My Last Farewell Analysis per Stanza

1st stanza

These are the words of one about to die for his country. He expresses no regret
but only gladness, knowing that in giving his life, he is giving his country the
greatest gift any citizen could offer.

2nd stanza

Here Rizal says that it does not matter where one dies, but why one dies and to
what purpose. Whether it’s “scaffold, open field, conflict or martyrdom’s site,” all
death hold the same honor if given for home and Country.

3rd stanza

Rizal’s execution was set at sunrise, thus the meaning of the first and second
lines. He employs the visual senses in his poetic use of color, and then in the
third and fourth lines, adds the bright red tint of his blood to the scene, and gilds
it with golden sunlight. The use of these devices ignites passion in the reader, as
it is felt – a hundred times more so – in the writer, even without explicit use of
words signifying feeling.
 4th stanza

Since his childhood, even as other children dreamed of childish things, Rizal
dreamed of seeing his country free, esteemed, and with head held high.

5th stanza

Here, he showers her with praise. He is his life’s fancy, his ardent and passionate
desire. He shouts “Hail!” as many would to their God. He says in the third line
that it is sweet to fall so that his country may acquire fullness, and then continues
on in the succeeding lines, “to die to give you life.” But his joy does not end in the
act of dying, but continues beyond the grave, where he shall sleep in his
country’s mystic land through eternity. As one dies for God, Rizal dies for country.
And as one looks forward to heaven, Rizal’s heaven – in these lines, at least –
lies in being buried in the land of his ancestors.

6th stanza

In this stanza, Rizal likens his soul to that of “a simple humble flower amidst thick
grasses.” The use of this comparison says a lot about how Rizal sees himself –
timid, simple, humble, surrounded by the unrelenting forces of society. He
imagines that after his death, he will live on in the bosom of his motherland, and
never cease to enjoy her love, which he begs her to express with a kiss.
 7th stanza

Rizal’s love for nature is again depicted in these next four lines. It is interesting
that he enumerates the moon, the dawn, the wind, and a bird to pay homage to
his grave, yet does not mention close friends or specific people. Perhaps it is a
simple image of his reunion with nature that he wants to bring to mind; perhaps it
is also an expression of the loneliness and isolation that he has felt and
continues to feel in his fight for freedom.

8th stanza

The mention here, of a friend, is the closest he gets to company. And the mention
of God in the fourth line is the closest he gets to praying for a spiritual heaven.
That Rizal beseeches his country to pray that his soul may rest in God is in line
with the Roman Catholic belief that all men are sinners and that salvation is to be
earned and cannot be determined before the grave.

9th stanza

In these four lines he gives his motherland a list of the things he wishes her to
pray for. He remembers all of the martyrs who have suffered the same fate as he
will, who have died for their country; the mothers, wives, and children they have
left behind who suffer no less for being abandoned. He also, in a hopeful closing
note, asks her to pray for herself.
 10th stanza

Clearly Rizal has not imagined that a monument would eventually be built over
his grave and has pictured his final resting place as a humble cemetery where he
shall, even after death, sing a song of devotion for his motherland.

11th stanza

In this next stanza, Rizal wishes to then be “plowed by man” when his grave is no
longer remembered, and be scattered as he returns to be part of the dust that
covers the land he had died for. What actually happens in real life, though, is an
uncanny parallel. On December 30, 1896, on the day of his execution, Rizal’s
remains were buried in an unmarked grave in the Paco Cemetery. Years later,
however, his remains were exhumed and on December 30, 1912, they were
brought to their final resting place in the base of the monument at Luneta.

12th stanza

The first line in this stanza begins following the assumption that our hero’s ashes
have now been spread over the land. Rizal envisions that once he has returned
to her in this manner, it will no longer matter if the country forgets him because
he will be with her, everywhere, as dust in the atmosphere, blowing in the skies,
in the wind, and still singing songs and murmuring words of devotion.
 13th stanza

Here we come to a more submissive yet hopeful tone. Rizal bids farewell to his
one great love – his country – and yet looks forward to being with God, where
there are no slaves, tyrants or hangmen.

14th stanza

To close, Rizal now finally mentions specific people: parents, brothers, friends of
his childhood. In other translations, the fourth line reads, “Adios sweet-tender
foreigner—my friend, my happiness,” which historians have interpreted to allude
to Josephine Bracken, the daughter of an Anglo-Saxon father and a Chinese
mother, whom many believe – although it is frequently challenged – he secretly
married an hour before his death.

Overall:

It was written one night before his execution in Luneta Park in Fort Santiago.
That is why the poem, which literally means My Last Goodbye, is entitled "Mi
Ultimo Adios." Because of the given social condition, this popular literary piece
was written in which he experienced slavery, cruelty and aggression against his
beloved fellow men. Rizal expresses his wish to die for his motherland and bids
farewell to his loved ones, his homeland and all the people he cared for. He
hopes that today's youth will continue what he had just begun for the freedom for
which he had fought and he is also grateful to those Filipinos who had just
dedicated their lives for their motherland's affection.
He never resented putting his life in danger and was successfully executed
because of his determination and strong willingness to reform the political aspect
of equality between the Spaniards and the Filipinos, his destiny to die for his
country. He freed those words in his poem just to convey what he had felt during
the time he was in the cell and knowing that it was his last moment to devote his
life to his country, but his cry-laden agenda had not yet been fulfilled.