Critical Analysis

Instruction: Evaluate the poem ‘Sa Aking Mga Kabata’ in terms of its provenance,
credibility, and authenticity. You will be graded using the rubric below.

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Historical Source to Analyze

It was a long-held belief that the poem Sa Aking mga Kabata (To My Fellow
Children) was written by Dr. Jose P. Rizal. According to popular belief, Rizal wrote the
poem in 1869 to express the importance of loving one’s native tongue. This is the poem
where one finds the popular line, “Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita, mahigit sa
hayop at malansang isda.” However, did young Rizal really wrote the poem? Prove your
arguments in your paper and support it with various research.

Sa Aking Mga Kabata

Kapagka ang baya’y sadyang umiibig
sa kanyang salitang kaloob ng langit.
sanlang kalayaan nasa ring masapit
katulad ng ibong nasa himpapawid.

Pagka’t ang salita’y isang kahatulan

sa bayan, sa nayo’t mga kaharian,
at ang isang tao’y katulad kabagay
ng alinmang likha noong kalayaan.

Ang hindi magmahal sa kanyang salita

mahigit sa hayop at malansang isda,
kaya ang marapat pagyamaning kusa
na tulad sa inang tunay na nagpala.

Ang wikang Tagalog tulad din sa Latin,

sa Ingles, Kastila, at salitang angel,
sapagkat ang Poong maalam tumingin
ang siyang nag-gawad, nagbigay sa atin.

Ang salita nati’y tulad din sa iba

na may alfabeto at sariling letra
na kaya nawala’y dinatnan ng sigwa
ang lunday sa lawa noong dakong una.

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Authorization of Rights: Rizal Wrote the Poem ‘Sa Aking Mga Kabata’
Ganancial, Arequeen Allan Bulasa

Introduction
This paper evaluated the poem ‘Sa Aking Mga Kabata’. In 1869, it is said that an
eight-year-old Jose Rizal wrote his first Tagalog poem. Entitled “Sa aking mga Kabata”
(“To My Fellow Children”), it soon immortalized the line “ang hindi marunong
magmahal sa sariling wika ay masahol pa sa hayop at malansang isda” (he who loves not
his own language is worse than a beast and a stinking fish).

The earliest documented appearance of Sa Aking Mga Kabata was in a book

published in 1906, almost ten years after Rizal’s death. This paper disagreed to the
statement that young Pepe wrote this poem. The poem emphasizes the importance of
loving and valuing the nation’s native language. Pepe, young Jose’s nickname, was more
fluent and educated in Spanish language compare to his native language, it is surprising
that Pepe could wrote the poem of deep meaning regardless of his intelligent. This paper
provides you a context and related research that disagreeing to the statement that young
Pepe wrote the poem ‘Sa Aking Mg Kabata’.

Analysis
Tracing the provenance of the poem to its source is quite difficult. According to the
Philippine Inquirer, the author Herminigildo Cruz claims to have the poem from his
friend, the poet Gabriel Beato Franscisco, who got it from a certain Saturnino Raselis of
Lukban, a bosom friend of Rizal and teacher in Majayjay, Laguna, in 1884. However,
there is no manuscript of the poem that used Rizal’s handwritten and he never mentioned
of having a close friend by the person of Raselis. Author Hermenegildo Cruz presented it
as an example of modern naturalist Tagalog poetry in Kun Sino ang Kumath ng
“Florante” [The Person who Composed “Florante”]. The poem, like the rest of the book,
was rendered using the new Tagalog spelling that Rizal himself had helped to develop in
the mid 1880’s.

According to Ambeth Ocampo, “First, there is language in the poem that does not
belong in 1869, the (now) supposed year that the poem was supposedly written. In
particular cited the word “himpapawid,” used in the poem, calling it a 20th century
term, “langit” being its 1869 version”, a Filipino public historian, academic, cultural
administrator, journalist, author, and independent curator.

According to Xiao Chua, a historian in De La Salle University, “Wala pa’ng

salita’ng KALAYAAN noong 19th Century sa Pilipinas. Ni-hindi rin alam ni Rizal ang
salitang KALAYAAN. Ito lamang ay nalaman nya noong sya ay nagaaral na sa Europa.
Sa katunayan, sa isang sulat nya sa kanyang kapatid na si Paciano, nabanggit nya na
ang libro‟ng (Wilhem Tell ni Schiller) kanyang isinasalin sa wikang tagalog ay hindi
nya lubusang maperpekto. Sinabi pa nya na literal translation ang ginawa nya. Ang

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salitang LIBERTY ay isinalin nya sa tagalog na salitang LIGTAS”. He explained the
reasons and flaws that he saw from the poem.

Both Ocampo and Chua saw the same flaws in regards of the poem ‘Sa Aking Mga
Kabata’, Rizal was more educated in Spanish language than his native language, they
pointed out that there is no extant manuscript of said poem, when other writings of Rizal
either have extant manuscripts or were once manuscripts whose existence can stand the
test of verification, the used of words that are not appropriate and applicable during the
19th century, and the published only in 1902 and cannot be traced back to Rizal, i.e., there
is no evidence that said poem was actually part of his body of work. That said works was
actually already accounted for even during Rizal’s lifetime. Few academics such as
Virgilio Almario, Ambeth Ocampo, Nilo Ocampo and others have expressed doubts that
young Pepe really wrote the poem.

Conclusion
To summarize, the poem ‘Sa Aking Mga Kabata’ expressed the love of a man, a
Filipino to be exact to his own native language. It depicts the comparative words that can
used to compare to a person does not love and value their own language, which serves us
the identity of every Filipino. However, the context of this paper showed the
disagreement to the statement that Rizal was the one who wrote the poem. Throughout
the study of different well-known personalities in the field of Philippine history, they
proved that Rizal doe not had the authorization towards the poem. The real author is still
unknown. Nevertheless, either Rizal or unknown author wrote the poem, it impacted our
lives and provoked the nationalism within every Filipino.

References
Ocampo, A (2011) Did young Rizal really write poem for children? Inquirer.net
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/45479/did-young-rizal-really-write-poem-for-
children Scribd Did Jose
Scribd (2014) Did Jose Rizal write “Sa aking mga Kabata”
https://www.scribd.com/doc/231108346/Did-Jose-Rizal-Wrote-Sa-Aking-Mga-
Kabata

Criteria for Grading

Criteria Performance Indicators Points

3
 Provided an argument that is coherent to
Arguments 30
the content and the context it had.

Used relevant and truthful evidence to

Evidence 20
support the argument.

Used correct grammar, punctuation,

Grammar 15
spelling, and capitalization.

Ideas expressed the points in clear and

Organization of Ideas logical arrangement of ideas in the 15
paragraph.

Citations and Followed APA 7th edition’s proper text

10
References citation and referencing.

Adhered to the required style or

Format 10
appearance.

Total 100