JUSTINE MALOU Z.

CAGATAN BSN-IV B

UNIT 3 READING POETRY

PRETEST

When I first heard Jessa May Abaquita's song "Uyab Ta Pero Dili Ta
Magsaba," my initial thought was that in order to keep love between two
people secret, they must not express it to the public. However, I did not
entirely agree with my interpretation, so I decided to dive further to discover
the true idea Jessa was attempting to convey. The speaker claims in the
first stanza that it all began with technology, which enabled two people to
communicate and express their love for one another. This is very frequent
in modern times, especially through social media or text messaging, as it
allows people to meet people they would never meet if it weren't for
technology. The basic story in the second stanza is that the speaker's idea
of a relationship is not to haste things that would overdrive the relationship,
and that there are some aspects of a relationship that should never be fast-
forwarded, as it could disrupt the flow, leading to loss of interest and
breakup. Studying this statement further, it appears she is afraid people
would mistrust her opinion since they do not trust her decision-making
ability, leading them to dismiss her relationship as a simple infatuation and
rule it out. The need for love and touch (hugging) can be seen in the
following stanzas, which is a result of keeping the relationship a secret and
not being able to openly express their love with the world knowing about it.
Finally, the song repeats itself to emphasize the importance of patience in a
relationship.
LITERARY CRITICSM

PRAISE THE RAIN

BY JOY HARJO

The phrase "praise" has a wide range of connotations and is closely

linked to religion. Praise, in my opinion, connotes regard and respect. It
means to be overcome with joy. However, the word's origin means "to
attach worth to," and we are trained from a young age to appreciate gifts
and to view life's obstacles as mere distractions from the periods that we
truly value and seek delight. Joy Harjo's poem Praise the Rain is made up
of three stanzas, each of which does not have a fixed rhyme scheme. To
reflect modernity, the poet writes this poem in free verse with unrhymed
stanzas.
Despite the presence of many monosyllabic words in the poem, they have
no effect; perhaps they allow the poet the ability to create stressed or
unstressed effects to her verses. As a result, the poem has more flow and
rhythm. The poem was written with the concept of life in mind. The author
mentions a variety of things to pray to, most notably nature, but there's
more to it than that; people, objects, and emotions are all included. The
opening couplet begins with the words "praise the rain; the seagull dive, the
curl of plant, the raven chat," which depicts nature and life. The second
couplet, which continues the poem's topic of admiring nature, describes
nature at night. It depicts a bear sleeping beneath a dark sky and moon
with visual graphics. In the poem, there are numerous abstract and
concrete phrases that, when combined, produce a great blend of ambiguity
and simplicity. The word "praise" appears frequently throughout the poem,
and in every line, but what does it mean? As I link it to the author's point of
view, it has to do with valuing all aspects of life and environment — rain,
like humans, is relentless and capable of destroying many things. In this
poetry, repetition and alliteration are used extensively. It is evident in the
last two lines where the poet repeats the line, “Praise the rain; it brings
more rain”, this repetition gives emphasis on the significance of “praising
rain”. In addition, alliteration is present in line 8 with “e” sound at the
beginning of “earth” and “eclipse”. At almost of the end, “Praise the
backwards, upward sky the baby cry, the spirit food”, describes human's
natural reactions and to feel emotions. In addition, this line, "Praise the
rain. Praise the day”. But also, praise crazy, praise sad. This establishes a
connection between good and bad; just like yin and yang, there needs to
be balance between these two.
Personification and metaphor are two figurative languages used in this
poetry. The "raven discourse" is described by the poet using
personification. The ravens are being personified since they are described
as having a conversation rather than cawing. The "sky fall" is a metaphor
used by the poet to depict the sky. When I read the previous phrase,
"Praise the gloom, the moon cradle," I believe the "sky fall" is a metaphor
for the fact that it is nighttime, rather than the sky falling. This piece
connects the environment around us (earth, sky, and sea) and reminds us
to be grateful for the road we're on and everything it entails. The poem
demonstrates the importance of loving our life and respecting nature. Lines
like "Laud beginnings; praise the end" demonstrate this. The poet is
alluding to the circle of life in this verse, and her message is to praise life
from the beginning (birth) to the end (death) (death). People should be
appreciative for every moment they have in this world since everything has
an end, nothing exists indefinitely, and this is the natural order of things.
Humans cherish the present and are inspired to hope for a better future by
praising both the good and the negative. As a result, humans should be
grateful for the opportunity to experience life and engage with nature.
Harjo's comparison of poems to rain demonstrates her belief in recollection
and transcendence. Instead than associating her poetry with something
modern and manmade, she prefers to relate it with the natural world's
endless cycles. She didn't create poems to make a statement. She aspired
for her work to be as affecting, dynamic, and timeless as nature.