TO THE FILIPINO

YOUTH
 Raise your unruffled brow
On this day, Filipino youth!
Resplendent shines
Your courage rich,
Handsome hope of my motherland!
Fly, grand genius
And infuse them with noble sentiment
That vigorously rushes,
More rapid 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 to fill young minds with noble thoughts and
hopes that as they release their thinking from the
chains that bind, they may be able to soar swiftly
high where the joy of honor is.
 Its virgin mind to the glorious goal.
Descend to the arena
With the pleasant light of arts and sciences,
And unbind, Youth,
The heavy chain
That fetters your poetic genius.
■ Contrary to the second verse, which talked about
ascending and soaring to the heights, this third
stanza now talks about descent, and a downward
motion of the great genius to fill the earthly
strokes of art and science with their magnificent
ideas. Again, Rizal calls them to break the chains
that bind their intellect. "Poetic genius" here does
not necessarily pertain to the talent of writing
poetry. Instead, the term "poetic" is simply an
adjective to describe genius, meaning that it is
deep and mystifying and heavy with meaning.
■Rizal challenges the youth, that in their
pursuit of knowledge and wisdom they may
humble the hand of Spain, whose proud
chin did not look kindly upon the people
whom they labelled as "Indios" and whom
they treated with contempt. He dreams that
in their journey to intellectual greatness
they may humble even the proudest
nations that look down on them and
rightfully deserve "a crown that shines,
 See that in the bright zone
With pious and learned hand,
Offers the son of this native land
Resplendent crown.
You who ascend
On wings of your rich fantasy,
Seeking from Olympus in the clouds
 Tenderest poetry,
Sweeter than nectar and ambrosia;
You of the celestial accent,
Melodious rival of the nightingale,
Who with varied melodies
Dissipate the mortal’s bitter pain
In the night serene;
You who animate the hand rock
With the impulse of your mind,
And with prepotent  hand makes eternal
■ In these two stanzas, Rizal calls the youth to seek
the beauty of poetry and music, which he himself
values greatly as essentials in every manner of
life. He claims that poetry is "more sweet than
divine honey," and that music can "dissipate
man's sorrow's blight."
 The pure memory
Of the refulgent genius;
And you, who with magic brushes
Are wont to transfer to simple canvas
The varied enchantment of Phoebus, beloved of
Apollo divine,
And the mantle of nature.
■ Speaking to the youth, Rizal says that by the very
impulse of their mind, they are capable of
bringing to life or animating even someting as
lifeless and unmoving as a hard rock. He
continues to say that the youth is able, to
immortalize their thoughts and their words
through the help of great genius (as he has done
himself.  This stanza can be arranged in a more
contemporary English structure as follows: "You
can animate the hard rock at the impulse of your
mind; and transform, with the great power of your
■ Rizal here addresses the youth,
comparing their abilities to a
magic brush that can capture even
the most majestic views and the
most glorious charms on a blank
canvas.
 Run! For the sacred flame
Of the genius awaits to be crowned with laurels,
Spreading fame
With trumpet proclaiming
O’er the wide sphere the mortal’s name.
 Day, oh happy day,
Philippines genteel, for your soil!
Bless the Almighty,
Who with loving desire
Sends you fortune and consolation.
■The last stanza is a charge, urging the
youth to run, for a glorious crown
awaits them. The "sphere" here
pertains to the world, showing that
Rizal believed the Filipino youth is as
brilliant as those in any other nation,
and is able to contend with even the
strongest powers if they only set their
mind to making most of what they
■The poem “To the Filipino Youth” by Dr.
Jose Rizal is a message primarily to tell
the importance of one’s love and
appreciation to his dialect or language,
for it is the bridge and intermediary
connecting people’s country to each
other.
■In the poem, Rizal praised the rising
generation. This poem can be
considered as Rizal’s first testimony
and presentation of his nationalism. In
this literary piece, he clearly referred
to the Philippines as his
home/motherland, Rizal thought in the
poem relates to the role of the youth
with the nation building.
■ Dr. Jose Rizal composed the poem “To the Filipino
Youth,” dedicating to the youth of the Philippines.
■ He wanted the Filipino youth to use their
capabilities, talents and skills to stand out not
only for their own praise and success but also for
the praise and success of their own motherland,
the Philippines.
■ Dr. Jose Rizal wanted the Filipino youth to build up
their abilities and use them to help those who are
in need.
■ Also, Dr. Jose Rizal challenged the youth through
this poem to refine and nurture their talents in the
■ On the other hand, the message this poem tries to
convey, “To the Filipino Youth” is holding a very strong
one; strong enough to persuade/induce those who are
to be persuaded/induced, the Filipino Youth.
■ As one of those individuals, I could really feel the
nationalistic courage within me glow brighter the
moment I finished reading the poem.
■ It was like telling me that I am one of the existing
hopes of our country and that through my skills,
abilities, expertise and knowledge of things, I am
capable of protecting its freedom against oppressive
forces that may come through. Moreover, it was like
telling me that together with my co-youth, I am
responsible for preserving the Philippines as a nation
■Lastly, based on what I felt when I was
reading the poem and the emotions
that were expressed on each of the
poem’s line, as to the sincerity of the
poem, I considered “To the Filipino
Youth” as indeed a work from the heart
with no pretension, no boastfulness, no
haughtiness and no plasticity. You can
really feel the eagerness that Dr. Jose
Rizal wanted everyone to have
■According to some, youth are back bone to
the nation. They can change the future of
the society with their well being, plucky and
courageous behavior. Unfortunately, today
we find the youth those who are more
interested in other places which are not
useful to them as well as to our
motherland. They choose to spend their
days doing drugs and alcohols, playing
video games, spending their nights partying
and living it up and worst involving their
young playful mind into a thing called
“premarital sex” engaging them to having a
■ Some instances of this age group are sitting at
home in front of their televisions/computers
playing games all day instead of bettering
themselves or going to work with something
which is very useful and productive. They have
no vision and if they do they do not have the
drive to make any attempt nor intent of having
them achieved.
■I must admit, the youth of today are out of
control, they follow the wrong path/crowd
just for their pleasure, leisure and
popularity. What is worse with the situation
is the youth that are the most out of control
are the individuals living in poverty,
majority of these individual rob and kill
people, most of them living in the wrong
path of drugs and liquors and most of them
involving themselves into parenting at a
very young age. Maybe because they feel
they don’t have anything, downing them to
thinking when you don’t have anything
■We, the youth, with regards with facing the
problems we have today should be done by a
centered and powerful guidance, providing
activities that will make us realize the real
essence of being a youth and of course the
teaching of what is really right and what is
really essential and precious with our nation.
We must motivate our co-youth; we must
teach everyone the significance of
responsibility and the purpose of goal setting.
Because if we refuse to have everything
settled, we will soon be supporting an entire
 ■I believe everything bad is not
constant, everything worthless is
obviously helpless; things have to
change, with our schools, with the
older generation setting as good
role models, with the older
generation setting as strict
mentors and with the older
generation setting as ideal leaders.
 ■We must all prove and show the older
generation what they were saying were
wrongs and misjudgments; we should
aware them we have the intelligence, the
abilities and the skills. We have to show
them what we are made of. In every
journey there will always be a challenge,
this challenge is never been identified by its
hardness, we, the youth, are the one
making it harder because we think, it’s
hard, but if we are going to open our mind
and make this challenge a stepping stone
maybe we can survive, prove something to
■ You might be surprised at how proud of yourself
you become with even the smallest of
accomplishments. You will not become rich
overnight either way but at least if you make an
effort, then you have begun your journey to your
dreams. Life is not about challenges; it is about
how you will face those challenges. Life is not
about just complying; it is about complying with
all your wills and efforts. Just like life you are not
that good enough even you already got
everything you have wanted. We should bear in
our mind that learning is constant. In everything
we do there will be an equal consequence of it,
 ■In this present era, youth’s
improvement was never an easy task,
but I believe everything God was
invented is meant to be accomplished.
If we, this nation’s youth will hold and
nurture everything our parents,
mentors, and leaders invested. We, the
youth can grow to be responsible