Francisco Balagtas was a prominent Filipino poet during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. He is considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. His defining work was the epic poem Florante at Laura. Balagtas learned poetry from Jose de la Cruz and went on to publish Florante at Laura in 1838 after being imprisoned due to a love rivalry. Florante at Laura and two other short works are the only complete works that survived to this day.
Francisco Balagtas was a prominent Filipino poet during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. He is considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. His defining work was the epic poem Florante at Laura. Balagtas learned poetry from Jose de la Cruz and went on to publish Florante at Laura in 1838 after being imprisoned due to a love rivalry. Florante at Laura and two other short works are the only complete works that survived to this day.
Francisco Balagtas was a prominent Filipino poet during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. He is considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. His defining work was the epic poem Florante at Laura. Balagtas learned poetry from Jose de la Cruz and went on to publish Florante at Laura in 1838 after being imprisoned due to a love rivalry. Florante at Laura and two other short works are the only complete works that survived to this day.
Francisco Balagtas was a prominent Filipino poet during the Spanish colonial period in the Philippines. He is considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. His defining work was the epic poem Florante at Laura. Balagtas learned poetry from Jose de la Cruz and went on to publish Florante at Laura in 1838 after being imprisoned due to a love rivalry. Florante at Laura and two other short works are the only complete works that survived to this day.
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Francisco Balagtas
Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz (April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), commonly known as Francisco Balagtas and also as Francisco Baltazar, was a prominent Filipino poet during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is widely considered one of the greatest Filipino literary laureates for his impact on Filipino literature. The famous epic Florante at Laura is regarded as his defining work. The surname "Baltazar", sometimes misconstrued as a pen name, was a legal surname Balagtas adopted after the 1849 edict of Governor-General Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, which mandated that the native population adopt standard Spanish surnames instead of native ones. His surname is also sometimes given as "Balagtas Baltazar" when instead he used one or the other but not both at the same time. His mentor was José de la Cruz, otherwise known as Joseng Sisiw.
Francisco Balagtas/Francisco Baltazar
Born Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz
April 2, 1788 Bigaa, Bulacan, Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish Empire
Died February 20, 1862 (aged 73)
Udyong, Bataan, Captaincy General of the Philippines, Spanish Empire
Balagtas learned to write poetry from José de la Cruz (Joseng Sisiw), one of the most famous poets of Tondo, in return for chicks. It was De la Cruz himself who personally challenged Balagtas to improve his writing. Balagtas swore he would overcome Huseng Sisiw as he would not ask for anything in return as a poet. In 1835, Balagtas moved to Pandacan, Manila, where he met María Asunción Rivera, who would effectively serve as the muse for his future works. She is referenced in Florante at Laura as 'Selya' and 'MAR'. Balagtas' affections for MAR were challenged by the influential Marian Capule. The latter won the battle for MAR when he used his wealth to get Balagtas imprisoned. It was here that he wrote Florante at Laura—in fact, the events of this poem were meant to parallel his own situation. He wrote his poems in the Tagalog language, during an age when Filipino writing was predominantly written in Spanish. Balagtas published "Florante at Laura" upon his release in 1838. He moved to Balanga, Bataan, in 1840 where he served as the assistant to the Justice of the Peace. He was also appointed as the translator of the court. He married Juana Tiambeng on July 22, 1842, in a ceremony officiated by Fr. Cayetano Arellano, uncle of future Chief Justice to the Supreme Court of the Philippines— Chief Justice Arellano. They had eleven children but only four survived to adulthood. On November 21, 1849, Governor General Narciso Clavería y Zaldua issued a decree that every Filipino native must adopt a Spanish surname. In 1856, he was appointed as the Major Lieutenant, but soon after was convicted and sent to prison again in Bataan under the accusation that he ordered Alferez Lucas' housemaid's head to be shaved. He sold his land and all of his riches, in order for him to be imprisoned in 1861, and continued writing poetry, along with translating Spanish documents, but he died a year later—on February 20, 1862, at the age of 73. Upon his deathbed, he asked the favor that none of his children become poets like him, who had suffered under his gift as well as under others. He even went as far as to tell them it would be better to cut their hands off than let them be writers. Balagtas is greatly idolized in the Philippines that the term for Filipino debate in extemporaneous verse is named after him: Balagtasan. Complete works Only 3 of Balagtas' works survived complete and intact to this day. Out of the 3, "Florante at Laura" is considered Balagtas' defining work and is a cultural touchstone for the Philippines.
Florante at Laura or Pinagdaanang Buhay ni Florante at Laura sa Kaharian ng Albanya,
an awit (metrical narrative poem with dodecasyllabic quatrains [12 syllables per line, 4 lines per stanza]); Balagtas' masterpiece La India elegante y el negrito amante – a short play in one part Orosman at Zafira – a comedia in three parts
