21ST

CENTURY
LITERATU
What’s the word!
That’s the word!
oltakfel
FOLKTAL
E
bleaf
FABLE
endleg
LEGEND
thym
MYTH
pcie
EPIC
 What is
Literature?
“LITERA” – LATIN WORD WHICH
LITERALLY MEANS AN

ignatiu joseph n estroga

 • is a product of particular culture that
concretizes man’s array of
values, emotions, actions and ideas. It is
therefore a creation of human experiences that
tells about people and their world.

What is Literature? ignatius joseph n estroga

WHAT IS LITERATURE?
ignatius joseph n estroga

Literature
is
LIFE
Literature

• Is a body of written works.

• Originated from oral traditions.
• Are imaginative works.
• Deals with stories and poetry.
• The content depends on the author.
Three Points of Literature

• Literature portrays human experience.

• Authors interpret these human
experiences.
• It is an art form and a style of
expression.
 The
Three
Literary
Periods
 BC-1564
The
Pre-Colonial
Period
THE PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

• This existed before the Spanish

occupation in the 1500s.
• It is oral in nature and is full of
lessons and ideas about life, its
blessings, and its consequences.
• It contains ideas from birth to
the grave.
THE PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

• The oral characteristic of pre-colonial literature

gives the possibility for many alterations.
• Inthe Philippine context, no matter how
it may be considered as altered, pre-colonial
literature is still revered to by many Filipinos.
• The sources are usually the local native town folk.
FORMS

1. Oral Literature 2. Folk Songs

a. Riddles a. Lullabies
b. Proverbs b. Drinking Songs
c. Love Songs
3. Folk Tales d. Songs of Death
a. Myths e. Religious Songs
b. Legends
c. Fables
d. Epics
Riddles (Mga Bugtong)

• These are statements that contain superficial words, but

they function figuratively and as metaphors, and are in the
form of questions.
• These are questions that demand deeper answers.
• Deals with everyday life.
• It usually has mundane things as answers.
• This is used in the past as a form of game in small or large
gatherings.
EXAMPLES:

Bisaya

Baboy sa lasang, (A wild pig of the forest,)

Ang tunok puro lansang. (Is covered with
spikes.)

Answer: Nangka (Jackfruit)

Meranaw

Sominub lawiyan, (It dived,)

Mbowat lawitan. (It rose.)

Answer: Ragum (Needle)

Chabacano
Tagia que tagia, (You keep on slashing it,)
Hende ta penetra. (But it does not penetrate)

Answer: Agua (Water)

Proverbs (Mga Salawikain)

• These are statements that are considered as wise.

• These are usually given by parents or elders of the
community.
• There is belief that experience is the
best teacher.
EXAMPLES:

Mandaya on Viriginity

Yang ataog aw madugdug, (An egg once broken,)

Di da mamauli. (Will never be the same.)

Tausug on Secret Affairs Ilocano on Guilt

In lasa iban uba, (Love and cough,) Ti agutak, (He who cackles)
Di hikatapuk. (Cannot be hidden.) Isut nagitlog. (Laid the egg.)
Folk Songs

• These are folk lyrics that are usually chanted.

• These usually contain ideas on and aspirations,
hopes, everyday life expressions of love for
loved ones.
• It is bounded by the learning of good morals.
• It is easy to undestand because it is straightforward
and not figurative in nature.
Forms

• Lullabies- these is locally known as the Hele. These

are sung to put to sleep babies. The content varies,
but usually, parents sing these with ideas on how hard
life is and how they hope that their child will not
experience the hardships of life.

• Drinking Songs- these are locally known as Tagay

and are sung during drinking sessions.
• Love Songs- to many Filipinos, these are known as the
Harana. It can also be called Courtship Songs and are used
by young men to capture the heart of the girl that they
love.

• Religious Songs- are songs or chants that are usually given

during exorcisms and thanksgiving during good harvest.

• Songs of Death- are lamentations that contain the roll of

good deeds that the dead has usually done to immortaliz
his or her good image.
EXAMPLES:
Lullabies
Ilocano
Maturog, duduayya
Maturog kad tay bunga,
Tay lalaki nga napigsa
Ta inton dumakkel tay bunga,
Isunto aya tay mammati
Tay amon a ibaga me.
Go to sleep, dear little one
Will my child please sleep,
This strong boy
So when the child grows big
He will obey
Everything that we say.
Folk Tales (Mga Kwentong Bayan)

• These are stories of native Filipinos.

• These 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.
• These also tackle about irresponsibility, lust, stupidity,
deception, and fallibility that eventually leads to the instilling
of good morals.
• Example

Juan Gathers Guavas (A Tagalog Folktale)

Juan Pusong and His Father’s Cows (A Visayan
Folktale)
Forms

• Myths- these tackle the natural to strange

occurences of the earth and how things were
created with an aim to give an explanation to things.

-There is Bathala for the Tagalogs and the

Gueurang for the Bikolanos.
- Paradise is known as Maca, while Hell is
Kasanaaan
• Example

The Creation (An Igorot Myth)

The Creation (A Tagalog Myth)
Legends- through legends, the natives
understood mysteries around them.
These stories usually come with a moral
lesson that give credit to supernatural
powers, supernatural occurrences, and
other out-of- this-world native
imagination.
• Example

The Legend of Sampaguita

• Fables- are short or brief stories that cater
the children of the native Filipinos and are
usually bounded by good manners and right
conduct. These stories use animals as
characters that represent a particular value
or characteristic.
• Example

The Monkey and the Crocodile (A Tagalog

Fable)
• Epics- are very lengthy narratives that
are based on oral traditions. These
contain encounters of fighters,
stereotypical princes or heroes that
save a damsel in distress.
• Example

Biag ni Lam-ang
OTHER EXAMPLES:
Myths The Story of Bathala
Ang Pag-aaway ng Dagat at Langit

Legends The Legend of Maria Makiling

The Legend of the Sampaguita

Fables Ang Kuneho at and Pagong

Epics Hinilawod
1521-1898
The
SPANISH
Period
The Spanish Period
• The start of the Philippine's more
colorful history took place in March 6,
1521 when Ferdinand Magellan docked
on the shores of Homonhon.
• The Filipinos were then called “Ladinos”,
meaning they were latinized.
• Filipinos were called two things. One is the “Taga-Bayan”,
while the other is the “Taga-bukid” or “Taga-bundok”.
The Spanish Period
• A person who is a Taga-bayan is considered urbane
and civilized and were in easy range of the church
and state.
• A person who is a Taga-bundok or Taga-bukid is
called a Bruto Salvage (Savage Brute) or Indio and
were the ones who lived far from the center of the
Spanish power.
FORMS
1. Religious Literature 2. Secular or Non-Religious
Literature
a.Pasyon a.Awit
b.Senakulo b.Korido
c.Komedya c.Prose Narratives
3. Propaganda Literature 4. Revolutionary Literature
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

Revolves around the life and the death of Jesus Christ.

Forms of Religious Literature:

Pasyon- it is about the passion (journey and suffering) and the

death of Jesus Christ.
RELIGIOUS LITERATURE

Senakulo- it is the re-enctment of the Pasyon.

Komedya- it depicts the European society through love and

fame, but can also be a narrative about a journey, just like
Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy. It is also considered religous,
because it usually depicts the battle between the Christians
and the Saracens or the Moros.
Secular or Non- Religious Literature

• Revolves around tales of valiance and adventure.

Forms of Secular or Non-Religious Literature:

Awit- these are tales of chivalry whereas knight

saves a princess.
Florante at Laura is a good example.
Korido- is a metrical tale or a tale that follows the
struture of a poem.

Prose Narratives- are easy to understand instructional

materials that in a literary light that teaches Filipinos
on proper decorum. Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang
Binibini na si Urbana at Feliza ni Modesto de castro
(1864) is a good example.
PROPAGANDA LITERATURE

• These were in the forms of satires, editorials, and

news articles that aimed to attack the Spanish Rule.
• The propaganda trinity is composed of Dr. Jose Rizal,
Marcelo H. Del Pilar, and Graciano Lopez

Example

Graciano Lopez Jaena

Ang Fray Botod- One of his works written in Jaro, Iloilo in 1876, six years after the
Cavite Revolt attacking the friars in the Philippines. He exposed how some of the
friars were greedy, ambitious and immoral.
LA HIJA DEL FRAILE (The Child of the Friar) and
EVERYTING IS HAMBUG (Everything is mere show)-
Here Jaena the tragedy of marrying a Spaniard.
explains
Marcelo H. Del Pilar
KAIINGAT KAYO (Be Careful)- a humorous and sarcastic dig in answer to Fr. Jose
Rodriquez in the novel NOLI of Rizal, published in Barcelona in 1888. He used
Dolores Manapat as pen-name here.

DASALAN AT TOCSOHAN (Prayers and Jokes)- similar to a cathecism but

sarcastically done agains the parish priests, published in Barcelona in 1888.
Because of this, del Pilar was called “filibuster.” Done in admirable tone of
supplication and excellent use of Tagalog.
ANG CADAQUILAAN NG DIOS (God’s Goodness)-published in
Barcelona, it was also like a cathecism sarcastically aimed
against the parish priests but also contains a philosophy of the
power and intelligence of God and an appreciation for and
love for nature.
Dr. Jose Rizal

NOLI ME TANGERE- this was the novel that 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.
Revolutionary Literature
are exposes that sparked revolution and resistance in the hearts of
Filipinos.
Examples:

Andres Bonifacio

Katungkulang Gagawin ng mga Anak ng Bayan (Obligations of our

Countrymen)
– an outline of obligations just like the Ten Commandments, hence, it is
likewise called Ang Dekalogo.

Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog(What the Tagalogsshould Know) –

an essay outlining the basic tenets of Bonifacio’s ideas on nationalism.
Examples:

Emilio Jacinto
Liwanag at Dilim (Light and Darkness) – a collection of essays on
different subjects like freedom, work, faith, government and love of
country.

Apolinario Mabini

El Desarollo y Caida de la Republica Filipina (The Rise and Fall of the

Philippine Republic) – this essay highlights the establishment of the
Philippine republic and its subsequent doom due to disunity among
the Filipinos
Pedro Paterno (1857–1911) wrote Sampaguitas y poesias
varias (1880), the first poetry collection in Spanish by a Filipino; and
the novel in Spanish Ninay (1885), considered to be the first Filipino
novel.
Leona Florentino (1849–1884), known as the “mother of Philippine
women’s literature,” was a poet in both Ilocano and Spanish. Twenty
of her poems were preserved and exhibited in Europe. The poems were
included in the Encyclopedia International des Oeuvres des Femme in
1889.
Examples:

Dr. Jose Rizal

El Filibusterismo– This is a sequel to the NOLI. While

the NOLI exposed the evils in society, the FILI exposed
those in the government and in the church. However,
the NOLI has been dubbed the novel of society while
that of FILI is that of politics.
Publications

El Heraldo de la Revolucion (Herald of the Revolution)

– printed the decrees of the Revolutionary
Government, news and works in Tagalog that aroused
nationalism.
This is the Official Newspaper of the
Revolutionary Government of Aguinaldo.
La Independencia (Independence) – an
independent newspaper founded
and edited by General Antonio Luna.

La Republica Filipina (The Philippine Republic) – a

private newspaper edited by Pedro Paterno.

La Libertad (Liberty) – another private newspaper

edited by Clemente Zulueta.
1900-1942
The
AMERICAN
Period
The American Period

• The Philippines had a great

leap in Education and
Culture.
• The use of English alongside
Filipino was practiced.
• The Philippines Public School
system was introduced.
• Free public instruction was given to the
Filipinos.
• The literature during the American period was
considered as imitative of American model.
Instead of asking the students to write
originals, students ended up following the
form of American poets.
FORMS

1. Poetry- poetry under the American

rule still followed the style of the
old, but had contents that ranged
from free writing to societal
concerns under the Americans.
FORMS

2. Drama- was usually used in the American period 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 ofsocial conditions by colonial
repression.
Poetry

Jose Corazon de Jesus (1832-1896) popularly known

as “Batute,” created his own generation with his first
book of poems.

Mga Gintong Dahon (1920)- were poems pre- with such non-
occupied
traditional themes as passion-slaying, grief-induced, insanity, and lover’s suicide.

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
Severino Reyes (1861-1942) –
spearheaded a movement to supplant the
komedya with a new type of drama, the
sarsuwela, a Filipino adaptation of the
Spanish zarzuela.

Examples:

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
Other successful sarsuwelas:

Hindi Aco Patay (1903) by Juan Matapang Cruz

Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas (1903) by Aurelio

Tolentino- is an allegorical presentation of the history
of the nationalist struggle and how the U,S. frustrated
the Philippine revolution.

Tanikalang Guinto (1902) by Juan Abad

(1872-1932)- is about Liwanag and K’Ulayaw,
lovers who stand for freedom and the Filipino.
REMAKE NOVELS

Gabriel Beato Francisco (1850-1935)- is best known

for his trilogy of Fulgencia Galbillo (1907), Capitan
Bensio (1907), Alfaro (1909), depicting the 30 years of colonial
repression by the Spanish rule.

Inigo Ed. Regalado (1888-1976)- Madaling Araw (1909) was his first novel
showing the complex interrelations of issues and people in contemporary
Philippine society.

Juan Lauro Arsciwals (1889-1928)- Lalaking Uliran o Tulisan (1914), allusion to

the colonial law that branded Filipino patriots as bandits.
LITERARY WORKS PRODUCED

 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.
 The short story “Dead Stars” (1925) by Paz Marquez
Benitez is considered as the first Filipino modern short
story in English. 
 A Child of Sorrow (1921) by Zoilo M. Galang is the first Filipino novel in
English. The novel His Native Soil (1940) by Juan C. Laya won first prize in
the First Commonwealth Literary Awards in 1940.
 Filipino writers in English during the apprenticeship period (1900–1930)
imitated American writing.
 The poet Fernando Maramag writes in the Romantic tradition in his sonnet
“Moonlight on Manila Bay” (1912). Filipino fictionists copied Sherwood
Anderson, William Saroyan, and Ernest Hemingway.
 Jose Garcia Villa used the Anderson pattern. Manuel Arguilla and N. V. M.
Gonzalez were influenced by Anderson and Hemingway. Francisco Arcellana
was influenced by Saroyan.
1941-1945
The
JAPANESE
Period
 During the occupation, publications were censored by
the military.
 Also, Tagalog was declared an official language
(together with Nihonggo).
 In effect, Philippine literature in English came to a halt.
Some Filipino writers then turned to writing in Filipino.
 The Tagalog short story reached its maturity during the
period.
 The best works were compiled by the Liwayway magazine
editors in Ang
Pinakamabuting Maikling Kathang
Pilipino ng 1943, which came out in 1944.
 It is a collection of stories that won a contest sponsored by the
Japanese.

The top four stories were

1.“Lupang Tinubuan” by Narciso G. Reyes,
2.“Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa” by Liwayway Arceo,
3.“Nayon at Dagat-dagatan” by N. V. M. Gonzalez, and
4. “Suyuan sa Tubigan” by Macario Pineda.
 1946- 1985
The
REPUBLIC
The Japanese Period and the Republic

• The Philippine literature came into a halt.

• The use of the English language was forbidden, and
the use of the Filipino language was mandated
under the Japanese rule.
• For some this was a problem, but to most writers,
it was a blessing in disguise.
• Almost all news papers were stopped except for
some.
• Filipino literature was given a break during this
period. Many wrote plays, poems, short stories,
etc. Topics and themes were often about life in the
provinces.
FORMS

1. Poetry

2. Fiction

3. Drama

4. Newspapers

5. Essays
DRAMA
The drama experienced a lull during the Japanese period because
movie houses showing American films were closed. The big movie
houses were just made to show stage shows. Many of the plays were
reproductions of English plays to Tagalog..
Newspapers

Writings that came out during this period were journalistic in nature.
Writers felt suppressed but slowly, the spirit of nationalism started to
seep into their consciousness. While some continued to write, the
majority waited for a better climate to publish their works.
Poetry

The common theme of most poems during the Japanese

occupation was nationalism, country, love, and life in the
barrios, faith, religion and the arts.

Fiction

The field of the short story widened during the Japanese

Occupation. Many wrote short stories.
Essays

Essays were composed to gorify the Filipinos

and at the same time to figuratively attack the Japanese.
 LITERATURE
OF
THE PHILIPPINES
TODAY
21ST CENTURY
LITERATURE

In the 21st century Philippines, there are a lot of

literary innovations that are adapted and created
by Filipinos. Nowadays, even those who do not
have any significant literary background make
their own way using the freedom that they have
to write and to express.
21ST CENTURY
LITERATURE

There are a lot of new forms from the basic genres of

literature; thus, proving how far the literature in the
Philippines has gone and how far it will go on from
here.