Resumen
Resumen de Florante y Laura
Para quién es
For readers who love epics, romances and adventure tales, and anyone curious about Filipino literature and its roots. Love, loyalty, betrayal and the struggle for justice give students and poetry lovers plenty to explore.
De qué trata este libro
Florante at Laura is a long narrative poem in Tagalog by Francisco Balagtas, who is also known as Francisco Baltazar. It was first printed in 1838, in the Philippines under Spanish rule. It tells of a knight, a princess, a Persian prince and a traitor, in a kingdom called Albania. The scene is a fairy-tale Europe, but the poem was written for Filipino readers and listeners, who knew it by heart and sang it aloud.
The form is the awit, a poem of four-line stanzas with twelve syllables to each line. There are 399 stanzas. The poem opens in a dark forest, where a nobleman is bound to a tree and cries out against the world. A stranger hears him and comes to his help. From there the story moves back through school days in Athens, a war, a stolen throne and two love stories.
In this summary you will meet the main people, follow the story to the point where it is still unsettled, and learn what the poem says about love, loyalty, power and faith. You will also hear how the poem is built and why Filipino readers have held it dear for almost two centuries. Let us begin in the forest, with a man in chains.
En este resumen
- 1A noble prisoner cries out in a dark forestFree
- 2A stranger from Persia saves him from lions
- 3A boyhood in Albania and school in Athens
- 4Adolfo's envy begins to shape Florante's fate
- 5A mother is lost, a country at war, a woman loved
- 6Aladin tells of his father, his love and his exile
- 7Love and loyalty stand against treachery
- 8A quiet protest against bad rulers and false piety
- 9How the poem is built and how to hear it
Idea clave 1 de 9
A noble prisoner cries out in a dark forest
The poem begins in a thick, gloomy forest outside the kingdom of Albania. The trees are tangled, the paths are lost, and the air is full of fear. Tied to a tree is a young man in good clothes, hurt and exhausted. This is Florante, son of Duke Briseo and a lord of Albania.
Balagtas does not start with a battle or a feast. He starts with grief. Florante speaks aloud, though he thinks no one is near, and he asks why heaven allows the wicked to rule. He sees his country ruled by treachery, and he sees honest people silenced or punished. He has lost his father, his home and his place, and his words are full of bitterness.
One name returns again and again in his lament, and it is Laura. She is the woman he loves, and he fears for her now that cruel men hold power. He remembers her kindness and cannot understand why fate has parted them. His love is a second wound that lies beside his anger at the state of the kingdom.
The opening works like a riddle. The reader sees the effect before the cause. Who tied him here, and why does he speak of treason and not of enemies in war? The poem answers, and it uses Florante's own voice to do it.
This start sets the poem's mood and its main question. Can a good person stay faithful to love and justice when the world rewards the opposite? Florante's pain is real, and the poem lets us feel it fully before it offers any hope. That hope comes from an unexpected direction.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
- Nothing to pay today · Renews every year
- We email you before you pay
- Cancel online in two clicks
Who’s who
- Florante
- Florante is an Albanian nobleman and general, the son of Duke Briseo and the devoted lover of Laura.
- Laura
- Laura is King Linceo's daughter, an Albanian princess whose love for Florante faces threats from those seeking power.
- Aladin
- Aladin is a Persian prince who loves Flerida and comes to Florante's aid while exiled from home.
- Flerida
- Flerida is Aladin's courageous beloved, whom his father, the Sultan of Persia, wishes to claim for himself.
- Adolfo
- Adolfo is a count's son and Florante's fellow student in Athens, whose envy makes him a dangerous rival.
- Menandro
- Menandro is Florante's trusted friend from their student days in Athens, loyal to him through Albania's troubles.
- Antenor
- Antenor is Florante's wise teacher in Athens, who connects learning with virtue and the pursuit of justice.
- Duke Briseo
- Duke Briseo is Florante's father and an honored royal counselor who sends his son to study in Athens.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 25,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 1 h 40 min
- Listening time2 h 45 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 14 other languages
Questions about Florante y Laura
What is Florante at Laura about?
It is a Tagalog poem about Florante, a noble general of Albania, who is bound in a forest and mourns his betrayed kingdom and his beloved Laura. It follows his friendship with a Persian prince and the schemes of a jealous rival.
Who wrote Florante at Laura and when?
It was written by Francisco Balagtas, also known as Francisco Baltazar, and first printed in 1838. He wrote it in Tagalog while the Philippines was under Spanish rule, and it quickly became a loved work of Filipino literature.
Is Florante at Laura a true story?
No, it is an invented tale set in a made-up Europe, in a kingdom called Albania. Many readers see in it a hidden comment on Balagtas's own time, especially on unjust rulers and abuse of power.
What is an awit and why does the poem use it?
An awit is a Tagalog verse form with four-line stanzas and twelve syllables in each line. It was meant to be chanted or sung, which is why the poem has a steady beat that people could remember and perform.
What is the main message of Florante at Laura?
The poem holds that love, loyalty and courage can stand against treachery and tyranny. It also suggests that goodness is a matter of character, not religion or rank, since good and bad people appear on every side.