Poetry is said to be as old as History and is believed to be the primal form of language. Researchers find poetry wherever and whenever there is Religion, and is claimed to be an integral part of rituals performed by agricultural societies for good harvests. It is believed that the earliest poetry predates written text and were originally recited or sung. It is a verbal art that takes a distinctive form in text. They appear in lines and when you see it on a page of a book or on a piece of paper, you take the cue and start reciting what is written as a poem, that is with rhyme and diction.
There are two kinds of poetry; Narrative and Lyrical. Narrative being the form in which important life events are described, whether real or imaginary. Being such, they are usually long and can fall under being an Epic, a Metrical Tale or a Ballad. While Lyrical poems are typically short and simple. These were originally meant to be sung to the accompaniment of a lyre but these days, it could be an Ode, an Elegy, a Sonnet, aside from being a Song, that expresses emotions and feelings of the poet.
In the Philippines, we have a number of celebrated poets throughout our History. One of them being Francisco Baltazar Balagtas, who happens to be a Bulakeño. He was born in Bigaa, which is now known as Balagtas after a legislative act was sponsored in reverence to the poet. He is widely famous for his epic Florante at Laura, and the Filipino debate in extemporaneous verse we call Balagtasan is named after him. When I was still in school, Francisco Balagtas would always come up in our lessons in our Filipino and History classes. We have a number of activities during Linggo Ng Wika that has a lot to do with him. We even have our own Balagtasan on stage.
Those times were more than a decade ago but as it was a yearly thing in our school, our lessons on Balagtas is something that I still remember up to this day. More recently, I was reminded of him yet again when I asked Red how come it was so easy for him to come up with a Poem in one sitting. He explained that it was because he is Bulakeño. "Remember Francisco Balagtas?" he said. To which I answered, "How could I forget?".
This post is in support of SteemPH Davao's ongoing initiative to reach and reward other forms of content here in Steemit. Mondays are now dedicated to curating Poems by Steemians residing or from Davao Region and SteemPH Davao Daily will feature 3 selected poems today. To be featured, the poem has to be Original with a minimum of 5 stanzas, and at least one photo. And don't forget to use the steemph tag!
History
Francisco Balagtas
