Senior High School subject: 21st Century Literature

1. Supplementary Learning
MaterialMiss Riza P.
Velasco

3. PERIODS OF PHILIPPINE
LITERARY HISTORY
• Pre-Colonial Period
• Spanish Period
• American Period
• Japanese Period
• Contemporary Period & Modern Period

4. PRE – COLONIAL
PERIOD
• The pre-colonial
literature includes all
literature produced
before the Spanish
colonization like chants,
proverbs, songs, and folk
narratives.
• Ethnic literature may be
classified into three
groups: folk speech,
folk songs, and folk
narratives.

5. FOLK SPEECH
• Riddle/bugtong/ tigmo/ burburtia/
paktakon/ patotodon
– are like proverbs with one main difference: demand
an answer and are used to test the wits of those
listening to them.
– Rely on talinghaga (metaphor)
– Flippant in nature
Examples:
Heto na si Kaka, bubuka-bukaka
Sa araw ay bungbong, sa gabi ay dahon.

6. FOLK SPEECH
• Proverbs - Proverbs and aphorisms/ saliwakain/
kasabihan/ aramiga/ sasabihan/ humbaton/
hurobaton/ pagsasao/ kasebian
– are practical observations and philosophy of everyday life
that are written usually in a rhyming scheme.
– meant to entertain while teaching basic skills in
surviving local life.
Examples: Kung ano ang puno, siya ang bunga.
Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga

7. FOLK SONGS
• Lullabies - Sung to put children to sleep
– Called oyayi/ ili-ili/ duayya/ tumaila/ baliwayway and andang
• Love Songs - Frequently concern romantic love
(form or strengthen bonds between lovers)
– Courtship songs are many in ethnic literature.
– Panawagon, balitao, aliri, diona, harana, and ambahan are
other names for love songs in different dialects.
– Ambahan, a poem with seven syllables per line, the ending
syllables following a rhyme scheme; used as form of social
entertainment and as a tool for teaching the young.

8. FOLK SONGS
• Drinking Songs - Sung during carousals
– Brief, always merry, almost hedonistic
– Many originated in the Bicol area where they are called
tigsik or tagay.
• Work Songs - foster cohesiveness within the community
– depict the different forms of livelihood
– sung to synchronize the movements of workers
• Religious Songs and Death Songs - songs for solemn
affairs - Prayer of Thanksgiving (ambaamba) - Exorcism
chant (bugyaw) - Deaths occasion the singing of dirges or
lamentations, in which the deeds of the dead are
recounted.

9. FOLKTALES (kwentong
bayan)• Myths - are regarded as sacred, explain origin and
goal of the cosmos
• Legends (alamat) - are believed to be about more
recent events - used to explain certain events or
phenomena in our ancestors’ lives that cannot be
explained by the limited practical kind of science they
knew back then.
• Fables - are short tales, usually involving animals,
which teach a moral lesson
• Trickster Tales – recounts the adventures of a
cleaver hero who outwits authority figures, usually
coming from the upper classes.

10. EPICS
• Long-winded poems about a hero (usually male) and
his adventures and misadventures.
• The hero is usually born with all the pleasing
qualities that the ancestors like and has superhuman
capabilities.
• The hero is usually paired with a beautiful young
maiden

11. SPANISH PERIOD
• Colonization was brought about by industrial revolution.
• Age of Voyages and Explorations
• Propelled by 3Gs (God, Gold, and Glory)
• Blood compact with Datus Sikatuna and Gala in Bohol
• Established 1st Spanish settlement in Philippine soil at Cebu
(Ciudad del Santisimo Nombre de Jesus)
• To be civilized meant to stay in a pueblo under the control of the
Spanish king, and be a Christian

12. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Replacement of Baybayin to Roman alphabet.
• Teaching of the Christian doctrine became the basis of
religious practices.
• Spanish language became the literary language.
• European legends and traditions brought here became
assimilated in our songs, corridos, and moromoros.
• Ancient literature was collected and translated to
Tagalog and other dialects.
• Many grammar books were printed in Filipino, like
Tagalog, Ilocano and Visayan.

13. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Periodicals during these times gained religious tone
• Two distinct classifications: religious and secular.
• Written literature is a legacy of Spanish colonial rule.
• Writing during this time may be classified into
religious prose and poetry and secular prose and
poetry.
• Religious poetry may be grouped into lyrics and
narratives.
• Lyrics include complimentary verses written by so-
called ladino.

14. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Another type is meditative verses attached to
religious works such as novenas and catechisms.
• Religious narrative poetry is primarily the pasyon .
• Gaspar Aquino de Belen’s Ang Mahal na Pasion ni
Jesu Cristong Panginoon Natin na Tola (1704) is the
earliest known Filipino pasyon
• Casaysayan nang Pasiong Mahal ni Jesucristong
Panginoon Natin na Sucak Ipag-alab nang Puso nang
Sinomang Babasa (Pasyong Genesis) became the
most popular and was translalted into other
languages.

15. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Religious narrative prose consists of the various
kinds of prose narratives written to prescribe proper
behavior.
• These were channels for instruction in the Catholic
faith and for colonization.
• Include forms as the dialogo (dialogue), the manual
de urbanidad (conduct book), ejemplo (exemplum)
and tratado (polemical tract).

16. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Pasyon - narrative poem about the life of Jesus Christ,
beginning from his birth up to his death
– usually sung during Lenten season
• Cenaculo - Written in octosyllabic verse
– dramatization of the passion of Christ
– highlights the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ
done during the Lenten season
• Awit - Set in dodecasyllabic quatrains
– Metrical romance
– Colorful tale of chivalry made for singing and chanting
– E. g. Florante at Laura

17. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE• Corrido – set in octosyllabic quatrains
– Metrical romance
– Colorful tale of chivalry made for singing and chanting
• Moro-Moro – Comedia de Capa Y Espada
– dramatization of the passion of Christ blood-and-thunder
melodrama depicting the conflict of Christians and Muslims
– Usually about battles to the death and the proofs of faith
• Carillo – play that uses shadows as its main spectacle
– A form of dramatic entertainment performed on a moonless
night during a town fiesta
– Created by animating figures made from cardboard, which
are projected onto a white screen

18. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Tibag (to excavate) - dramatic reenactment of St. Helena’s
search for the Holy Cross
• Karagatan - A poetic vehicle of a socio-religious nature
celebrated during the death of a person
– A ritual is performed based on a legend about a princess
who dropped her ring into the middle of the sea who
offered her hand in marriage to anyone who can retrieve it
• Duplo - Replaced the Karagatan
– Poetic joust in speaking and reasoning
– The roles are taken from the Bible and from proverbs and
saying
– Usually played during wakes for the dead

19. SPANISH INFLUENCES IN
LITERATURE
• Balagtasan - Debate in verse
– Replaced the duplo and is held to honor Francisco
“Balagtas” Baltazar
– Poetical joust done almost spontaneously between
protagonists who debate over the pros and cons of an
issue
• Zarzuela - Considered the father of the drama
– one of the most famous forms of entertainment back in
the Spanish era
– musical comedies or melodramas that deal with the
elemental passions of human beings
– follows a certain plot

20. THE PROPAGANDA
MOVEMENT• JOSE P. RIZAL - Known for his
pen names Laong Laan and
Dimasalang
– Died by musketry in the hands
of the Spaniards on December
30, 1896 on charges of sedition
and rebellion against the
Spaniards
– NOLI ME TANGERE exposed
the evils in society
– EL FILIBUSTERISMO exposed
the evils in the government and
in the church

21. THE PROPAGANDA
MOVEMENT
• MARCELO H. DEL PILAR -
Known for his pen names
Plaridel, Pupdoh, Piping
Dilat, and Dolores Manapat
– Established Diariong
Tagalog in 1883 where he
exposed the evils of the
Spanish government in the
Philippines.

22. THE PROPAGANDA
MOVEMENT
• GRACIANO LOPEZ
JAENA
– Known writer and orator in the
Philippines - Established LA
SOLIDARIDAD (which later
became the official voice of the
Assosacion Hispano de
Filipinas)

23. PERIOD OF ACTIVE
REVOLUTION• ANDRES BONIFACIO
– Father of Filipino
Democracy;
– Father of the Katipunan
– What he learned he got
from the school of
experience
– Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang
Lupa

24. PERIOD OF ACTIVE
REVOLUTION• APOLINARIO MABINI
– Sublime Paralytic; Brains
of the Revolution
– Became the right-hand of
Emilio Aguinaldo when the
latter founded his Republic
in Malolos
– El Verdadero Decalogo
(The True Decalogue or
Ten Commandments)

25. PERIOD OF ACTIVE
REVOLUTION• EMILIO JACINTO
– Intelligent assistant of
Andres Bonifacio
– He edited Kalayaan, a
Katipunan newspaper
– Kartilya ng Katipunan

26. AMERICAN PERIOD
• Treaty of Paris-ceded the Philipines to the Us, $20M
• 1901 public education was insitutionalized
• 600 educators in the SS Thomas (Thomasites)
• Changes: democracy; Westernization of Filipino
taste in food and clothing; Americanized manners;
deterioration of close family ties; emancipation of
women; popular education

27. Literature during American
Period
• Period of Re-orientation
–English as a literary vehicle came with the
American occupation in August 13, 1898
–Writers were still adjusting to the
newfound freedom after the paralyzing
effect of repression of thought and speech
under the Spanish

28. Literature during American
Period• Period of Imitation
– By 1919, the UP College Folio published the literary compositions of the
first Filipino writers in English (pioneers in short story writing)
– Writers were then grouping their way into imitating American and British
models which resulted in a stilted, artificial and unnatural style
– Models included Longfellow and Hawthorne, Emerson and Thoreau,
Wordsworth and Tennyson, Thackeray and Macaulay, Allan Poe, Irving, etc.
– Writers of the folio: Fernando Maramag (best editorial writer), Juan F.
Salazar, Jose M. Fernandez, Vicente del Fierro, Francisco Africa, Victoriano
Yamzon (pioneered English poetry)
– For informal essay, criticism and the journalistic column: Ignacio
Manlapaz, Godefredo Rivera, Federico Mangahas, Francisco B. Icasiano,
Salvador P. Lopez, Jose Lansang and Amando G. Dayrit
– Short Stories: DEAD STARS by Paz Marquez Benitez stand out as a model
of perfection in character delineation, local color, plot and message

29. Literature during American
Period
• Period of Apprenticeship (1910-1930)
– New literary forms were introduced, chiefly, free
verse, the modern short story, and the critical
essay - Filipino writers imitated English and
American models - Poems were amateurish and
mushy
• Period of Emergence (1920 – 1930)
– Highly influenced by Western literary trends
(Romanticism and Realism)
– Short stories were the most prevalent literary form

30. Literature during American
Period
• Period of Self-Discovery and Growth
– By this time, Filipino writers had acquired the mastery of English writing
– Competently wrote on a lot of subjects (although old-time favorites: love and youth)
– Went into all forms of writing like the novel and the drama
– Poetry: not only love poems; patriotic, religious, descriptive and reflective
– Free verse, in odes and sonnets
– Poetry was original, spontaneous, competently written, incorporated social
consciousness
– The Short Story: flourished during these times
– Characteristics: still remnants of Spanish influence in the use of expressions
that were florid, sentimental, exaggerated and bombastic
– Influence of the W. culture was also evident
– Essays during this period improved in quality and quantity, in content, subject, and style
– Essayists like Carlos P. Romulo became even more eminent editorial writers -
Political, social reflective; critical; personal or familiar

31. JAPANESE PERIOD
• Philippine literature in English came to a halt
• This had an advantageous effect on Filipino Literature which
experienced renewed attention because writers in English
turned to writing in Filipino.
• The common theme of poems was nationalism, country, love,
life in barrios, faith, religion, and the arts
• Three types of poem emerged: haiku (free verse with 17
syllables divided into 3 lines [5-7-5]), tanaga (short but had
measure and rhyme, 17 syllables), karaniwang anyo.
• Drama experienced a lull
• The field of the short story widened because many wrote
short stories

32. JAPANESE PERIOD
• Writings that came out during this period were journalistic in
nature
• Americans returned in 1945
• On July 4, 1946, the Philippines regained its freedom
• “struggle of mind and spirit” posed by the sudden emancipation
from the enemy and the wild desire to see print
• Filipinos had learned to express themselves more confidently
• Proliferation of newspapers
• Gradually, as normality was restored, the tones and themes of the
writings turned to the less pressing problems of economic
survival
• Some Filipinos who had gone abroad came back to publish their
works

33. JAPANESE PERIOD
• The themes of most poems dealt with the usual love of nature, and of
social and political problems
• Longer and longer pieces were being written by writers
• Philippine literature in Tagalog was revived during this period
• Most themes in the writings dealt with Japanese brutalities, of the
poverty of life under the Japanese government and the brave guerilla
exploits
• Newspapers and magazine publications were re-opened
• Tagalog poetry acquired not only rhyme but substance and meaning
• Short stories had better characters and events based on facts and
realities and themes were more meaningful
• Novels became common but were still read by the people for
recreation

34. CONTEMPORARY &
MODERN PERIOD
• These periods include all literary works written and
published in the Philippines from 1946. After World War II,
the Philippines had to deal with the economy and the need for
rehabilitation and reconstruction of infrastructures. There
was political, economic, and social confusion, as well as great
poverty, and these issues found their way into the short
stories and novels during that time.
• Popular topics were on happy (or tragic) experiences—
abortion, separation, alternative routes in life and new-found
happiness.
• Short story is still the more popular venue of writers •
Scriptwriting, developing literature form.
• Scriptwriting , developing literature form

35. CONTEMPORARY &
MODERN PERIOD• Substantial awards in film-making
• Expansion to cater to children’s needs
• Popularity of Taglish
• Notion of seeking popularity and ratings through exposure • Creative
writing workshops
• Novels did not continue to flourish; novel writers settled in their
twilight years
• Contemporary Philippine literature is a product of troubled times, the
see-sawing balance between cosmopolitanism and nationalism, elitism
and democracy, art and politics, leaving a body of writing of
considerable variety.
• Filipino today is no longer a sentimental choice; it is necessary choice
because it is the language that allows writers to communicate with the
masses