Philippine Literature

and 21 Century
st

Literary Genres
MODULE 1
EARLY STAGES OF PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE
1. Precolonial Period
2. Spanish Colonial Period
3. American Occupation
4. Japanese Occupation
5. Postwar and Contemporary Period
 STAGES OF PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
1. PRE COLONIAL
 PRODUCED BEFORE THE SPANISH PERIOD.
 IT INCLUDES CHANTS, PROVERBS, SONGS, SPELLS, FOLK TALES, FABLES, LEGENDS, MYTHS, EPICS.
WORK AND ACTIVITY SONGS DESCRIBED HOW PEOPLE EARN THEIR LIVELIHOOD LIKE FARMING,
FISHING, & POTTERY.
EXAMPLE-Magtanim ay di Biro ( Planting Rice is Never Fun)
2. SPANISH COLONIZATION
INFLUENCED BY CHRISTIANITY AND EUROPIAN IDEALS OF LIBERTY AND FREEDOM THROUGH
TRADE.
WRITERS CHANGED THEIR SUBJECTS FROM NATURE TO NATURAL PHENOMENON TO THE LIVES OF
THE SAINTS, HYMNS, MIRACLES AND INVOCATIONS BASED ON THE TEACHINGS OF THE CATHLOIC
FAITH.
STAGES OF PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
3. AMERICAN OCCUPATION
FILIPINO WRITERS FOLLOW THE FORMS AND STYLE OF THE AMERICAN WRITERS.
4. JAPANESE OCCUPATION
CENSORED LITERARY WORKS BUT CONTRIBUTED TO THE MATURITY OF THE TAGALOG
SHORT STORY BECAUSE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WAS NOT ALLOWED TO USE.
TAGALOG WAS DECLARED AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE TOGETHER WITH NIHONGGO.
5. POSTWAR AND CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
FILIPINO WRITERS WERE INSPIRED BY THE AMERICAN TEACHERS AND USED THEIR
TECHNIQUES, WHICH ALSO HELPED IN MASTERING ENGLISH LANGUAGE.
WRITERS PRODUCED SHORT STORIES, NOVELS, ESSAYS, AND POEMS THAT CONTINUE TO
READ BY FILIPINOS TODAY.
PHILIPPINE LIT DURING THE
PRECOLONIAL PERIOD
CHANTS

BARI BARI APO

MAKIDALAN TI TAO ( ILOKO CHANT)

PROVERBS

SALAWIKAIN

BUGTONG

SONGS LIKE OYAYI OR HELE, MANANG BIDAY, PAMULINAWEN, NARANIAG A

BULAN
PRE COLONIAL

1. FOLKTALES

EXAMPLES: JUAN GATHERS GUAVA ( TAGALOG), JUAN PUSONG AND HIS FATHER’S COWS ( VISAYAN)

2. FABLE – MONKEY- COMMON ANIMAL CHARACTER;

EXAMPLE: THE MONKEY AND THE CROCODILE

3.LEGEND –

EXAMPLE: THE FLOOD STORY( BUKIDNON); THE FLOOD STORY ( IGOROT)

4. MYTH

EXAMPLE: THE CREATION ( AN IGOROT MYTH AND TAGALOG MYTH)

5. EPIC

EXAMPLE: BIAG NI LAM-ANG

SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD

EXAMPLES: CORRIDO, AWIT, DALIT, CENACULO, MORO MORO, DUPLO,

KARAGATAN, AND ZARZUELA

SONGS: BAHAY KUBO, KUNDIMAN, AND TAPAT

FRANCISCO BLATAZAR- WAS POPULAR DURING THIS TIME BECAUSE OF

“FLORANTE AT LAURA”

LADINOS – WROTE DEVOTIONAL POETRY

FERNANDO BAGONGBANTA WROTE SALAMAT NG WALANG HANGAN

GASPAR AQUINO DE BELEN WROTE ANG MAHAL NA PASSION NI JESU CHRISTONG

PANGINOON.

KOMEDYA OR MORO MORO DRAMA- IT DEPICTED THE WAR BETWEEN CHRISTIANS

AND MUSLIMS.
SPANISH COLONIAL PERIOD

FRANCISCO BALTAZAR ( 1788-1862) MASTER OF TRADITIONAL TAGALOG POETRY (

FLORANTE AT LAURA)

JOSE RIZAL – “NOLI ME TANGERE” AND “EL FILIBUSTERISMO”

ANDRES BONIFACIO- “PAG IBIG SA TINUBUANG LUPA” WHICH APPEARED IN

KALAYAAN, THE OFFICIAL NEWSPAPER OF THE KATIPUNAN.

LEONA FLORENTINO – MOTHER OF PHIL. WOMEN’S LITERATURE, POET BOTH IN

ILOCANO AND SPANISH. 20 POEMS WERE PRESERVED AND EXHIBITED IN EUROPE.
AMERICAN PERIOD ( 1898-1940)

DURING THIS TIME, THE US ESTABLISHED A CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN 1901. FREE PUBLIC EDUCATION WAS
INTRODUCED. ENGLISH WAS THE MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION. THE PRODUCTION OF LITERARY WORKS IN
ENGLISH IS THE DIRECT RESULT OF THE AMERICAN COLONIZATION OF THE PHILIPPINES. THE FIRST
COLLECTION OF POETRY IN ENGLISH IS FILIPINO POETRY ( 1924) EDITED BY RODOLFO DATO.

“DEAD STARS” (1925) BY PAZ MARQUEZ BENITEZ-CONSIDERED AS THE FIRST FILIPINO MODERN
SHORT STORY IN ENGLISH.

“A CHILD SORROW”( 1921) BY ZOILA M. GALANG- FIRST FILIPINO NOVEL IN ENGLISH

“HIS NATIVE SOIL” (1940) BY JUAN C. LAYA – WON FIRST PRIZE IN THE FIRST COMMONWEALTH
LITERARY AWARDS IN 1940.

** FILIPINO WRITERS IMITATED AMERICAN WRITING.

FERNANDO MARAMAG- WROTE SONNET “MOONLIGHT ON MANILA BAY” ( 1912)

MANUEL ARGUILLA AND NVM GONZALES

JAPANESE PERIOD ( 1941- 1945)

DURING THIS TIME, PUBLICATIONS WERE CENSORED BY THE MILITARY. ALSO, TAGALOG WAS
DECLARED AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE ( WITH NIHONGGO). IN EFFECT, PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
IN ENGLISH CAME TO A HALT. SOME FILIPINO WRITERS TURNED TO WRITING IN FILIPINO.

LIWAYWAY MAGAZINE – COLLECTION OF STORIES THAT WON A CONTEST SPONSORED BY

JAPANESE.

TOP FOUR STORIES:

“LUPANG TINUBUAN”- NARCISO G. REYES

“ÜHAW ANG TIGANG NA LUPA”- LIWAYWAY ARCEO

“NAYON AT DAGAT-DAGATAN”” - N.V.M. GONZALES

“SUYUAN SA TUBIGAN”- MACARIO PINEDA

POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
NICK JOAQUIN- NATIONAL ARTIST FOR LITERATURE AWARDEE AND HE WROTE “MAY DAY
EVE”(1947)- ABOUT LOVE IN A PATRIARCHAL SOCIETY.

F. SIONIL JOSE- WROTE SHORT STORY “WAYWAYA” WHICH IS ABOUT PRE HISPANIC SOCIETY
AND THE PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE FOR MORAL ORDER. SIONEL IS FROM ROSALES, PANGASINAN.

ALEJANDRO ROCES- ESSAYIST, DRAMATIST AND WROTE SHORT STORY “WE FILIPINOS ARE
MILD DRINKERS”

EDITH L. TIEMPO – WROTE “THE RETURN” IS ABOUT OLD AGE.

HORACIO DELA COSTA- WROTE THE ESSAY “HISTORY AND PHILIPPINE CULTURE”

STEVAN JAVELLANA WROTE “WITHOUT SEEING THE DAWN” THAT TALKS ABOUT WHAT PEOPLE
EXPERIENCED DURING WORLD WAR II UNDER THE JAPANESE RULE IN THE PHILIPPINES.
POST WAR AND CONTEMPORARY PERIOD

SOME NOTABLE ILOCANO FICTIONISTS:

MANUEL ARGUILLA OF LA UNION - “HOW MY BROTHER LEON BROUGHT HOME A WIFE”

CARLOS BULOSAN OF PANGASINAN – “ÄMERICA IS IN THE HEART”, MY FATHER’S

TRAGEDY, AND “FATHER GOES TO COURT”

AMADOR T. DAGUIO OF ILOCOS NORTE – “A WEDDING DANCE”

F. SIONEL JOSE OF PANGASINAN - “THE GOD STEALER”, “MY BROTHER, MY

EXECUTIONER”

PEDRO BUKANEG OF BANTAY ILOCOS SUR – FATHER OF ILOCANO LITERATURE AND THE
ACKNOWLEDGED AUTHOR OF THE “EPIC OF BIAG NI LAM ANG”