21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND TO THE WORLD

Philippine Literary History

 Pre-Spanish
 Before 15th-16th century
 No known authors
 All forms of literature are passed on by word of mouth
 To teach about daily life is the motivation to write such as sayings, chants, epigrams
 Pre-Christian
 Before 15th-16th century
 No known authors
 All forms of literature are passed on by word of mouth
 To explain things is the motivation to write such as legends, epics, folk tales
 Influenced by animism (the attribution of a soul to plants, inanimate object and
natural phenomena)
 Spanish Era
 1521-1898
 Literature before are now written
 Baybayin are replaced by Roman Alphabet
 Christian Doctrine became basis of religious practices
 Literature are gained religious tones
 Folks songs are there e.g. Leron-leron Sinta, Dandansoy, Pamulinawen
 Recreational plays such as Cenaculo, Salubong, Sainete
 Famous authors are Fray Juan de Placencia, Jose Vergara, Jose Rizal, Graciano Lopez
Jaena and Marcelo H. Del Pilar
 1896 Revolution
 1896-1898
 Motivation/influences e.g. propaganda, nationalism, politics
 Style of writings shifted from Spanish to Tagalog
 Most works are nationalistic
 Major genres are newsprint, educational prose
 Famous authors are Andres Bonifacio, Emilio Jacinto, Apolinario Mabini, Jose Palma,
Claro M. Recto
 American Period
 1899-1902
 Motivations such as anti-colonialism/imperialism, nationalism, desire for liberty
 Filipinos imitate the American and British models of literature
 Writers are competent in the English language
 Influences include free public education, Anglo-American models of culture, use of
English as a medium in all levels of education and encouraged by developments in
education and culture
 Famous authors are Julian Cruz Balmacedo, Lope K. Santos, Zoilo Galang, Paz Marquez-
Benitez and Teodoro Agoncillo

 Literary Forms in the Philippines

 Proverbs- practical beaviors and philosophy of everyday life that are written usually in a
rhyming scheme. It is obviously meant to entertain while teaching basic skills in
surviving local life. In Filipino, these are called salawikain.
  Riddles – like proverbs with one main difference: they demand an answer and are used
to test the wits of those who are listening to them. Usually, riddles (or in Filipino,
bugtong) are used in battle of wits, where locals young and old join and/or watch to
see the smartest. Another characteristic of Filipino riddles is their flippant nature- they
seem to be referring to something laughable, but in reality, the answer is more serious
than expected.
 Folksongs - beautiful songs that are informal expressions of our ancestors’ experiences
in life
 Tales - Stories of origin for certain places, their names and their creation and also
known as myths and legends
 Epics- long-winded poems about a hero and his adventures and misadventures
 Corrido - legendary religious narrative form that usually details the lives of saints or the
history of tradition
 Awit - chivalric poem about a hero, usually a saint
 Pasyon - a narrative poem about the life of Jesus Christ from his birth and up to His
death
 Cenaculo- dramatization of the passion of Christ
 Moro-moro or Comedia de Capa y Espada - a blood-and-thunder melodrama depicting
the conflicts of Christians and Muslims
 Carillo – a play that uses shadows as its main spectacle
 Tibag- dramatic reenactment of St. Helena’s search for the Holy Cross
 Duplo or Karagatan - Native dramas that are connected to Catholic mourning rituals and
harvest celebrations
 Zarzuela - probably one of the most famous forms of entertainment back in the Spanish
era with musical comedies or melodramas that deal with the elemental passions of
human beings

Poetry
 a type of literature that expresses ideas, feelings, or tells a story in a specific form
(usually using lines and stanzas)
 Poet- author of the poem
 Speaker – poem is the “narrator” of the poem
 Form- the appearance of the words on the page
 Line- a group of words together on one line of the poem
 Stanza- a group of lines arranged together
Couplet- a two line stanza Sestet – a six line stanza
Triplet – a three line stanza Septet – a seven line stanza
Quatrain – a four line stanza Octave – an eight line stanza
Quintet – a five line stanza

 Rhythm – the beat created by the sounds of the words in a poem

 Meter- pattern of stressed (strong) and unstressed (weak) syllables
 Rhymes – words sound alike because they share
 Theme – the central idea, topic, or point of the poem