American Colonial Period

Its Context/ Situation

 Introduction of new forms of literature and liberal way of thinking.

- A new set of colonizers brought about new changes in Philippine literature. Filipino,
knowing that they are actually free from the previous colonizers started to voice out
their opinions. Various form of literature arises and people inclined in liberal way of
thinking.
 English ONLY PLEASE.
- American influence was deeply entrenched with the firm establishment of English as
the medium of instruction in all schools and with literary modernism that highlighted
the writer's individuality and cultivated consciousness of craft, sometimes at the
expense of social consciousness.
- Americans build public school to spread their cultural values and use the English
language as medium of instructions.
 “Freedom from colonizers”
- At this period many Filipino started writing again and nationalism of the people
remain undaunted. Filipino went into all forms of literature. Their writings clearly
depicted their love of our country and their longings for independence.

Prevalent Genres/ Forms of Literature

 Free verse poetry.

- No more rhyming and metric rules compare to the previous period.
 Modern short story
- Modern short story always shows us something of how people respond to life.
 Critical essay
- Analyse and evaluate the meaning and significance of a text, rather than making a
judgment about its content or quality.

Famous Works and Literary Artists

 Jose Garcia Villa

- National Artist for Literature; promoter of free verse writing.
- “Art for art’s sake”—art not needing any apparent reason for creation.
 Angela Manalang Gloria
- woman poet
- Focused on illicit love affairs
 Seditious Works
- Seditious means inciting or causing people to rebel against the authority of a state or
monarch.
- works in the native tongue
 - Discreetly in Liwayway and Bisaya
 Alejandro G. Abadilla
- advocate of modernism in poetry, Tackled new topics not focused on by others before
him through poetry
- Abadilla later influenced young poets who wrote modern verses in the 1960s such as
Virgilio S. Almario, Pedro I. Ricarte and Rolando S. Tinio.
 Paz Marquez Benitez
- prominent short story writer in this period
- Wrote the first short story in English in the Philippines the “Dead Stars”
 Lope K. Santos and Valeriano Hernandez Pena
- writers in the vernacular
 Essay
- a ‘potent’ medium to connect with others formally or informally. Potent means
having great power, influence, or effect.
- For information or entertainment
- Some leading essayists were journalists like Carlos P. Romulo, Jorge Bocobo, Pura
Santillan Castrence, etc. who wrote formal to humorous to informal essays for the
delectation by Filipinos.
 Salvador P. Lopez
- Among those who wrote criticism developed during the American period were Ignacio
Manlapaz, Leopoldo Yabes and I.V. Mallari. But it was Salvador P. Lopez's criticism that
grabbed attention when he won the Commonwealth Literary Award for the essay in 1940
with his "Literature and Society." This essay posited that art must have substance and that
Villa's adherence to "Art for Art's Sake" is decadent.
 Disparaging view on Philippine Literature
- The last throes of American colonialism saw the flourishing of Philippine literature in
English at the same time, with the introduction of the New Critical aesthetics, made
writers pay close attention to craft and "indirectly engendered a disparaging attitude"
towards vernacular writings -- a tension that would recur in the contemporary period.

Contemporary & 21st Century Period

Its Context/ Situation

 Freedom at long last—from foreigners but not from a fellow Filipino!

- Finally we achieve the freedom from the colonizers but our fellow Filipino become
greedy of powers, Former President Ferdinand Marcos overruled and controlled
everything.
- At this period you may Speak/ write in any language you like, but you won’t have the
means.
- Empowerment all the way.
Prevalent Genres/ Forms of Literature

 Filipino writers continue to write poetry, short stories, novellas, novels and especially
essays whether these are socially committed, gender/ethnic related or are personal in
intention or not. In addition with the invention of the technology people use social media
as a means in spreading and making Filipino literature spread worldwide.
 Some of the prominent writes are Jose Ma. Sison, Judy Taguiwalo, and Gemino Abad
who wrote essay and Danton Remoto who wrote poetry and Wilfredo Nolledo using the
form of Fiction writing.

Famous Works and Literary Artists

 Award-giving bodies
- The various literary awards such as the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature, the Philippines Free Press, Philippine Graphic, Home Life and Panorama
literary awards for empowerment and encouragement of talents.
- With the new requirement by the Commission on Higher Education of teaching of
Philippine Literature in all tertiary schools in the country emphasizing the teaching of
the vernacular literature or literatures of the regions, the audience for Filipino writers
is virtually assured. And, perhaps, a national literature finding its niche among the
literatures of the world will not be far behind.