Francisco Balagtas

Francisco Balagtas (April 2, 1788 - February 20, 1862), whose real name was Francisco Baltazar, is considered one of the great Filipino poets.

His best-known work is Florante at Laura (Florante and Laura). He used his native language, Tagalog, at a time when most literature was written in Spanish. Some schools of thought believe that her poems represent the injustices that the native inhabitants of the archipelago suffered under the Spanish colonizers. He was born in a small town called Bigaa (present-day Balagtas), in the province of Bulacan (near Manila). He was the youngest of the four children of Juan Baltazar, a blacksmith, and Juana de la Cruz. Filipe, Concha and Nicholasa are his brothers. His aunt Doña Trining sponsored him, impressed by his diligence. He studied at the University of San Juan de Letran and University of San José, in Manila, under the tutelage of Father Mariano Pilapil. He studied law, Spanish, Latin, physics, Christian doctrine, humanities and philosophy.

Works

• Florante at Laura
• Orosman at Zafra Comedy in four acts
• Don Nuño at Selinda Comedy in three acts
• Auredato at Astrome Comedy in three acts
• Clara Belmoro Comedy in three acts
• Bayaceto at Dorslica Comedy in three acts
• Elegant India and the lover black Sainete

• Wikisource in Spanish contains original works of Francisco Balagtas.