The Philippine National Hero

IF truly a people dearly loveThe tongue to them by Heaven sent,They'll surely yearn for libertyLike a bird above in the firmament.In this first stanza we note that Rizal considers a people's mother tongue as a gift from heaven. Growing up in the Catholic faith where language, according to the Bible, originated from the fall of the Tower...

Aglowing and fair like a houri on high,Full of grace and pure like the Morn that peepsWhen in the sky the clouds are tinted blue,Of th' Indian land, a goddess sleeps.Rizal builds a description of his motherland using simile and metaphor. He likens her to an houri which, by definition, is one of the beautiful maidens that in...