PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

Contemporary Arts
What is Philippine Literature?

Philippine Literature is a literature associated

with the Philippines from prehistory, through
it's colonial legacies, and on to the present. The
post-colonial literature covered a literary period
typified by experimentation with a new
language, particularly the forms and imagery
that are offered by English and American
literature. The literary content later imbibed
themes that express the search for Filipino
identity, reconciling the centuries-old Spanish
and American influence to the Philippines' Asian
heritage. A national literature later emerged,
one that revealed authenticity of experience
and artistic originality.
Now, there are several notable Philippine literary
authors and one of them is José Protasio Rizal Mercado
y Alonso Realonda (Spanish: [xoˈse riˈsal], Tagalog: [ho
ˈse riˈsal]; June 19, 1861 – December 30, 1896) was a
Filipino nationalist, writer and polymath active at the
end of the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines.
He is considered the national hero (pambansang
bayani) of the Philippines.An ophthalmologist by
profession, Rizal became a writer and a key member of
the Filipino Propaganda Movement, which advocated
political reforms for the colony under Spain. He is not
just a hero, he is also a very notable literary author in
his time. He wrote the novels Noli Me Tángere (1887)
and El filibusterismo (1891), which together are taken
as a national epic, in addition to numerous poems and
essays.
one of his famous works is “𝗦𝗮 𝗔𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗞𝗮𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗮” (English: To My Fellow Youth)
is a poem about the love of one's native language written in Tagalog. It is widely
attributed to the Filipino hero José Rizal, who supposedly wrote it in 1868 at the age
of eight. There is no evidence, however, to support authorship by Rizal and several
historians now believe it to be a hoax. The actual author of the poem is suspected to
have been the poets Gabriel Beato Francisco or Herminigildo Cruz.
The poem was widely taught in Philippine schools to point out Rizal's precociousness
and early development of his nationalistic ideals.
A passage of the poem often paraphrased as "𝗔𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘂𝗻𝗼𝗻𝗴
𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗺𝗮𝗵𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗮 𝘀𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘄𝗶𝗸𝗮 , 𝗺𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗵𝗼𝗹 𝗽𝗮 𝘀𝗮 𝗺𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗮𝗻𝗴
𝗶𝘀𝗱𝗮" (English: "He who knows not to love his own language, is worse than beasts
and putrid fish") is widely quoted in order to justify pressuring Philippine citizens into
using Tagalog; this ironically includes its majority of nonnative speakers. It is
encountered most frequently during the Buwan ng Wika ('Language Month'), a
commemoration of the establishment of the Filipino language as the national
language of the Philippines.
 𝗧𝗼 𝗠𝘆 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵

Whenever people of a country truly love

The language which by heav'n they were taught to use
That country also surely liberty pursue
As does the bird which soars to freer space above.
For language is the final judge and referee
Upon the people in the land where it holds sway;
In truth our human race resembles in this way
The other living beings born in liberty.
Whoever knows not how to love his native tongue
Is worse than any best or evil smelling fish.
To make our language richer ought to be our wish
The same as any mother loves to feed her young.
Tagalog and the Latin language are the same
And English and Castilian and the angels' tongue;
And God, whose watchful care o'er all is flung,
Has given us His blessing in the speech we calim,
Our mother tongue, like all the highest tht we know
Had alphabet and letters of its very own;
But these were lost -- by furious waves were overthrown
Like bancas in the stormy sea, long years ago.
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝗥𝗶𝘇𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗼𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲
𝗽𝗼𝗲𝗺?
Jose Rizal wrote the poem "My
Fellow Children" to inspire the
youth to use their talents and
be the best they can be. He
also wrote it to encourage the
youth to be proud of being
who they are and the first step
to do that is to use their
mother tongue or native
language in communicating or
speaking.
 Jose P. Rizal has a big impact and significance in
philippine literature. He has been instrumental in
the Filipino's bid towards independence and
several developments in various sectors. Rizal also
made contributions to Philippine art, literature, and
medicine, which continues to fascinate his
countrymen today. Rizal's love for the Philippines
was evident in nearly all his actions.