Google commemorated on Monday the 230th birthday of Francisco Balagtas, one of the Philippines’ most influential figures in literature.

 

On its homepage, Google featured a doodle of Balagtas’ most famous work and one of the country’s most important literary pieces, Florante at Laura.

 

The epic poem is a portrayal of Balagtas’ own life journey. It is written in dodecasyllabic quatrains, which means it has 12 syllables per line, 4 lines per stanza.

 

It was also written in Tagalog, at a time when most pieces of literary work were in Spanish.

 

Balagtas continues to be a revered figure at present. His work Florante at Laura is still being taught in literature classes in schools.

 

The prominent Filipino poet was born on April 2, 1788, and died on Feb. 20, 1862. /cbb