Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Tanaga, Haiku at Pantun

What I'm about to share here is an original composition by myself and my daughter. It's for an assignment for her Filipino class where they were asked to come up with their own poems. 

The Tanaga is a type of Filipino poem, consisting of four lines with seven syllables each with the same rhyme at the end of each line.

The modern Tanaga still uses the 7777 syllable count, but rhymes range from dual rhyme forms: AABB, ABAB, ABBA; to freestyle forms such as AAAB, BAAA, or ABCD. Tanagas do not have titles traditionally because the Tanaga should speak for itself. However, moderns can opt to give them titles.

"Ulan"
Ah tikatik ng ulan
Sa wakas ay dumating
Matagal dinasalan
Galak sa pagdating.

Haiku is a form of Japanese poetry, consisting of 17 moras (or on), in three phrases of 5, 7, and 5 moras respectively.

"Basura"
Tinapon mo 'to;
Umulan at bumaha,
Bumalik sa 'yo.

The pantun is a Malay poetic form. The pantun originated as a traditional oral form of expression. In its most basic form the pantun consists of a quatrain which employs an abab rhyme scheme. A pantun is traditionally recited according to a fixed rhythm and as a rule of thumb, in order not to deviate from the rhythm, every line should contain between eight and 12 syllables. The pantun is a four-lined verse consisting of alternating, roughly rhyming lines. The first and second lines sometimes appear completely disconnected in meaning from the third and fourth, but there is almost invariably a link of some sort. Whether it be a mere association of ideas, or of feeling, expressed through assonance or through the faintest nuance of a thought, it is nearly always traceable" (Sim, page 12). The pantun is highly allusive and in order to understand it readers generally need to know the traditional meaning of the symbols the poem employs.

"Pag-asa't Pagsinta"
Bakit ibig ilawan ang parol,
kung wala naman itong mitsa?
Bakit ibig mong magpahabol,
kung wala naman akong pag-asa?

Personally, I think this is a rather difficult assignment. At first we had difficulty searching for local materials even in the web. And so now, we're sharing what we've learned for others who may encounter the same difficulty in the future. Plus there are the three original examples here as bonus. ^_^

1 comment:

  1. This is a GREAT help to us. We're having this lesson for Filipino class and this surely helps us understand the topic better. Thank you! :)
    -Phil. Sci. HS - SMC; Lithium students

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