Sunday 6 October 2013

Python in the Mall by Rolando S. Tinio

Python in the Mall was a really amusing poem that pays homage to an urban legend of a half-snake half-human that preys on beautiful girls in the fitting rooms of a certain department store in the Philippines. Rumour has it that the half-snake half-human creature is said to be a family member of the Gokongwei family whose names are popular for the Robinsons malls fortune.  
I looked at of how easy it was to spread urban legends during this time in the 80s without the internet which was a free platform where everything can be accessed to be learned, published and speculated upon. It could either be that people were more gossipy or they were really just more gullible back then. During class, upon taking the poem up, we also discussed the dominant sound of the poem which is "S". This symbolises the hissing sound the snake makes. Later on I learned that it also relates to a business strategy. 

Considering everything, I really think that sound is an important way to approach the readers by with the meaning of a poem. Also, urban legends are inevitable in a location where people utilise language, really. One way of looking at it is when people are bored enough, they have nothing better to do, that they want to make up myths in the populace, or when someone needs to divert a problem, etcetera. 

No comments:

Post a Comment