Pre Actv??

Reporter 1: Philippines is gifted of numerous remarkable writers (fictionists, poets,

essayists, dramatists, etc.) whose masterpieces still echo through ages. From
Balagtas to Rizal to Nick Joaquin and even to the writers in this postmodern time,
our country is at par in richness of literature to that of other countries.
For three centuries of colonization by Spain, our country has produced myriad
literary writings with every drop of bloods and every life offered by our forefathers.
History would say that most writings during the Spanish era here in our country
were mostly about Filipino outcries for oppression and tyranny. Hence, it paved way
to the birth of Rizals eternal novels: the Noli Me Tangere and the El Filibusterismo deemed to be the chief grounds to a huge and bloody revolution in Philippine
history.
On the other hand, during the Japanese invasion in the country in the World
War II, it is said that history repeated itself. Filipinos were battling against the
oppression and occupation of the Japanese here in our country. Influenced by the
fortitude of our heroes who fought against the Spaniards and inspired by the genius
of our artists, many Filipino writers had emerged from silence and voiced out their
grievances and uproars through beautiful poems, poignant essays, and satirical
fictions and plays.
Among the renowned writers that time was Amado V. Hernandez, a work
leader and freedom fighter and Philippine National Artist for Literature.
Reporter 2: We all know that the poem was about a person in a prison cell, etc. So
what do you think did he do?
Amado V. Hernandez was born in Tondo, Manila on September 13, 1903. Most of his
masterpieces centered on his social and political beliefs which was said to be
brought by his experience as an intelligence officer for the underground guerilla
resistance during the Japanese invasion in the country in the 1940s. He won the
Philippine Commonwealth Award for a nationalist historical epic, Pilipinas, in 1939
and his collec-tion of mainly traditional poems, Kayumanggi, won in 1940.
His acquaintance with the guerillas from the HUKBALAHAP (Hukbong Bayan Laban
samgaHapon) is said to influence his ideals on communism. He played an active
role in promoting freedom and equality for the Filipinos in the 1940s and 50s. Due
to his vigilant effort in uplifting the rights of the Filipinos, he was imprisoned at the
New Bilibid from 1951 to 1956 where he wrote Luha ng Buwaya and
MgaIbongMandaragit. Hernandez wrote several poems, short stories, plays, and
essays. To name a few of his works: poems - Sariling Hardin (My Own Garden),
IsangDipangLangit (An Arms Length Piece of the Sky), Bartolina (Solitary
Confinement), Kung Tuyo Na angLuha Mo Aking Bayan (When Your Tears Dry Up,
My Country); short stories Walang Lunas (No More Remedy) and
LangawsaIsangBasongGatas (Fly in a Glass of Milk); plays HagdansaBahaghari
(Stairway to the Rainbow) and AngmgaKagalang-galang (The Vene-rables); and
essays Si Atang at angDulaan (Atang and the Theater) and Si Jose Corazon de
Jesus at angAtingPanulaan (Jose Corazon de Jesus and Our Poetry).

Reporter 3:How was the poem presented? What can you observe with the structure
of the poem?
Almost all of Hernandezs literary works, including this poem, used the
Filipino language (Tagalog) which became his niche. IsangDipangLangit is a
beautiful eleven-stanza poem composed of 4 lines (quatrains) that tells us about the
pains, sufferings, and hope of a prisoner.
The poem follows 12 meters or beats all throughout the lines from start to
finish. Moreover, it has rhymes at every end of the lines which do not necessarily
made use of words having same letters on the last syllable but rather, employed
words likely similar in sound.
Reporter 4: What was the authors style in writing the poem? What can you observe
with the poem?
Like Hernandezs novel Luha ng Buwaya which he wrote when he was imprisoned in
Muntinlupa, the poem IsangDipangLangit also was written inside the jail as
discussed in the preceding paragraphs. The poem seemed to be the writers
imaginative diary that narrated all that happened around him. Mimetic theory as
defined considers literary works as an imitation, a copy, or a representation of
whatever it copies in nature or to the world.
On the readers or critics point of view, we locate the meanings of the images
portrayed in the poem in the nature it imitates and copies. We have this collective
consciousness as human beings and this is the reason why we think similarly with
other people regardless of location, race, affiliations, and other factors.
Mimetic criticism can be approached by archetypes, the use of symbols??
Reporter 1: What are the symbols used in the poem?
The archetypes present in Hernandezs poems are as follow: rock, steel, and
bullets (can be read on second stanza) which apparently prevalent in conventional
jails and are symbolizing fierce and violations; the golden sun (at the last stanza)
means hope and aspiration; and sky which means freedom, a wide space to fly like
a bird, and a solitary.
Reporter 2: Lets take this stanza etc.
Since the poem was written by Hernandez when he was imprisoned in Muntinlupa,
the poetic vision talks about the personas (evidently Hernandez himself) physical,
psychological, and emotional struggles inside his cell. The speakers internal pain
and fear of torture and death rolled in one is clearly manifested by this line:
angbuongmagdamag ay kulambongluksa ng kabaongwaringlungga ng bilanggo
(the nights are a blanket of sorrow in the coffin-like realm of the jail).
The poem is embedded also with various imageries as evident in the lines:
Angmaghapo'ytilaisangtanikalana kala-kaladkad ng paangmadugo (Days pass like
a chain dragged along by bloody feet) and maramotnabirang ng pusong may
sugat, watawat ng akingpagkapariwara (a paltry handkerchief to dress a wounded
heart, flag of my misfortune).

Reporter 3: Notably, Hernandez, among other modern writers, wrote this poem in
the traditional way making him more as a structuralist. Hernandezs diction or
choice of words in this poem was artistically made choosing the raw and the best
words to come up a pictorial vein.
Reporter 3: What were the emotions embodied in the poem? How was the
transition? Of the these emotions? poems tone streams from melancholic to
fearsome and to oblivion. But the last stanza would tell us that despite of the
anguish and fears, hope is still at hand!
Expressive theory considers the literary work as an expression of the authors
innermost being. Here in this poem, we can venture onto the depths and to the
bowels of the heart of the persona. As the poem progresses, we seem also to
journey into different levels of emotions with the persona.
Reporter 4: How did Amado ended the poem?
The lines Sa muntingdungawan, tanging abot-malas ay sandipanglangit
napuno ng luha (From the little window, my sole consolation is an arm's length
piece of the sky, full of tears) and sisikatanggintongaraw ng
tagumpaylayangsasalubongakosapaglaya! (the golden sun of victory will shine...
free, freedom I'll embrace!) entail emotional effects to the readers. The first line
tells us of the personas sadness and sorrows as he was confined in a dark, bitter
cell having only what it seemed to be arms length distance to the sky outside.
Here, we, as readers, show emphatic response to the persona for we also feel the
same isolation and confinement in life. The second line, on the other hand, gives us
the hope and optimism in life as the persona imposes to himself that there can still
be a brighter tomorrow.
Reporter 1: also helps us explain the writers social, political, and religious beliefs.
With this poem, we understand more Hernandezs milieu and moments that he
experienced a traumatic and oppressing period in his life. Then, we tend to agree
with his beliefs for we also have experienced same scenarios in life either literally or
figuratively.
Reporter 2:

In this stanza

Angtao'tBathala ay di natutulog

Man and God do not sleep

at di habangarawangapi ay api,

the unfortunate won't stay oppressed,

tanangpaniniil ay may pagtutuos,

tyranny has a price to pay,

habang may Bastilya'y may bayanggaganti.

will resist.

while a Bastille exists, people

*If you were in the same situation? Would you feel the same?
Reporter 3: What is the relevance of the title isang dipang langit? How can you
relate it with yourselves? What are the problems or the things which isolates you
from the others.. What is the problem which you cant escape from that you feel

imprisoned in a cell? And that the only hope that youve got is an armslength piece?
How would you defend yourself to be freed of such accusation or whatever case you
have? (bale the same je question no. 2 ken dagita sumarunu)
Reporter 4: (Conclusion)
Reading Hernandezs poem IsangDipangLangit gives us so many mixed,
mostly are even unknown to us, emotions. We tend to locate ourselves in setting of
the poem a dark, secluded, and isolated jail where the only voices we can hear are
the cries and the agonies of the prisoners.
Most likely than not, the poem has moved the hearts of the Filipinos from
the times of Japanese occupation and even today. The poem, ultimately, was a
masterpiece to unveil the sufferings and torment not just of the imprisoned Amado
Hernandez but to the rest of the Filipino citizens during his time in the hands of
tyrants.
It successfully delineated the sad reality during that time through the usage
of jail as a symbol for oppression. Nevertheless, Hernandez never failed to give
hope to all of the Filipino citizens on the last stanza of his poem:

And tomorrow, in this very place, I will see

an arm's length piece of the sky with no more tears,
the golden sun of victory will shine...
free, freedom I'll embrace!