Florante at Laura is an 1838 awit written by Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtas. The story is loosely based on his own biography: Balagtas wrote the epic during his imprisonment in Manila in . The story was dedicated to his former sweetheart María Asuncion Rivera, whom he nicknamed "M.A.R." and Selya in ("For Celia").
Form
Florante at Laura is written as an awit, meaning "song", but it also refers to a standard poetic format with the following characteristics: four lines per stanza; quatrain twelve syllables per line; an assonantal rhyme scheme of AAAA (as described by José Rizal in Tagalische Verskunst); a caesura or pause after the sixth syllable; a complete, grammatically correct sentence and a figure of speech for each stanza
Plot
Florante
The son of a princess and a royal adviser, Florante was loved and taken care of. When he was a baby, he was almost captured by a vulture that entered in their mountain cottage. He was saved by his cousin Menalipo, an archer from Epirus.
At 11 years old, Florante's parents, Duke Briseo and Princess Floresca, sent him to Athens, Greece, to study under Antenor, a renowned teacher. There, he meets Adolfo, the brightest student in their school. After six years of studying Astrology, Philosophy and Mathematics, Florante surpassed Adolfo's capabilities, talents, and intelligence, gaining popularity. While performing during a school contest, Adolfo attempts to kill Florante due to jealousy. Florante's friend, Menandro, was quick enough to save Florante, thus causing Adolfo to head home to Albania.
Two months later, Florante receives ten carriages along with a second letter from his father telling him to return to Albania. Menandro, unwilling to be separated from Florante and gaining permission to travel by his uncle Antenor, accompanied him on his journey. Upon their arrival to Albania, an emissary of the kingdom of Crotona requested Albania's assistance in the upcoming war against the Persians; Florante accepts to be the general that would help Crotona. In Albania, Florante falls in love with Laura, the daughter of King Linceo, completely forgetting about the war.
Helping Crotona, Florante fights against the Persian general Osmalik for five hours, finally slaying him in the end. He stays in Crotona for five months before returning to Albania to see Laura, where he sees a Persian flag waving atop the kingdom. He saves Laura from being beheaded from the hands of Emir, later recapturing the palace and saving his father, the King, and Count Adolfo; Florante is declared "Defender of Albania" for his bravery, deepening Adolfo's envy and hatred.
Florante protects the kingdom from the Turkish forces under General Miramolin, an acclaimed conqueror. In Aetolia, Florante later receives a letter from King Linceo, requesting him to come back to Albania. Upon returning, he is ambushed by 30,000 soldiers under Adolfo's orders and is imprisoned for 18 days. In prison, he learns his father and the king were beheaded by Adolfo. Florante is exiled to the forest and is tied to a tree for two days.
Aladin
After Florante finishes his story, Aladin introduces himself as Prince Aladin of the Persian kingdom and the son of Sultan Ali-Adab.
While walking through the forest, Aladin speaks about his lover, Flerida, whom his father also desired. After Aladin returns home from invading Albania, Ali-Adab imprisons him by claiming Aladin abandoned his troops, resulting in Aladin getting ordered decapitated. Aladin is eventually released by a general on Ali-Adab's orders, but Aladin is banished and may never enter the kingdom. Aladin roams around the forest, hears Florante, and finds him tied to a tree; he saves Florante from two lions and nurses him back to health.
Reunion and peace
Aladin's speech is interrupted when he and Florante hear voices. A woman, Flerida, tells them her beloved is about to be beheaded. She pleads with tears to the king to forgive his son; the king answers that he will not forgive his son unless she accepts his proposal of marriage. She escapes from the marriage, later searching for her beloved. She shares that she uses her bow and arrow in the forest to kill Adolfo, who was about to rape a woman—Laura.
Florante and Aladin reunite with their loved ones, Laura and Flerida. After they reunite, Laura tells her story: While Laura's lover was away at war, Adolfo made rumours, which causes the Albanians to overthrow the king. Adolfo rises to the throne, forcing Laura to be his queen. An army under Menandro, Florante's childhood friend, was able to overthrow Adolfo from power. Now hopeless, Adolfo flees into the woods with Laura.