REVIEWER IN 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE OF THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

 The origin of the term literature is “litera” which means letter. It deals with ideas,
thoughts and emotions of man. – thus, it can be said that literature is the story of
man.
 Poetry came from the greek word “ poesis” which means “ creating or making”.
 Poetry- is the division of literature that uses flowery words or figurative language.
 Prose- is expressed in ordinary language.
 Elegy- is a poem written on the death of a friend of the poet.
 Song- is a lyric poem in a regular metrical term set to music.
 Corridos- these have measures of 8 syllables (octasyllabic) and recited to a material
beat.
 Ode- is written in a spirit of praise of some persons or things.
 Epic- a long narrative poem of the largest proportions.
 Metrical tale – a narrative poem consisting of usually a single series of connective
events.
 Ballad- the simplest type of narrative poetry. It is intended to be sung.
 Sonnet- a lyric poem containing iambic lines and has complicated lines.
 Tone- alliteration, assonance, consonance, rhyme, repetition, anaphora.
 Figures of Speech- simile, metaphor, personification, apostrophe, metonymy,
synecdoche, hyperbole, irony, allusion, antithesis, paradox, litotes, oxymoron,
onomatopoeia.
 Word order- natural and unnatural arrangement of words.
 Diction- refers to words having denotative and connotative meanings or symbols.
 Deuteroganist- it is a character whose role is second in importance.
 Protagonist- is a hero or heroine.
 External Conflict- when a protagonist is in conflict with the values of his or her
society.
 Mood- refers to the emotional effect generated by words or images in literary works.
 Tone- refers to the attitude of the writer.
 Flat- it is a stereotype character who does not change as the story goes on.
 Round- It is a dynamic character who recognize changes in the circumstances.
 End- contains the last statement about the story.
 Denouement- part of the plot that does the untying of conflicts.
 Complication- is where the problems and struggles unfolds.
 Exposition- introduces the time, place, setting and the main characters.
 Climax- a part where the problem or the conflict is the highest peak.
 Literary Criticism- a form of prose that helps you analyze, interpret and evaluate
literary works.
 Theme- is a central idea of a literary work.
 Symbolisms- stands for something other than themselves.
 Character sketch- a short description of qualities and traits of a person.
 Anecdote- a brief narrative concerning a particular individual or incident.
 Permanence- it can be read again and again as each reading gives fresh delight
and new insights and open new worlds of meaning and experiences.
 Universality- a literary standard that talks about the lifetime relevance of when it
comes to condition and themes.
 Artistry- refers to the appeal of a particular work to readers’ sense of beauty.
 Intellectual Value- a quality of literary work that stimulates thought and enriches our
mental life by making us realize the fundamental truths about life.
 Spiritual Value- elevates the spirit by bringing out moral values which makes us
better persons.
 Suggestiveness- this is the quality associated with the emotional power of literature.
 Rhyme Scheme- a formal arrangement of rhymes in stanza or the whole poem.
 Ellipsis- omitting some words for economy and effect.
 Shape- contextual and visual designs: jumps, omission of spaces, capitalization,
lower case.
 Tone- term used to denote an attitude of feeling of the speaker.
 Images- characterized by concrete qualities rather than abstract meaning.
 Mood- the atmosphere or emotional effect generated by words.

FIGURES OF SPEECH
 SIMILE- consists of comparing two things using “ like or as”
“ Life is like a box of chocolate”
“ Your face is as big as a seed but you don’t bear fruits”
“ strips of tinfoil winking like people”
“in winter when it rained, he climbed into bed , and felt as snug as a bug in a rug.”
 METAPHOR- uses direct comparison of two things.
“ All the world’s a stage”
“Time is money”
 PERSONIFICATION- gives human traits to inanimate objects.
“ The sun kissed the flowers”
 APOSTROPHE- is a direct address to someone absent or dead, or inanimate.
“ Oh Mother, I wish you were here.”
“ Not yet Rizal, not yet. “
 METONYMY- substitutes a word that closely relates to a person or thing.
“ The palace is happy with the news.”
“The pen is mightier than the sword.”
“ The crown is against the rule”
 SYNECDOCHE- uses a part to represent the whole.
“ No busy hand provoke a tear.”
 ALLUSION- refers to any literary, biblical, historical, mythological, scientific event,
character or place.
“He is the Jose Rizal of the class”
 ALLITERATION- series of words beginning with the same consonant sound.
“ with a swift, slow, sweet sour; a dazzle dim. “
“ she sells seashells by the sea shore.”
 ANAPHORA- repetition of the first part of the sentence.
“ Every day, every night in every way, I’m getting better and better.”
 ANTITHESIS- involves contrast of words or ideas.
“ Love is short… Forgetting so long.”
 HYPERBOLE- makes use of exaggeration.
“ I can’t leave without you”
“I could sleep for years”
 IRONY- says opposite of what is meant.
“ You are so irritating that I want to hug you. “
“ The name of Britain’s biggest dog was “Tiny”.
 OXYMORON- puts together in one statement two contradictory words.
“ honest thief”
““cruel kindness”
“silent scream”
“clearly misunderstood”
“ alone together”
PYRAMIDAL STRUCTURE OF A PLOT
 Exposition- introduces the time, place, setting and main character.
 Complication- unfolds the problems and struggles that would be encountered by
the main characters.
 Climax- part where the problem or the conflict is the highest peak of interest.
 Denouement- part that shows that a problem or conflict is resolved.
 Resolution- contains the last statements about the story.

TIMELINE IN PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

1. Pre-Colonial Period ( ___ B.C. to 1564)
a. The longest period in Philippine Literatures
b. The literary outputs of this period cannot be called substantial because much of it was
oral (i.e. tales, songs, riddles and proverbs)
c. Riddles- gives an enigma or puzzle.
d. Proverbs- wise saying or salawikain.
e. Songs were also very much part of pre-colonial literature and the people’s daily life.
f. Mimetic dances often accompanied these songs and rituals and were the precursor of
drama form.
g. In prose, pre-colonial literature had myths, tales, fables, legends, and fantastic stories.
h. The most significant and the longest form of pre-colonial poetry was the folk epic.
i. Popular Epics: Biag ni Lam-Ang (Ilocos Region), Hinilawod ( Panay Island), and Bantugan
and Indarapatra at Sulayman (Maguindanao)
2. The Spanish Regime (1565- 1863)
The literary scene during this era was focused on religious themes due to the
Christianization of the Philippines by the Spaniards.
a. Took on a Religious Character
 Christianization of the Philippines
 Introduced the first printing press
 Doctrina Christiana- the first published book (1593)
 b. Literary Output
 Catechisms
 Confession Manuals
 Grammar Books
 Dictionaries
c. Poems in Spanish and Tagalog were written by Ladinos who were well-versed in both
languages.
 Pasyon- the most popular form of religious literature
 A long time narrative about passion and death of Christ
 Sinakulo/Cenaculo
 A play on the Passion and Death of Christ
 2 popular narrative poems: 1. Awit – Florante at Laura – Most famous awit///
2. Korido- sung or chanted
 Other Literary Types: Duplo and Karagatan, Komedya- most popular drama
form.
 Prose
 Pagsususlatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si Urbana at Feliza by Marcelo de Castro
3. The Nationalistic Period ( 1864- 1896)
a. The last of the 19th century saw a new breed of writers.
b. A strong feeling of nationalism was the main agenda of this literary period.
c. The period was divided into the Propaganda and the Revoution. (Rizal. Lopez Jaena,
and Del Pilar)
d. The revolutionists took over and there was a shift not only in language (from Spanish to
Tagalog) but in the audience or readers from the “intelligentsia” to the masses.
e. Bonifacio, Jacinto and Mabini were the prominent revolutionary writers.
f. This period was truly significant because it produced a literature that was realistic and
truly Filipino.
4. The United States Colonial Rule ( 1910- 1930, 1920-1945)
a. Literature (in three languages ) flourished.
 Spanish, English, Filipino
 Reading, Writing, Speaking
b. Maybe divided into 2 periods:
 Paz Marquez Benitez “ Dead Stars”
 Paz Latorena “ The Small Key”
 Jose Garcia Villa “ Footnote to Youth”
 Zoilo Galang “ Child Of Sorrow”
5. The Japanese Occupation (1942- 1944)
a. This literary period broke away from tradition especially among the tagalog poets.
Instead of writing in Balagtas tradition poets wrote in simple language and free verse.
b. A bountiful harvest in poetry, fiction and in the fields of drama.
c. Poets wrote in simple language and free verse
 Portray Filipino life and Culture
 Flowering of tagalog short poetry
 Palanca Awards/ National Awards launched
6. The Contemporary Period (1960- 1986)
a. Upheavals in Nation’s history
 - First quarter storm of the seventies
b. Martial Law Years
c. Assassination of Ninoy Aquino
d. A merging of three tradition
- Oral Lore- Ethnic
- Spanish
- American Colonial
e. Literary Expressions
- Give reasons to the historical and political force that have shaped Philippine society
since the pacific war.
7. Post Edsa Literature ( 1986- ____)
a. The character of the Philippine literary scene after EDSA maybe pinpointed by referring
to the theories that inform literary production, to the products issuing from the publishers,
to the dominant concerns demonstrated by write’s output and to the direction towards
which literary studies are tending.
b. It has been marked by adventurousness, a willingness to gamble on “ non-traditional
projects”
c. Developing thrust towards the retrieval and the recuperation of writing in Philippine
languages other than tagalog.
d. Today PH lit maybe classified into:
- The residual, a good part of which is oral and regional, but remaining in the margins
simply because the center of writing and publishing is in Metro Manila.
- The dominant language, largely in Eng;ish and Tagalog-based Filipino and
- The emergent, produced by those in periphery – the marginalized sectors, including
workers, peasants, urban poor, women, gays, lesbians and ethnic group.
PHILIPPINE NATIONAL ARTISTS FOR LITERATURE

 The rank and title of National Artist is granted by means of Presidential Proclamation.
 A monthly life pension, medical, and hospitalization benefits are granted to the
member of the Order of National Artists.
 Quijano de Manila is the pen name of Nick Joaquin. He was considered as third most
important in overall Filipino writers because of his contribution: exploration of the
Philippine colonial past under Spain and his probing into the psychology of social
danger as seen by the young.
 Bienvenido Lumbera is the National Artist of the Philippines from Lipa, Batangas.
 NVM Gonzales is the National Artist from Mindoro
 Jose Garcia Villa is known as “Comma Poet”.
 Carlos P. Romulo is a Filipino diplomat, statesman, soldier, journalist, and author.
 Levi Celerio made it to Guinness Book of World Records as the only person to make
music using leaf?
 Manuel Arguilla is the author of the story “How my brother Leon brought home a
wife.

 Alejandro R. Roces is the country’s Best Writer of Comic Short

Stories.
 Lazaro Francisco is known as the Master of Tagalog Novel.
 The pen name “Doveglion” was derived from dove, eagle and lion.
 Carlos P. Romulo is a National Artist who served to eight Philippine presidents and co-
founder of Boy Scout of the Philippines.

ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! is an autobiography detailing author Bob Ong’s school days, from his
experiences on his first day of primacy school to his disastrous university experience and
culminating with his entry into the education sector himself, as a teacher. The book is
written in Tagalog, the language of the Philippine Islands. The autobiography’s long title
is meant to be read phonetically, as “Aba, nakakabasa na pala ako?!” which when
translated to English means, “Wow, I can actually read now?!” Bob Ong is Filipino, but
the name is a pseudonym and his true identity is unconfirmed, though several
contemporary Filipino authors have been proposed.

ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! is told through a series of humorous anecdotes focusing on four

phases: primary school, high school, university, and his adult working life. Ong is
befuddled by his introduction to a chaotic, Filipino public school at age five, and deeply
scared of terrifying, witch-like first primary teacher, who made a habit of physically
lashing out at misbehaving students. As Ong grows older, his troubles with school grow.
He skips school to watch movies at the local movie theater. He experiences the
traditional teenage scourge of acne, dotingly pursues a pretty girl he refers to as
“Special Someone,” and battles his constant foe, math class, all while using his
experiences to poke fun at Filipino cultural norms and the Philippines’ deeply
underfunded public education system.

When Ong moves on from secondary school to university, he wonders if the change in
scenery will change his lack of academic motivation. He decides to study Computer
Science, but his university years are a disaster. The tone changes in this section, as Ong
realizes just how much his future will depend on his university grades. Though Ong
struggles valiantly to master his university curriculum and make good grades, he
ultimately fails out of his Computer Science program and later finishes up his studies at
and graduates from a vocational school. The book’s final section sees Ong returning to
his roots as he begins work as a teacher at a Filipino public school much like his own
alma mater. As a teacher, Ong observes his students, providing a guide of the various
social groups that make up the school’s population—Clowns, Geeks, Celebrities,
Weirdoes, and Nerds, among others. He sees just how much his students have to teach
him, just as he strives to teach them. He also has a new perspective on the various failures
of the Filipino education system, and concludes his book with a call to fixing these issues
of infrastructure and lack of funding.

ABNKKBSNPLAKo?! is as much a story of the Philippines and the country’s culture as it is

a story of Bob Ong and his life. Though the book is one man’s autobiography, it goes
beyond a simple life story, taking a humorous but critical look at one country’s education
system and calling for substantive change.