A-Gabu Let me give an example of how multilingual literary criticism can illuminate asp ects of a second-language poem.

Here is a stanza from a canonical Philippine poe m in English, "Gabu" by Carlos A. Angeles: The waste of centuries is grey and dead And neutral where the sea has beached its brine, Where the split salt of its heart lies spread Among the dark habiliments of Time. Notice the meter. Except for the third line, it is strictly iambic pentameter. W hy is the third line not in iambic pentameter? In the formalist way of looking at poems, we would say one of two things. First, the poet was incompetent. Second, the poet wanted to emphasize the third line a nd therefore deliberately did not make it follow the metrical scheme. Angeles has proven his competence as a poet in poem after poem, including this o ne, so the first conclusion is unacceptable. The second conclusion might be defe nsible, because the stanza might be talking about the heart of salt; the other t hree lines could be merely establishing the setting or condition for the insight . The second conclusion, however, would not sufficiently explain why Angeles did not just break the meter in the foot (or group of syllables, for those not fami liar with literary critical jargon) "split salt." On the contrary, the entire li ne is not iambic (one unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable), thou gh it still has five feet (which is the definition of pentameter). Multilingual literary criticism offers a third possibility. Angeles was from Ley te, an island in Central Philippines, where the language is Samar-Leyte or Waray . The vowels and accents of Waray are quite different from those of English. For one thing, there is a lot more natural rhythm or singsong in the language. "Spl it salt" has, for the native English speaker, two stresses, but it does not nece ssarily have that stress pattern for the native Waray speaker. The line, in othe r words, may be read as iambic. The lack of a syllable in the last foot may also be explained by multilingual li terary criticism. Filipinos tend to pronounce monosyllabic words starting with S as two-syllabled; "spread" has two syllables for Filipinos though it has only o ne for Americans. What appears as an error may now appear to be an interaction o f mother tongue and second language, not an attempt at emphasis nor inability to count. In fact, on the conceptual level, the emphasis of the stanza is really the darkn ess or deadness of the sea, which forms the central paradox of the whole poem, n ot its saltiness.

Gabu by Carlos Angeles A New Critical Reading

Carlos A. Angeles was born in Tacloban City, Leyte on May 25, 1921. He finished high school in Rizal High during the year 1938 and proceeded to college, going t o various universities such as Ateneo de Manila, University of the Philippines ( where he became a member of the UP Writers' Club), and Central Luzon Colleges. He, however, stopped and did not return to school after World War II. Despite this, he had a notable career, working at various institutions. He first worked at th e Philippine Bureau of International News Service from 1950 to 1958. He went on as a guest of the US State Department on a Smith-Mundt leader grant. He also work ed as a press assistant under the Garcia administration and as a Public Relation s Manager of PanAm Airlines. All these were from 1958 to 1980. He later on also served in the Board of Directors of the Philippine Chapter of International PEN. During 1964, when poetry was, for the first time, included in the Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Angeles' A Stun of Jewels, which was a collection of 47 poems he wrote, mainly dedicated to his wife, received first prize in thi s esteemed contest. The collection also won the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for Literature. He has been residing in the United States of America since 1978. Married to Conc epcion Reynoso, he has seven children and eighteen grandchildren, all of which a re also residing in the United States of America. Gabu is an actual place along the coastline of Ilocos Norte, located in the northe rn parts of the Philippines. The Philippines is known to the world as one of the most dangerous places to live in due to the fact that the country plays host to multiple typhoons every year. The coast of Gabu is no exception to these catast rophes. It is one of those areas which are frequently visited by the said typhoo ns. Every time a typhoon hits, most of the local flora and fauna gets

It is the sea pursues a habit of shores Our MA class runs like a book club. What happens is, we all six of us sit around a rectangular table, take turns reading passages aloud, and then humbly essay i nterpretations. Some sessions are more fecund than others. Some nights we simply fill the hours-long silence with the perfunctory oohs and ahhs. Those nights, I feel incredibly unworthy and could not bear to look my professor in the eye. La st night, however, was a good night. Sir Pulan did a reading of Carlos Angeles "Gabu," a poem about the violent sea. The sea thrashes and batters the shore, re ndering it a pitiful shred of wasteland, and leaving an elemental wound, but als o, with its every wave, loses something of its self to the shore-- the gift of s alt. I have never felt a deeper connection to a poem. I mourned for the sea impr isoned in its eternal pining for the shore, judged for its rage and turbulence. Perhaps its violence is because of its irremediable passion and desperation to b e one with the land. It was long before I realized that, as our professor chante d the words about the sea, I was swaying my hands gently, back and forth, like i ts helpless waves.

Waving Goodbye and Hello Posted by: nctan11 on: December 12, 2010 In: Uncategorized 1 Comment An Analysis of Gabu, by Carlos A. Angeles. by Charles Yu and Nicholas Tan Overall, the poem is about a beach or island called Gabu, and its relationship w ith the sea. However, there is an underlying sexual message that can be unveiled upon closer examination. The image the poem wishes to convey refers to an inten se period of sexual activity, followed by a long hiatus, concluding with a reawa kening of the desire. With regards to the voice of the speaker, a romantic is re miniscing about his sexual activities and rediscovering his drive. The arrangeme nt of the words has allowed the rhyme to exist; however, it must be read or reci ted with much practice for the lines to unite. Otherwise, the succeeding line wi ll not follow the train of thought of the previous. For instance, if one were to read line three alone: At Gabu, and its pure consistency, one would notice that it s may cause confusion and lead the reader to believing that it refers to Gabu, when the actual antecedent, tidal fury is actually in the previous line. Ergo, the poe m cannot be analyzed line-by-line properly, so a stanza-by-stanza approach is re quired. These will be explained further as each stanza is explained. The battering restlessness of the sea Insists a tidal fury upon the beach At Gabu, and its pure consistency Havocs the wasteland hard within its reach. The first stanza uses strong and consistent words such as battering, fury, havocs, and hard to establish the ferocity of the beach at the isle of Gabu. However, words t hat connote less force such as pure and insists lightens the mood so as not make the scene look apocalyptic. They all refer to the ocean component, but the sea is o nly half a beach. The shore is described as a wasteland, making the beach a giant desert of sand and some garbage. Using this balance, the heavy and light words g ive an image of a desert being acquiesced to the onslaught of brutal yet non-let hal waters. This defamiliarization refers to erotica. Notice how a male would ty pically dominate a female, imposing upon her a brutal and repeated penetration w ithout actually annihilating her, the same way the image of a thunderous waters smash the beach without any reaction. The sea also acts as a metaphor of ejacula tion, causing the female to become wet within. Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart Against the seascape where, for miles around, Farther than sight itself, the rock-stones part And drop into the elemental wound. The second stanza now takes the point of view of the female, who typically recei ves the onslaught described in the first line. Brutal gives the stanza a hard star t to mark the setting to be the same as of the previous one. However, the change of view is marked by the phrase of its heart against the seascape. Since only two objects are in question, and one, the seascape, is mentioned, its automatically ref ers to the terrestrial portion of the beach. Quite obviously, the there are two metaphors for the genitalia of female. First, the rock-stones part, an obvious ind ication of the opening of the uterus to receive the thrusts. Secondly, the elemen tal wound refers to the breaking of the hymen by the element of the sea, which is a metaphor for the penile penetration.

The waste of centuries is grey and dead And neutral where the sea has beached its brine, Where the split salt of its heart lies spread Among the dark habiliments of Time. The next stanza begins with the words waste, grey, and dead, with words neutral and o follow. The mood weakens and more monochromatic as the colorful and strong ima ges produced from the previous paragraphs are colored grey, making them dull. Th e image of decaying excrement fills the shoreline of the now gray scaled beach b ecause of the other two beginning words. Centuries exists to amplify the quantity of the waste and the quality of the death. A decline from the point of climax ma y be inferred from the word neutral as the intense events begin to normalise after the sea has breached its brine; the sea once again referring to the male genitals , and the brine, a saltwater solution, referring to the product of an ejaculatio n. However, the word centuries may act as a hyperbole for a large amount of elapse d time. The author may have grown and matured, leading the earlier sexual drive to a hiatus among the dark habiliments of Time. The term split salt appears to refe r to the fertility of the man, following the brine-based metaphor, having been s pread or thinned along the progress of time. Dark contributes to the lack of color or passion in the life in question while adding connotation of evil to the word habiliment. The word habiliments is another word for clothing but also refers the function of clothing as fashion, an evolution from the main purpose of having c lothing: external protection. The same way, Time, personified in the poem, has d eveloped a fashion of removing the sexual drive when its most basic purpose is t o age an object. This development is seen as evil, and therefore, is described a s dark. The vital splendor misses. For here, here At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs All things forfeited are most loved and dear. It is the sea pursues a habit of shores In this final segment, the stanza opens with the words vital and splendor, resurrect ing the earlier image of physical intensity. The verb misses then describes the im age as something gone, since, after all, it is missed. The beach of Gabu is then brought up again, but the focus is immediately directed to the sea via the word tide. Calling it ageless renders the previous stated effect of Time on libido nil. The desire just disappeared temporarily in the previous lines and is presently r ecurring because the vital splendor misses. At Gabu, at the place where the ocean meets the shore, where the male meets the female, all things that are loved and d ear are laid down or forfeited. Note how loved and dear two very emotional and endear ing words, denoting an acute attachment to something. The love expressed at the act of intercourse is therefore tantamount to the love of someone else to such a n extent that the persons are willing to lay down what is held precious to them in order to achieve the initial passion of before. The poem concludes with the se a as the subject, pursuing the habit of shores. Pursue connotes more of a journey fro m the place of the normal state back to the preferred excited stage rather than a chase of sorts because the preceding line holds no intense words, and the form at of having a space in between causes a moment of relaxation for the reader. It evokes a more calm atmosphere, giving pursue a less intense connotation. Finally, the habit of shores returns us to the recipient of the manifestations of the thru sts of the waves.