The document discusses the period of self-discovery and growth of Filipino writers from 1925 to 1941, highlighting their mastery of the English language and diverse literary forms, including poetry and short stories. Notable figures such as Luis G. Dato, Marcelo de Gracia Concepcion, and Rafael Zulueta Da Costa are mentioned for their contributions to Philippine literature, showcasing themes of nature, identity, and patriotism. The analysis includes various poems, revealing cultural influences and evolving narratives in Filipino writing during this era.

1. Period of Self-
Discovery and
Growth
Presented by
Abajar, Reddyn Barcellano, Angel
Alaman, Elizabeth Gabon, Susane
Ballester, Lady Bless Pakiding, Maria Katrina

2. Period of Self-Discovery
and Growth (1925-1941)
By this time, Filipino writers had acquired the mastery of
English writing. They now confidently and competently wrote
on a lot of subjects although the old-time favorites of love and
youth persisted. They went into all forms of writing like the
novel and the drama.

3. POETRY
Noteworthy names in this field include Marcelo De Gracia
Concepcion, Jose Garcia Villa, Angela Manalang Gloria, Abelardo
Subido, Trinidad Tarrosa Subido and Rafael Zulueta da Costa.
They turned out not only love poems but patriotic, religious,
descriptive and reflective poems as well. They wrote in free
verse, in odes and sonnets and in other types.
Poetry was original, spontaneous, competently written and
later, incorporated social consciousness.

4. SHORT STORY
Because of the incentives provided by publications like the Philippine Free Press, The
Graphic, The Philippine Magazine and college publications like the UP Literary
Apprentice, poetry and the short story flourished during these times.
Other writers during this time include Osmundo Sta. Romana, Arturo Rotor, Paz
Latorena’s Sunset, and Jose Garcia Villa’s Mir-in-isa, Jose Lansang’s The Broken
Parasol, Fausto Dugenio’s Wanderlust, Amando G. Dayrit’s His Gift, and Amador T.
Daugio’s The Woman Who Looked Out of the Window.
There were still remnants of Spanish influence in the use of expressions that were
florid, sentimental, exaggerated and bombastic. The influence of the Western culture
was also evident.

5. ANALYSIS OF POEMS FOUND IN THE PERIOD
OF SELF-DISCOVERY AND GROWTH

6. Poet, educator, journalist, and politician.
He was born in Baao, Camarines Sur,
Philippines, on July 4, 1906, and died in
his hometown on January 29, 1985.
Luis G. Dato
Luis G. Dato was one of the first Filipino authors to write
and publish in English language.

7. Dato studied for his undergraduate degree in the liberal arts at
the University of the Philippines in Manila from 1924–28, less
than two decades after the opening of the university’s campus. He
then studied law there until 1933.
When Dato was twenty, he published Manila: A Collection of Verse
(Imp. Paredes, Inc., 1926). His second poetry collection, My Book of
Verses, was edited and published by Rodolfo in 1936.
Dato provided the first quality English translation of José Rizal’s
poem “Mi Último Adiós,” which Dato titled “Mi Último
Pensamiento.”

8. The first book published by Luis
G. Dato in 1926. The book
narrate the author’s experiences
in the city in the 1920's
considering his provincial
upbringing. It is one of the first
poetry books in the Philippines
in English in just 20 years after
the American occupation.

9. Marcelo de Gracia Concepcion was a significant
Filipino poet born on May 14, 1903, in San Fernando,
La Union. He is celebrated for his evocative poetry
that reflects the beauty of nature, the complexities
of Filipino identity, and social issues, making
substantial contributions to modern Philippine
literature before his death on February 28, 1979.
Marcelo de Gracia
Concepcion

10. M. de Gracia Concepcion was listed on the staff of
the Three Stars as an editor in 1931. He was the first
Filipino poet to have his collected poems published
as a book in the U.S. Published in 1925 by G.P.
Putnam's Sons, the book was entitled Azucena.
Marcelo de Gracia
Concepcion

11. Silent Hills
This poem created by Marcelo De Gracia
Concapcion tells about the silent
atmosphere of the Benguet Hills, and
because of this you can only hear the
music that is produced by nature. Like
the movement of ferns caused by the
wind, the echoes of colliding bamboos
and the sound of the pakkongs that the
women beat as they pass by the trails.

12. Silent Hills
by Marcelo de Gracia Concepcion
Silent are the trails of Benguet hills,
When the mist veils the sun-
Even the wind stirs the ferns
And the bamboo brakes sing
Their echoey murmurs.
And the laden Benguet women pass
Beating their pakkongs
In cadenced monotones.
Even so,
These trails are lonely
And deep are the ravines.
And higher still the skies.

13. This poem captures the
serene atmosphere of the
Benguet Hills, where the
silence allows the music of
nature to emerge. You can
hear the rustling ferns stirred
by the wind, the echoes of
colliding bamboo, and the
rhythmic beating of the
women’s pakkongs as they
pass along the trails. It
beautifully portrays the
natural wonders encountered
in this landscape.
The poem likens the lonely
atmosphere of the Benguet Hills to
that of a solitary person. Just as
loneliness brings silence, the hills
are depicted as quiet. As we journey
deeper along the trails, we uncover
new insights—similar to revealing a
lonely person's hidden thoughts
and emotions. The stillness of
Benguet allows us to hear the
natural music: the rustling ferns in
the breeze, the echoes of colliding
bamboo, and the rhythmic sounds
of women's pakkongs as they tread
along the paths.
Literal Meaning Deep Meaning

14. Personification
Mist veils
wind stirs
bamboo brakes
echoed murmurs
SYMBOLISM
“-mist veils the sun”
Visual & Auditory
Figurative Speech Imagery

15. Themes
Nature's
Presence
Isolation &
Loneliness
Cultural
Identity

16. Balintawak

17. BALINTAWAK
BALINTAWAK
“Balintawak” was centered within a
4-column, two page historical essay,
the “Life History of Andres
Bonifacio, Father of the ‘Katipunan,’”
in a 1931 issue of The Three Stars
(Stockton, CA). Bonifacio, “the great
plebian,” is known as the initiator of
the Philippine revolution against
Spain. His leadership was usurped by
Emilio Aguinaldo and his followers,
who had Bonifacio imprisoned and
executed

18. BALINTAWAK
BALINTAWAK
You raised your cry for
freedom’s light
Amidst enfolding darkening
night;

19. BALINTAWAK
BALINTAWAK
When breathed decaying in
dungeon’s womb
The reeking anguish of the tomb.
You raised your eyes bloated
with pain,
Imploring Mercy’s hand to drain
The cup of bitter woes refilled
Till tortured life is stilled.

20. BALINTAWAK
BALINTAWAK
Imprisoned in stifling darkness,
Enchained to grueling grimness
Ah, yet! You thrilled your world
entire—
Your soul, a winged dart afire.

21. BALINTAWAK
BALINTAWAK
We live by grace of your
largess—
Alas, we know not now to pray;
We let the mold and dust to prey
Upon your silent ashes

22. Rafael Zulueta da Costa (1915- 1991) was
a Filipino poet known for his patriotic
verses and contributions to Philippine
literature.
Rafael Zalueta
Da Costa

23. First
Leaves
"First Leaves" is a poem written by Rafael
Zulueta da Costa, a Filipino poet. It's a short but
beautiful poem that captures the essence of
nature and the changing seasons.

24. The young, the green, the tender leaves
In the woods and forest a-borning
The life of men like the leaves they shed
Who wither, and fall at the end of morning.
And as I stand in this edge of time
I can see the leaves that have just begun
Yellow and green in their youthful prime
Running, and leaping towards the sun.
O! How beautiful are these first leaves
And O! how short is the morning's stay
When I think of them, O my grief!
They have all, all fallen away.
First Leaves

25. Analysis
Themes Symbolism
Youth
and
Life.
Leaves
withering
and falling
Morning
Sun

26. Like the Molave
Not yet, Rizal, not yet. Sleep not in peace:
There are a thousand waters to be spanned;
there are a thousand mountains to be crossed;
there are a thousand crosses to be borne.
Our shoulders are not strong; our sinews are
grown flaccid
with dependence, smug with ease
under another's wing. Rest not in peace;
Not yet, Rizal, not yet.

27. The land has need of young blood-
and, what younger than your own,
Forever spilled in the great name of freedom,
Forever oblate on the altar of the free?
Not you alone, Rizal.
O souls And spirits of the martyred brave, arise!
Arise and scour the land!
Shed once again your willing blood!
Infuse the vibrant red into our thin anemic
veins;
Until we pick up your Promethean tools and,
strong,
Out of the depthless matrix of your faith
In us, and on the silent cliffs of freedom,
we carve for all time your marmoreal dream!

28. Until our people, seeing, are become
Like the Molave, firm, resilient, staunch,
Rising on the hillside, unafraid,
Strong in its own fiber, yes, like the Molave!
Not yet, Rizal, not yet.
The glory hour will come
Out of the silent dreaming
from the seven thousand fold silence.
We shall emerge, saying WE ARE FILIPINOS!
and no longer be ashamed
Sleep not in peace
the dream is not yet fully carved
hard the wood but harder the woods
yet the molave will stand
yet the molave monument will rise
and god's walk on brown legs.

29. Freedom
and
Independence
"Like the Molave" by Rafael Zulueta da
Costa is a poem that praises the Molave
tree as a symbol of strength and
resilience. The poem uses imagery and
metaphor to encourage the reader to be
inspired by the strength of the Molave
tree, and to be determined to fight for
their rights and to achieve their goals. It
encourages people to be strong and
steadfast in their pursuit of freedom,
much like the Molave tree is. The poem
also refers to José Rizal and the
significance of his legacy in Philippines'
freedom.
Analysis
Themes Symbolism

30. Cry Freedom
Aurelio Alvero

31. Author’s Background
Aurelio Sevilla Alvero (October 15, 1913 — 1958).
Lawyer, educator, poet, essayist, novelist; after 1945 he wrote under
the pen name Magtanggul Asa.
During the Japanese Occupation, he was affiliated with the Makapili,
the New Leaders Association, Bisig Bakal ng Tagala.
He was the son of Emilio Alvero y de Vera, painter, art-glass artist
and interior decorator, and Rosa Sevilla y Tolentino, writer, social
worker and educator and founder of the Instituto de Mujeres, one of
the oldest schools for women in the Philippines.
Alvero studied at the Centro Educativo y Instructivo and completed
his primary education at the Instituto de Mujeres. He later graduated
from the Ateneo de Manila high school and then went on to study law
and education at the University of Santo Tomas. He received the A.A.
degree in 1933, the B.S.E. in 1935 and his law degree cum laude in
1937.
Aurelio Alvero (1913–58) was a brilliant and complex Filipino
intellectual but he was found guilty of collaboration with Japan by
the postwar Philippine People’s Court and spent 1945–47 and 1950–52
in prison…

32. Cry Freedom (1896)
Aurelio S. Alvero
The cry awoke Balintawak
And the echoes answered back: "FREEDOM!"
All the four winds listened long,
To the shrieking of that song.
Every poet struck his lyre,
With those burning notes of fire.
All the women knelt to pray,
In their hearts that frenzied lay.
Even the children and the old,
Took to arms and shouted bold, "FREEDOM!"
I heard it from the planters in the vales,
I heard it from the traders tying bales,
I heard it where the fishers strike their sales,
I heard it where the huskers ‘neath the trees,
I heard it from the divers of the seas,
I heard it from the pounders in the leas.
All the people raised the cry,
Fearing not to bleed or die,
All the tombs of slave & sire,
Broke to voice that great desire.
Up the mountain, down the plain
Louder, louder rang the strain. "FREEDOM!"
I heard it from the makers of the brooms,
I heard it from the weavers at their looms,
I heard it from the smoking smithy rooms,
I heard it in the farthest islet shore.
We heard it, and shall hear it ever more.. "FREEDOM!"

33. FREEDOM
Analysis
Theme Symbolism
THE CRY
FOR
“FREEDOM!”

34. Thank You!