The Literary Work as Representation*

Poem' a Story' a Play? What Questions Does One Ask of a

My owtt nAslc critical approach
is

assume that a literary work is chiefly That a for representatio nis mimesis (imitation). human experimce.Theoid word play) is usually "an imitation of life" is literary work (poem, short story, novel'

formalist in the neo-Aristotelian modebecause concerned with a representation of a

is assume' Moteover' our chief concern in fact what most readers of literature live and deal with land and people and the way we the Filipino erperience-our itto us' To my see our experience and interpret one another- as our ownwriters

mindthetnimeticapptoachtoliteratureisthemostfruitfulofinsightsintoour ownexperienceasFilipinos.Inregard.toothercriticalapproaches,thesecan lian mode of formalist criticism; easily be assimilated into the n"o-Arirtot interpreter of a literary work is a clear what is important for any critic and
ctiticalframeworkfreefromlearnedobfuscationanderuditejargon.Besides' (Marxist' feminist' deconstructive' those other critical approaches some reasonable
must still proceed from psychoanalytic, reader-response, etc') the

interpretationofthehumane*periencethattheliterarytexthasrepresented. questions to raise about

iormalist standpoint' In general, tht;, ;;" revolve around four broad topics: most literary works .Whatisrepresented?Thisiscalledtheobjeaofrcptesentation.Theliterary

workiseithetdidactic,thatis,concernedchieflywithathesisorargument;or a of some human action or behavior' Such mimetic,that is, u distinctioni.of.ou""terelyheuristic'thatistosay'itonlyprovidesadirection practically all literary works in the present fur analysis and interpretation. or but when we ask for a stoty's'point course are best ,egatied as mimetic'

'"p'"'""tuiion

il[

"^'"oe'-"'*..--nlessfullyquoted,.aretobefoundattheendofthisessay:Appendix atso 265-?3 (question nor' 3-4)

li: i5-8t
see

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significance, or a poem's theme or argument (the subject of someone,s reflection in a poem), we are dealing with the story's insight into human experience or tlte poem's di daai c element.

Every reflective lyric poem has a speaker; that is to say, someone has
been imagined by the poet to be speaking and acting in his or her own person
a

in

effect is either seious(as when we sympathize with a lover,s distress in Luis G. Dato's poem' "Day on the Farm") or comic(aswhen we find a mocking gaiety and lightheartedness of mood in the lovers' dialogue in Guillermo castillo,g poem, "I Bring Thee Great Wealth, Georgianna"). Let me explain each ofthese topics.

use of "he said" or "she said" in a dialogue); or (c) the mixed mode,that is, a combination ofthe dramatic and the narrative modes. what specific means and devices are employed for the representation? This has to do with the verbal medium of thereptesentation. It concerns the use ofvarious rhetorical devices, such as the figures ofspeech, and other resources ofthelanguage. what is the power or effect ofthe representation? This maybe regarded as the force or energy of the creative work; that is, the reader, apprlhending thc experience as represented, is moved in a certain determinate way. In general, thc

dramaticmode. where the im agsnary charucters speak and act in their own person (as in a dialogue befween those characters in a short story); (b) the narrative mode, where an experience is told or recounted by an implied narrator (as in the

rrow is it represented? This is called the manner of representation. Generally, there are three ways of representing a human experience: (a) the

particular human situation. That speaker who exists only in the poem is also called the poet's persona; s/he is not necessarily to be identified with the poet
himself. The poem on the page then is imaginary discourse: that is, the speech of rome imaginary person. That speech (someone speaking) is the very form of the apeaker's action or state of soul; that is to say, as poem or verbal construct, that rpeech onthepage sin ulates someone's action or state of soul - such action or hchavior, for example, as someone pleading (in Luis G. Dato's "Day on the Farm," 75-76) or mocking (in Luis Dato's "Spinster," 72); or such state of soul eB someone's dread of death (in Trinidad L. Tarrosa-Subido's "Love, When I

Itind You Quietly Asleep," 79) ot rapture of death-longing in a mystic

lpprehension of beauty (in Cornelio F. Faigao's "Night in a Small Town," 78). To apprehend the poem then is to be able to describe the nature of
tomeone's activity asrqresaxed. Take Maram6g's "Moonlight on ManiaBay." Someone - the speaker in the poem - is moved by the serene beauty of Manila Bay on a moonlit night. He reflects that in our history the Bay has not always offered such a scene of quiet splendor. On that Bay nations have fought to wrest cuntrol of our land. He then recalls "one historic night" when Dewey routed thc Spanish fleet and, freeing us from Spanish tyranny, "claimed a people's
cAre.tt

'What

Is Represented?

This is the objeaof representation: some human action orbehavior; for example, in Fernando M. Maram6g's ,,Moonlight on Manila Bay,' (75),
someone's ftain of reflection; or, in paz Marquez Benitez's ,,Dead Stars" (story),

someone's indecisiveness leading to failure in a human relationship.

Alvero's comic"Idilio de Amor," g2).

meditation," and regard it as a form of soliloquy or dramatic monologue. Therc are of course other kinds; e.g., the didactic poem or ,,poem of idea" which concerns itself primarily with establishing a particular thesis or argument; ot the narrative poem where the chief interest lies in the story itself (e!., virgilio F' Floresca's seious narrative, "The Spanish Governor," lg-gl or-Aurelio s,

The most common form of lyric poetry depicts ,o-.orr.', reflective, activity. You can very well call it the "reflective lyric poem" or ,,the lyric

someone's reflective activity, we can more readily apprehend the speaker's situation at the moment of speech. He accepts, and in fact celebrates, the American conquest of lhe Philippines. Webecome quite clear about his thought, feeling, and attitude. It should also be noted that when one has described (l) the objea of reprcsentation - that is, what human action or behavior the poem or story has represented - it becomes easier to discuss and explain, (2) how that action has bee n represented, (3) with what means and devices of representation, and (4) to

Notice that in thus explicating the nature and course

of

what dlfect (that is, the power or capacity of the representation to move its rcaders in a certain determinate way).

How Ir It Represented?
you read, the literarypiece puts you in tc porition, as it were, of a witness to an event, as though in your mind's eye tuu werc watching a human action on sgage (an imaginary character talkingby Thc Dramatlc Mode. When,
as

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sort ofperson he or she is)' his thought, and his feering. when we apprehend all ther" - u"tiorr, character, thought, emotion * from someone's speech, we shall have grasped the human experience that the poem has represented. Ihe Narrative Mode. When, as you read, the literary piece puts you in the position, as it were, of a listener to anaccount, the marrne, of replsentation is narrative. You respond to what you are told about by someone, *h.tt o ,h"t "someone" is the narrator himself (the ,,I" in the poe-j o, ,o-"one else that the implied nafiatot is telling you about. we must try and be crear about this: someone (the narrator) is recounting to you, the reader, some event that is happening or has already happened. That nanator may be the aufhor or an imaginary ch aracter, Take these two poems by Angela C. Manalang_Gloria: Querida
The door is closed, the curtains drawn within. One room, a brilliant question mark of light ... Outside her gate an empty limousine Waits in the brimming emptiness of night.

speak in his own person; his speech, which is the poem on the page, is the very mode ofrepresentation (the dramaticmode) by which we as its readers come to know his action (what precisery he is doing), his particular situation in life (as far as we can tell from what he says), his character (what

of representation is dramatic. you respond to someone,s action or behavior as s/he speala in his/her own person. we must always bear in mind that speech is action; it is essentialry the dramatic mode' someone in the poem is allowed, so to speak, by the poet to

himsel{, or two or more imaginary characters interacting in dialogue), the manner

listening, as it were, to an eyewitness account. You gather from the account what precisely is happening, and from the way it is told, you are also moved to assume a celtain attitude toward the nocturnal visit. Your attitude is subtly aligned to the narrator's own moral stance that is implied by what he takes note of, as when he speaks of that "one room, [as] a brilliant question mark of light," pr when he suggests a kind of moral desolation "in the brimming emptiness of night." Thus, the poem "Querida" may be said to be a representation in the narrative mode. Or, at the very least, that is how you might argue that the poem
is

narrative in manner.

In "Old Maid," you also have description - of an "old maid walking on a city street." As you have seen in "Querida," descriptionby itself is a species of narration. So, you can very well argue that the poem "Old Maid" is also in the naffative mode. [We know from the poet herself - but not ftomthe poem's text - that the poet is referring to her maiden aunt.l The implied narratol's chief image or recollection of the '1old maid" is how she would walk down a city
street. You infer from someone's tecollection [narration or account] her attitude toward the "old maid" and are moved to share it. You could say that you share the narrator's admiration of her aunt's gumption, as in her refusal to conform to the wodd's conventional expectations. Yet, you can make a case for the same poem as a representation

in the that, in the poem, someone (whose speech or dramatic manner by arguing
poem on the page) ts recalling aspinster whom he or she knows. What is represented, therefore, is someone's mental activity of recollection at themoment(the poem's present imaginary time); the description the poem on the page - simulatesthat mental activity. The poem therefore is in the dramatic modebecause, as you read, you witness someone who is recollecting
"

interior monologge"

is the

and admiringher aunt.

This way of insisting that "old Maid" is in the dramatic mode may well

OldMaid Walkingon

a City Street

be too clever for

Because her mind refused the heavy burden, Her broad feet shovelled up the world.

She had a way of walking through concupiscence And past the graces her fingers nlever nvirled:

In "Querida," someone is describing a scene. That someone (the implied narrator) is, at the moment (the imaginarypresent time ofthe poem;, witnessing an event* a tryst' as the poem's title suggests. But as the poem'c rcader, you arc

what is evidently narrative. But as you can see' it may sometimes be arguable e ither way - dramatic ot narrative. Especially with short lyric poems where you can often pos it a speaker who is engaged in some form of mmtal adivity , what at frst appears to be narrative may yet be regarded as dramatic. You can be so clever! but, in any case, what is primary is that you apprehend the human cxperience as represented. Can you argue, for example, that "Querida" can be rcgarded as a representation in the dramatic mode? Yes, of course. You can
argue that someone in the poem is at the moment obsen ing an incident at night' etc.

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In most lyric poems, the drotnatic mode is cleaily employed. Take these by Angela Manalang-Gloria - from (a) "To the Man I Married" (76):
You are my earth and all that earth implies: The gravity that ballasts me in space, The air I breathe, the land that stills my cries For food and shelter against devouring days. You *ho are earth,O never doubt that I Need you no less because I need the sky!

It was a sacrilege, the neighbors cried,

The way she shattered every mullioned pane To let a firebrand in. They tried in vain To understand how one so carved from pride And glassed in dream could have so flung aside Her graven days, or why she dared profane The bread and wine of life for one insane Moment with him. The scandal never died'

from (b) "Cementerio del Norte" (76-77) And so, it all must come to this - a dying afternoon, Thin cerements of rain around the forlom
ghost of weeping,

But no one guessed that loveliness would claim Her soul's cathedral burned by his desires' Or that he left her aureoled in flame " ' And seping nothing but her blackened spires, The town condemned this girl who loved too well And found her heaven in the depths of hell'

Ufhat elre is there to say, now that the

sleepless dead are sleeping?

Certainly,onfirstreadingit,youapprehendanarrator,someonewhois neighbors telling you about some occurrence in the past and what Soledad's how "They You are told thought of it: "It was a sacrilege, the neighbors cried." in v arn/Tounderstand" why Soledad carried on with "a tried [thosle neighbors] told that "The hrtbrand'i against the town's moral code of conduct. You are

from (c) "1940 A.D." (77-78)

We heard it whirring through the air Like some primordial, thundered word.

it.r.

i, no bright Apocalypse

In this despair whereon to cling,

in durance vile, the lips Break into prayer for another spring.
Save that,

the narrative mode' You rcandal never died." Clearly, all thatpresentation is in an illicit love affair tre listening, as you read the poem, to someone's report on you get the ln the eyes of the townspeople. In the poem's second stanza' (nanator) has her own thoughts about the matter; lmpression that the reporter scandalized her town. In lhe anives at a differeni judgment of the event that has well." And you are moved to take A word, she defends "this girl who loved too her side against the town's conventional wisdom'

In all these poems, you as reader will most certainly have the impression that you are in the presence of a speaker who, in the first instance (a), is ardently appealing to her beloved to understand her need; in the second (b), is deeply mourning someone at a burial ceremony; and in the third (c), is in grievous despair over the horror of imminent war. Suppose, as a last instance, you are reading Angela C. Manalang-Gloria's "Soledad"

and often, tlramatic and narrative.very few lyric poems ale in the mixed mode' are usually in the lhcy are narrative or story poems. But short stories and novels

ThcMixerlModeofRepresentation.Thatistosay:themannerisboth

mixedmode.

poem in the F. Floresca's "The spanish Governor" (79-81) is a of a dialogue between an mixed mode; the narrative or story is told in the form

virgilio

corcuera. Let us i=narrator and the ghost of the spanish Governor-General the opening look more closely into this narrative poem. If we assume that
Yerses

Who is this bold imPudent wight Breaking the quiet ofthe night "'

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69

the dramatic mode; that query or activity oi ttrought

represent or simulate the I-narrator's mental query, then the poem has begun

appreciate the of the poem's text is necessary to of rqresentatior. A close reading

say, he challenges the ghost

someone's reaction to an apparition. Then, immediately, this l-narrator accol the ghost; because he speala in his own person and acts upon the ghost (that is

,.pr.r.rrt

dramatica

of corcuera), it is in the same dramitic mode:

And incense is thy ghastly breath. Am I thy foe _ what did I do

That I should merit terror
so?

Who art thou? _ Thy smell is death,

medium or means of representatron' Angela words, images, and metaPhgrs in What follows - an analysis of the painstaking' stem rather long' tedious' and Manalang-Gloria's "Sodd; - muy e poetn. The what takes place whm one reads But bear in mind ,nur-i *rt really we might say tom line to line' all and even more than reader takes in, u, t" to stress the vitality "ua" analysil thel is only meant about the poem's lut guuge' Our has a when he comprehends the poem' of the verbal rn.Ait'rn;-Jutty reader'
strong sense of of apoem's Itbean stressingthat a common feature irony, among the use of imagery, metaphor, and and vitaliry often ttrougtr one to appreciatesuch mastery ofexpression, other rhetorical devices. in order This is the poem's vocabulary and allusions' mu$ grasp precisely the sense of the frst stanza no poem'As you read' for example' most basic; without it, therc is

it'

langrageis its freshness

so far, then, the poem is dramatic; but in the following verses, the I-narrator clearly shifts into a narrative mode (his is why we speak of an I-narrator):
Then pale and shrill tones waved on air, White seemed and pale those ruins bare,

speech, the dramatic mode); but quickly, the mode shifts into the narrativc (commentary and description) : Memory
Forgot the whims of History. 'TWas dawn, and the glimmering stars Were retreating in Night's wars. Then as he flew, cried:

so far as he speaks in{ his own person as Governor, the mode is dramatic; but in so far as his speech is a telling, an account of his misfortune, the mode is narrative. when the Governof has finished, the l-narrator asks: "Art thou, art thou? -" (again, as someone,g

After those verses, the ghost speaks in his own person. In

of"soledad,"itisimperativethatyouapprehendtheprecisesenseofcertain ltlhat do you understand by the statement' words, phrases, u"a J*p'""ions: do ;;ii;;ed pane"? (but first' what is a "mullion"?) Whatyou " she shattered.".,y How may call ttre girl's lover "a fuebrand?" the townsfolk mea" wht" thty pride/And glassed in ftom
is depicted as "carved rlescribe Soledad wfren she apply to "graven "graven image"? andhow does its meaning

tlream"? what is a
rlays"? Explainthe

may alsobe curious aliu,io" i" "Iread andwine of life'" You and "scandal'" .nfugn to fook up the etymology of "sacrilege" ,jioi.Oua,' Io its end, what is your evaluation of its diction Havingread andimagery?Bythepoem'sdiction'wemeanitsparticularchoiceandusageof ,,carved from pride," "she dared profane," ecrtain words you describe such ""d ";;;.;;ons: ,,nureoled in Ru*.,i Ge depths of hell," etc. How may t|iction?Youmaywellcomment,forinstance,thatitisformal,elevatedintone' you may also say that, on the whole, the poem's tone eve n florid and ebullient. nndperspectiveisRomantic_butwhatpreciselyismeantby..Romantic''as
rcgards the Poem "Soledad"?

'saddest corcuera!' - the Governor's mournful last words, his own confession of identity, end the poem in the dramatic mode.

\Mhat Means and Devices of Representation Are Used?

This formal dimension of the literary work has to do with the writer,s use of language or the verbar medium:we ask what resources of the ranguage, what rhetorical devices, such as the figurcs ofspeech, the writer emptoys is the meatt

sensations' and and what fcelings that are evokedbithe metaphors What do these images and rnctaphors you do it"O in "soledad'" How effective are they? ;hnrc as their import and significance? the exact, you can very well note that To illustrate what these questions metaphor and image then' you have both ulrcning verse speaks of "a sacrilege"; ,,she shattered every muliioned pane." The image clearly is ln the next verse: By the

poemi,i*t 'r,we mean those mental pictures' poem's words' Explain what imagery

tlrntofsoledadshattering..everymullionedpane''toletherloverin;butits

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71

sense is metaphorical

she broke the town's moral strictures.

(If

so, one

need to explain why or how "mullioned pane" which phrase relates to other expressions in the poem as "glassed in dream" and ,,her soul's - suggests "moral strictures.,')

who rejects the to spiritual harm - not to Soledad' lnd pettiness, can in fact lead narrow-minded and spiteful'

to*n'folk Ewn's moral code, but to the

glassed in dre am?" " gtayendays"? "bread and wine of life"? ,,her soul's cath

Now consider all the other images and metaphors in the poem and metaphors are often conjoined): what image is evoked, and metaphorical sense is conveyed, by the following: ,'carved ftompride /

*ho remain gyspiriualityo*"o"tunit'nerfreedomofsoulthatis'inaprofoundsense'the morallty' vity gtou"a of all religion and . -. diffrculty with U" addressed' The average reader's point One last of the "JJ 'o side - the matter' for example' poetry has often to do with its technical These require of metrical patterns'
and various conventional forms of poetry expected to of the wodd's poetry' Yet one is eourse a long and wiOe experience sonnet' ode' common forms of poetry - the be rhmiliar witrr at teasiiit -o" foot (iamb' trochee' technical matters as the metrical elegy, ballad - and such

exercise will deepen your awareness of the evocative power of images and metaphors. Note that you yourself willhave to producetheimage(some mental picture or other sensation) from such expressions as ,,aureoled in flame,,, and recreate its precise sense .Fr the speaker-narrator in the poem. whatever imagi arises in your imagination - and whatever sense a metaphor seems to transmit to you - it is always the case that both image and sense spring from those associations (subjective meanings, connotations, links, or connections) that certain words and expressions have for you. Those associations have obviously their own private origin in your life experience and reading; you will need iherefore to check those associations againsttheindividual human experience that the poem represents (that is, soledad's passionate affair as perceived by the narrator, hef defender),

bumed by his desires"? "aureoled in flame"? "her blackened spires"? perha you may even sense a kind of buried (as it were) image and metaphor in "firebrand" which relates to "her heaven in the depths of he[.,' In any case, thi$

etc,)

In regard then to

u,,or,,uo'."f,i;;;"^a-J"

il'il"#ffi

iil;'*#;'*"';;i"r"i"d"isspecincalrv^'::y"-!::::::"llll1llij;
is

;r;;;;;'G;rorrna.r.ou{1"--lT:ff l*:it^T:i'

,,soredad,,, what conventional form of poetry has been ircments is a sonnet. A sonnet has certaT,folTlllltements'
.ln.rmcd

llffi ffi#;";(*;'i"t*:-"*').''!!:Y::!:;::b::::i::ff: ill'ililil#'*;ffi i"e';;".N:"1"1.11:\:::"*::#::#::::: sestet' :ffi;:ffi i, ," 'io ""in in ttrought ttrat purzued "io :T::*the liffi ffi;;.;;,-;;;;'"on*ii"'*.h:'i1*11'11-i:Yii1i!( when a feat has been accomplished *i",
"erbal form like a sonnet' poct follows a strict conventional

ilffi;r;;;,ir.r,

Representation? What Is the Power or Effect of the of any literary work (poem, story, you read certain determinate way' When lrf move the reader o, ut'aitoi in a ..littledad,,,ro,.*u*pr",y*eventualytakethenarrator'ssideagainstthetown's
Thepower or
effea

now have already noticed the religious undertones in such words as ,,sacrilege" and "profane," "heaven" and "hell," and in such metaphorical expressions as "graven days," "the bread and wine of life,', and ,,her soul's cathedral.,, The poem's chief rhetorical device or strategy is ironic contrast: the town,s blindness (they see only "her blackened spires,') and the speaker's insight (,,he left her aureoled in flame"). Thus, the religious associations that underlie the poem's words, images, and metaphors serve to enhance the contrastbetween morality and spirituality. To define these terms, we must regard the poem's context, that is, the narrator's own evaluation and judgment of what the town regards

well define their common import and significance, and thereby explain their ffictiveness in light of how the erperience, as represented, is to move the reader lsee the next section on the power or effect of the representation). you shall long before

Now, having run through all those images and metaphors, you can very

play) is its capacity

cundcmnationofSoledadbecause'asyoufollowandassumethenarrator'sown narrolvwith Soledad and find her townmates .ld ncc, you begin to sympathize "soledad" is intheveryfirst andharsh. yorrri*rrr"sponsetothepoem
that has just been represented,

nrincrcd your response to the human experience plncc, before all other considerations' representation: what we have called the obiea of

ilratistosay,somehumanactionorbehavior(inthepoem'aswehaveseen'that implied narrator). Bvt how that obiecthas 6ctitrn is Soledad,s u, iora us by an
bernrepresented(whatwehavecalledrl'ernannerofrepresantation)'andbywhat also enhance
of the resources of a language), ltlarrrr (what particular employment

"sacrilege" and "scandal." By morarity then is meant a code of conduct by which the townspe<lple live, but which, because of human narrclw-mindedness

as

llte ptlem's Power to move us'

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73

Now, the effect of any literary work is either senb us ot comic. We need understand what we take to be comic in an artistic representation. The like the serious, is so much a matter of the dominant mood and stance or that the work itself has forged or seems to make us assume toward what it represented. while it is true that your own response to the work depends on how you interpret the objea andthe manner of thepoetic representation, and how you perceive the means ernployed for the representation, nevertheless response should never be arbitrary or negligent but sensitive, intelligent,
defensible.

is,

marriage, a husband, children). The poetic representation puts you, the reader' in a kind of lighthearted mood so that you are disposed to look on the old maid respect and ns one who, for strength of character or conviction, deserves our argue even admiration. Or at least, if I so take the poem in that way, then I could
f

and hat it is comic.Yet,undeniably, you could also algue that it is a seriouspiece, dogmatic aboutthe correct stance to you wouldbe right, too! We cannotbe too

your own tnke. You need only come up with some plausible explanation for prOvoke a lively discussion; re sponse to the poem. In any case, the exercise should literary analysis, making one more sensitive to subtle nlso, it hones one's skill in
nuances of tone or attitude in the poetic representation.

When a poem, story, or play treats its subject lightly or mockingly, or a mood (or frame of mind) of gaiety and lightheartedness, or holds it up ridicule, it is comic. Take, as comic instances, Luis Dato's ,,Spinster" and Manalang-Gloria's "Old Maid Walking on a City Street.,'
Spinster The dove, when newly hatched,
Has tasty meat and tenderl When old, howe'er you stew her, You cannot rend her.

The lightheartedbantering or mocking tone is perhaps more evident in (1) Guillermo Castillo's "Argument in a Citcle," or (b) Trinidad Tarrosa-Subido's "Of Critics," or (c) Amador T. Daguio's "When I Look at'Women" (a) As I, one reader, may take it, a mock-serious pretence at exasperation

Argumentin

a Circle

A kind of sardonic humor underlies and defines the speaker's attitude

every spinster. He holds up his subject - every spinster, apparently to scorn ridicule. r regardthe manner of representation to b e dramatic: someone is

God I debate with you about your being but your arguments go a-circling confusing till I believe only in the dizziness which is me. If this should go on how should You and I ever come to
a conclusion?

God!
(b) A mocking, sarcastic Piece:

on the contrast between maidenhood and spinsterhood, thereby revealing only his attitude toward spinsters but also his own character, that is, the sort person that he is. But I could read the poem as a mere statement, which ir species of narration; the statement defines the same attitude toward mai The means of representation is chiefly the metaphor woman as fowl by whicl the contrast is i The other poem, "Old Maid Walking on a City Street" (see p. 64),

Of Critics
When

effected.

I in honestY observe My verse has light, and lilt, and verve, They up and walloP me with heat
For such delusion and conceit. Then, when THEY write me up, they write About my Verve, and Lilt, and Light;

a different case. Here, the same subject an individual old maid is held up praise or admiration. "Past the graces her fingers never twirled', or ,,Her bfi feet shovelled up the world." That characterization shows the narrator's atti one of lighthearted banter and sincere affection for an old maid who seems eccentric or at least diffbrent from other people in her ways (,,she had a way walking through concupiscence" or "her mind refused the heavy burden" tl -

And my conceit and self-decePtion

Becomes their Critical Perception,

74

partII: Readingthepoem

(c) A piece oflighthearted banter:

When I Lookat Women

Eating other fish, but never_

I think they look like fish

When I look at women eatins

And they look at each other In unlidded silence, so very Gossip in peaceful
Gesture.

Theless beautiful. They are So silent nibbling theiibites

APPendix

Early FiliPino Poems in Englis6

Their hands tenderly pierce

The dead things they

Moonlight on Manila BaY A light serene'

ethereal glory' rests Its 6eams effulgent on each cresting wave;

Disarmingly, so modest in decorum: Eating their custard pies; taking, Taking their time.

As if to say: Life is salad. Fish and roasted pig, hacked Into crisp, brown pieces. Thev sit

ire

eating,

Concluding Remarks Little more need be said about the application of those principres of formal analysis (the objea of representail;:;he manne,i themeats, andthe powet) to the poem, short story, the novel, or the play. By way only of summing up, this much may be asserted. Who the speaker in the poem is, rs in a short stor; ,rou.t, o, ptuy, any given ch aracter.What s/he says in his or her own person (speech as action: the dramatic mode) and what s/he does (some activity or behavior) show what sort of person (character) s/he is' All that the characters do in a short story, novel, or play constitute what is called plot' That plot is the human .*p.rirn"L

The silver touches of the moonlight Iave The deep's bare bosom that the breeze molests; wavy crq515 While lingering whispers deepen as the gr6ut' weird rhythm' now gay' now gently Roll with the sea to Pqye And floods of lambent light appear AII cast a spell that heeds not time's behests' Not always such the scene: the din of fight air; Has swelled the murmur of the peaceful displayed their might; Here East and West have oft tqil' Dark battle clouds have dimmed this scene-so Here bold Olympia' one historic night'

cqtt' Presaging freedom' claimed a people's

lly FernandoM.Maram6g ,llh, the Philippines], February 1912,127; Gemino Cottege Folio [University of eds'' Man of Earth (Q'C': Ateneo de Manila
I

L Abad and Ednaz'Manlapaz' t lniversity Press,1989), 32'

that has been represented, what we have called the objea of representation, It is itre principar cause of the work,s effect on us' But how it has been repr.r.nrJ 1rr, e manne),and with wh at mecrns, alsoenhance thatffia.

DaY onthe Farm

Marxist, deconstructive, psychoanalytical, etc' these, as we have .urri.. mentioned, may easily be assimilated into the formarist criticar framework. Besides, those other criticar approaches must still proceed from some reasonable interprctation of the human experience that thc literary text has rcpresented.
feminist,

As to other critical perspectives

fo\nd you I've found you fruits of sweetest taste and

Bunches of duhat growing by the hill' I've bound your arns and hair with vine ancl bound you

Witt ,u.. wildflowers but you

are crying

still'