Literature

Meaning, Importance, and

History in the Philippines
What is Literature?
• Littera (letters)
• Written work about a particular culture/person.
• Related to ideas/feelings of people.
• Human experiences.
• Art or form of expression.

Meaning
• Expanding horizons.
• Building critical thinking skill.
• Appreciating other culture and beliefs.
• Addressing humanity.

Why Study Literature?

 I. Pre-Colonial Period (BC-1564)

II. Spanish Colonization Period (1565- 1898)

III. American Period (1899- 1940)

IV. Japanese Period (1941-1945)

V. The Republic Period (1946- 1985)

Periods of Philippine
Literature
• Existed before the Spanish occupation in the 1500s.
• Oral in nature. Full of lessons and ideas about life,
blessings, and consequences.
• The sources are usually the local native town folk.

I. Pre-Colonial Period
(BC-1564)
1. Oral Literature
a. Riddles b. Proverbs
2. Folk Songs
a. Lullabies b. Religious Songs c. Love Songs
d. Songs of Death
3. Folk Tales
a. Myths b. Legends c. Fables d. Epics

Forms
• Stories of native Filipinos.
• Deal with the power of nature- personified, their submission to a
deity- usually Bathala- and how this deity is responsible for the
blessings and calamities.
• Tackle about irresponsibility, lust, stupidity, deception, and
fallibility that eventually leads to the instilling of good morals.

Folk Tales (Mga Kwentong Bayan)

• Myths - How things were created to give an
explanation to things.
• Ex: Bathala :Tagalogs ;Gueurang :Bikolanos
Paradise :Maca ;Hell : Kasanaaan

Forms
• Legends- to understood mysteries.
- with a moral lesson that give credit to
supernatural powers, supernatural occurrences.
• Fables -use animals as characters
• Epics - lengthy narratives that are based on oral
traditions. These contain encounters of fighters,
stereotypical princes or heroes that save a damsel in
distress.
 The Story of Bathala
• Myths
Ang Pag-aaway ng Dagat at Langit

The Legend of Maria Makiling

• Legends The Legend of the Sampaguita

Ang Kuneho at ang Pagong

• Fables Si Juan Tamad

Hinilawod (Panay)
• Epics Darangen (Mindanao)

Examples
• Literature in this period may be classified as
religious.
• Emergent of writers such as: Jose Rizal, Marcelo
H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, Emilio Jacinto and
Andres Bonifacio.

II. Spanish Colonization Period

(1565- 1898)
1. Religious Literature a. Pasyon b. Senakulo
2. Secular or Non-Religious Literature a. Awit b. Korido
c. Prose Narratives
3. Propaganda Literature
4. Revolutionary Literature

Forms
• Revolves around the life and the death of Jesus
Christ.
• Forms
• Pasyon- it is about the passion (journey and
suffering) and the death of Jesus Christ.
• Senakulo- it is the re-enactment of the Pasyon.

Religious Literature
• Revolves around tales of valiance and adventure.
• Forms:
• Awit- tales of chivalry where a knight saves a princess.
Ex. Florante at Laura
• Korido- is a metrical tale or a tale that follows the structure of a
poem.
• Prose Narratives- easy to understand instructional materials that
in a literary light that teaches Filipinos on proper decorum. Ex.
Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si Urbana at Feliza (1864)
is a good example.

Secular or Non- Religious Literature

• These were in the forms of satires, editorials, and
news articles that aimed to attack the Spanish Rule.
• Dr. Jose Rizal’s NOLI ME TANGERE- his novel
gave spirit to the propaganda movement and paved
the way to the revolution against Spain. In this book,
he courageously exposed the evils in the Spanish-run
government in the Philippines.

Propaganda Literature
• Exposes that sparked revolution and resistance in the
hearts of Filipinos.
• Example: Andres Bonifacio’s Ang Dapat Mabatid
ng mga Tagalog (What the Tagalogs should
Know) – an essay outlining the basic tenets of
Bonifacio’s ideas on nationalism.

Revolutionary Literature
• The Philippines Public School system was
introduced.
• Imitative of American model

III. American Period

(1899- 1940)
1. Poetry- free writing to societal concerns under the
Americans.
2. Drama- used to degrade the Spanish rule and to
immortalize the heroism of the men who fought under the
Katipunan.
3. Remake Novels- took up Dr. Jose Rizal's portrayal of
social conditions by colonial repression.

Forms
• Poetry- Sa Dakong Silangan (1928)- returned to the awit form,
retelling the history of Philippines under Spain, the coming of the U.S
under the guise of friendship to take over from Spain
• Drama- Walang Sugat (1902)- is a sarsuwela (drama in the form
singing) drawn from the period of Revolution, depicting the cruelty and
corruption of friars and the heroism of the soldiers of the Katipunan.
• Remake Novels- Juan Lauro Arsciwals (1889-1928)- Lalaking Uliran
o Tulisan (1914), allusion to the colonial law that branded Filipino
patriots as bandits.

Examples
• Use of Filipino language.
• Many wrote plays, short stories, poems,
etc.
• Life and provinces

IV. Japanese Period

(1941-1945)
• English and Filipino continue to be the major media of
literature.
• Gender and environmental issues have gained ground.

V. The Republic Period

(1946- 1985)
Quiz
¼ pad paper
1-5. Give the 5 periods of Phil Lit. (According to order)
6. Period, where in the literature is commonly oral.
7. The first American teachers of the Filipinos.
8. Literature in this period may be classified as religious.
9. It is the re-enactment of the Pasyon.
10. Give one reason to study Literature.

Give the following answers.