HISTORY OF
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE
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Periods of Philippine literature
Pre-Colonial Literature
Spanish Colonial tradition
American Colonial tradition
Japanese Colonial tradition
Contemporary Literature
The PRE-COLONIAL Literature
Pre-colonial inhabitants of our islands showcase a rich past
through:
✣ folk speeches
✣ folk songs
✣ folk narratives
✣ indigenous rituals
✣ mimetic dances
FOLK SPEECHES
Riddles
✣ Central to the riddle is the talinghaga or metaphor
because it “reveals subtle resemblances between two
unlike objects”
✣ While some riddles are ingenious, others verge on the
obscene or are sex-related.
✣ Tigmo in Cebuano
✣ Bugtong in Tagalog
✣ Paktakon in Ilonggo
✣ Patotodon in Bikol
Examples:
 May ataman akong kabayo, kon ginagakdan minalakaw
kon binobotsanan minatukaw - Sapatos
 Saro an nilaugan, tolo an niluwasan - kamiseta
 Bumbong kung liwanag, kung gabi ay dagat - banig
 Kinalag ang balangkas sumayaw nang ilagpak –
Balak/Turumpo
 Maputing dalaga Nagtatalik sa lila - ampaw
 Kinain na’t naubos Nabubuo pang lubos - buwan
 It's 7:00 AM. You are asleep and there is a sudden knock on
the door. Behind the door are your parents who came to
have breakfast. In your fridge are bread, milk (pasteurised),
juice, and a jar of jam. To answer, what will you open first? –
eyes
Proverbs or Aphorisms
✣ express norms or codes of behavior, community beliefs
✣ instill values by offering nuggets of wisdom in short,
rhyming verses
Examples:
 An paroy dai minadolok sa manok.
 Pag an tubig hararom dai nin girong alagad kun
makarawkasaw hababaw.
 Mayaman ka man sa sabi dukha ka rin sa sarili.
 Natutuwa kung pasalop kung singili’y napopoot.
 Tanoson an kahoy alintanang sadit pa.
Tanaga
✣ a mono-rhyming heptasyllabic quatrain expressing
insights and lessons on life
✣ more emotionally charged than the terse proverb and
thus has affinities with the folk lyric
✣ Some examples are the basahanon or extended didactic
sayings from Bukidnon and the daraida and daragilon
from Panay
✣ a form of folk lyric which expresses the hopes and
aspirations, the people’s lifestyles as well as their loves
✣ often repetitive and sonorous, didactic and naive as in
the children’s songs or Ida-ida (Maguindanao), tulang
pambata (Tagalog) or cansiones para abbing (Ibanag)
Examples:
 Katitibay, Ka Tulos, sakaling datnang agos ako’y mumunting
lumot sa iyo’y pupulupot.
 Isda akong gaga-sapsap gaga-taliptip kalapad, kaya
nakikipagpusag ang kalaguyo’y apahap.
 Ang tubig ma’y malalim malilirip kung libdin itong budhing
magaling maliwag paghanapin.
FOLK SONGS
Examples:
✣ lullabies or Ili-ili (Ilonggo)
✣ love songs like the panawagon and balitao (Ilonggo)
✣ harana or serenade (Cebuano)
✣ the bayok (Maranao)
✣ ambahan (Mangyan) which are about human
relationships, social entertainment and which also serve
as a tool for teaching the young
✣ work songs that depict the livelihood of the people often
sung to go with the movement of workers such as the
kalusan (Ivatan), soliranin (Tagalog rowing song) or the
mambayu, a Kalinga rice-pounding song
✣ the verbal jousts/games like the duplo which are popular
during wakes
✣ drinking songs sung during carousals like the tagay
(Cebuano and Waray) and the tantaloy
Tantaloy
Tantaloyloyloy tantaloyloyloy (2x) Ako si (name), tubong (place
of origin), Kung tatawagin ay (nickname) na sana, Kung sa
inuman ay (drink) na sana, Kung sa babae, (something
humorous). Tantaloyloyloy tantaloyloyloy (2x)
✣ lamentations extolling the deeds of the dead like the
kanogon (Cebuano) or the Annako (Bontoc)
✣ A type of narrative song or parang sabil among the
Tausug of Mindanao uses for its subject matter the exploits
of historical and legendary heroes. It tells of a Muslim hero
who seeks death at the hands of non-Muslims.
FOLK NARRATIVES
Examples:
Epics and folk tales are varied, exotic and magical. They also
have varied purposes like:
✣ they explain how the world was created
✣ how certain animals possess certain characteristics
✣ why some places have waterfalls, volcanoes, mountains,
flora or fauna
✣ in the case of legends, an explanation of the origins of
things.
✣ Fables are about animals and these teach moral lessons.
Epics
✣ Our country’s epics are considered ethno-epics because
unlike, say, Germany’s Niebelunginlied, our epics are not
national for they are “histories” of varied groups that
consider themselves “nations.”
✣ revolve around supernatural events or heroic deeds and
they embody or validate the beliefs and customs and
ideals of a community
✣ are sung or chanted to the accompaniment of
indigenous musical instruments and dancing performed
during harvests, weddings or funerals by chanters
✣ The chanters who were taught by their ancestors are
considered “treasures” and/or repositories of wisdom in
their communities.
Examples:
✣ Lam-ang (Ilocano)
✣ Hinilawod (Sulod)
✣ Kudaman (Palawan)
✣ Darangen (Maranao)
✣ Ulahingan (Livunganen-Arumanen Manobo)
✣ Mangovayt Buhong na Langit (The Maiden of the Buhong
Sky from Tuwaang–Manobo)
✣ Ag Tobig neg Keboklagan (Subanon)
✣ Tudbulol (T’boli)
MIMETIC DANCE
✣ A style of dance that simply imitates behavior found in
nature, particularly of animals.
✣ This style of dance is found in most indigenous cultures of
the Philippines, especially that of the Aetas.
THE SPANISH COLONIAL TRADITION
Literature in the Spanish colonial era (earlier years):
✣ Enriched the languages in the lowlands
✣ Introduced theater (komedya, sinakulo, sarswela)
2 Classifications: Religious and Secular prose and poetry
✣ Religious lyrics were used to teach religion and the
Spanish language
✣ Ladinos (people who knew both the Tagalog and Spanish
languages) were the ones who wrote religious lyrics.
Religious prose and Poetry
✣ Pasyon- commemoration of Christ’s agony and
resurrection at cavalry.
✣ “Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin
na Tola (The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ Our Lord that
is a Poem)” by Gaspar Aquino de Belen- Earliest known
Pasyon (1704)
✣ Dalit were added to novenas and catechisms.
✣ It has no fixed meter nor rhyme scheme although a
number are written in octosyllabic quatrains
✣ These have a solemn tone and spiritual subject matter.
✣ There were various kinds of prose narratives written to
prescribe decorum.
✣ These prose narratives were also used to religiously
convert the natives.
✣ Some forms of these are: dialogo (dialogue), Manual de
Urbanidad (conduct book); ejemplo (exemplum), and
tratado (treaty)
Examples of literature for decorum
✣ Modesto de Castro’s “Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini
na si Urbana at si Feliza” (Correspondence between the
Two Maidens Urbana and Feliza) in 1864
✣ Joaquin Tuason’s “Ang Bagong Robinson” (The New
Robinson) in 1879, an adaptation of Daniel Defoe’s novel.
Secular Prose and Poetry
✣ Appeared alongside historical and economic changes
✣ the emergence of an opulent class and the middle class
who could avail of a European education
✣ followed the conventions of a romantic tradition: the
languishing but loyal lover, the elusive, often heartless
beloved, the rival.
✣ Metrical Romances: Awit and Korido
✣ These are colorful tales of chivalry from European sources
made for singing and chanting.
✣ Awit: dodecasyllabic quatrains, Florante at Laura
✣ Korido: octosyllabic quatrains, Ibong Adarna
✣ Leading Secular Poets: Jose Corazon de Jesus (Huseng
Sisiw) and Francisco Balagtas
✣ Other secular writers: Leona Florentino, Jacinto Kawili,
Isabelo de los Reyes, and Rafael Gandioco
LITERATURE IN THE SPANISH COLONIAL ERA (PROPAGANDA
MOVEMENT)
✣ The Illustrados (Filipino intellectuals) began to write about
the downside of colonization
✣ This also included simmering calls for reforms by the
masses gathered a formidable force of writers such as
Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. del Pilar, Mariano Ponce, Emilio
Jacinto, and Andres Bonifacio
The Propaganda Movement helped in…
✣ ushering in the Philippine revolution
✣ planting the seeds of national consciousness among
Filipinos.
✣ Political Novels: El Filibusterismo and Noli me Tangere
Ninay (1885) by Pedro Paterno
✣ largely cultural and is considered the first Filipino novel
Other Filipino Writers
✣ Claro M. Recto
✣ Teodoro M. Kalaw
✣ Epifanio de los Reyes
✣ Vicente Sotto
✣ Trinidad Pardo de Tavera
✣ Rafael Palma
✣ Enrique Laygo (Caretas or Masks, 1925) and Balmori who
mastered the prosa romantica or romantic prose
The Fall of the Spanish Era
✣ by the 1930s, English writing had overtaken Spanish
writing
✣ the romantic tradition, from the awit and korido, would
continue in the novels of Magdalena Jalandoni.
✣ Patriotic writing appeared in the vernacular poems and
modern adaptations of works during the Spanish period
and which further maintained the Spanish tradition
THE AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD
Literature in the American Colonial Era:
✣ New literary forms such as free verse [in poetry, the
modern short story, and the critical essay were introduced
✣ firm establishment of English as the medium of instruction
in all schools
✣ literary modernism highlighted the writer’s individuality
and cultivated consciousness of craft, sometimes at the
expense of social consciousness
✣ Secular not bound by religion
✣ other writers more concerned with the utilitarian aspect
of literature
Jose Garcia Villa (National Artist for Literature)
✣ used free verse and espoused the dictum, “Art for art’s
sake”
Angela Manalang Gloria
✣ a woman poet described as ahead of her time
✣ used free verse and talked about illicit love in her poetry
Characteristics of literature in the American colonial period
✣ more writers turned up “seditious works”
✣ popular writing in the native languages bloomed through
the weekly outlets like Liwayway and Bisaya.
✣ advocated modernism in poetry
✣ Abadilla later influenced young poets who wrote modern
verses in the 1960s such as Virgilio S. Almario, Pedro I.
Ricarte and Rolando S. Tinio.
✣ The essay in English became a potent medium from the
1920’s to the present
✣ leading essayists were journalists like Carlos P. Romulo,
Jorge Bocobo, Pura Santillan Castrence, etc. who wrote
formal to humorous to informal essays for the delectation
by Filipinos.
Criticism during the American colonial era
✣ Salvador P. Lopez’s criticism won the Commonwealth
Literary Award for the essay in 1940 with his “Literature and
Society.”
✣ This essay posited that art must have substance and that
Villa’s adherence to “Art for Art’s Sake” is decadent.
The Legacy of the American Period
✣ the flourishing of Philippine literature in English
✣ the introduction of the New Critical aesthetics which
made writers pay close attention to craft
✣ “indirectly engendered a disparaging attitude” towards
vernacular writings
THE JAPANESE OCCUPATION PERIOD
✣ Golden Era of Philippine Literature
✣ Almost all newspapers in English were stopped by the
Japanese except for the Tribune and the Philippine
Review
✣ English writers turned to Filipino writing or their vernacular
language
✣ Topics and themes were often about life in the provinces
✣ Filipino literature was given a break during this period
Characteristics of Philippine literature during the Japanese
occupation:
Common theme of Literature:
✣ Nationalism
✣ Country
✣ Love and life in the barrios
✣ Faith
✣ Religion
✣ Arts
2 Kinds of Poems become prominent in this Period
✣ Haiku- is a free verse that has 17 syllables and is divided
into 3 lines
575
✣ Tanaga- each line has 17 syllables and has measure and
rhyme
✣ Few literary works were printed during the war years because
of censorship
✣ There was no freedom of speech and of the press
✣ “Voice of Freedom”- an underground radio program which
was used to contact the outside world
Filipino short stories
The field of the short story widened during the Japanese
Occupation.
Some notable writers were: Néstor Vicente Madali González,
Liwayway Arceo, Gloria Guzman, and Macario Pineda.
Other Notable writers during the Japanese occupation:
✣ Carlos P. Romulo - won the Pulitzer Prize for his best sellers
(I Saw the Fall of the Philippines, I See the Philippines Rise,
and Mother America and My Brother Americans)
✣ Nick Joaquin- The Woman Who Looked Like Lazarus
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE (AFTER THE WAR)
✣ The early period of this time was a struggle between
“mind and spirit”
✣ Filipinos had learned to express themselves more
confidently
✣ There was also a rapid increase of newspapers which
were written in English.
Philippine literature under the marcos era
✣ Most writings dealt with the “progress” of the country
✣ Publications were also supervised by the military
government which was called the “Ministry of Public
Affairs”.
✣ Cultural arts were emphasized and supported during this
time.
✣ Reports of killings, rape, and robberies were set aside
during this time.
THE CONTEMPORARY PERIOD
✣ Filipino writers continue to write poetry, short stories, novellas,
novels and essays whether these are socially committed,
gender/ethnic related or are personal in intention or not.
✣ Because of the rapid surge of writing workshops, availability
of literature, and awards for literature, more writers were
encouraged to write.
✣ The teaching of Philippine Literature in all tertiary schools in
the country emphasizes the teaching of the vernacular
literature or literatures of the regions, wherein the audience
for Filipino writers is virtually assured.
REPUBLIC ACT NO. 1425. An act to include in the curricula of all
public and private schools, colleges and universities courses on
the life, works and writings of Jose Rizal, particularly his novels
Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo, authorizing the printing
and distribution thereof, and for other purposes.