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Luis G. Dato

Luis G. Dato

Filipino Poet, Writer and Educator

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Luis G. Dato
Luis G. Dato
Filipino Poet, Writer and Educator

Pensive mood of LUIS G. DATO

A Baaeño Poet musings on Love and Life

PROSE & POETRY
AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH

Filipino Poet, Writer, Educator and Politician

luis g. dato filipino poet
Luis G. Dato, Filipino poet

Luis G. Dato (pseudonym ISAROG) was a Bikolano Poet, writer, educator and politician from Baao, Camarines Sur, Philippines. He is one of the first generation Filipino poets in English of the 20th century and the author of “The Spouse”, “Malolos”, “Day on the Farm”, “Among the Hills,” etc.

He is anthologized in several published books, such as the Filipino Poetry by Rodolfo Dato 1924; Philippine Prose and Poetry, Jose Garcia Villa 1949; German-English Anthology of Filipino Poets, Pablo Laslo 1934, Readings in Philippine Literature, Celedonio G. Aguilar 1994; Our Scene So Fair: Filipino Poetry in English, 1905-1955, Gémino H. Abad 2008; Brown River, White Ocean: An Anthology of Twentieth-century Philippine Literature in English 1993; Writers & Their Milieu: An Oral History of First Generation Writers in English, Edilberto Alegre, Doreen Fernandez 2012; Philippine Poetry in English, 1928–1950: A Critical Survey, Joseph Ignatius Bengzon Gonzales, 1986; to name a few.

Filipino Poet

In 1926, at the age of 20, he published his book Manila: A Collection of Verse. It was among the first English poetry books that was published just 20 years after the American occupation of the Philippines. In 1936, with the help of his older brother, Rodolfo Dato published his second collection of works, entitled, My Book of Verses, which was published in Naga City.

Son of Baao

He wrote for, and edited various Bikol newspapers. He was actively involved in local cultural groups and wrote monographs and lexical works espousing the Bikol language.

He served his town as mayor twice and pioneered seminal studies on Baao family genealogy, local history, culture and archeological heritage. His influence as literary artist, scholar and teacher remains to this day.


Prose and Poetry

Filipino Poetry review by Luis G. Dato
Article

“FILIPINO POETRY” BOOK REVIEW

July 26, 2021August 13, 2022

In February 1925, after the recent publication of the first anthology of Filipino poets in English, “Filipino Poetry”, a 19-year old, University of the Philippines student, Luis G. Dato (“Bikol of Baao, Camarines Sur”) wrote…

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TO A LOST ONE by Luis Dato
Poem

TO A LOST ONE

October 11, 2020August 8, 2022

by Luis G. Dato For many a day of sunlight,Her eyes surveyed the waves,And in her glances one nightDescry her cold, white grave. For many days she waitedHer eyes with weeping warm,To bare boughs undulatedIn…

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A SURVEY OF FILIPINO POETRY IN ENGLISH by Luis Dato
Article

A SURVEY OF FILIPINO POETRY IN ENGLISH

July 15, 2020August 15, 2022

A SURVEY OF FILIPINO POETRY IN ENGLISH is an article, written by Luis G. Dato, which originally appeared in the Philippines Herald Mid-week Magazine in April 6, 1932 about his thoughts on classical poetry and…

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The dove, when newly hatched, Has tasty meat and tender; When old, howe’er you stew her, You cannot rend her.
Poem

Spinster

October 27, 2019August 8, 2022

by Luis G. Dato The dove, when newly hatched,Has tasty meat and tender;When old, howe’er you stew her,You cannot rend her.

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Schubert by Josef Kriehuber (1846 lithograph)
Poem

ON SCHUBERT’S SERENADE

August 23, 2019June 26, 2021

By Luis G. Dato In days of old, one moonlight night, When young was life and earth and art, A lover asked his friend to write A song to win a fair one’s heart. The…

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Your unseen fingers of the night have spun Auroral flowers that surprise, Clouds petalled red against the sun, And scarlet with sunrise.
Poem

ART

August 23, 2019August 8, 2022

By Luis G. Dato Your unseen fingers of the night have spun Auroral flowers that surprise, Clouds petalled red against the sun, And scarlet with sunrise. Last night a terror crept within my heart With…

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Forgetfulness by Luis Dato
Poem

FORGETFULNESS

August 16, 2019August 8, 2022

by Luis G. Dato Will you forgive? Bright drops of dew? Around hurt petals balsam weave, Will you? Can I forget? A nightwing flutters by And whispers softly, “No, not yet!” Will I? –Philippine Magazine…

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MALOLOS
Poem

MALOLOS

August 14, 2019June 15, 2021

by Luis G. Dato The town is quiet, the houses still, And the dark house of God, The heroes slumber up the hill, And in my heart, their blood. Again I see a gay procession,…

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Your smiles have died and there is no replying To all endearment and my gifts are vain;
Poem

Day on the Farm

August 8, 2019August 8, 2022

By Luis G. Dato I’ve found you fruits of sweetest taste and found youBunches of duhat growing by the hill,I’ve bound your arms and hair with vine and bound youWith rare wildflowers but you are…

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AMONG THE HILLS by Luis Dato
Poem

Among the Hills

August 8, 2019August 8, 2022

By Luis G. Dato I used to watch the sunrise glow That set aflame the eastern skies, My lips in songs did freely flow As thoughts went fleeting with my sighs. I’ve lived through storms…

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The Spouse
Poem

The Spouse

August 7, 2019August 17, 2022

By Luis G. Dato Rose in her hand and moist eyes young with weeping, She stands upon the threshold of her house, Fragrant with scent that wakens love from sleeping, She looks far down to…

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MI ULTIMO PENSAMIENTO
Poem

MI ULTIMO PENSAMIENTO

June 9, 2019June 27, 2021

By Luis G. Dato Farewell, dear isles beloved of sea and sky, Where once we envisioned the gleam of Paradise, For your dear sake seems it divine to die, And were life fresher, brighter still…

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Ledivine Dato dela Cruz
Sonnet

XXX

August 5, 2022August 5, 2022

Against the time did I prepare my heart,When blind no more to harsh reality,The veil must fall from dream and revery,And mine no more, your ways and mine must part;I sought God’s shrines, I asked…

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Ledivine Dato dela Cruz
Sonnet

XXVI

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022

by Luis G. Dato I will not cry at parting for my pain,Though henceforth through the endless days aloneI whom you taught so shall not call my ownYour love nor turn back to your paths…

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Ledivine Dato dela Cruz
Sonnet

XXV

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022

by Luis G. Dato I cannot deem it that the word has beenUttered between us that our way must part,And that the sun declining to its greenShore in the west divides us in the heart.We…

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Sarah Barrameda Balares
Sonnet

XXIV

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022

by Luis G. Dato I still remember of the happy time,When we two met upon the downs in May,The sun at morn shone in its pride’s pale day,There sounded in the sky the belfry’s chime.‘Twas…

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Sarah Barrameda Balares
Sonnet

XXIII

July 31, 2022July 31, 2022

by Luis G. Dato That you could thus forget so easily,The day whose memory I made a shrine,The smile you gave me cheeringly as wineWhen a fair one pours it and tempts us try,Holding with…

Read More XXIIIContinue

XXII
Sonnet

XXII

July 30, 2022July 31, 2022

by Luis G. Dato I had long loved in silence until then;You were my dream, and in the dark of night,Your face in youth was as a moon whose lightBrightened my life’s so melancholy lane.I…

Read More XXIIContinue


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    • How Do I Write About Baao?
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