TULANG PANG-HIGH SCHOOL

TULANG PANG-HIGH SCHOOL

Isang tagasubaybay ang wari ay naghahanap ng mga tulang pang-high school. Noong nasa high school kami, at ito ay marami nang taon ang nakalipas, may subject kami na ang tawag ay English & Literature. Kasama rito ang pag-aaral ng grammar na ang isa sa mga paborito namin ay ang diagramming. Ito ay ang pag-analisa sa isang mahabang sentence sa pamamagitan ng diagram at tukuyin ang gamit ng bawat salita rito. Kung alin ang subject, ang predicate, ang object, and article, preposition at kung anu-ano pa na dapat ilagay sa dapat kalagyan sa pamamagitan ng diagram.

Isa pang paborito namin ay ang Literature. Hanggang ngayon ay natatandaan pa namin sina Silas Marner at Ichabod Crane. At higit sa lahat, ang mga ipinamememoryang tula, na marami sa amin, hanggang ngayon, ay nakatatanda pa sa mga ito.

Sino ang makalilimot sa “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” ni Christopher Marlowe -

Come live with me and be my love
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Or woods and steepy mountains yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies,
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle
Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;

A belt of straw and ivy buds
With coral clasps and amber studs;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherds swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me and be my love.

Naaalaala pa namin kung paano ito bigkasin ng aming guro. Parang ninanamnam ang bawat salita. Nag-aanyaya. Halina, mahal... At ang mga batang puso namin ay nangarap na sana, may isang talisuyong darating sa aming buhay at kami ay yayayaing sumama sa kanya.

Ipinakabisa rin sa amin ang “Native Land” from the Lay of the Last Minstrel ni Sir Walter Scott -

Breathes there the man, with soul so dead,
Who never to himself hath said,
This is my own, my native land?

Ang ilang stanza sa Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard ni Thomas Gray -

Let not ambition mock their useful toil,
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.

The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave
Awaits alike th' inevitable hour: -
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.

Gayundin ang “The Daffodils” ni William Wordsworth - na sa unang pagkakataon, sa isang pagtungo ko sa USA, ay nakakita ako ng bulaklak na ito, hindi ko napigilan ang hagilapin sa isip ang stanza na ipinakabisa noon ng aming guro -

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils,
Beside the lake, beneath the trees
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

E, si “Abou Ben Adhem” ni Leigh Hunt? Isang panahong itinuring ko siyang idolo. Tanda ko ang isang bahagi ng tulang ito tungkol sa isang anghel na nakita niyang nagsusulat sa isang ginintuang aklat:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the presence in the room he said,
'What writest thou?' - The vision rais'd its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord,
Answer'd, “The names of those who love the lord,'
'And is mine one?' said Abou. 'Nay, not so,'
Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerly still; and said, 'I pray thee, then,
Write me as one that loves his fellow men.'
The angel wrote, and vanish'd. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And show'd the names whom love of God had blest,
And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest.

At kapag kami naman ay dinadalaw ng lungkot (kuno, maarte rin naman ang mga teen-ager noon, walang kaibhan sa mga teen-ager ngayon), at natingala sa langit, nakakita ng sumisilay na tala pagkalubog ng araw, may tula na agad kaming naiisipang bigkasin, ang “Crossing the Bar” ni Alfred Tennyson -

Sunset and evening star
And one clear call for me!
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to see.

---- ---

Twilight and evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell;
When I embark;

At ang huling stanza ng “Invictus” ni William Ernest Henley -

It matters not, how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

Ngunit halos lahat ay memorized by heart ang “Sonnets from the Portuguese” ni Elizabeth Barrett Browning! Ito ang paborito ng mga may crush noon.

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and Ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candlelight...

Na tinatapos sa “and if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” Pero siempre, noon ito, noong mga bata pa na very idealistic ang tanaw sa mundo.

Ngayon, may naiba man, may isang bagay pa rin na hindi nagbago sa aking paningin. Na aking pinaniniwalaan. Pinanghahawakan. Ito ay ang “Sonnet CXVI” ni William Shakespeare -

Let me not the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove.
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests, and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

Ganda, di ba? Kaya lamang, sa kwento kong “Si Taba”, hindi naniniwala rito si Michael nang i-recite sa kanya ito ni Anna. Bakit kaya?

Abangan “Si Taba!”