21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD
WEEK 9 – ACTIVITY SHEET
NAME: GESSEL F. DURANO GRADE 12 – IT1
Below is a poem that Jose Rizal has written:
Josephine,
Who to these shores came,
Searching for a home, a nest,
Like the wandering swallows,
If your fate guides you to Shanghai, China, or Japan,
Forget not that on these shores
A heart beats for you.
INSTRUCTION: Analyze the poem through its literary context by answering the following questions.
1. What are the striking words used in the poem?
Ans: wandering, swallows, fate, heart beats
2. How many meaningful statements are used in the poem?
Ans: 6
3. How were the lines cut? Did the line cuts help in conveying the message of the poem?
Ans: A line break is the termination of one line of poetry, and the beginning of a new line. Some
additional key details about line breaks: Line breaks divide poems into lines, and the length of lines
determines the appearance of the poem on the page: long and skinny, short and wide, or a shape
entirely its own.
4. Are there rhymes? Is there a certain rhythm? How does the presence or absence or rhyme and
rhythm that helps convey the message of the text? No, there is no rhymes in the poem. Yes,
there a certain rhythm in the poem. Rhyme is a pattern of words that contain similar
sounds. Rhythm: The dictionary tells us it is "a movement with uniform recurrence of a
beat or accent." In its crudest form rhythm has a beat with little or no meaning. Rhyme is
not only a recurrence but a matching of sounds.
5. What imagery was used in the poem?
Imagery and figurative language are used in the short story as a way to understand some thoughts
transmitted in sentences, as well as to intensify the reader's perception of these meanings.
Imagery is used in the text to intensify one of the reader's senses and make him better understand what
is being described in the text. In this way, imagery has the ability, literally, to provoke a strong
sensation in the reader and bring him closer to what he is reading. In the text we can see this in the
lines: "At length, watching the sea-gulls in the air—the only creatures that were sure of liberty—he
thought of a plan for himself and his young son Icarus, who was captive with him.
Figurative language aims to express an idea based on the use of words that are not objectively related
to that idea, but establishes a subjunctive relationship that gives a lot of meaning to the text, in
addition to exercising the reader's reasoning and understanding of the constructions. We can see a
figurative language in the lines:
6. What is the mood of the poem?
This is what a stanza has stated in one of Jose Rizal’s poem when he got smitten away the first time he
saw Josephine Bracken. It was love at first sight. They met when she brought her father suffering
double cataract to him but he can’t do no more about the incurable disease already. However, his
immovable love and admiration for Josephine withstand that a month after they met, they agreed to
get married. But her father knowing their plan flared up with too much anger.
7. Did the use of language help in conveying the poem’s message? How?
Poetic language (also called poetic devices) are the tools of of sound or meaning that
a poet can use to make the poem more surprising, vivid, complex, or interesting.
Poetic language often makes use of literary devices that help in creating a response in ...
vocabulary for a poem, poetry frequently is more effective than prose in conveying
messages or emotions. ... eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question.
