The deeper underlying point is thatwhen in the brink of dying there exists a brief beauty that is thenonly realized. The poem’s message for me is the willingness to endure and to enjoy what life offers. The last one is “My Islands” by NVM Gonzales. His poem has nationalistic themes. Like that of Santos’ poem, this poem also remarks on the beauty of the his hometown. The poem romanticizes beauty as it is for the poet. I really like the rhythm of the poem and its shortness that in the end it is able to say how proud the islands are of themselves. These poems are the things I like most. They are for me wonderful creations by Filipino poets. 2) Discuss the dominant themes & styles of Philippine short stories in English, use specific selections as illustrations to your ideas. There are different themes that revolve in the Philippine short stories. And there exists a dominant themes relating to each others work. Love is very dominant in almost all short stories. Mostly in “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez-Benitez abounds its characters’lives. The theme is portrayed revealing such vagueness that made me feel whether such tendencies happen.The same Love theme also is evident in Jose Garcia Villa’s Footnote to Youth, Midsummer & Heat of Manuel Arguilla, and in “The Mats” of Francisco Arcellana. Another theme dominant in most stories is human nature. By reading them, one comes to realize the different characters in the story. Like In “Writer in War” by Francisco Arcellana, Salvador shows human wilingness to survive despite of the coming face to face with death and thus, along with it is the wisdom he had gained.Female writers in Englisgh such as Paz Latorena and Ligaya Victorio-Reyes both reveal to us lives of women in different circumstances. Through their stories there would be an  examination of why and how the character felt pain, frustrations even insecurities. One thing that enabled the stories to convey their subtle messages is the tone that brigns about the whole mood of the stories. One element in short stories is its narrative element which allows the experience to be explicated also internally. There is also the good use of Flashback technique which reveals to us the prior events that help to develop the story. These are the themes and style of Filipino writers that makes them credible for understanding more of human existence through experiences and exploration of possibilities. 3)Discuss and justify your top 3 choices among the short stories discussed in class. My top three short stories are as follows “Dead Stars”, “Scent of Apples” and “Water from the Well.” These three stories are amont the things that make me admire its writers and their works. “Dead Stars” by Paz Marquez-Benitez is the first short story in English that is why the infatuation of writer in the new language was applied. The story is characterize by romantic elements. The descriptive detail of the characters makes helps for the emphasis of the intention as wella s to setting the mood of the story.The theme love is evident in that it revolves on the lives of Alfredo, Julia and Esperanza.”Scent of Apples” by Bienvinido Santos examines an experience during a lecture in America.The themes of Santos in most of his stories are grounded on the dislocation or transplantation of fellow Filipinos in another place and their experience in marrying Americans. The character somehow nostalgia but in a quite different sense for it seems that they are at least contented of being in a foreign land. The apples in the story is a symbol or representation that concerns an entirely different reality for Fabia. The last one is “Water from the Well” by Estrella Alfon. The story is among the writers autobiographical works. In her point of “truth as fiction and fictionalizing truth” the story for me touches lives. It made me experience life in the countryside as what the I persona had. Some of the representations like the well for an instance signify a relative importance to the story. These are the things that makes the three stories successful in recounting the story to me as a reader. For me, I came to realize that Filipinos can be as great as the American and English writers in using  the English language as medium. I really learned to appreciate the works that founded Philippine Literature.

---

PoemCW120

<!– @page { size: 8.5in 11in; margin: 0.79in } P { margin-bottom: 0.08in } –>

Nothing to Give

Without arms outstretched for alms,

His can lay there empty.

A child alights his bike,

Slips his hand into his pocket,

Then drops a coin for the beggar.

I walked past them.

I look at them hoping that something was inside my wallet.

Three of us were on that sidewalk

As the sun readily sets unminding the rest.

On My Uncle’s Burial

On my Uncle’s Burial

On headstones are names,

To call no notice

not year, not month, not date

Nor that which drew-

A candle lit upon their beds.

Its who they were and what they are,

That made the others cry.

Into some age unseen,

Who knew it was not Time,

That plucked the man to die.

Taurean

Taurus

Venus, when placed in the sign of Taurus, denotes a romantic, affectionate lover and friend. Rich beauty and sensuality are attributed to this placement and your emotions are stable and dependable. A lover with Venus in Taurus is likely to be enraptured forever and will be more responsive and devoted as the commitments get heavier. You often have a penchant for the finer, more luxurious things in life.You may spend a lot of energy on obtaining possessions and material objects for emotional security. Often there is a talent or appreciation for creativity and culture of any realm. Opera, fine food, wine, performance, art, and music will be enjoyed immensely. You are blessed with the capacity to savor each moment to the fullest extent, and instinctively seek out the beauty in your surroundings. However, you may want to watch out for a possessive streak! You will be happiest in a relationship that provides you with a real sense of belonging and stability.

“Impairment”(from Aaron’s character sketch)

The black wooden casket drew attention inside the white painted walls. The curtains were drawn apart and the wide open door seemed welcoming. The lit candles beside the coffin danced along with the sweeping breeze as if inviting him to see his long lost mother.

She had abandoned them when he was barely eight years old. And because of her absence, he had seen how his father withdrawn himself from every new morning. He missed a mother who used to prepare their breakfast. For without her, he became subjected to the sympathy of people. Even in school, he was a recluse. He retained the same childish naughtiness in school. The teacher reprimanded him of his frequent absences. He had a hard time dealing with his classmates for they throw him with scorned looks as if they dreaded the person, he was. Then they were informed about her death. All those years, she was at her parent’s home. She had cut herself from them.

They’ve exchanged goodbyes with his mother’s relatives. He heard what his father had said, that he has a class tommorow and because of this they couldn’t stay til the burial. He knew his father had lied. He was suspended from class because of a fight he had with a classmate.

The long walk was tiresome. His father stooped to brush dust off his leather shoes and called him for a rest. He leaned himself on a tree’s trunk and felt a sting on his back. He remembered that he had his mother’s scissors inside. She used it with her sewing then. He decided to bring it back to her but he wasn’t able to.

He looked at his father who stood behind the bush. He heard him sob.

The tarnished red scissors was reminded them still of her, of the memories both of them grieve about.

Gauzed Wounds

The second brother came home,

as the other siblings did,

without a wife

rather with a beloved

sister

in his mind-

her sweet smile

and the gentleness of her gestures

incomparable from the other women he met.

This affection

if only he was warned

to put love aside

from brotherly care

would’ve saved them

from such a predictable strife.

For in the guise of foreseen obligation

Stopped Delight

It was Sunday not a day but rather a gap between two other days. The traffic was light, only a few cars were out on the streets. Trickles of sweat rolled down his cheeks and his hands were tense on the stirring wheel. A blue car manuevered past him.

Yesterday he and his wife had a fight. Bank notices and unpaid bills draw more attention than anything else in their house. In his fury, he left behind an angry wife and a daughter in tears.

litter letter

Journal entry dated September 26th in year 1106

I am accustomed to the many things that are bothering me. I have been used to such disturbance. There are many things though that I can’t understand. One is that I am haunted and at the same time haunted by the discreet memories of the past. Among those are the spirits that I see every time I go to places. The very same places they lived in, the places they died on. I see them rushing to me. Approaching me with or without their eyes-sometimes red and wild eyes, those that has seen what is yet to be seen. I am bedazzled by those that posses light. The kind of light that hurts my eyes. The light that gets dim as I veer away from the realities they make me see. I can’t share with them the passion for theirs have withered. There aren’t any things to say to them or

There’s a danger in loving somebody too much

and it’s sad when you there’s….

chorva.

It’s quite amazing how love interplays with the destinies of many people. I often wondered if I could live without love. But in my mind and soul, I know that every part of me submits to the so-called love things. There are many techniques so that one would not be caught off guard when encountering those people:

1.don’t look away fast.(it’ll be tooooo obvious)

2.look straight ahead.(never stare those wide-yearning eyes)

3.maintain the distance.(you’ll later get the hang of his own perfume, but for a moment keep distance)

4.never let yourself look clumsy.(Clumsy,stupid,moron,imbecile etc. cause bad things do happen)

5.appear fresh and beautiful.(the kind of beauty that is effortless as my bros call it)

6.be a bait.(be ready for adventures or hookers)

7.enjoy.(as the last on my list enjoy means to make good the performance)

And there you go girl.

Sit back while his shoulders droop in exhaustion.

Just be careful in following these tips they’re for hopeless romantics.

missing the others

can’t just help feeling that I am lost in this world. I mean it. I just want to know that I could still count on those people I’ve failed.

I’ve missed a lot of things lately and among them are those I treasure most. Why am I feeling this way?

I miss people who doesn’t miss me.

He’s somewhere out there.

There he is the one I am not to love.

It would cost much when one keeps oneself fro denying what is intensely felt.

Yet I shudder in fear of the impossibility…

of reaching him,

of touching him,

and

of seeing him.

There are others but there’s a ‘him’ that nobody else could fill in.

These are the troubles of a young heart that crept as she succumbs into deeper devastation for keeping a lot of things to herself. The light shines into a path where she stops to rest but she never made it through that darkness. That light eventually died out from her eyes.