Prince Florante

Prince Florante - The son of a princess and a royal adviser, Florante grew up in happiness, showered with love. He liked to play games when he was six, and was almost killed by a vulture that entered in their mountain cottage, which was also followed by the attack of a falcon, who snatched his cupido diamante. He was saved by his cousin Menalipo, an archer from Epirus.

At the early age of 11, his parents, Duke Briseo and Princess Floresca, sent him to Athens, Greece to study under Antenor, a renowned teacher. There, he met Adolfo, a fellow countryman, the brightest student in their school. After 6 years of study, Florante surpassed Adolfo's capabilities, talents and intelligence, gaining popularity.

Florante protected the kingdom, once more, from the Turkish forces, under general Miramolin, an acclaimed conqueror. This took place in Aetolia, where he later received a letter from his father. The letter summoned him back to Albania. He left his troops in the care of his friend, Menandro. Upon returning, he was ambushed by 30,000 soldiers under Adolfo’s orders and was imprisoned for 18 days. There, he learned of the tragic fate of his father and the king. Under Adolfo’s hands, they were beheaded. Florante was then exiled into the forest and tied to the tree. “Never allow someone to be your priority while allowing yourself to be their option”

Florante at Laura Literary Form

Florante at Laura is written in a literary form called Awit, a word which in its present usage means "song". But the literary form called Awit is a poetic form which has the following characteristics:

1. 4 lines per stanza;
2. 12 syllables per line;
3. a rhyme scheme of AAAA (in the Tagalog manner of rhyming described by José Rizal in Tagalische Verskunst);
4. a slight pause on the sixth syllable;
5. each stanza is usually a complete grammatically-correct sentence;
6. each stanza is full of figures of speech (according to Fernando Monleon, Balagtas used 28 types in 395 instances throughout the poem);
7. (according to the tradition during Balagtas' time,) the author remained anonymous,
8. he/she offered his/her poem to Maria Asuncion "Selya" Rivera (a tradition which Balagtas built upon in Kay Celia); and
9. he/she asked for the reader's pardon (which Balagtas does very confidently in Sa Babasa Nito).