Florante at Laura Stanza Summaries

Philippine literature students (or their parents) have been looking for a summary of Florante at Laura.

Some have even asked for explanations on a stanza by stanza basis, because they are having a hard time understanding the deep Tagalog or Filipino used by Balagtas in those 12-syllables per line stanzas.

It would make things faster if there were some sort of Tagalog-English online dictionary, or even some kind of synopsis or character analysis report on the web, but if you actually just sit down and list the words you don't know, you will quickly build your vocabulary (talasalitaan) by patiently leafing through a printed dictionary.

"But I don't have time!" -- Yes, I do hear you. You're busy with geometry and other subjects. And yes, your attempts at reading the deep Tagalog either make you extremely sleepy, or uncontrollably hungry that you go raid the fridge.

Sometimes, you might even wish your Filipino teacher never required you to read Florante at Laura.

Anyway, just persevere and continue your research. There are more e-learning sites sprouting online that will help you with your Philippine literature studies. Some may find these detrimental to ongoing efforts to improve the state of education in the Philippines, while others will champion the cause of online educators.

I hope, however, that you who have long graduated from college will go back and read the Filipino classics of our youth. Perhaps this will even help you bond with your children who are in high school.

[ First posted on 10/07/2009 by Manuel Viloria ]