Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
N a t i o n a l Ca pi t a l Re g i o n
Sc h o o l s D i v i s i o n O f f i c e o f La s Pi ñ a s Ci t y
LEARNING ACTIVITY WORKSHEETS 1
21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD
Grade 12
Name: Maria Bettina L. Dizon Date 09/27/2021_ Score_ _
LEARNING OPPORTUNITY 3
Directions: Read the literary piece entitled A VERY SHORT STORY by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard.
Make sure to identify the following: diction, tone, context, and literary devices or elements.

A VERY SHORT STORY by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard

Your world -- or your mind -- does not allow for an afternoon walk to the museum, nor a stop
at the chapel for silent prayer, a glass of halo-halo under the ipil-ipil, laughter and stories, for old
time’s sake.
It allows for a few hours at the Hilton. Face like stone you give a false name to the man at the
registry, pay in cash, and ascend to the sun-streamed room, for an afternoon of sad, hot-blooded
lovemaking.
Face like stone, you tell your wife whom you have long-ago stopped loving, that you had a
late business meeting with some Japanese clients. (It is the same story you had left at your office
earlier that day.) And you wonder why you go about in muted sorrow and anger. ~end~

“A Very Short Story” by Cecilia Manguerra Brainard gives us a feeling longing for happiness. From the story’s
diction, it focuses on giving its readers a sense of clarity in the mundane things we do in life by explicitly giving
us examples of it as we can see with the lines “an afternoon walk to the museum, nor a stop at the chapel for
silent prayer”. The writer is very specific on what she wants her readers to picture. At the same time, it gives
us a mournful, sad tone for the loss of happiness the person in the story feels. From the story’s context, I
perceive a man who once used to find joy in the little things in life losing that happiness and slowly descents
into a mediocre life filled with grief and regret. I also get the feeling that the persona we see in the story made
this shift into mediocrity on his own will—he chose to be this way yet wonder how he became so sorrowful
and filled with anger. We get this idea from the lines such as “Face like stone, you tell your wife whom you
have long-ago stopped loving” and “you wonder why you go about in muted sorrow and anger”. The writer
makes use of imagery to emphasize the gravity of the persona’s actions and irony in the persona’s actions
wherein he doesn’t allow himself to do things that bring him joy and instead does things that complicates his
life, yet the persona wonders why his life is rather muted in sorrow and anger.

Quarter: 1 Week: 1 & 2

MELC: Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts and doing
an adaptation of these require from the learner the ability to identify:
a.the geographic, linguistic, and ethnic dimensions of Philippine literary history from
pre-colonial to the contemporary
b. representative texts and authors from each region (e.g. engage in oral history
research with focus on key personalities from the students’ region/province/town
Note to the Teacher:
(Government Property. Not for sale)

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LEARNING OPPORTUNITY 4
Directions: Read the poem entitled To the Man I Married by Angela Manalang and answer
the questions below.
I Their quickening leaves and flowers to the
You are my earth and all the earth implies: sun,
The gravity that ballasts me in space, You who are earth, O never doubt that I
The air I breathe, the land that stills my cries Need you no less because I need the sky!
For food and shelter against devouring days. II
You are the earth whose orbit marks my way I cannot love you with a love
And sets my north and south, my east and west, That out compares the boundless sea,
You are the final, elemented clay For that were false, as no such love
The driven heart must turn to for its rest. And no such ocean can ever be.

If in your arms that hold me now so near But I can love you with a love
I lift my keening thoughts to Helicon As finite as the wave that dies
As trees long rooted to the earth up rear And dying holds from crest to crest
Their quickening leaves and flowers to the sun, The blue of everlasting skies.
You who are earth, O never doubt that I
Source:https://readalittlepoetry.wordpress.com/2005/09/01/to-the-man-i-married-by-angela-manalang-gloria/
1. Who is the persona in the poem? The persona in the poem is a wife.
2. To whom does the persona address the poem? Justify your answer. The persona, a wife, is
addressing the man she married, her husband. We can see evidence of this throughout the
whole poem, wherein she describes what her husband means to her.
3. What kind of character does the persona possess? The persona possesses a kind, loving
character. We see this with the way the poem is written and address to her husband—filled
with love and appreciation for him.
4. Why do you think the persona compares her love with the nature? I think this is because she
sees her husband as her earth and all it implies (as mentioned in the opening line of the
poem).
5. What emotion did you feel after reading the poem? I felt some kind of romantic excitement and
I felt really touched to know that someone can love someone so much enough to write them a
poem like this.

Quarter: 1 Week: 1 & 2

MELC: Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts and doing
an adaptation of these require from the learner the ability to identify:
a.the geographic, linguistic, and ethnic dimensions of Philippine literary history from
pre-colonial to the contemporary
b. representative texts and authors from each region (e.g. engage in oral history
research with focus on key personalities from the students’ region/province/town
Note to the Teacher:
(Government Property. Not for sale)

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LEARNING OPPORTUNITY 5
Directions: Read a poem that you consider as your most favorite. Write your literary
analysis using the guide questions below.

1. Who is the persona of the poem? What are the adjectives found in the poem that help
you to identify the persona?

2. What are the striking words used by the author?

3. What imagery was used by the author?

4. What is the tone of the poem? How did the author convey it in poem?

5. Based on the language applied by the author, what is the theme?

I chose Conchitina Cruz’s poem “Signals”. The persona of this poem is the poet itself but it could also
apply to its readers. It is evident in the whole poem wherein there is a repetitive use of “I” and
everything is in first-person and an example line from the poem showing this is “I took the amaretto to
mean there was no beer in the house” followed by “I took the kiss to mean a potentially
inconsequential lesson”. Throughout the poem, the author uses striking words and an example of this
would be in the line “I took the clairvoyant weather to mean I could dismiss your unappealing
conclusions”. The author painted us a picture of someone indirectly giving someone else signals. The
poem gives us a sort of annoying tone, knowing that the persona in the poem is just doing things to
give signals instead of doing/saying what they really mean. The theme of the story is signals, from start
to end. To me, this poem is somewhat of a satirical poem as it is literally just a persona giving signals
(and the other not getting them) but I believe it also tells us a story. From the poem’s context, it could
be a developing story of two lovers, wherein the other is too scared to tell the other how they really
feel so they just resort to using signals.

PREPARED AND VALIDATED BY: MAE CHRISTINE S. DIANA – MT I LPCNSHS TDC

Quarter: 1 Week: 1 & 2

MELC: Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts and doing
an adaptation of these require from the learner the ability to identify:
a.the geographic, linguistic, and ethnic dimensions of Philippine literary history from
pre-colonial to the contemporary
b. representative texts and authors from each region (e.g. engage in oral history
research with focus on key personalities from the students’ region/province/town
Note to the Teacher:
(Government Property. Not for sale)

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Quarter: 1 Week: 1 & 2
MELC: Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of literary texts and doing
an adaptation of these require from the learner the ability to identify:
a.the geographic, linguistic, and ethnic dimensions of Philippine literary history from
pre-colonial to the contemporary
b. representative texts and authors from each region (e.g. engage in oral history
research with focus on key personalities from the students’ region/province/town
Note to the Teacher:
(Government Property. Not for sale)