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Balagtas in the Poems of Sa Gulugod ng Kalabaw: Mga Tula ng Bulacan, 1928-1997

Cris R. Lanzaderas

 

Abstract:

This paper aims to look on how the Great Tagalog Poet Francisco Balagtas influenced some of the poems included in Sa Gulugod ng Kalabaw: Mga Tula ng Bulacan, 1928-1997. Using textual analysis, the study examined the poems if they follow the traditional Tagalog poetry formalized by Balagtas in his Florante at Laura. Aside from the aesthetical standards laid out by Bienvenido Lumbera in his Formalization of Tradition (1967), the formalistic lens in Virgilio Almario’s Taludtod at Talinghaga (1991) was also used in reading and analyzing the poems. In addition, some poems that directly mentioned Balagtas were also explored to see how they reflect the influence of the Tagalog poet in the farmers’ imagining of an ideal Filipino society.