Members: Dan Manuel Paolo B. Cabil, Franzin Eilah A. Ang, Marvi Nazaren A.

Derraco,
Wilmer Harry A. Tan, Gwo Yun B. Yeh, Sander Nathan

Pastoral Poetry
Pastoral poetry branches out from the Latin
word “pastoralis” which means to describe things
from the views of a shepherd, a peaceful and or rural
life. Authors of this genre romanticize what it means
to live humbly beyond the troubles and doubts and
to describe the relationship between man and nature,
a simple country life that focuses on creative lineage
works usually projected in the means of art or music,
portraying a life of fantasy and often than not were
written to sugarcoat the pains of their cruel faith as
humanity.

Shoes
When my leather shoes walk through the streets
Seeing the market of their fresh old meats
Glistening above are lights from buildings
In this cycle my heart yearns for meanings
 Disillusion has led me off the grid
Peers dismayed and exclaimed, “Heaven forbid!”
The people who only know my façade
Denounce my leave for the lands of my God

The air was hazy and none could be seen

Yet the mist around me was most serene
My hut built from bamboo I now enter
My brown shoes show an awful pretender

As I toil the brown land and place a seed

I ponder the new life I will proceed
To be with animals that mock me not
Euphoria that cannot be merely bought

Now I walk with my boots along dirt roads

I see on the stalls freshly butchered loads
 Up above is nothing but the moonlight
Buildings switched with mountains and nature’s
might

Each wind that passes through my rattan hat

Reminds me of a life that needs not a mat
To live with dirt and what is meant to be
The country has blessed me with clarity

Background of Author and Poem

Wilmer Harry A. Tan, the authors, was born in
September 25, 2007 in Roxas City, Capiz,
Philippines. His father is William L. Tan, a
radiologist while his mother, Maria Lucresia A. Tan
is an anesthesiologist. Aged 16, he continues to
study at Capiz Commercial School in his junior high
years. He had once disliked poetry in his earlier
years due to the more complex nature of it compared
to essays and editorials. It was in 2022 when he tried
poetry, firstly in Filipino, then honed his hobby in
English.
 His work “Shoes” was created to satisfy his
project in English on October 16, 2023. The project
was of a pastoral poem. Due to the difficulty in
finding and memorizing different pieces and the
possibility of other groups having the same work, he
decided to simply write an original work. The work
was based in his experiences going to his provincial
land outside of the city. Despite being a city boy, he
recognizes the qualities that can only be spotted in
the rural lifestyle. It is also a critique on the
monotony and cycle most city dwellers find
themselves in. It shows that a life on the rural area
does not make one lesser and can possibly help
understand the meaning of life better.

Content of the Poem

The poem “Shoes” begins with a bleak
representation of the typical urban life. The majority
of city workers especially those in office jobs wear
leathers shoes and often walk along the city streets
for various purposes. While it is cut, the market
referred in the second line of the first stanza must be
a supermarket where processed foods marketed as
fresh are sold. At night, the lights emitted are
frequently from buildings due to overtime work and
the monotony of city life experienced by many force
the speaker to search for the meaning to be alive.
While the speaker prepares to leave for the
countryside, there is judgement on the decision as
our present culture has glorified the city life as one
of “culture” and development. Those that only know
the surface of the person are quick to judge despite
having limited knowledge on the logic behind the
decision.
As the speaker arrives at the countryside in the
early morning as described as hazy and cloudy mist,
he feels a strange sensation of peace, thus beginning
the theme of a pastoral poem of the composition. He
enters the bahay-kubo but the shoes he wears makes
him look ridiculous and inexperienced. This marks
his new life and the relatively welcoming presence
he has felt, showing his optimism and commitment
to adjust and find meaning in this new place.
 While working in the fields, he reflects and
ponder on his decision. Despite making a clear
decision to continue with this life, there still lingers a
hint of doubt, portraying the struggle of adjusting to
a new environment. Then, he recalls his experience
with animals. Despite them being lesser beings and
not as capable as humans, they do not judge his
actions and accept him for who he is, something that
not even money cannot buy.
After a certain period of time, he now walks
with boots instead of the leather shoes he once wore
during his time in the city and his first arrival into
the country. On the market stalls he now sees truly
fresh meat and not the processed dishes in the city.
At night, the moonlight towers over the lands and
the tall structures are not buildings but mountains
along with the natural forces of the Earth.
The last paragraph shows him fully integrated
and enjoying the rural lifestyle. He needs not a mat
that would have been a staple material back in urban
areas. It reminds him that it is fine to live with the
dirt that has always been here and to not be scared of
it. Lastly, his experience has changed and gave him
the meaning he was yearning for in the first stanza.

Theme
The title “Shoes” seeks to portray the difference
in the lives the speaker had in the urban and rural
one. The shoes he wore was first mentioned in the
first stanza to show how engrained he is in the city
life. It was again mentioned in the third stanza as he
began to start adjusting and transitioning to the rural
life. In the fifth stanza, it is replaced with boots,
showing he has discarded or put away the shoes
(urban life) aside in favor of the more practical
footwear. The footwear or broadly shoes he wore
represent the different environments of his life.
In the poem, contrast is also found in different
stanzas. The first and fifth stanza is the most obvious
as it explicitly contrast the footwear and the meat
found in the city and province. The second show of
it is in the second and fourth stanzas. In the second
stanza, the people around the speaker are described
to be quick to judge while the lesser animals are the
opposite, neither mocking nor denouncing the
speaker.
The overall theme of the poem is to portray the
value of the countryside lifestyle. Most of the
qualities of the urban life in the poem are negative
and detrimental to the person while the rural one
serves the soul of the speaker. It is also the catalyst
for finding meaning in his life of which was
perpetuated by his previous lifestyle. This shows the
qualities of a pastoral poem, that romanticizing the
provincial life even if there are some unfavorable
conditions.