Jose Garcia Villa

Villa was born on August 5, 1908, in Manila's Singalong district. His parents were Simeón Villa (a
personal physician of Emilio Aguinaldo, the founding President of the First Philippine Republic) and Guia
Garcia (a wealthy landowner). He graduated from the University of the Philippines Integrated School and
the University of the Philippines High School in 1925. Villa enrolled on a Pre-Medical course in the
University of the Philippines, but then switched to Pre-Law course. However, he realized that his true
passion was in the arts. Villa, the corresponding rhyme. Thus, a rhyme for near would be run; or rain,
green, reign."
He was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He was awarded the National
Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing
by Conrad Aiken. He is known to have introduced the "reversed consonance rhyme scheme" in writing
poetry, as well as the extensive use of punctuation marks—especially commas, which made him known
as the Comma Poet. He used the penname Doveglion (derived from "Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the
characters he derived from himself. These animals were also explored by another poet E. E. Cummings
in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated to Villa.
On February 5, 1997, at the age of 88, Jose was found in a coma in his New York apartment and
was rushed to St. Vincent Hospital in the Greenwich Village area. His death two days later, February 7,
was attributed to "cerebral stroke and multilobar pneumonia". He was buried on February 10 in St. John's
Cemetery in New York, wearing a Barong Tagalog.

WORKS OF JOSE GARCIA VILLA

1. And If the Heart Can Not Love
This poem is all about the things that could happen if the heart can’t love anymore. It says that if
a heart is not capable of loving, it can no longer appreciate or see the beauty that surrounds it. This poem
wanted the readers to realize that it is love that gives significance to the heart and the heart doesn’t molds
love. Jose Garcia Villa simplified the poem as a whole and wanted the readers to focus on the deeper
meaning of the poem; to give weight to the emotion felt in doing this poem.
2. The Fence
The moral lesson of the story Fence by Jose Garcia Villa is to forgive others before it is too late. Hatred
is something that people should not grow in their hearts because it can make their loved ones suffer. The
fence symbolizes the separation and exclusivity that sometimes causes argument and problems because
of differences. These result to arrogance and becoming insensitive of the existence of each other.
Because of arrogance, one is always want to be above of the others.
3. Footnote to Youth
The main message of the story is to be remind the youth that teenagers now are getting married
at the early age, some reason are the girls is pregnant or the eagerness to be with each other so they
decided to get married w/o knowing how hard married life is. MARRIAGE is not easy thing, because it's a
lifetime commitment and we should bear that on our mind.
4. When I Was No Bigger Than a Huge
 This poem is all about the quest of the author in finding what is real and fact. He had this question
about God’s existence or the reality of a supreme and divine being. A man who yearns for an answer to
his doubt and the uncertainty in this world. The last part of the poem seems to say that after all his search
for truth about God’s reality, he himself find God to be real and existential.
5. Be Beautiful, Noble, Like the Antique Ant
This poem is all about appreciating the importance of little things or creatures in the world. A poem
is all about not seeing or feeling the beauty of life anymore. He used an ant to be a perfect character of a
human being. Jose Garcia Villa’s comparison between an ant and with a human was very relevant and
effective because ants are just small creatures but they still manage to help each other, wherein the author
believes that helping will perfect the character of a human being. He also wants to convey that humans
have the ability to navigate our way of life and so as the difficulties just like how ants face them in their
own little way.

PROBLEMS ENCOUNTERED BY JOSE GARCIA VILLA

Villa was considered as a powerful literary influence in the Philippines throughout much of the 20th
century, although he had lived most of his life in the United States. His writing style, as well as his
personality and staunch opinions on writing, has often made him considered as an eccentric. Francia
explained in Asiaweek magazine, "In a world of English-language poetry dominated by British and
Americans, Villa stood out for the ascetic brilliance of his poetry and for his national origin." Fellow Filipino
writer Salvador P. Lopez described Villa as "the one Filipino writer today who it would be futile to deride
and impossible to ignore ... the pace-setter for an entire generation of young writers, the mentor laying
down the law for the whole tribe, the patron-saint of a cult of rebellious moderns. “However, Villa was
accused of having little faith in Filipinos' ability to write creatively in English, saying that "poetry in English
has no prospects whatsoever in the Philippines—i.e., ... that it cannot be written by Filipino writers. An
exception or two may arise after a long period of time, but these writers will remain exceptions. The reason
why Filipino writers are at a disadvantage in the writing of English poetry—is that they have no oneness
with the English language."
In a review to Footnote to Youth, The New York Times wrote, "For at least two years the name of
Jose Garcia Villa has been familiar to the devotees of the experimental short story... They knew, too, that
he was an extremely youthful Filipino who had somehow acquired the ability to write a remarkable English
prose and who had come to America as a student in the summer of 1930." This comment brought out two
opposing impressions of him: as a literary genius, and merely as a writer of English as a second language.
Critics were divided about Villa's "comma poems". On one side, they were irritated by them, calling
them "gimmicky". Leonard Casper wrote in New Writings from the Philippines that the technique of putting
commas after every word "is as demonstrably malfunctional as a dragging foot". Ten years later, Casper
continued to criticize Villa because he "still uses the 'commas' with inadequate understanding and skill".
On the other hand, Sitwell wrote in The American Genius magazine that the comma poem "springs with
a wild force, straight from the poet's being, from his blood, from his spirit, as a fire breaks from wood, or
as a flower grows from its soil".
Despite his success in the United States, Villa was largely dismissed in mainstream American literature
and has been criticized by Asian American scholars for not being "ethnic" enough.

JOSE GARCIA VILLA AS A NATIONAL ARTIST

Villa was granted a Guggenheim Fellowship in Creative Writing by American writer Conrad Aiken,
wherein he was also awarded a $1,000 prize for "outstanding work in American literature", as well as a
fellowship from Bollingen Foundation. He was also bestowed an Academy Award for Literature from The
American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1943. Villa also won first prize in the Poetry Category of UP
Golden Jubilee Literary Contests in 1958, as well as the Pro Patria Award for literature in 1961, and the
Heritage Award for poetry and short stories a year later. He was conferred with a honoris causa doctorate
degree for literature by Far Eastern University in Manila on 1959 (and later by University of the
Philippines), and the National Artist Award for Literature in 1973.
He was one of three Filipinos, along with novelist Jose Rizal and translator Nick Joaquin, included
in World Poetry: An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time published in 2000, which featured over
1,600 poems written by hundreds of poets in different languages and culture within a span of 40 centuries
dating from the development of early writing in ancient Sumer and Egypt.

REFLECTION

I discovered only that Villa has been a powerful literary influence in the Philippines throughout
much of the 20th century, that he was considered an eccentric, whose stubbornly-held opinions on writing
often made him enemies, as well as disciples. Villa "compared his use of commas to 'Seurat's
architectonic and measured pointillism—where the points of color are themselves the medium as well as
the technique of statement." For some, this is a strange innovation which is disturbing, even irritating. He
gives comma to every word because he wanted the readers to focus and give a deeper meaning to every
word he used.
Villa is a significant artist because he was not afraid of the cynics and he writes his thoughts just
how he wanted to. He didn’t care if his works were called " malfunctional as a dragging foot" or even a
poet and/or “a writer with inadequate skill and understanding.” He knew what are his ideas and how to
turn it into a significant work. Yes, he knew that a people will critic his way of writing but he didn’t care
because he knows what he wants to show to the readers; he knows the meaning and importance of each
comma.
It seems to me that an artist now considered a National Artists are never spare from critiques and
antis. It was never an easy path to be famous artist. It was never easy to write just how you want to write.
Cynics will always be there. Instead of caring about these negative comments, a person should be
motivated to achieve what he/she wants and use his own way on how to achieve these goals even if there
are criticisms because at the end of the day, it is not about what you’ve achieved, what matters is how
you achieved it.
To be a successful person, you just need to know yourself and be that well. One’s goal should be
a significant person to the world who made a significant contribution to the betterment of the world and to
inspire people to be the best they can be. One’s capacity or ability has limits but one’s motivation has no
limit.