Florante at Laura

"Florante at Laura" by Francisco Baltazar (also known as Balagtas) is one of the masterpieces of Philippine literature. Florante at Laura is an abbreviation of the actual title which is: Pinagdaanang Buhay Nina Florante at Laura sa Kahariang Albanya: Kinuha sa Madlang Cuadro historico o pinturang nagsasabi sa mga nangyari nang unang panahon sa imperyo ng Gresya, at tinula ng isang matuwain sa bersong Tagalog. (The Life Story of Florante and Laura in the Kingdom of Albania: culled from historical accounts and paintings which describe what happened in ancient Greece, and written by one who enjoys Tagalog verse.)

Related Topics:
Francisco Baltazar - Philippine literature - Albania - Ancient Greece - Tagalog

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It is called an "Awit", which to the layman means "a song". The Florante and Laura has 339 stanzas. In truth, the Awit is a poetic form which, in Florante at Laura, had the following characteristics:

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:1. 4 lines/stanza;

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:2. 12 syllables/line;

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:3. a rhyme scheme of AAAA (in the Tagalog manner of rhyming described by Jose Rizal in Tagalische Verskunst);

Related Topics:
Jose Rizal - Tagalische Verskunst

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:4. a slight pause on the sixth syllable;

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:5. each stanza is usually a complete gramatically-correct sentence;

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:6. each stanza is full of figures of speech (according to Fernando Monleon, Balagtas used 28 types in 395 instances throughout the poem);

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:7. the author is usually anonymous;

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:8. among others.

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