The Literary Work as Representation*

What Questions Does One Ask of a Poem' a Story' a Play?

My owtt nAslc critical approach is formalist in the neo-Aristotelian modebecause

I assume that a literary work is chiefly concerned with a representation of a

human experimce.Theoid word for representatio nis mimesis (imitation). That a

literary work (poem, short story, novel' play) is usually "an imitation of life" is

in fact what most readers of literature assume' Moteover' our chief concern is

the Filipino erperience-our land and people and the way we live and deal with

one another- as our ownwriters see our experience and interpret itto us' To my

mindthetnimeticapptoachtoliteratureisthemostfruitfulofinsightsintoourownexperienceasFilipinos.Inregard.toothercriticalapproaches,thesecaneasily be assimilated into the n"o-Arirtot lian mode of formalist criticism;

what is important for any critic and interpreter of a literary work is a clear

ctiticalframeworkfreefromlearnedobfuscationanderuditejargon.Besides'those other critical approaches (Marxist' feminist' deconstructive'

psychoanalytic, reader-response, etc') must still proceed from some reasonable

interpretationofthehumane*periencethattheliterarytexthasrepresented.In general, tht;, ;;-

" iormalist standpoint' the questions to raise about

most literary works revolve around four broad topics:.Whatisrepresented?Thisiscalledtheobjeaofrcptesentation.Theliterary

workiseithetdidactic,thatis,concernedchieflywithathesisorargument;ormimetic,that is, u

'"p'"'""tuiion of some human action or behavior' Such a

distinctioni.of.ou""terelyheuristic'thatistosay'itonlyprovidesadirectionfur analysis and interpretation. practically all literary works in the present

course are best ,egatied as mimetic' but when we ask for a stoty's'point oril[

"^'"oe'-"'*..--nlessfullyquoted,.aretobefoundattheendofthisessay:Appendixli: i5-8t see atso 265-?3 (question nor' 3-4)

62 - Part II: Reading the poem

significance, or a poem's theme or argument (the subject of someone,s reflectionin a poem), we are dealing with the story's insight into human experience or tltepoem's di daai c element.

rrow is it represented? This is called the manner of representation.Generally, there are three ways of representing a human experience: (a) thedramaticmode. where the im agsnary charucters speak and act in their own person(as in a dialogue befween those characters in a short story); (b) the narrativemode, where an experience is told or recounted by an implied narrator (as in theuse of "he said" or "she said" in a dialogue); or (c) the mixed mode,that is, acombination ofthe dramatic and the narrative modes.

what specific means and devices are employed for the representation?This has to do with the verbal medium of thereptesentation. It concerns the useofvarious rhetorical devices, such as the figures ofspeech, and other resourcesofthelanguage.

what is the power or effect ofthe representation? This maybe regardedas the force or energy of the creative work; that is, the reader, apprlhending thcexperience as represented, is moved in a certain determinate way. In general, thceffect is either seious(as when we sympathize with a lover,s distress in Luis G.Dato's poem' "Day on the Farm") or comic(aswhen we find a mocking gaietyand lightheartedness of mood in the lovers' dialogue in Guillermo castillo,gpoem, "I Bring Thee Great Wealth, Georgianna").

Let me explain each ofthese topics.

'What Is Represented?

This is the objeaof representation: some human action orbehavior; forexample, in Fernando M. Maram6g's ,,Moonlight on Manila Bay,' (75),someone's ftain of reflection; or, in paz Marquez Benitez's ,,Dead Stars" (story),someone's indecisiveness leading to failure in a human relationship.

The most common form of lyric poetry depicts ,o-.orr.', reflective,activity. You can very well call it the "reflective lyric poem" or ,,the lyricmeditation," and regard it as a form of soliloquy or dramatic monologue. Thercare of course other kinds; e.g., the didactic poem or ,,poem of idea" whichconcerns itself primarily with establishing a particular thesis or argument; otthe narrative poem where the chief interest lies in the story itself (e!., virgilioF' Floresca's seious narrative, "The Spanish Governor," lg-gl or-Aurelio s,Alvero's comic"Idilio de Amor," g2).

The LiteraryWorkas Representation F 63

Every reflective lyric poem has a speaker; that is to say, someone has

been imagined by the poet to be speaking and acting in his or her own person ina particular human situation. That speaker who exists only in the poem is alsocalled the poet's persona; s/he is not necessarily to be identified with the poethimself.

The poem on the page then is imaginary discourse: that is, the speech ofrome imaginary person. That speech (someone speaking) is the very form of theapeaker's action or state of soul; that is to say, as poem or verbal construct, thatrpeech onthepage sin ulates someone's action or state of soul - such action orhchavior, for example, as someone pleading (in Luis G. Dato's "Day on theFarm," 75-76) or mocking (in Luis Dato's "Spinster," 72); or such state of souleB someone's dread of death (in Trinidad L. Tarrosa-Subido's "Love, When IItind You Quietly Asleep," 79) ot rapture of death-longing in a mysticlpprehension of beauty (in Cornelio F. Faigao's "Night in a Small Town," 78).

To apprehend the poem then is to be able to describe the nature oftomeone's activity asrqresaxed. Take Maram6g's "Moonlight on ManiaBay."Someone - the speaker in the poem - is moved by the serene beauty of ManilaBay on a moonlit night. He reflects that in our history the Bay has not alwaysoffered such a scene of quiet splendor. On that Bay nations have fought to wrestcuntrol of our land. He then recalls "one historic night" when Dewey routedthc Spanish fleet and, freeing us from Spanish tyranny, "claimed a people's

cAre.tt

Notice that in thus explicating the nature and course of someone's

reflective activity, we can more readily apprehend the speaker's situation at themoment of speech. He accepts, and in fact celebrates, the American conquest oflhe Philippines. Webecome quite clear about his thought, feeling, and attitude.

It should also be noted that when one has described (l) the objea ofreprcsentation - that is, what human action or behavior the poem or story has

represented - it becomes easier to discuss and explain, (2) how that action has

bee n represented, (3) with what means and devices of representation, and (4) towhat dlfect (that is, the power or capacity of the representation to move itsrcaders in a certain determinate way).

How Ir It Represented?

Thc Dramatlc Mode. When, as you read, the literarypiece puts you in€tc porition, as it were, of a witness to an event, as though in your mind's eye

tuu werc watching a human action on sgage (an imaginary character talkingby

64 - PartII: Readingthepoem

himsel{, or two or more imaginary characters interacting in dialogue), the mannerof representation is dramatic. you respond to someone,s action or behavior ass/he speala in his/her own person.

we must always bear in mind that speech is action; it is essentialry thedramatic mode' someone in the poem is allowed, so to speak, by the poet tospeak in his own person; his speech, which is the poem on the page, is the verymode ofrepresentation (the dramaticmode) by which we as its readers come toknow his action (what precisery he is doing), his particular situation in life (asfar as we can tell from what he says), his character (what sort ofperson he or sheis)' his thought, and his feering. when we apprehend all ther" - u"tiorr, character,thought, emotion * from someone's speech, we shall have grasped the humanexperience that the poem has represented.

Ihe Narrative Mode. When, as you read, the literary piece puts you inthe position, as it were, of a listener to anaccount, the marrne, of replsentationis narrative. You respond to what you are told about by someone, *h.tt o ,h"t"someone" is the narrator himself (the ,,I" in the poe-j o, ,o-"one else that theimplied nafiatot is telling you about. we must try and be crear about this:someone (the narrator) is recounting to you, the reader, some event that ishappening or has already happened. That nanator may be the aufhor or animaginary ch aracter,

Take these two poems by Angela C. Manalang_Gloria:

Querida

The door is closed, the curtains drawn within.One room, a brilliant question mark of light ...Outside her gate an empty limousineWaits in the brimming emptiness of night.

OldMaid Walkingon a City Street

She had a way of walking through concupiscenceAnd past the graces her fingers nlever nvirled:Because her mind refused the heavy burden,Her broad feet shovelled up the world.

In "Querida," someone is describing a scene. That someone (the impliednarrator) is, at the moment (the imaginarypresent time ofthe poem;, witnessingan event* a tryst' as the poem's title suggests. But as the poem'c rcader, you arc

The LiteraryWorkas Representation F 65

listening, as it were, to an eyewitness account. You gather from the account

what precisely is happening, and from the way it is told, you are also moved to

assume a celtain attitude toward the nocturnal visit. Your attitude is subtly

aligned to the narrator's own moral stance that is implied by what he takes note

of, as when he speaks of that "one room, [as] a brilliant question mark of light,"pr when he suggests a kind of moral desolation "in the brimming emptiness of

night." Thus, the poem "Querida" may be said to be a representation in the

narrative mode. Or, at the very least, that is how you might argue that the poem

is narrative in manner.

In "Old Maid," you also have description - of an "old maid walking on a

city street." As you have seen in "Querida," descriptionby itself is a species of

narration. So, you can very well argue that the poem "Old Maid" is also in the

naffative mode. [We know from the poet herself - but not ftomthe poem's text

- that the poet is referring to her maiden aunt.l The implied narratol's chief

image or recollection of the '1old maid" is how she would walk down a city

street. You infer from someone's tecollection [narration or account] her attitude

toward the "old maid" and are moved to share it. You could say that you share

the narrator's admiration of her aunt's gumption, as in her refusal to conform to

the wodd's conventional expectations.

Yet, you can make a case for the same poem as a representation in the

dramatic manner by arguing that, in the poem, someone (whose speech or

" interior monologge" is the poem on the page) ts recalling aspinster whom he or

she knows. What is represented, therefore, is someone's mental activity of

recollection at themoment(the poem's present imaginary time); the description -the poem on the page - simulatesthat mental activity. The poem therefore is in

the dramatic modebecause, as you read, you witness someone who is recollecting

and admiringher aunt.

This way of insisting that "old Maid" is in the dramatic mode may well

be too clever for what is evidently narrative. But as you can see' it may sometimes

be arguable e ither way - dramatic ot narrative. Especially with short lyric poems

where you can often pos it a speaker who is engaged in some form of mmtal adivity ,

what at frst appears to be narrative may yet be regarded as dramatic. You can be

so clever! but, in any case, what is primary is that you apprehend the human

cxperience as represented. Can you argue, for example, that "Querida" can be

rcgarded as a representation in the dramatic mode? Yes, of course. You can

argue that someone in the poem is at the moment obsen ing an incident at night'

etc.

66 - PartII: Readingthepoem

In most lyric poems, the drotnatic mode is cleaily employed. Take theseby Angela Manalang-Gloria - from (a) "To the Man I Married" (76):

You are my earth and all that earth implies:The gravity that ballasts me in space,The air I breathe, the land that stills my criesFor food and shelter against devouring days.

You *ho are earth,O never doubt that INeed you no less because I need the sky!

from (b) "Cementerio del Norte" (76-77) -

And so, it all must come to this - a dyingafternoon,

Thin cerements of rain around the forlomghost of weeping,

Ufhat elre is there to say, now that thesleepless dead are sleeping?

from (c) "1940 A.D." (77-78) -We heard it whirring through the airLike some primordial, thundered word.

it.r. i, no bright ApocalypseIn this despair whereon to cling,Save that, in durance vile, the lipsBreak into prayer for another spring.

In all these poems, you as reader will most certainly have the impressionthat you are in the presence of a speaker who, in the first instance (a), is ardentlyappealing to her beloved to understand her need; in the second (b), is deeplymourning someone at a burial ceremony; and in the third (c), is in grievousdespair over the horror of imminent war.

Suppose, as a last instance, you are reading Angela C. Manalang-Gloria's"Soledad" -

The Literary Workas Representation ? 67

It was a sacrilege, the neighbors cried,

The way she shattered every mullioned pane

To let a firebrand in. They tried in vain

To understand how one so carved from pride

And glassed in dream could have so flung aside

Her graven days, or why she dared profane

The bread and wine of life for one insane

Moment with him. The scandal never died'

But no one guessed that loveliness would claim

Her soul's cathedral burned by his desires'

Or that he left her aureoled in flame " 'And seping nothing but her blackened spires,

The town condemned this girl who loved too well

And found her heaven in the depths of hell'

Certainly,onfirstreadingit,youapprehendanarrator,someonewhoistelling you about some occurrence in the past and what Soledad's neighbors

thought of it: "It was a sacrilege, the neighbors cried." You are told how "They

[thosle neighbors] tried in v arn/Tounderstand" why Soledad carried on with "a

hrtbrand'i against the town's moral code of conduct. You are told that "The

rcandal never died." Clearly, all thatpresentation is in the narrative mode' You

tre listening, as you read the poem, to someone's report on an illicit love affair

ln the eyes of the townspeople. In the poem's second stanza' you get the

lmpression that the reporter (nanator) has her own thoughts about the matter;

lhe anives at a differeni judgment of the event that has scandalized her town. In

A word, she defends "this girl who loved too well." And you are moved to take

her side against the town's conventional wisdom'

ThcMixerlModeofRepresentation.Thatistosay:themannerisbothtlramatic and narrative.very few lyric poems ale in the mixed mode' and often,

lhcy are narrative or story poems. But short stories and novels are usually in the

mixedmode.virgilio F. Floresca's "The spanish Governor" (79-81) is a poem in the

mixed mode; the narrative or story is told in the form of a dialogue between an

i=narrator and the ghost of the spanish Governor-General corcuera. Let us

look more closely into this narrative poem. If we assume that the opening

Yerses

Who is this bold imPudent wightBreaking the quiet ofthe night "'

represent or simulate the I-narrator's mental query, then the poem has begunthe dramatic mode; that query or activity oi ttrought ,.pr.r.rrt dramaticasomeone's reaction to an apparition. Then, immediately, this l-narrator accolthe ghost; because he speala in his own person and acts upon the ghost (that issay, he challenges the ghost of corcuera), it is in the same dramitic mode:

Who art thou? _ Thy smell is death,And incense is thy ghastly breath.

Am I thy foe _ what did I doThat I should merit terror so?

so far, then, the poem is dramatic; but in the following verses, the I-narratorclearly shifts into a narrative mode (his is why we speak of an I-narrator):

Then pale and shrill tones waved on air,White seemed and pale those ruins bare,

After those verses, the ghost speaks in his own person. In so far as he speaks in{his own person as Governor, the mode is dramatic; but in so far as his speech isa telling, an account of his misfortune, the mode is narrative. when the Governofhas finished, the l-narrator asks: "Art thou, art thou? -" (again, as someone,gspeech, the dramatic mode); but quickly, the mode shifts into the narrativc(commentary and description) :

MemoryForgot the whims of History.'TWas dawn, and the glimmering starsWere retreating in Night's wars.

Then as he flew, cried:

'saddest corcuera!' - the Governor's mournful last words, his own confessionof identity, end the poem in the dramatic mode.

\Mhat Means and Devices of Representation Are Used?

This formal dimension of the literary work has to do with the writer,s useof language or the verbar medium:we ask what resources of the ranguage, whatrhetorical devices, such as the figurcs ofspeech, the writer emptoys is the meatt

The Literary Work as Representation ? 69

of rqresentatior. A close reading of the poem's text is necessary to appreciate the

medium or means of representatron'

What follows - an analysis of the words, images, and metaPhgrs in Angela

Manalang-Gloria's "Sodd; - muy stem rather long' tedious' and painstaking'

But bear in mind ,nur-i *rt really what takes place whm one reads e poetn. The

reader takes in, u, t" "ua"

tom line to line' all and even more than we might say

about the poem's lut guuge' Our analysil thel is only meant to stress the vitality

of the verbal rn.Ait'rn;-Jutty reader' when he comprehends the poem' has a

strong sense of it'Itbean stressingthat a common feature of apoem's langrageis its freshness

and vitaliry often ttrougtr the use of imagery, metaphor, and irony, among

other rhetorical devices. in order to appreciatesuch mastery ofexpression, one

mu$ grasp precisely the sense of the poem's vocabulary and allusions' This is

most basic; without it, therc is no poem'As you read' for example' the frst stanza

of"soledad,"itisimperativethatyouapprehendtheprecisesenseofcertainwords, phrases, u"a J*p'""ions: ltlhat do you understand by the statement'

" she shattered.".,y ;;ii;;ed pane"? (but first' what is a "mullion"?) What do

the townsfolk mea" wht" thty call ttre girl's lover "a fuebrand?" How may you

rlescribe Soledad wfren she is depicted as "carved ftom pride/And glassed in

tlream"? what is a "graven image"? andhow does its meaning apply to "graven

rlays"? Explainthe aliu,io" i" "Iread andwine of life'" You may alsobe curious

.nfugn to fook up the etymology of "sacrilege" and "scandal'"

Havingread ,jioi.Oua,' Io its end, what is your evaluation of its diction

andimagery?Bythepoem'sdiction'wemeanitsparticularchoiceandusageofecrtain words ""d ";;;.;;ons:

,,carved from pride," "she dared profane,"

,,nureoled in Ru*.,i Ge depths of hell," etc. How may you describe such

t|iction?Youmaywellcomment,forinstance,thatitisformal,elevatedintone'eve n florid and ebullient. you may also say that, on the whole, the poem's tone

nndperspectiveisRomantic_butwhatpreciselyismeantby..Romantic''asrcgards the Poem "Soledad"?

By the poemi,i*t 'r,we mean those mental pictures' sensations' and

fcelings that are evokedbithe poem's words' Explain what imagery and what

rnctaphors you do it"O in "soledad'" What do these images and metaphors

;hnrc as their import and significance? How effective are they?

To illustrate what these questions exact, you can very well note that the

ulrcning verse speaks of "a sacrilege"; then' you have both metaphor and image

ln the next verse: ,,she shattered every muliioned pane." The image clearly is

tlrntofsoledadshattering..everymullionedpane''toletherloverin;butits

68 - PartII: Readingthepoem

70 - PartII: Readingthepoem

sense is metaphorical - she broke the town's moral strictures. (If so, oneneed to explain why or how "mullioned pane" - which phrase relates toother expressions in the poem as "glassed in dream" and ,,her soul's- suggests "moral strictures.,')

Now consider all the other images and metaphors in the poemand metaphors are often conjoined): what image is evoked, andmetaphorical sense is conveyed, by the following: ,'carved ftompride /glassed in dre am?" " gtayendays"? "bread and wine of life"? ,,her soul's cathbumed by his desires"? "aureoled in flame"? "her blackened spires"? perhayou may even sense a kind of buried (as it were) image and metaphor in"firebrand" which relates to "her heaven in the depths of he[.,' In any case, thi$exercise will deepen your awareness of the evocative power of images andmetaphors. Note that you yourself willhave to producetheimage(some mentalpicture or other sensation) from such expressions as ,,aureoled in flame,,, andrecreate its precise sense .Fr the speaker-narrator in the poem. whatever imagiarises in your imagination - and whatever sense a metaphor seems to transmit toyou - it is always the case that both image and sense spring from those associations(subjective meanings, connotations, links, or connections) that certain wordsand expressions have for you. Those associations have obviously their ownprivate origin in your life experience and reading; you will need iherefore tocheck those associations againsttheindividual human experience that the poemrepresents (that is, soledad's passionate affair as perceived by the narrator, hefdefender),

Now, having run through all those images and metaphors, you can verywell define their common import and significance, and thereby explain theirffictiveness in light of how the erperience, as represented, is to move the reader lsee thenext section on the power or effect of the representation). you shall long beforenow have already noticed the religious undertones in such words as ,,sacrilege"and "profane," "heaven" and "hell," and in such metaphorical expressions as"graven days," "the bread and wine of life,', and ,,her soul's cathedral.,, Thepoem's chief rhetorical device or strategy is ironic contrast: the town,s blindness(they see only "her blackened spires,') and the speaker's insight (,,he left heraureoled in flame"). Thus, the religious associations that underlie the poem'swords, images, and metaphors serve to enhance the contrastbetween moralityand spirituality. To define these terms, we must regard the poem's context, thatis, the narrator's own evaluation and judgment of what the town regards as"sacrilege" and "scandal." By morarity then is meant a code of conduct bywhich the townspe<lple live, but which, because of human narrclw-mindedness

The LiteraryWork as Representation F 71

lnd pettiness, can in fact lead to spiritual harm - not to Soledad' who rejects the

Ewn's moral code, but to the to*n'folk *ho remain narrow-minded and spiteful'

gyspiriualityo*"o"tunit'nerfreedomofsoulthatis'inaprofoundsense'thevity gtou"a of all religion and morallty' . -.

One last point "JJ 'o U" addressed' The average reader's diffrculty with

poetry has often to do with its technical side - the matter' for example' of the

conventional forms of poetry and various metrical patterns' These require of

eourse a long and wiOe experience of the wodd's poetry' Yet one is expected to

be rhmiliar witrr at teasiiit -o" common forms of poetry - the sonnet' ode'

elegy, ballad - and such technical matters as the metrical foot (iamb' trochee'

etc,) In regard then to ,,soredad,,, what conventional form of poetry has been

ircmentsu,,or,,uo'."f,i;;;"^a-J" is a sonnet. A sonnet has certaT,folTlllltements'

.ln.rmcd

il'il"#ffi ;r;;;;;'G;rorrna.r.ou{1"--lT:ff l*:it^T:i'iil;'*#;'*"';;i"r"i"d"isspecincalrv^'::y"-!::::::"llll1llij;llffi ffi#;";(*;'i"t*:-"*').''!!:Y::!:;::b::::i::ff:ill'ililil#'*;ffi i"e';;".N:"1"1.11:\:::"*::#::#::::::ffi;:ffi i, ," 'io ""in

in ttrought ttrat is purzued "io :T::*the

sestet'

liffi ffi;;.;;,-;;;;'"on*ii"'*.h:'i1*11'11-i:Yii1i!(ilffi;r;;;,ir.r, *i",

"erbal feat has been accomplished when a

poct follows a strict conventional form like a sonnet'

What Is the Power or Effect of the Representation?

The power or effea of any literary work (poem, story, play) is its capacity

lrf move the reader o, ut'aitoi in a certain determinate way' When you read

..littledad,,,ro,.*u*pr",y*eventualytakethenarrator'ssideagainstthetown's

cundcmnationofSoledadbecause'asyoufollowandassumethenarrator'sown.ld ncc, you begin to sympathize with Soledad and find her townmates narrolv-

nrincrcd andharsh. yorrri*rrr"sponsetothepoem "soledad" is intheveryfirst

plncc, before all other considerations' your response to the human experience

that has just been represented, what we have called the obiea of representation:

ilratistosay,somehumanactionorbehavior(inthepoem'aswehaveseen'that6ctitrn is Soledad,s u, iora us by an implied narrator). Bvt how that obiecthas

bernrepresented(whatwehavecalledrl'ernannerofrepresantation)'andbywhatltlarrrr (what particular employment of the resources of a language), also enhance

llte ptlem's Power to move us'

72 - Part II: Reading the Poem

Now, the effect of any literary work is either senb us ot comic. We needunderstand what we take to be comic in an artistic representation. Thelike the serious, is so much a matter of the dominant mood and stance orthat the work itself has forged or seems to make us assume toward what itrepresented. while it is true that your own response to the work depends onhow you interpret the objea andthe manner of thepoetic representation, andhow you perceive the means ernployed for the representation, neverthelessresponse should never be arbitrary or negligent but sensitive, intelligent,defensible.

When a poem, story, or play treats its subject lightly or mockingly, ora mood (or frame of mind) of gaiety and lightheartedness, or holds it upridicule, it is comic. Take, as comic instances, Luis Dato's ,,Spinster" andManalang-Gloria's "Old Maid Walking on a City Street.,'

Spinster

The dove, when newly hatched,Has tasty meat and tenderlWhen old, howe'er you stew her,You cannot rend her.

A kind of sardonic humor underlies and defines the speaker's attitudeevery spinster. He holds up his subject - every spinster, apparently - to scornridicule. r regardthe manner of representation to b e dramatic: someone ison the contrast between maidenhood and spinsterhood, thereby revealingonly his attitude toward spinsters but also his own character, that is, the sortperson that he is. But I could read the poem as a mere statement, which irspecies of narration; the statement defines the same attitude toward maiThe means of representation is chiefly the metaphor - woman as fowl - by whiclthe contrast is effected. i

The other poem, "Old Maid Walking on a City Street" (see p. 64),a different case. Here, the same subject - an individual old maid - is held uppraise or admiration. "Past the graces her fingers never twirled', or ,,Her bfifeet shovelled up the world." That characterization shows the narrator's attione of lighthearted banter and sincere affection for an old maid who seemseccentric or at least diffbrent from other people in her ways (,,she had a waywalking through concupiscence" or "her mind refused the heavy burden" - tl

TheLiteraryWorkas Representation F 73

is, marriage, a husband, children). The poetic representation puts you, the reader'

in a kind of lighthearted mood so that you are disposed to look on the old maid

ns one who, for strength of character or conviction, deserves our respect and

even admiration. Or at least, if I so take the poem in that way, then I could argue

f hat it is comic.Yet,undeniably, you could also algue that it is a seriouspiece, and

you wouldbe right, too! We cannotbe too dogmatic aboutthe correct stance to

tnke. You need only come up with some plausible explanation for your own

re sponse to the poem. In any case, the exercise should prOvoke a lively discussion;

nlso, it hones one's skill in literary analysis, making one more sensitive to subtle

nuances of tone or attitude in the poetic representation.

The lightheartedbantering or mocking tone is perhaps more evident in

(1) Guillermo Castillo's "Argument in a Citcle," or (b) Trinidad Tarrosa-Subido's

"Of Critics," or (c) Amador T. Daguio's "When I Look at'Women" -(a) As I, one reader, may take it, a mock-serious pretence at exasperation

Argumentin a Circle

God I debate with you about your being

but your arguments go a-circling confusing

till I believe only in the dizziness which is me.

If this should go on how should You and I ever come to

a conclusion?God!

(b) A mocking, sarcastic Piece:

Of Critics

When I in honestY observe

My verse has light, and lilt, and verve,

They up and walloP me with heat

For such delusion and conceit.

Then, when THEY write me up, they writeAbout my Verve, and Lilt, and Light;And my conceit and self-decePtion

Becomes their Critical Perception,

74 - partII: Readingthepoem

(c) A piece oflighthearted banter:

When I Lookat Women

When I look at women eatinsI think they look like fishEating other fish, but never_Theless beautiful. They areSo silent nibbling theiibitesAnd they look at each otherIn unlidded silence, so veryGossip in peacefulGesture.

Their hands tenderly pierceThe dead things they ire eating,As if to say: Life is salad.Fish and roasted pig, hackedInto crisp, brown pieces. Thev sitDisarmingly, so modest in decorum:Eating their custard pies; taking,Taking their time.

Concluding Remarks

Little more need be said about the application of those principres offormal analysis (the objea of representail;:;he manne,i the meats, andthe powet)to the poem, short story, the novel, or the play.By way only of summing up, this much may be asserted. Who the speakerin the poem is, rs in a short stor; ,rou.t, o, ptuy, any given ch aracter.What s/hesays in his or her own person (speech as action: the dramatic mode) and whats/he does (some activity or behavior) show what sort of person (character) s/heis' All that the characters do in a short story, novel, or play constitute what iscalled plot' That plot is the human .*p.rirn"L that has been represented, whatwe have called the objea of representation, It is itre principar cause of the work,seffect on us' But how it has been repr.r.nrJ

1rr, e manne),and with wh at mecrns,alsoenhance thatffia.As to other critical perspectives - feminist, Marxist, deconstructive,psychoanalytical, etc' - these, as we have .urri.. mentioned, may easily beassimilated into the formarist criticar framework. Besides, those other criticarapproaches must still proceed from some reasonable interprctation of the humanexperience that thc literary text has rcpresented.

APPendix B

Early FiliPino Poems in Englis6

Moonlight on Manila BaY

A light serene' ethereal glory' rests

Its 6eams effulgent on each cresting wave;

The silver touches of the moonlight Iave

The deep's bare bosom that the breeze molests;

While lingering whispers deepen as the wavy crq515

Roll with weird rhythm' now gay' now gently gr6ut'

And floods of lambent light appear the sea to Pqye -AII cast a spell that heeds not time's behests'

Not always such the scene: the din of fight

Has swelled the murmur of the peaceful air;

Here East and West have oft displayed their might;

Dark battle clouds have dimmed this scene-so tqil'

Here bold Olympia' one historic night'

Presaging freedom' claimed a people's cqtt'

lly FernandoM.Maram6g,llh,

Cottege Folio [University of the Philippines], February 1912,127; Gemino

I L Abad and Ednaz'Manlapaz' eds'' Man of Earth (Q'C': Ateneo de Manila

t lniversity Press,1989), 32'

DaY onthe Farm

I've found you fruits of sweetest taste and fo\nd you

Bunches of duhat growing by the hill'I've bound your arns and hair with vine ancl bound you

Witt ,u.. wildflowers but you are crying still'