Soledad Essay

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INSERT TITLE HERE Angela Manalang-Gloria’s 1935 sonnet entitled “Soledad” encapsulates the way people’s opinions are, more often than not, influenced by their religion. In the case of the town presented in the sonnet, Christianity is the belief in question. Throughout her work, the author makes use of several phrases and words and religious articles that allude to Christianity. The name “Soledad” is of Spanish origin and it means “loneliness” or “solitude” – an insinuation on the character of the girl described in the sonnet. “Soledad” is also a Spanish title for the Blessed Virgin Mary, Maria de Soledad. The word “sacrilege” in the first line denotatively means the violation of anything sacred. The sacred object that this refers to is the girl’s chasteness which she has lost to a man prior to marriage. This act enrages the town and causes her to be condemned by them. The “mullioned pane” in the second line is a reference to mullioned windows often found in churches. The author also uses the adjective “profane”, found in the sixth line, which means to treat something sacred with irreverence. In this case, the object treated with profanity is “the bread and wine of life” which in Christianity refers to Jesus Christ. In the final line of the poem, the author makes use of the terms “heaven” and “hell” – the two divisions of the afterlife according to Christians. Furthermore, the author makes use of conflagrated religious figures to depict how, according the people of the town; the sanctity of the girl’s chastity was mocked when she committed the said act. The word “cathedral” in the tenth line which, denotatively, is defined as a church which holds the seat of the bishop, purports to the girl’s virginity. It is described to be “burned” by the man’s “desires”. In the succeeding line, the word “aureoled” is found. It comes from the word “aureole” which is
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