JAROBILLA, ANA MELISSA D.

BSED-II

CIRILO BAUTISTA
Cirilo F. Bautista is a poet, fictionist and essayist with exceptional achievements and significant
contributions to the development of the country’s literary arts. He is acknowledged by peers
and critics, and the nation at large as the foremost writer of his generation.

In a lecture called “Shaping the Past” delivered at his alma mater, the University of Santo
Tomas, National Artist Cirilo F. Bautista revealed that it was his father who had given him the
words which defined the poet’s ground of being and gave him his lifetime errand:

“I became a writer because I took to heart my father’s advice to “shape the past.” He did not
tell me how, but I thought writing was the way to do it. He did not tell me why, either, but I felt
it was to gain some degree of happiness, some ascendancy over the travails of existence…And a
strong desire to make of the past something beyond the past drove me into a fine madness and
defined the borders of my artistry. And so, every time I am asked when I decided to be a writer,
because, strangely enough, I did decide to be a writer—I answer, “When I first got mad.” That
moment, of course, was not accompanied by a roar of thunder and a blaze of lightning; like all
life-altering decisions, it developed quietly and gradually until, many years later, I found that I
was irrevocably engaged in the fashioning of prose and poetry. I discovered that writing was
the most effective way of configurating the elements of reality into an ever-fresh world and
that literature was the only possible, faithful, and unassailable reconstruction of human values
in a gaudy and duplicitous environment.”

INITIAL THOUGHTS
As we discussed in class our initial thoughts about the poem On Language, without knowing the
background of the writer, each one of us had their say about the persona used in the poem. On
the back of my mind, I say that the poem is about a lone traveler in a foreign country who feels
oppressed by the language barrier. Unfamiliar to a foreign language, he felt that speaking it was
like chewing stones. He could have used a different method to describe his struggle using the
language, but the reason he used stones as metaphor remained a puzzle to me. The poem is
like a narrative essay divided into lines, but I feel like there are deeper meaning about it, by the
images the writer tried to picture.
The persona is a keen observer, as he tried to show the readers his struggle the he experiences
in a foreign land. The tone is somehow, monotoned and does not give much of an emotion by
the way the poem was written. I can see that with the oppression he experienced because of
the foreign language, is alongside with his own suppression of his desire to express his opinions,
and emotions, given that he might be misunderstood by the citizens of that country.

He is not someone who just go with the flow, and doesn’t fancy to be dictated on what to do.
He feels like he is not a subject to talk about, nor a portrait to look at because of his peculiarity,
being a brown-skinned immigrant who speaks poorly of their language. But on the other hand,
he was left with no choice but to be silenced, than choose to use more of the language, he finds
difficult to speak. Maybe, up until he learns to adjust with it.

On the latter part of the poem, I noticed that the persona is a well-educated and an
opinionated man, for he knows social and political issues, but because of the language barrier,
he chose to shut his mouth as he described, “try not to roll the stones in his mouth too much.”

AFTER RESEARCH
After learning about the background of the writer, Cirilo Bautista, I still find it hard to make
sense about the poem. There was not much information about his personal life, nor there are
any accounts of him living in a foreign country. But according to one of his interviews, his
writings mostly about, reconstruction of human values in a gaudy environment, patriotism, and
importance of language.

A brown-skinned immigrant from the east, makes a high possibility that the persona is a
Filipino. Filipino’s are known to be flexible wherever we go, or whatever situation we are in. But
it does not make us an exception for the struggles. I think the poem states about the unspoken
struggles that a traveler or an immigrant experiences in a foreign country. The adjustments that
a foreigner in a foreign land goes through.

Personally, I have not been on a foreign country before, but I’ve been into various provinces
here in the Philippines who uses different dialects. Not knowing a single person, and having a
limited knowledge on the language, makes a person feel caged. Getting laughed at, because of
the way you speak, even if you’re trying hard to communicate makes it look funnier, the odd
stares of the local people because of the way you look, act, and dress. But since, you’re in a
foreign land, you’d have to adjust yourself by the ways, customs, culture, and language of that
place. You try to hide your opinion even if you have enough knowledge, by the fear of being
misunderstood.