BACKGROUND OF THE DIFFERENT  Among the Southern Tagalog provinces are Cavite,
REGIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES Batangas, Laguna, Quezon, Aurora, Oriental Mindoro,
(ILONGGO-NCR)
ILONGGO
 The lingua franca of the West Visayas in Central
Philippines is called Hiligaynon.
 West Visayas is composed of the provinces of Iloilo,
Capiz, Antique and Aklan on the island of Panay
 Kinaray-a or Hiraya is the mother language of West
Visayas
 Cebuano or Sugbuanon, the lingua franca of Central
Visayas.
 Purely oral, West Visayan literature before the coming
of the Spaniards was in Kinaray-a which must have
been the language in folk literature of the ten Bornean
datus
 Folk literature ranges from brief riddles, proverbs,
ditties, ritual chants to elaborate love songs, tales and
extensive epics.
 A poem is called binalaybay and the tale is the asoy or
the sugilanon.
EASTERN VISAYAS
 The literature of Eastern Visayas refers to the literature
written in Waray and Cebuano by writers from the
region.
 1668 when a Spanish Jesuit by the name of Fr. Ignatio
Francisco Alzina documented the poetic forms such as
the candu, haya, ambahan, canogon, bical, balac, siday
and awit. He also described the susumaton and posong,
early forms of narratives.
 balac, a poetic love joust between a man and a woman.
 During the Spanish period, the balac was called the
amoral;
 During the American occupation, it was renamed
ismayling, a term derived from the English word
“smile.”
SOUTHERN MIDANAO
 Southern Mindanao is composed of Compostela Valley,
Davao del Norte, Davao del Sur and Davao Oriental.
 Compostela Valley is mainly agricultural while the
eastern part is mostly mountainous.
 The Mansakas, the indigenous natives in Compostela
Valley, are known for their native dances, tribal jewelry,
and unique musical instruments.
 Davao del Norte has 32 rivers including the Agusan
River.
 Davao City is the center of travel and trade in the
Southern Philippines, known for the exotic fruit
'durian', the Waling-Waling orchid, the Philippine
Eagle and Mt. Apo, the highest peak in the country.
NCR
 Tagalog literature has been born, cradled, nourished and
peaked into fruition in the provinces of Southern
Luzon, Central Luzon and the present Metropolitan
Manila or the National Capital Region.
Occidental Mindoro, Marinduque, Palawan and some
towns of Rizal province.
 In Central Luzon, there are three provinces where
Tagalog is predominantly used and these are the
provinces of Nueva Ecija, Bataan and Bulacan.
 Metro Manila is comprised of cities composing the
national capital region namely Manila, Quezon City,
Pasay City, Caloocan City, Mandaluyong City, Pasig
City, Marikina City, Muntinlupa City and suburban
towns of Malabon, Navotas, Valenzuela, Pateros and
Taguig.
 Tagalog region is the birthplace of a rich tradition of
Philippine culture in language, politics, economy and
literature.
 The oldest university in the Philippines, University of
Sto. Tomas is located in Manila.
 The first printing press was established in Manila. This
gave way to the publication of the first book, Doctrina
Cristiana in xylography in 1593, written in Spanish and
Tagalog versions.
 The bible was first translated into Tagalog in Barlaan
and Josaphat in 1708 and 1712.
 The life of Christ in epic tradition known popularly
today as Pasyon was written in Tagalog by various
writers like Gaspar Aquino de Belen and Fr. Mariano
Pilapil.
 The literary tradition in the Tagalog regions is especially
outstanding in the field of oral literature like bugtong
(riddle), proverbs, native songs.
 It is the Tagalog region that was destined to be the
birthplace of historic men in Philippine politics, culture
and literature that includes Francisco Balagtas
Baltazar, Jose Rizal, Andres Bonifacio, Apolinario
Mabini, Emilio Jacinto, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Jose P.
Laurel, Claro M. Recto, Amado V. Hernandez, Lope K.
Santos, Lazaro Francisco, Faustino Aguilar, Jose
Corazon de Jesus, Alejandro Abadilla, Modesto de
Castro. –Men of Letters.
EXPLORING THE LITERATURE
ACROSS THE GLOBE
ASIA
 Asian Literature encompasses various facets of
literature. Primarily, these are the poetry and prose
writings produced in a variety of languages in Asia.
 As religion, war, and politics influence Asian
communities, literary flourished to emulate these
developments.
CHINA
 Chinese literature is one of the major literary heritages
of the world, with an uninterrupted history of more than
3,000 years, dates back to at least 14th century BCE.
 Its medium, Chinese language, has retained its
unmistakable identity in its spoken and written aspects
in spite of generally gradual changes in pronunciation,
the existence of regional and local dialects, and several
stages in the structural representation of the written
graphs, or “characters.”
 The Tang Dynasty is the finest era of the Chinese
literature because the poets like Tu FU, Li Po and
Wang Wei created landmark works.
JAPAN
 Both in quantity and quality, Japanese literature ranks as
one of the major literatures of the world, comparable in
age, richness, and volume to English literature, though
its course of development has been quite dissimilar.
 The first writing of literature in Japanese was motivated
by influences from China.
 But in the later years Japanese tradition created its
distinct literary landmark. One of the renowned poetic
forms is haiku (a short descriptive poem with 17
syllables) and the various theatrical genres, namely: the
Noh and the Kabuki.
KOREA
 Although Korea has had its own language for several
thousand years, it has had a writing system only since
the mid-15th century, when Hangul was invented.
 Korean scholars were writing poetry in the traditional
manner of Classical Chinese at least by the 4th century
CE.
 There are four major traditional poetic forms: hyangga
(“native songs”); pyŏlgok (“special songs”), or changga
(“long poems”); sijo (“current melodies”); and kasa
(“verses”).
 Other poetic forms that flourished briefly include the
kyŏnggi style in the 14th and 15th centuries and the
akchang (“words for songs”) in the 15th century.
INDIA
 The earliest Indian literature took the form of the
canonical Hindu sacred writings, known as the Veda,
which were written in Sanskrit.
 To the Veda were added prose commentaries such as the
Brahmanas and the Upanishads.
 In addition to sacred and philosophical writings, such
genres as erotic and devotional lyrics, court poetry,
plays, and narrative folktales emerged.
 Because Sanskrit was identified with the Brahminical
religion of the Vedas, Buddhism and Jainism adopted
other literary languages.
 The literature of those languages depended largely on
the ancient Indian background, which includes two
Sanskrit epic poems, the Mahabharata and
Ramayana, as well as the Bhagavata-purana and the
other Puranas.
 Arthur David Waley, original name Arthur David
Schloss (August 19, 1889 – June 27, 1966), was a noted
English Orientalist and Sinologist, and is still considered
one of the world's great Asian scholars.
 His translations of Chinese and Japanese literary classics
into English had a profound effect on such modern poets
as W.B. Yeats and Ezra Pound.
AFRICA
 African literature consists of a body of work in different
languages and various genres, ranging from oral
literature to literature written in colonial languages
(French, Portuguese, and English).
 Oral literature, including stories, dramas, riddles,
histories, myths, songs, proverbs, and other
expressions, is frequently employed to educate and
entertain children.
 Oral histories, myths, and proverbs additionally serve to
remind whole communities of their ancestors' heroic
deeds, their past, and the precedents for their customs
and traditions.
 Essential to oral literature is a concern for presentation
and oratory.
 Folktale tellers use call-response techniques.
 A griot (praise singer) will accompany a narrative with
music.
 Some of the first African writings to gain attention in the
West were the poignant slave narratives.
 Since the early 19th century writers from western Africa
have used newspapers to air their views.
 Such writers as, in western Africa, Wole Soyinka,
Chinua Achebe, Ousmane Sembene, Kofi Awooner,
Agostinho Neto, Tchicaya u tam'si, Camera Laye,
Mongo Beti, Ben Okri, and Ferdinand Oyono.
 All were written in European languages, and often they
shared the same themes: the clash between indigenous
and colonial cultures.
EUROPE
ANCIENT PERIOD
 It was the time when two significant literary works
were developed.
 On the other hand was the realization of the timeless
epics: The Iliad and the Odyssey which were
associated with Homer.
 Evidently, the Old Testament was highly religious and
moralistic while the Iliad and Odyssey narrated the
heroic deeds of Greek characters like Achilles and
Odysseus who reflected the culture of warfare.
CLASSICAL PERIOD
 The Greek tradition was later endured by the
Romans, who resembled their civilization after
Greeks.
 Approximately a decade after, the poet Virgil became
renowned because of his Aenid, an epic modeled on
Iliad and Odyssey.
MEDIEVAL PERIOD
 Medieval, “belonging to the Middle Ages,” is used
here to refer to the literature of Europe and the
eastern.
 The main literary values of the period are found in
vernacular works.
 The pre-Christian literature of Europe belonged to an
oral tradition that was reflected in the Poetic Edda and
the sagas, or heroic epics, of Iceland, the Anglo-Saxon
Beowulf, and the German Song of Hildebrand.
 Two well-known literary writers from the religious
aspect: Dante Alighieri (whose Divine Comedy depicts
the three realms of afterlife and St. Augustine
 Geoffer Chaucer gained his title as The Father of
English Literature with his paramount literary work,
The Canterbury Tales.

RENAISSANCE PERIOD

 The name Renaissance (“Rebirth”) is given to the

historical period in Europe that succeeded the Middle
Ages.
 The awakening of a new spirit of intellectual and
artistic inquiry.
 Art and literature in the Renaissance reached a level
unattained in any previous period.

AGE OF REASON

 To call the 18th century the Age of Reason is to seize

on a useful half-truth but to cause confusion in the
general picture.
 It is more accurate to say that the 18th century was
marked by two main impulses: reason and passion.

AMERICA

 The beginning of the American Literature can be traced

from the diverse oral literature among the more than 500
Native American tribes.
 The American Literature bloomed at the time of the
influential belief of Puritanism - the religious
movement that aimed to lead individuals to God’s
salvation.
 William Cullen Bryant, Washington Irving, James
Fenimore Cooper, and Edgar Allan Poe initiated a great
half century of literary development.

Read the following literary texts:

1. Story Of Durian - Ilonggo Literature

2. Summary Of Hinilawod - Ilonggo Literature
3. A Story Of The Orphan Girl - Southern
Mindanao Literature
4. Masala Kulangwa And The Monster
Shing'weng'we – African Literatire
5. To My Sweetie Polly - National Capital Region
Literature
6. On Democracy (An Excerpt) – American
Literature