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1. HISTORY OF PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE
LESSON 1:

2. WHAT IS LITERATURE?
Literature is any collection of
written work, but it is also used
more narrowly for writings
specifically considered to be an art
form, especially prose fiction,
drama, poetry(Tula), and including
both print and digital writing.

3. PERIODS OF PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

4. MOST ESSENTIAL LEARNING COMPETENCIES
Writing a close analysis and critical interpretation of
literary texts and doing an adaptation of these require
from the learner the ability to identify:
a. the geographic, linguistic, and ethnic dimensions of
Philippine literary history from pre-colonial to the
contemporary
b. representative texts and authors from each region (e.g.
engage in oral history research with focus on key
personalities from the students’ region/province/town)

5. PREHISTORIC PERIOD
Oral Literature was prevalent in this period since no
system of writing was yet invented.
Most of the works were concise poetic forms like:
RIDDLES (bugtong), PROVERBS (salawikain),
SAYINGS or MAXIMS (kasabihan), and FOLK
SONGS (kantahing bayan).

6. PREHISTORIC PERIOD
Kantahing Bayan is further subdivided into 10
subcategories:
LULLABY (oyayi), BOAT SONG (Talindaw), ROWING SONG
(soliranin), WAR SONG (kumintang), WEDDING SONG
(diona),
 RELIGIOUS SONG (dalit), LOVE SONG (kundiman),
DRINKING SONG (dapayanin), TRAVEL SONG (hibais),
FUNERAL SONG (bung-aw) and COURTING SONG (bansal).
With the passage of time, oral literature became lengthy and it
is known as EPIC.

7. LULLABIES- these is locally known as the Hele.
These are sung to put to sleep babies. The content
varies, but usually, parents sing these with ideas on
how hard life is and how they hope that their child
will not experience the hardship of life.
Drinking Songs- These are locally known as Tagay
and sung during drinking sessions.
Love songs-to many Filipinos, these are known as
the Harana. It can also be called Courtship Songs
and are used by young men to capture the heart
of the girl that they love.

8. Religious songs- are songs or chants that
are usually given during exorcisms and
thanks giving good harvest.
Songs of Death- are lamentations that
contain the roll of good deeds that the
dead has usually done to immortalize his
or her good image.

9.  Each ethnolinguistic group boasts of its own epic.
 Some of the famous epics are the following: BIAG NI LAM-ANG of the Ilocanos,
 ALIM AND HUDHUD of the Ifugaos,
 KUMINTANG of the Tagalogs,
 IBALON of the Bicolanos,
 MARAGTAS and HINILAWOD of the Visayans
 HARI SA BUKID of the Hiligaynon,
 DAGOY and SUDSUD of the Tagbanuas,

10. Bantugan of the Muslims,
INDARAPATRA AND SULAYMAN of the
Maguindanaos,
TATUAANG of the Bagobos and
 ULAGINGEN AND SALEB of the Manobos.

11. PREHISTORIC PERIOD
Other prose works that flourished before the
colonizers came are the following: Legends (alamat),
Myths (mito), Folktales (kuwentong-bayan), Fables
(pabula), Parables (parabola), and other narratives.
Despite their length, our ancestors were able to hand
down this Oral Literature through sharing of stories
during their free time.

12. PREHISTORIC PERIOD
Youngsters were attentive and as a result when
a formal system of writing finally came into
being, they were able to translate these oral
works into written form.
 They made use of a syllabary known as Alibata.
It was through these writings that some
prehistoric writings were preserved.

13. SPANISH PERIOD
The types of literature prevalent during this period are
mostly religious in nature since the objective of the
Spanish friars was to spread Christianity.
The latter part of the Spanish period was the more
productive part of the period because this part saw the
rise of the propagandists led by Dr, Jose P. Rizal and the
revolutionaries headed by the Katipunan Supremo, Gat
Andres Bonifacio.

14. SPANISH PERIOD
It is the period in Philippine Literary History where the first
colonizers, Spaniards, burned all earliest forms of writings,
leaving no trace of Philippine literary ingenuity.
The Spanish friars did everything to convert the natives (they
considered as INDIOS or illiterates) to become Christians.
The colonizers made it a point to propagate their religion by
printing lots of religious materials, the first of which is known as
Doctrina Cristiana (Catholic book of prayers and doctrines).

15. SPANISH PERIOD
Other books were books of PASYON (depicting the
sufferings and death of Jesus Christ) written by authors
Gaspar Aquino de Belen and Mariano Pilapil.
A writer who became famous through his writings during
this period is Francisco Baltazar otherwise known as
Balagtas.
His Florante at Laura is a literary work considered as an
AWIT, composed of dodecasyllabic monoriming quatrains.
This is different from a KORIDO, octosyllabic monoriming
quatrains.

16. SPANISH PERIOD
 Balagtasan is a poetic joust named after Francisco Balagtas.
 Crisotan of the Pampangos is a poetic joust named after Crisostomo Sotto,
Father of Pampango Literature and Bukanegan of the Ilocanos is a joust
named after the Father of Ilocano Literature, Fr. Pedro Bukaneg.
 The latter part of this period had an overflow of writers with the likes of Dr.
Jose P. Rizal (Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo), Marcelo H. Del Pilar
(Dasalan and Tocsohan), Graciano Lopez Jaena (Fray Botod).
 These writers used pen names to avoid being caught. Rizal used Dimas Alang
and Laong Laan, Del Pilar used Plaridel, Jaena used Diego Laura and Jose Ma.
Panganiban used Jomapa.

17. SPANISH PERIOD
There were two groups of writers, the propagandists (aimed
for reforms and assimilation – with the objective of making
the Philippines a province of Spain) wrote in Spanish and
published their articles in La Solidaridad while the other
group of writers, the revolutionists (aimed for independence
and separation from Spain) wrote in Tagalog.
These revolutionists headed by Gat Andres Bonifacio,
formed the Kataas-taasang Kagalanggalangang Katipunan
ng mga Anak ng Bayan (KKK). Their concise writings had
patriotic themes and they wanted an armed conflict with the
colonizers.

18. AMERICAN PERIOD
 The types of literature in the earliest part of the Americans’ stay in the
Philippines were writings that made use of Tagalog and Spanish.
 The Thomasites, the first English teachers, made sure that the 21st Century
Literature of the Philippines and the World Filipinos learn the language and
use it in their writings. Consequently, Philippine literature in English was born.
 The Period of American Occupation was the most productive period in
Philippine Literature in English. It is the period that officially ended Spanish
oppression in the Philippines.
 With the coming of the Thomasites, the first English teachers, Filipinos,
learned the language and used it in their writings. Thus, Philippine Literature
English was born.

19. AMERICAN PERIOD
Writers increased in number because they felt at ease
since the freedom of the press and freedom of
expressions which were absent during the Spanish
colonization prevailed during this period.
Writers’ guilds and organizations like Poets, Essayists
and Novelists (PEN), the giving of incentives in the form
of awards and recognition, the honor and praises they
received for their well-written works are just some of the
reasons why a lot of writers emerged during the
American occupation.

20. AMERICAN PERIOD
Ergo, it was the period considered as the most productive
in the history of Philippine Literature.
Two clashing schools of thought emerged during this
period: the art for art’s sake dictum (treats literary pieces
as art objects subject to aesthetic appreciation) with Jose
Garcia Villa as the leading proponent and the art for
society’s sake dictum (treats literary pieces as instruments
to effect social change) with Salvador Lopez as proponent.

21. JAPANESE PERIOD
 The types of literature during the time of the
Japanese occupation were very few since the
freedom they once enjoyed during the previous
years were curtailed.
The writing activities of the Filipino artists came to a
halt with the coming of the Japanese.
The writers stopped wielding pens and started
wielding guns.

22. JAPANESE PERIOD
It is the period where the writing activities of the Filipino writers
came to a halt (stop).
Japanese invaders limited the movement of the people and
they attacked both soldiers and civilians alike.
The Japanese introduced the following: NIHONGO or
NIPPONGO (Japanese language), IKEBANA (Japanese art of
flower arrangement), ORIGAMI (art of folding papers),
TEMPURA & SUSHI (cuisine), and HAIKU, TANKA & SENRYU
(poetic forms).

23. Haiku is a short descriptive poem about
nature consisting of 17 syllables: 5 syllables
in the first line, 7 syllables in the 2nd line and
5 syllables in the 3rd line.

24. EXAMPLE OF HAIKU
“The Old Pond” by Matsuo Bashō
An old silent pond
A frog jumps into the pond—
Splash! Silence again.

25. Senryu is similar to haiku in structure but
different in rhyme (Senryu is unrhymed),
subject (human nature), and tone (usually
satirical and ironical).

26. EXAMPLE OF SENRYU
i tipped the artist
a benjamin for every
wrinkle overlooked
SENRYU (HUMAN NATURE)

27. Tanka is longer, it has 5 lines and
31 syllables (5-7-5-7-7).

28. EXAMPLE OF TANKA
Pretty Butterflies Poem by Heather Burns
Pretty butterflies
sitting on flower petals
gathering nectar
delicious and sweet the taste
enjoying the summer day.

29. PHILIPPINE REPUBLIC
 The types of literature during this period were meaningful and
memorable works comparable to the works of foreign nationals.
 The Philippine writers were producing works in English, the vernacular
(Tagalog), and Filipino (one of the official languages of the country and
the tagalong-based national language as promulgated by President
Manuel L. Quezon during the Commonwealth Period, as opposed to the
Tagalog, the language spoken by majority of the dwellers in Luzon).
 The end of the war triggered the once dormant writers to wake up from
their long lethargy and start writing creatively again.

30. MAJORITY OF THE WRITINGS WERE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH,
THE VERNACULAR (TAGALOG) AND FILIPINO.
The Difference between Tagalog and Filipino: According to
lingualinx.com and quoted verbatim,” People often want to know the
difference between Tagalog and Filipinos.
 However, asking that question is a bit of a misnomer because
Tagalog is actually the basis for the Philippine national language.
Tagalog had primarily been spoken in Manila and the surrounding
provinces in the 1930s when the Commonwealth Constitution was
originally drawn up.

31. MAJORITY OF THE WRITINGS WERE WRITTEN IN ENGLISH,
THE VERNACULAR (TAGALOG) AND FILIPINO.
 This constitution had stipulations in it that provided for an official national
language, but it did not specifically name Tagalog as that language. When the
constitution was drawn up, Tagalog was only spoken by about 25% of the
population.
 Tagalog was the lingua franca (common language) of the people who lived in
or near the government capital, and by the 1970s, more than half of the
Philippine population was using Tagalog to communicate with one another.
 Then, during the Aquino presidency in the latter half of the 1980s, the
national language was officially labelled as Filipino.”

32. Publishing companies, writers’ unions and various award
giving bodies gave the men of letters impetus (momentum) to
write again.
One prestigious award giving body that emerged that time is
the Carlos Palanca Memorial Award comparable to the world-
renowned Pulitzer Prize.
The following became bywords in the Philippine Literary scene
because of their distinguishable contributions in the field of
Literature and they are: Lazaro Francisco, Amado V. Hernandez,
Jose Garcia Villa, Alejandro G. Abadilla, Genoveva Edroza-
Matute, Claro M. Recto, Virgilio Almario (aka Rio Alma) just to
name a few.

33. MARTIAL LAW PERIOD
 The types of literature during this period were purely government publications
authorized by the Marcos regime. Anti-government and anti-Marcos writings
were proliferated in the form of underground publications led by Malaya.
 On September 21, 1972, writers’ freedoms (freedom of the press and freedom
of expression) and other freedoms (freedom of speech, freedom of assembly
etc.) were curtailed or suppressed.
 The lives of oppositionist writers were controlled by the state. Subversive and
seditious writings were traced and the writers thereof were silenced by means
of summary execution, others were illegally detained and tortured.

34. POST-MARTIAL LAW PERIOD
 Is the period prior to the lifting of Martial Law that transpired on January
1, 1981. The themes / forms of literature circulating in the latter part of
the Marcos regime can be categorized into 4 kinds: Protest Literature,
Proletarian Literature, Prison Literature and Circumvention Literature.
 During this period, pro-government propaganda materials in the form of
songs and short write-ups were circulated.
 Nevertheless, these items did not prevent oppositionist writers to voice
out their sentiments in the form of poems, short stories, essays and plays.
Prominent satirists (writers of satires) are: Francisco Sionil Jose, Ricardo
Lee, and Rolando Tinio.

35. CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
The type of literature in this period after the Edsa revolution of 1986
were writings of feminist writers and their supporters (members of
Gabriela).
It is a period of restoration of lost freedoms, one of which is the
freedom to express one’s ideas and emotions in writing.
In this period the Filipino writers enjoyed the benefits of press
freedom.
Their voices were heard through their revealing writings about
discrimination, same-sex marriage, homosexual & bisexual
relationships and violation of their rights.

36. CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
To further inspire Filipino artists in their respective fields,
National Artist Awards were given to deserving individuals.
In the field of literature the following are recipients of the
aforesaid award: Jose Garcia Villa (1973), Amado V. Hernandez
(1973), Nick Joaquin aka Quijano de Manila(1976), Carlos P.
Romulo (1982), Francisco Arcellana (1990), N.V.M. Gonzales
(1990), Rolando Tinio (1992), Edith Tiempo (1999), Francisco
Sionil Jose (2001), Alejandro Roces (2003), Virgilio S. Almario
(2003), Bienvenido Lumbera (2006), and Lazaro Francisco (2009).

37. ACTIVITY 1 AND 2:
ACTIVITY1: Using the pattern of the Japanese poetic forms
discussed in the lesson, write a haiku, tanka or senryu. choose
1 only )
ACTIVITY 2: Think of a pen name that you most likely would
use if you are to become a writer. Write it down and give a
brief explanation as to why you have chosen that particular
pseudonym. Write your explanation in not less than three
paragraphs with 5 sentences each paragraph.

38. ASSIGNMENT
Directions: Complete the table by filling in the blanks with the required items.
WRITER PEN NAME LITERARY PERIOD OUTSTANDING WORK
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.