The Life and Works of Rizal

To my Creator I sing Who did soothe me in my great loss; To the Merciful and Kind Who in my troubles gave me repose. Rizal opens the poem in thanksgiving. The entire poem is generally about God and is speaking in the second person to God. However, it is important to observe the order in which these verses are written. That he begins by referring to God as the one who soothed him in his great loss and gave him repose in his troubles, could very well signify that the life of the hero was in fact full of pain and difficulty, and that it was in these dark moments that he felt God's presence the most. Thou with that pow'r of thine Said: Live! And with life myself I found; And shelter gave me thou And a soul impelled to the good Like a compass whose point to the North is bound. Here Rizal goes back in time to the days before he was born. With artistic reference to God's power to create everything out of nothing and to speak all beings into existence (Genesis), the a...

by Nick Joaquin Paint my picture truly like me, and not flatter me at all, but remark all these roughnesses, pimples, warts, and everything as you see me. -- Oliver Cromwell Two views of Rizal that scan the man behind the monument are clearly headed for controversy. A startling anatomy of the hero is offered in "The First Filipino" by León Maria Guerrero and in "Rizal from Within" by Ante Radaic. The Guerrero book, in English, is a biography in the modern manner, where the details are massed not for their scholarly but their emotional value, and the delineation is by narrative, crafted, progressive and dramatic like a novel, and just as readable, though the style is hardly Guerrero at his felicitous best. The Radaic piece, in Spanish, is a psychoanalysis of Rizal, with emphasis on his formative years, and has clinical fascination, though rather prolix and turgid in the writing, its special quality evident in its sources, which range, not from Retana to Blumentritt, ...

Did you Know? When in Europe, Rizal often had to go on without food. Sometimes his funds took too long to arrive and he would run out of money. He often went out during mealtime and cursed his misfortunes, and then went back home with a straight face. He was too proud to let his landlady know he didn't have any money for food, and when he got back everyone assumed he had already eaten. Jose Rizal's sisters once suspected that Josephine Bracken, his love interest in Dapitan, was a spy from Spain. There is some speculation that Rizal's mother could have been the illegitimate child of  Lorenzo Alberto Alonso and Brigida Quintos. In 1895, Jose had a run-in with a Chinese who owned a small store -- a disagreement that ended with a lawsuit. This angered Rizal so much that he told his mother that he would never again buy anything from the Chinese. Interestingly enough, Rizal was also part Chinese. At age 2, Jose could already read and write. He grew up to speak and write 22...

Unfold, oh timid flower! Lift up your radiant brow, This day, Youth of my native strand! Your abounding talents show Resplendently and grand, Fair hope of my Motherland! Soar high, oh genius great, And with noble thoughts fill their mind; The honor's glorious seat, May their virgin mind fly and find More rapidly than the wind. The first line, "unfold, oh timid flower," implies that the youth is silent, maybe daunted, and consequently has not yet gone into full bloom for whatever reason there is that may have silenced them. In the beginning stanza, Rizal encourages the youth, by telling them to hold their heads high for they possess talents and skills and abilities that would make their country proud.    The second verse can be rearranged in contemporary English to say: "Oh genius great, soar high; and fill their mind with noble thoughts. May their virgin mind fly and find the honor's glorious seat more rapidly than the wind." Here, Rizal calls to genious...

Wise education, vital breath Inspires an enchanting virtue; She puts the Country in the lofty seat Of endless glory, of dazzling glow, And just as the gentle aura's puff Do brighten the perfumed flower's hue: So education with a wise, guiding hand, A benefactress, exalts the human band. In this first stanza, Rizal expresses that education is what builds up a country and allows her to rise above the rest in matters of honor and a good name. He likens a guided and relevant education to the vibrance of a flower. Man's placid repose and earthly life To education he dedicates Because of her, art and science are born Man; and as from the high mount above The pure rivulet flows, undulates, So education beyond measure Gives the Country tranquility secure. From the time of a man's birth to the moment of his death, he is constantly engaged in the journey of learning. This can come in the form of a formal education and a structured curriculum, or in the essence of daily livi...