Leona Florentino - Ilocano Poetess PDF

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Republic of the Philippines University of Northern Philippines College of Nursing Vigan City, Ilocos Sur Telefax. #: 722-2810 Website: www.unp.edu.ph Email: [email protected], [email protected]

Leona Florentino: A Historical Review Presented to Mr. Mark Edzel Pablico ______________

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Subject Readings in Philippines History

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JADE MILES O. PALAS BSN 1-D 2019

LEONA FLORENTINO

“Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering”. -Theodore Roosevelt. In the earlier seasons of the Philippines history, it was very hard for women to act the way they want themselves to be. They are either a plaything, a maid of her spouse, an uneducated home person,weak, everything one can name that is inferior to men. But one of the few woman braved the storm, that woman is Leona Josefa Florentino. Leona Josefa, is internationally known as Leona Florentino. The first Ilocana Poetess. She was born in a wealthy and prominent family in Vigan City, Ilocos Sur on April 19, 1894. She was married to Elias de los Reyes, an alcalde mayor of the province that time, and was the mother of Isabelo de los Reyes, who was writer, activist, and senator. Leona flaunted a great potential on writing when she was at the age of 10. She wrote her poems in Ilocano (her native dialect) she was encouraged and taught by her mother, private teachers and a priest that was educated in Spanish; thus resulting her to be able to speak fluently in Spanish language when she was a lot younger. One of her best poems is AS-ASUG TI MAYSA A NAPAAY (BLASTED HOPES) that goes:

AS-ASUG TI MAYSA A NAPAAY Nasnebanak ti nasaem a sasainnek, ay ayat! ta diman la agtanak ti lak-amen a tuok ken rigat; isuna kadin isunan; ala isunan yantangay detoy biag, diak duaduaenen a suminan itoy bagik a daksanggasat. Ay, ayat, ayaunayen ti sanaang ni patay sumken nakalkaldaang ta iti maysa nga agayat a dida pagayatan, nakasaksakit nakem a maimatangan. Narangas dagiti laingmo ken sayaksakmo naulpit, nadawel, kitaem man toy silaladingit; ta naallilaw man dagitoy matak idi a buybuyaek, ta iti inanama ken talek isuda kaniak ti namatalged.

Ngem eppes man dagidi nga inanama, ta diak impapan a kastoy ti tungpalna, tungpal tanem ket itan ti nagbanaganna, datoy bagik ta isu ti kaikarianna. Blasted Hopes What gladness and what joy are endowed to one who is loved for truly there is one to share all his sufferings and his pain.

My fate is dim, my stars so low perhaps nothing to it can compare, for truly I do not doubt for presently I suffer so.

For even I did love, the beauty whom I desired never do I fully realize that I am worthy of her.

Shall I curse the hour when first I saw the light of day would it not have been better a thousand times I had died when I was born.

Would I want to explain but my tongue remains powerless for now do I clearly see to be spurned is my lot.

But would it be my greatest joy to know that it is you I love, for to you do I vow and a promise I make

it’s you alone for whom I would lay my life.

Though Leona’s works were burned during the Philippines revolution and nothing was left here in Ilocos to be kept, Leona’s memory is immortalized by Historians through a statue monument and her photo took in 1880 in the Burgos Museum, Vigan City; and copies of her works are exhibited in Spain, Paris and St. Louis, Missouri. Today, Leona’s former home was converted in to a restaurant named after her which is Cafe Leona; named by a scholar of her work, Genaro R. Gojo Cruz, who studied Florentino’s poem in his literature class, wrote that the Ilocana was “a pillar of feminism in the country.” Leona Florentino is a very significant figure mostly to Ilocanas because she let women voices to be heard and brought a light to the nation that women are not only for household chores and subordinate, that women are a lot more than men expect. Because of Leona, the Philippines won fame when she presented her works on Exposicion General de Filipinas in Madrid in 1887 and in the International Exposicion in Paris in 1889. Because of her, Ilocanos have a little spotlight when it comes to literary. I believe that preserving Leona’s image on Fr. Burgos Library Museum in Vigan City and her statue monument in front of her home likewise preserved our Ilocano Heritage. It helped in preserving our heritage in a sense that a lot of people visits Vigan to meet Leona and have people get intrigued and read Ilocano Literary works, it helps people realize that Ilocano has a long and rich literary works.

SOURCES A. PRIMARY CCP Encyclopedia of Philippine Art.(1994). Volume XIV Philippine Literature. Vera Reyes Inc. Leona Florentino House.1797.The Department of Tourism and Save Vigan Ancestral Homes Association Inc.

B. SECONDARY Retrieved: https://kahimyang.com/kauswagan/articles/657/today-in-philippine-history-october-4-1 884-leona-florentino-died-in-vigan-ilocos-sur http://www.viganfurniture.com/240589494/1630575/posting/ https://www.vigattintourism.com/tourism/articles/A-Step-into-the-Leona-Florentino-Hou se https://www.poemhunter.com/leona-florentino/biography/ Photo credit: http://pinoy-culture.com

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