Revolt from Hymen without being ashamed of it.

By Angela Manalang Gloria Literary features

Authorship Imagery

Angela Marie Legaspi Manalang was Tactile

born in Guagua m, pampanga but their
“To turn the face this way and that and
family settled in the Bicol Region,
feel
particularly in tabacco albay. She was
No kisses festering on it like sores,”
among the first generation female
students ate the University of the Symbols
Philippines. She and poet Jose Garcia
Virginity- a woman that feels free for
Villa developed a lifelong rivalry.
losing her virginity
Description
Hymen- woman and society's concept of
The hymen is a fold of mucous femininity.
membrane the wholeness of which
Figures of speech
differentiates someone who is a virgin
from someone who is not. In Angela Personification
Manalang-Gloria's poem, the hymen
becomes a symbol for the society's • As infants sleep within the womb of
concept of femininity. The persona in rest
the "Revolt from Hymen" can be Simile
compared to a woman writer who aims
to free herself from the constricting • No kisses festering on it like sores
boundaries of the feminine position. The
Sound
lines "O to be free at last… / To be alone
at last" echoes women's pleas for Alliteration
independence from the society's
• To turn the face this way and that and
controlling grip and its social constructs.
feel
The persona wants to be a woman who
is free to write without experiencing the • To stir and stirring find no blackness
"anxiety of authorship," the "blackness vast
vast / With passion weighted down upon
Assonance
the breast"; a woman who can attempt
the pen without worrying whether she • O to be free at last, to sleep at last
has the right to do so; a woman who can
Rhyme
express herself, her desires and her story
Masculine rhyme The kisses on the third stanza are
a symbol of patriarchal society’s
Rhyme Scheme
high regard for women who
Alternate rhyme AB AB CD CD conform to the stereotypes
female attributes of purity and
Scansion
passivity.
O to/ be free/ at last, / to sleep/ at last
(Iambic pentameter) The last two lines of the poem
As in/fants sleep/ within/ the womb/ of lead to the virgin/whore
rest! (Iambic pentameter) dichotomy.

To stir/ and stir/ring find/ no black/ness References

vast (Iambic pentameter)
With pa/ssion weigh/ted down/ upon/
the breast, (Iambic pentameter)
To turn/ the face/ this way/ and that/
and feel (Iambic pentameter)
No kiss/es fes/tering/ on it/ like sores,
(Iambic pentameter)
BY T. (2005) Revolt from Hymen by
Angela Manalang Gloria. Retrieved
from:
https://readalittlepoetry.com/2005/08/31/
revolt-from-hymen-by-angela-
manalang-gloria/

To be/ alone/ at last,/ broken/ the seal

(Iambic pentameter)
That marks/ the flesh/ no be/tter than/ a
whore’s! (Iambic Pentameter)

Theme

“you’ll get your freedom if you aren’t

afraid of losing something”

Other pints of interest

Revolt from hymen can be

compared to a woman writer
who aims to free herself from the
constricting boundaries of the
feminine position.

Womens please for independence

from the society’s controlling
grip and its social constructs..