The poem "Laughter" was made by a great Filipina Author, Maningning Miclat. This poem for me is an example of an irony, particularly a dramatic irony.
At the first stanza; the word laughter there signifies the sorrows of the woman which is where the irony in the poem comes in. The sorrows of the woman in this stanza is that she's trying to be strong while her man goes away from her and eventually leaving her alone.
In the second stanza; before the man would actually leave her, he begged that she should not keep their memories alive by making poems, which leads us to the third stanza. He begged for it because she gave that laughter to him, during the first stanza, that made him let her forget all of their memories.
In the third stanza; because of the poem she had written or she would still be writing, she'll be keeping alive their memories and share it to the readers of her poems, making them feel sad also. Maybe the reason why she's doing this is because that she can't forget easily that guy who left her.
In the fourth stanza; this is the part where she is thinking about all the times that she had with her man, particularly their good memories. She's reminiscing about the times that he shared his life with her which would make her typically sad now that he's already gone.
In the fifth stanza; she's still continuing to reminisce the times that he shared his life with her to make it easier for him and less painful to live on. She laughed, during the fourth stanza, because of the reasons why he shared his life with her, and because she remembered the times she had with him.
In the sixth stanza; This is the part that when the guy is just going to leave her alone for she wanted to get his attention. The man doesn't want to go back to her anymore that's why he did not respond to what the woman have said.
In the seventh stanza; During this part, the guy totally left her. He left her for he did not understand why the girl is laughing. And, for me, maybe because he doesn't want to be with her anymore.
In the eighth stanza; As the guy left, during the seventh stanza, he's still puzzled on why the girl is laughing. He did not understand the girl is laughing. The girl is laughing because of the guy, he is the reason why she's strong enough to face all the struggles that comes into her life and that because he did not solely understand why she's acting like that in front of him.
The arrangement of this poem, for me, dictates the main parts of the story of it. Making that poem look so odd is very effective in pointing out the main parts of the poem. When you connect all the stanzas of it. It's just like a short story that has full of meaning. That's how I figured out the meaning of this poem and its story.
