IDEALISM IN THE POETRY and LETTERS

According to Antonio Luna, a friend of Rizal and director of La Independencia, “Rizal‘s poetic star
was revealed when he was only eight years old with a poetical composition which was the object of
admiration of the Tagalog poets of the province.”

Rizal’s quotable quotes

Ignorance is servitude, because as a man thinks, so he is, a man who does not think for himself and
allowed himself to be guided by the thought of another is like the beast led by a halter –(Letter to the
young Women of Malolos)

There can be no tyrants where there are no slaves

Law has no skin , reason has no nostrils –(The Philippines: A century Hence)

The tyranny of some is possible only through the cowardice of others –(Letter to the young women of
Malolos –translated by Gregorio Zaide)

A government that rules a country from a great distance is the one that has the most need for a free
press more so even that the government of the home country.(The Philippines : A- century Hence)

No good water comes from muddy spring. No sweet fruit comes from a bitter seed- (letter to the young
women of Malolos.

Youth is a flower-bed that is to bear rich fruit must accumulate wealth for its descendant – ( letter to the
young women of Malolos)

Maturity is the fruit of infancy and the infant is formed in the lap of its mother – (letter to the young
women of Malolos).

A tree that grows in the mud is unsubstantial and good only for firewood- ( letter to the young women
of Malolos )

Filipinos don’t realize that victory is the child of struggle, that joy blossoms from suffering and
redemption is product of sacrifice.

Man works for an object. Remove that object and you reduce him into inaction ( Indolence of Filipino- La
Solidaridad- 1890)

One only die once and if one does not die well, a good opportunity is lost and will not present itself
again.—( letter to Mariano Ponce- 1890)

All men are born equal, naked without bond. God did not create man to be slave ,nor did he endow him
with intelligence to have him hoodwinked or adorn him with reason to have him deceived by others
( Letter to the young women of Malolos)

Without education and liberty which are the soil and the sun of man, no reform is possible, no measure
can give the result desired.(Indolence of the Filipinos – La Solidaridad)
I die when I see the dawn break through the gloom of night to herald the day , And if color is lacking my
blood thou shall take Pour ‘d out at need for thy dear sake , To dye with its crimson the walking ray ‘ My
last farewell- 1896

“To foretell the destiny of a nation it is necessary to open the book that tells of her past”- Jose Rizal,
Quote inscribed in Fort Santiago).

“Believing in chance is the same as believing in miracles. Both situations presuppose that God does not
know the future. What is chance? An event no one has foreseen. What is a miracle? A contradiction, an
undermining of natural laws. Lack of foresight and contradiction in the intelligence that governs the
world machine means two great imperfections.” I have had to believe a great deal in God because I have
lost my belief in men,”-Elias

Leading Poems

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Written by Rizal when he was eight-year old. He expressed his wish that native tongue should be
cherished and enriched. He felt that at an early age some of his countrymen have developed a colonial
mentality to the prejudice of our native language. Besides praising nationalism, liberty and freedom, he
advocated racial equality

Kapag ang baya’y sadyang umibig

Sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit

Sariling kalaya’y nais rin magamit

Katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawi

Rizal scorns those who refused to love their native language when he said:

Ang hindi magmahal sa sariling wika

Higit pa ang amoy sa malansang isda

- He expressed his wish that the native tongue should be cherished and enriched:

Kaya’t ang ang marapat pagyamaning kusa

Na katulad sa inang tunay na nagpala

Apparently Rizal at an early age already felt that some of his countrymen have developed a colonial
mentality to the prejudice of our native languages.

Ang wikang tagalog tulad din sa latin,

Sa ingles, kastila at salitang anghel

Sapagkat ang poong maalam tumingin

Ang siyang naggawad, nagbigay sa atin

Ang salita nati’y huwad rin sa iba

 Na may alfabeto at sariling letra

Kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng signos

Ang lumbay sa lawa noong daking una.

Education Gives Luster to the Motherland

Rizal expressed his thoughts on education through this poem. He hoped his countrymen to seek
knowledge in order to live a life of enlightenment which would make the country rise to the heights of
honor and prestige. He pictured education as the foundation of knowledge which gives endless glory:

Wise education, vital breath

Inspires an enchanting virtue

She puts the country in the lofty seat

Of endless glory, of dazzling glow

And just as the gentle aura’s puff

Do brighten the perfumed flowers’ hue

So education with a wise guiding hand,

A benefactress exalts the human hand.

Rizal urges his fellow students to educate themselves because wise education give birth to sciences and
arts. Through wise education, the youth is directed along the path of righteousness and goodness:

Where wise education raises, a throne

Sprightly youth are invigorated

Who with firm stand error they subdue

And with noble ideas are exalted

It breaks immorality’s neck

Contemptible crime before it is halted;

It humbles barbarous nations

And it makes of savages champion

To the Filipino Youth (a La Juventud Filipina)

Through this poem, Rizal inspired the youth to develop their talents, look forward and break the chain of
their bondage. He called them “ Bella Esperanza de la Patria Mia” (“ Fair hope of my motherland”).He
wanted to shake off the belief the belief among the Filipinos that the white man was superior to them.
He urged the youth to develop their talents and find out what genius would be proclaimed throughout
the world for having served the country:
 Run! For genius sacred flame

Awaits the artist’s crowning

Spreading far and wide the fame

Through out the sphere proclaiming

With trumpet the mortal’s name.

To the Flowers of Heidelberg

He wrote this poem on April 24, 1886. Fascinated by the beauty of German spring and a feeling of
nostalgia, Rizal found inspiration in the beauty of the blooming flowers and fragrance of the woods. Rizal
ended his poem by begging the flowers to bestow on the Philippines and those he loved the kisses he
gave to the flowers:

When upon the shore you alight,

The kiss on you I press

Place it on the wings of breeze

That is may go with its flight

And kiss all that I love, adore and caress

Hymn to Labor

He wrote this poem before his second departure for Europe on February 3, 1888. He extolled man’s
labor and industry, singing praise to labor, of the country, wealth and vigor. He awakened the youth to
worthy of their elders by following their footsteps

Teach us ye the laborious work

To pursue your footsteps we wish,

For tomorrow when country calls us

We may able you task to finish

He also stressed the role of labor in keeping up the dignity of man, keeping the family happy and the
country strong:

For the labor of man sustains

Family home and Motherland

My Retreat

Rizal wrote this during his four-year exile in Dapitan at the request of his mother how he lived there. It is
a sentimental poem describing his home and life in Dapitan

It is my faithful friend, which hurts me ne’er

 Which when it sees me and always consoles my soul

Which in my sleepless night watches me with pray’r

With me, and in my exile dwells in my sylvan lair

It alone infuses me with faith when I’m doubted by all

The song of the traveler

On Dec. 17, 1895, Rizal wrote Gov-general Ramon Blanco of his desire to serve as military doctor of the
Spanish army in Cuba. He wrote this poem because of his thought of traveling again. He felt he will die in
foreign shores (Cuba) unremembered by his country for which he greatly suffered:

Perhaps in the desert a grave he’ll find

Of tranquility a refuge sweet;

Unremembered by his country and the world

He’ll rest in peace after suffering great

He ended his poem by giving himself the push—-a stronger will to travel. He left to others the love and
joys of his native land.

Go traveler proceed on your way

In your own native land a stranger thou art;

Leave thou to others the songs of love

To others the joys; you again depart.

Go, traveler, don’t turn back your face

For no one shall weep as you say adieu

Go traveler and drown your sorrows all,

For your grief the world simply mocks at you

My Last Farewell (Mi ultimo Adios)

This last poem of Rizal was untitled and unsigned. The title Last farewell was given by Mariano Ponce
when he read the copy of the poem. This poem was put in a little alcohol cooking stove and lamp and
was given by Rizal to his sister on the eve of his execution Dec. 29, 1896. In the last stanza of the poem,
Rizal bid goodbye to those people who were closed to him:

Farewell, parents, brothers, beloved by me

Friends of my childhood, in the home distressed;

 Give thanks that now I rest from the wearisome day

Farewell, sweet stranger, my friend, who brightened my way

Farewell to all I love. To die is to rest.

Letter of Jose Rizal to young women of Malolos: Summary and Analysis

Jose Rizal’s legacy to Filipino women is embodied in his famous essay entitled, “To the Young
Women of Malolos,” where he addresses all kinds of women – mothers, wives, the unmarried, etc. And
expresses everything that he wishes them to keep in mind.

NOTE: Rizal wrote this famous letter in Tagalog, while he was residing in London, upon the request of M.
H. Del Pilar. The story behind this letter is this: On December 12, 1888, a group of twenty young women
of Malolos petitioned Governor-General Weyler for permission to open a “night school” so that they
might study Spanish under Teodoro Sandiko. Fr. Felipe Garcia, the Spanish parish priest, objected to the
proposal. Therefore the governor-general turned down the petition. However, the young women, in
defiance of the friar’s wrath, bravely continued their agitation for the school – a thing unheard of in the
Philippines in those times. They finally succeeded in obtaining government approval to their project on
the condition that Señora Guadalupe Reyes should be their teacher. The incident caused a great stir in
the Philippines and in far-away Spain. Del Pilar, writing in Barcelona on February 17, 1889, requested
Rizal to send a letter in Tagalog to the brave women of Malolos. Accordingly, Rizal, although busy in
London annotating Morga’s book penned this famous letter and sent it to Del Pilar on February 22, 1889
for transmittal to Malolos. (This document was taken from José Rizal: Life, Works and Writings of a
Genius, Writer, Scientist and Naional Heroby Gregorio F. Zaide and Sonia M. Zaide (Manila: National
Book Store).

ANALYSIS: “To the Women of Malolos” centers around five salient points (Zaide &Zaide, 1999):

Filipino mothers should teach their children love of God, country and fellowmen.

Filipino mothers should be glad and honored, like Spartan mothers, to offer their sons in defense of
their country.

Filipino women should know how to protect their dignity and honor.

Filipino women should educate themselves aside from retaining their good racial values.

Faith is not merely reciting prayers and wearing religious pictures. It is living the real Christian way with
good morals and manners.

RIZAL’S MESSAGE TO FILIPINO WOMEN

Jose Rizal was greatly impressed by the fighting spirit that the young women of Malolos had shown.
In his letter, he his ultimate desire was for women to be offered the same opportunities as those
received by men in terms of education. He emphasized on freedom of thought and the right to
education, which must be granted to both boys and girls alike.