21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the World

First Quarter

I. Introduction to Literature
a. Literature
i. Etymology: litteratura (Latin) meaning “writing formed with letters”
ii. A body of written works (poetry, novels, essays, etc.) (Britannica)
iii. Works of imagination characterized by excellence of style and expression and by themes of
general or enduring interest (The Free Dictionary)
iv. Body of written works of a particular culture or people (The Free Dictionary)
v. Considered to be very good and have lasting importance (Merriam-Webster)
vi. Literature VS literature: Literature pertains to a work with high standards & characteristics
which has something to do with culture and society.
b. It all started with oral tradition. (i.e. Storytelling of folklores, fables, epics, etc.)

II. Characteristics of Literature

i. Intellectual value – challenges the mind
ii. Spiritual value – imprinted in the mind and heart for generations
iii. Universality – common theme of love, heroism and adventures
iv. Permanence – has existed (also the themes) since then
v. Artistry – includes creativity and nuances of the language

III. Divisions of Literature

a. Divisions of Literature

PROSE POETRY
Form Written in paragraph form Written in stanza or verse
Language Expressed in ordinary form Expressed in figurative
Appeal To the intellect To the emotion
Aim To convince Stir the imagination

i. Prose: beauty of the language

1. Etymology: prosa (Latin) meaning “straightforward”
2. generally defined as direct, common language presented in a straightforward manner
3. demonstrates purposeful grammatical design in that it is constructed strategically by
the author to create specific meaning
4. contains plot and conveys a complete narrative
5. Subdivisions
a. Fiction
i. Any work written in prose that is not real
ii. Produced by the imagination and is not necessarily based on fact
iii. It can use elaborate figurative language however; fiction is much
more structured than poetry.
iv. Written in sentences and paragraphs with proper punctuation and
grammar
v. Usually broken up into chapters
b. Nonfiction
i. Comes from real life – based in real-world experiences (newspaper
articles, journals, diaries, biographies, essays, etc.)
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 ii. Can also use figurative language however not as abundant as in
poetry or fiction
1. Commonly include common phrases which are well-known
and used on a daily basis
6. Fable (supernatural) VS. Parable (Realistic)
ii. Poetry
1. Etymology: poetes (Latin) meaning “doer” or “creator”
2. Applied to any form of rhythmical or metrical composition
3. Characterized by a greater focus on language and rhythm and less of a focus on
narrative. Poetry is often far more abstract than prose and has more emphasis on the
aesthetic qualities of the language.
4. Differentiated by sound (from prose)
5. Narrative Poetry – a poem that tells a story
a. Epics -a long narrative poem of the largest proportions. Epic is a tale mainly
about a hero concerning the beginning, continuance, and the end of events
of great significance on tribal or national significance
i. Afro-Asian
1. Mahabharata (longest epic) & Ramayana
2. Biag ni Lam-Ang, Ibalon, Indarapatra’t Sulayman
ii. Western
1. Iliad ** - “in medias res” (starts in the middle)
a. Common theme of war and pride
b. Ballad - the simplest type of narrative poetry. It is s short narrative poem
telling a single incident in simple meter and stanzas. It is meant to be sung.
6. Lyric Poetry - a poem that is very personal in nature. It expresses the author’s own
thoughts, feelings, moods and reflections in musical language. It derived its name
from the musical instrument, the lyre.
a. Ode – a lyric poem of some length, serious in subject and dignified in style. It
is most majestic of the lyric poems. It is written in a spirit of praise of some
persons or things.
b. Elegy – a poem written on the death of a friend of the poet. The ostensible
purpose is to praise the friend. But in the end of the poem, however, we can
expect that poet will have come to terms with his grief.
c. Song – a lyric poem in a regular metrical pattern set to music. These have
twelve syllables and slowly sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or
banduria.
d. Sonnet – a lyric poem containing four iambic pentameter lines, and a
complicated rhyme.
7. Dramatic Poetry
8. Prose Poetry
iii. Drama
1. Etymology: dran (Latin) meaning “to do”
2. Literature represented through performance

b. Figures of Speech
i. Simile – comparison of dissimilar elements using “like” or “as”
ii. Metaphor – comparison of dissimilar elements without using “like” or “as”
iii. Personification – giving human qualities to nonliving things
iv. Hyperbole – uses exaggeration for emphasis or effect
v. Irony – using words where the meaning is the opposite of their usual meaning

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 vi. Litotes (Understatement) – when something is said to make something appear less
important or less serious
vii.Euphemism – a word or phrase that replaces a word or a phrase to make it more polite or
pleasant
viii.Onomatopoeia – a word that sounds like what it is

IV. Paz Latorena’s Educating the Literary Taste

a. Summary: To have high taste in literature, we must be able to distinguish (and read) art from trash.
b. Defining Literary Taste
i. Discernment and appreciation of that which is fundamentally excellent [doesn’t mean it’s
perfect] in literature (Addison)
ii. Rational activity [basis is reason/logical/critical] but with a distinctively subjective bias
[personal bias/preference] (Coleridge)
iii. Taste can be taught (Sir Joshua Reynolds)
c. 2 Kinds of Artists
i. Art for art’s sake – Latorena disagrees with this
1. i.e. women/male models promote commodification
ii. Art for the sake of humanity
d. Standards of Literature
i. Intellectual – makes the reader think long and deeply so that his mental life is enriched and
enlarged as a result.
1. For Latorena, literature has the most intellectual appeal although each form of art
has its own uniqueness that makes it appeal to the intellect.
2. Plato – The only reality or what we consider as the truth is in our mind. Whatever
isn’t in our mind, isn’t true.
ii. Emotional – trigger pleasant and unpleasant emotions in us [moods, feelings, attitudes]
1. Purgation / cleansing of emotion makes us human and elevates the soul & spirit
iii. Ethical – distinguish what is morally right from wrong
1. Ethics evolve because the standards differ from generation to generation.
a. i.e. Anna Karenina and Lolita which were banned then are now considered
as classics

V. Mario Vargas Llosa’s Why Literature?

a. Purpose: Prove that Literature is an essential need [but we are being populated by idiots so reading
has become just another common recreational activity which is wrong]
b. Key Points:
i. Literature is a gendered activity.
1. Most readers are women while it said that Literature is not important for men.
a. Women consume. Men write.
b. Women read more because they work fewer hours than men.
2. Number of literary-appreciators in the world is continuously decreasing.
a. Nearly half the population in Spain has never read a book.
b. Whenever people prioritize their activities, reading usually ends up at the
bottom of the list.
ii. Literature does not aim to satisfy needs; it aims to make our lives better in any way it can.
iii. Literature is intended for dissatisfied people.
iv. Literature …
1. provokes change / pushes us to change.
2. Helps move us.
3. Opens our minds / eyes and moves us to do something about it.
v. There’s no future for literature without paper books.

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 c. Specialization leads to a lack of social understanding and to the division of human beings.
Awareness of the existence of a bigger world creates the feeling of generality, the feeling of
belonging that binds society together and prevents it from disintegrating into a myriad of solipsistic
particularities.
i. Don’t battle for superiority, battle for harmony.
d. Reasons why Literature is Important
i. Helps maintain peace among people.
ii. Enhances our ability to express ourselves.
iii. Reading is a vital component for the critical mind.
1. Without it, we’d be satisfied with injustice and false truths.
e. Literature is a unifying factor and helps us all remember that we come of common origin and have
the same goals. How?
i. Topics are not limited
ii. Learn about different cultures and generation
iii. Anyone and everyone can relate.
f. Life without literature.
i. Since literature widens our vocabulary & expands our minds, without it, we’d be stupid
ii. Without literature, we’d lack intellect and imagination.
iii. Since reading is essential to critical thinking, without it we’d be idiots.
iv. We would resemble a community of deaf mutes because our means of communication would
be poor thus we won’t get to express ourselves.
v. Our civilization would waste away.
1. Few words.
2. A lot of adjectives wouldn’t exist.
3. We won’t go to identify the things that are acceptable and unacceptable in society.
4. Our minds wouldn’t be open to certain aspects of our conditions in life. We’d be blind
to the terrible things.
5. Our ideals wouldn’t be as they are right now.
g. Although it is highly improbable that life would be devoid of literature, just in case, we should act on it
– READ.

VI. Literary Theories and Criticisms

a. Definition
i. Literary Criticism - general term for the analyzing, evaluating & criticizing a literary work
ii. Literary Theory - Principle encapsulated in the standards and norms that would serve as
the criteria as how we would do the literary criticism
iii. Literary Criticism: Process = Literary Theory: Principles / Criteria
iv. Approaches = theories = criticisms

b. Traditional
i. Moral / Intellectual
1. Definition:
a. Concerned with content and values
b. Focuses not only to discover meaning but also to determine whether works of
literature are both true and significant
c. Answers: What’s the lesson?
2. Pioneered the idea: Plato, Aristotle (Paz Latorena)
a. Plato: Didactic purpose of literature – to give instruction (main purpose of lit is
to teach) hates artists because they give us a false notion of the real world
b. Aristotle: principles of dramatic construction (purpose of lit is to give delight /
entertainment)

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 i. Most important principle: Catharsis – purgation of pity and fear on the
reader and audience after reading
c. Horace: both teaches and delights
3. Questions:
a. What knowledge/impression does the work contain?
i. Knowledge / impression = ideas
b. How strongly does the work deliver its knowledge/impression?
i. Work = text
c. How may the knowledge/impression lifted from the work be evaluated
morally?
i. Morally = subjective
d. How may the knowledge/impression derived from the work be assessed
intellectually?
ii. Topic / Historical
1. AKA Biographical
2. Definition:
a. Stresses the relationship of literature to its historical period (Text and
medium)
b. Reflects the intellectual worlds of the authors (Text and author)

c. Use or Language / Focus on Form and Structure/ How it was written not WHAT
i. Formalism - not only confined in literary context but also in other forms of art (painting)
1. Russian Formalism
a. Definition: “… Literature distinguished itself non-literary language because it
employs a whole range of devices that have defamiliarizing effect (Bertens,
2008)
i. Try to distinguish literary piece from other works through the use of
language – poetic / literary language
ii. Whole range of devices – poetic or sound devices specifically
metaphor, metonymy (although it may also come in the form of rhyme
schemes in poetry)
iii. Defamiliarization – Poetic or literary language could disturb
‘habitualization’ and make us see things differently and anew. This is
achieved by the ability of poetic or literary language to ‘make strange’
or defamiliarize the familiar world; what changed in the world was not
the world or object in question but the way of perceiving it: the mode
of perception.
b. They do away with the morals. Focuses on the structure of the text
c. Main Features:
i. Defamiliarization (Viktor Shklovsky)
ii. Dialogic (Bakhtin and Volosinov)
iii. Metaphor and metonymy (Jakobson)
d. Questions:
i. How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where
does it go next? How does it end? What is the work’s plot? How is its
plot related to its structure?
1. plot – sequence of events
2. structure – poem: free verse or rhymes
ii. Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the
narrator, speaker, or character revealed to readers? How do we come
to know and understand this figure?

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 iii. What is the relationship of each part of the work to the work as a
whole? How are the parts related to one another?
iv. What are the time and place of the work – its setting? How is the
setting related to what we know of the characters and their actions?
To what extent is the setting symbolic?
v. What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate,
explain or otherwise create the world of literary work? More
specifically, what images, similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the
work? What is their function? What meanings do they convey?
(DiYanni, 1562)
1. Describe – use of senses
2. Narrate – sequential
3. Explain –
4. Imagery – visual representation of what is in the poem
2. American Formalism (New Criticism)
a. Definition: “… Concerned with the literary artefact and its form rather than
with the artist it historical context (Webster, 1996)
i. artefact = text (more sophisticated term)
1. Text and setting where it was written (medium)
2. Text and author (who wrote it)
3. Text as the enemy itself (not affected by external factors,
analyze as it is)
b. Main Principle: Intentional Fallacy
i. An author’s intention (assuming it could be established) was not
necessarily a guide to a work’s meaning
ii. Author’s intention does not affect the work
c. Proponents: (wrote most popular essay entitled “The Intentional Fallacy”,
1946)
i. WK Wimsatt
ii. MC Beardsley
ii. Structuralism
1. Definition:
a. “…focuses on the conditions that make the meaning possible, rather than on
the meaning, itself.” (Bertens, 2008)
b. “…aims not to provide the interpretation of individual text, but to make explicit
in quasi-scientific term, the tacit grammar (the system of rules and codes)
that governs the meaning of all literary productions.” (Abrams, 1999)
i. Quasi-scientific: uses linguistics (scientific study of language which
involves the branches of semantics, etc.)
2. Pioneered by: Ferdinand de Saussure
a. language is arbitrary and conventional
b. Twofold or binary system (code and concept)
i. Code = symbol while concept = idea being conveyed by that symbol
(i.e. Traffic light: red = stop)
ii. The signifier and the signified.
3. Questions:
a. What is the underlying structure of the text?
i. Underlying structure = narrating technique
b. Are there patterns in the plot? What are these patterns?
4. Formalism VS Structuralism

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 a. Formalism – analyzes the small parts (figures of speech, symbols) parts of a
whole
b. Structuralism – analyzes the whole text / bigger picture
i. i.e. Movie – patterns: survival and/or death of characters
5. Proponent
a. Claude Levi-Strauss – particular instances in myths were manifestations of a
universal underlying structure
i. Vladimir – patterns in fairy tales
1. Heroes & heroines
a. Heroes: adventure, saving damsel in distress
6. May be synonymous with New Criticism but is still different

d. Class Struggle
i. Marxism – Economic Determinism
1. Definition:
a. Proposes that texts belong to a superstructure determined by the economic
base
i. Economic Status:
1. Aristocrats – nagmamay-ari / owns properties
2. Bourgeois / middle class
3. Proletarians / intellectual working class + masses (workers)
ii. i.e. Tatsulok – persona wishes to invert the pyramid wherein the mass
should be at the top
b. Suggests that to interpret cultural production is to relate the back to the base
2. Questions:
a. What is the economic status of the characters? What happens to them as a
result of this status? How do they fare against economic and political odds?
i. Did the poor / rich win? Did lack of opportunities lead to failure?
b. What other conditions stemming from their class does the writer emphasize
(e.g.: poor education, poor nutrition, and poor health care, inadequate
opportunity)?
c. To what extent does the text fail in terms of neglecting the economic
determinism that affect the work?
ii. Feminism - gender
1. Introduction
a. seeking empowerment and equality of rights of women
b. gender equality in terms of access to education, politics, etc.
c. Virginia Woolf:
i. a women should have a room of her own <so she can write, publish a
book and ought to be economically independent>
1. indicates own personal space
2. i.e. Shakespeare’s Sister
a. Judith Shakespeare – William’s twin
b. Perks of william: education, freedom, independence
i. Sumikat sa London. Became a famous
playwright
c. Judith: nasa bahay lang, helping the mom. Sinusunog
ng nanay ang libro kapag may binabasa. Ayaw niya
sa lalake na ikakasal sa kanya, inaabuso pa siya.
Walang nangyari sa kanya. Wanted to be an actrss
but it wasn’t part of her rights.

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 d. Simply separated by gender.
d. Beware of men who say they love women empowerment.
2. Definition: Champions the identity of women, demands for their rights, and promotes
women’s writings as representations of their experience
a. Uphold the idea of breaking the patriarchal system of the system
b. Men are above women in all aspects.
3. Questions:
a. How important are the female characters and how individual in their own
right? Are they credited with their own existence and their own character? In
their relationships with men, how are they treated?
i. Can the female characters stand on their own as women? Do the
females play a vital role in the story? If without them, will the story still
stand? Are they simply accessories thus not affecting the plot itself?
Are they empowered without the male characters? Relationship – are
they treated as trophies (object to be desired for popularity not out of
sincere love)? Are they put on a pedestal?
b. Are women characters given equal status with that of men?
c. How much interest do the male characters’ exhibit about women’s concerns?
i. Material concerns and emotional support to women?
iii. Queer Theory
1. The combined area of gay and lesbian studies and criticism, as well as theoretical
writings concerning all modes of variance (such as cross dressing) from the
normative model of biological sex, gender, identity, and sexual desires

2. Gender is not an important factor/essential part in our lives

a. Bible: patriarchal
b. Philippines: Malakas at Maganda (equal: arose the same time and will fall the
same time)
** Gender Studies
• Gender is socially constructed.
o can entail economic problems (3 CRs rather than 2?)
o In the Philippines, we don’t settle with the idea of same sex marriage because we are in general, a
Roman Catholic nation.

e. Involving the subconscious

i. Archetypal / Mythological / Symbolic Criticism
1. Definition: Presupposes that human life is built up put of patterns or archetypes that
are similar throughout various cultures and historical times
a. Archetypes = “first molds” or “first patterns”
i. i.e. Couple = Adam & Eve (West) = Malakas at Maganda (Phil)
ii. Paradise = Heaven (West) = Whatever they are looking for is
paradise (Phil)
iii. Sinful woman: Mary Magdalene
iv. Most of the time would come from ancient text like the Bible
b. The archetypal critic looks for archetypes such as God’s creation of human
beings, the sacrifice of the hero, or the search for the paradise.
2. Derived from Carl Jung, Swiss psychoanalyst
3. Questions:
a. How does the text fit into any archetypal patterns? What truth does this
correlation provide (particularly truths that cross historical, national, and
cultural lines?)

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 i. Universal in theme, plot etc. but will differ in looks or names in
characters because of the cultures / background
b. How closely does the text match the archetype? What variations can be
seen? What meaning or meanings does the connection have?

ii. Psychoanalytic / Psychological Criticism

1. Introduction: Slip of the tongue, dreams: subconscious desires of the heart and
mind
2. Definition: “…deals with the work of literature primarily as an expression, in fictional
form, of the state of mind and the structure of personality of the individual
author.” (Abrams, 1999)
3. Primary Proponent: Sigmund Freud
a. Proponent of the psychodynamic theory and the psychoanalytic method.
b. Psychoanalysis provided a new key to the understanding of character
claiming that behavior is caused by hidden and unconscious motives.
i. Oedipal complex – strong attachment of son to mother
ii. Elektra complex – strong attachment of daughter to father
4. Questions:
a. What are the obvious and hidden motives that cause a character’s behavior
and speech? How much background (e.g.: repressed childhood trauma,
adolescent memories) does the author reveal about a character?

i. Repressed childhood trauma – characters fall in love with older men

because they are looking for a father figure
ii. Adolescent memories – in the subconscious; reveals itself through
experiences in our present lives
b. How purposeful is this information with regard to the character’s
psychological condition? How much is important in the analysis and
understanding of the character? Motives that cause a character’s behavior
and speech?

c. How much background (e.g.: repressed childhood trauma, adolescent

memories) does the author reveal about a character?

d. How purposeful is this information with regard to the character’s

psychological condition? How much is important in the analysis and
understanding of the character?

f. Post-imperialism
i. Post Colonialism
1. Introduction
a. “After colonialism” --> after Western colonization
i. Primary source of economy in US: wars to sell weaponry
b. Study of countries after they were colonized
c. How we may be colonized:
i. Cultural imperialism
ii. Economic domination
d. Ie. Duterte issue – trying to break away from the colonizers
2. Definition: Aims to describe the meaning the mechanism of colonial power, to
recover excluded or marginalized “subaltern” voices, and to theorize the complexities
of colonial and postcolonial identity, national belonging, and globalization
a. Colonial power: Philippines : West = India & Africa : Britain
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 b. Subaltern – people on the margin, not in the center / the other / not being
focused on [As indios, we are the other.]
3. Most popular criticism – most of the text being written and published nowadays are
postcolonial
4. One of its branches: Orientalism – being manipulated by the West / superpowers

g. Empowerment of readers in interpreting the text

i. Reader-Response (one of the new theories)
1. Definition: declares that the reader is a necessary third party in the author-text-
reader-relationship that constitutes the literary work. The text is not fully created until
readers make a transaction with it by assimilating it and actualizing it in the light of
their own knowledge and experience.
a. The other theories focus on the text but this focused on the reader
b. We as readers are not just to consume the products of the author’s
imagination but we are here to analyze and interpret it.
2. Questions:
a. What does this text mean to me, in my present intellectual and moral
makeup?

i. Moral makeup includes spirituality & religion

b. What particular aspects of my life can help me understand and appreciate
the work?

c. How can the work improve my understanding and widen my insights?

h. Deconstruction

i. Construction of women = subjugate of men, must be caring

1. HOW TO DECONSTRUCT? Collapse patriarchy by putting women over men.

ii. Usually of binary oppositions (i.e. light & day, man & women, western & oriental)

iii. Developed by the French critic Jacques Derrida (n.1930).

iv. As a literary theory, deconstructionism produces a type of analysis that stress ambiguity and
contradiction.

v. A major principle of deconstructionism is that Western though has been logocentric, that is,
Western philosophers have based their ideas on the assumption that central truth is
knowable and entire (this view is incorrect, according to a deconstructionist).

vi. The deconstructionist view posits instead that there is no central truth because
circumstances and time, which are changeable and sometimes arbitrary, govern the world of
the intellect. This analysis leads to the declaration “All interpretation is misinterpretation.”
That is, literary works cannot be encapsulated as organically unified entireties, and therefore
there is not one correct interpretation but only interpretations, each one possessing its own
validity.

vii.Emphasizes ideas such as ambivalence, discrepancy, enigma, uncertainty, indecision, and

lack of resolution, among others.

viii.The deconstructionist attack on “correct,” privileged”, or “accepted” readings and is also

related to the principle of language, and therefore of literature, is unstable.

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 ix. “Linguistic instability” means that the understanding of words can never be exact or
comprehensive because there is the never-ending play between the words in the text and
their many shades of meanings.

VII. History of Philippine Literature

a. Precolonial Times (--- 1564)

i. Oral Lore
1. Subject Matter: common experiences of people (food-gathering, creatures and
objects of nature, work in the field, forest or sea caring for the children)
2. Language: language of daily life (dialects unless the piece was part of a cultural
heritage of the community i.e. epics use highfalutin language meaning beyond
normal or layman’s terms)
3. Conventions:
a. Formulaic repetitions (in poetry)
b. Regular rhythm (in poetry)
c. Use of musical devices (in poetry)
d. Stereotyping of characters (legends or epics)
e. Rich with analogue, metaphor (talinhaga – deep), figure
4. Forms
a. Poetry: riddles (bugtong), proverbs (salawikain), songs (awit), epics
b. Prose narratives: origin myths, hero tales, fables, legends
c. Drama: in the form of dance but not yet developed
5. Common Features (embodiments or characteristics) of Filipino Epics
a. narratives of sustained length (lengthy)
b. based on oral tradition (verbally transmitted / no printing press)
c. revolving around supernatural events or heroic deeds (i.e. Lam-Ang)
d. in the form of verse
e. which is either chanted or sung (sometimes even with musical instruments
like Iliad and Odyssey)
f. with a certain seriousness of purpose embodying or validating the beliefs,
customs, ideals, or life values of the people (Biag ni Lam-ang: reflects
Ilokano culture)
6. Representative Epics - folks that perfectly fit the characteristics of epics
a. Lam-ang – Ilokos
b. Tuwaang - Manuvus of central Mindanao
c. Hinilawod - Sulud of Panay
d. Bantugan - Maranao
7. First and longest period in Philippine literature
8. Although, we are still affected by this oral transmission like flip top, balagtasan
9. Filipino attitude = death of gratitude or utang na loob

b. Spanish Colonialism (1565-1897)

i. The first written works were religious in content ! “Christianized”
1. Doctrina Christiana (1593) was the first book ever published in the Philippines
2. “May Bagyo Ma’t May Rilim”, the first printed literary work in Tagalog was published
in the book Memorial de la Vida Cristiana (1605)
ii. Gaspar Aquino de Belen- the first Filipino literary artist with a long work
1. Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon Natin (1874)
iii. Other genres evolved: pasyon, sinakulo, komedya, awit, korido
iv. During its early period, the Filipinos responded to the Spanish imposition of their
influence.
1. A few ladinos became popular
a. Pedro Bukaneg (to whom the published version of Lam-ang is attributed)

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 b. Tomas Pinpin (Ang Librong Pag-aaralan ng mga Tagalog ng Wikang Castilla,
1610)
c. Fernando Bagongbanta (the poet who contributed in in Memorial de la Vida
Cristiana, 1605)

i. Famous Filipino Literary Activists:

1. Francisco “Balagtas” Baltazar (1788-1862) became popular with the awit genre
as his masterwork – different way of fighting the Spaniatrds
a. La India Elegante el Negrito Amante (n.d.)-short farce
b. Orosman at Zafira (ca. 1857-60) – a full-length komedya
c. Pinagdaanang Buhay ni Florante at Laura sa Cahariang Albania (ca 1838)-
awit
2. Andres Bonifacio
a. wrote the Katipunan manifesto Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog
b. penned the poem Pag ibig sa Tinubuang Bayan
3. Emilio Jacinto- penned the essay Liwanag at Dilim
a. Cartilia ! 10 Commandments
i. i.e. The honor man is not with Royalty – Spain
4. Apolinario Mabini - wrote La Revolucion Filipina, was a Thomasian

c. US. Colonialism (1898-1945)

i. The downfall of Spanish colonialism freed the printing press from the religious censorship !
went beyond religious text
ii. New educational system that greatly influenced Philippine literature.
1. Filipinos learned English quickly and they attempted to write in English.
2. At first, Filipino writing in English was quite formal and imitative.
a. i.e. Filipino Popular Tales (1921)– a collection of old and retold Filipino tales
gathered by UP students and was published into a book by Dean S. Fansler
iii. New Criticism became influential.
1. Student publications, newspapers, and magazines provided an outlet for writers
(Philippines Herald , Free Press, Manila Tribune, among others)
2. Literary historians/critics emerged.
a. Prominent in Hiligaynon writings: Magdalena Jalandoni (poet and fictionist)
b. Cebuano writings: Vicente Ranudo
c. Ilokano writings : Leon Pichay
iv. The “Euro-Hispanic” (texts under the influence of the Spaniards) tradition emerged.
1. In theater, sarsuwela was popularized by Severino Reyes.
a. Walang Sugat - Severino Reyes
b. Kahapun, Ngayun at Bukas - Aurelio Tolentino
2. Tagalog poets emerged.
a. Jose Corazon de Jesus “Joseng Batute” – Mga Gintong Dahon
3. The Tagalog fiction became a full- blown genre
a. Inigo Ed Regalado- Madaling Araw
4. The short story was the showcase for the skill and art of Filipino writers using English
a. Arturo B. Rotor – The Wound and the Scar
b. Manuel E. Arguilla – How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife and other
Stories
v. This period also reflected the early successful attempt for Filipinos to write long fiction in
English. i.e. His Native Soil (Juan Laya)
vi. Tagalog writers in the short story appeared.
1. Deogracias A. Rosario- “Father of the Tagalog Short Story”
vii.This period was also characterized by the intensification of social consciousness among
the Filipinos.
1. Lope K. Santos (author of the novel Banaag at Sikat, poet of Ang Panginggera)
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 2. Faustino Aguilar (author of the novel Pinaglahuan)
viii.Foremost Characteristic: National Identity
1. Philippine literature at the end of the period of US colonialism had attained identity as
a national literature, largely as a result of patriotic and resistance literature produced
by the early rules of American.
2. During the Spanish colonization, literature had a regional identity.

d. The Republic (1946-1985) [includes Japanese Colonialism – Godless Period]

i. The New Criticism theory had marked an influence on the Filipino writers.
1. Jose Garcia Villa
a. his aestheticism gave him respectability in the field of the country’s literature
b. Stop with the themes of revolution and start with style
2. New criticism ! structure and form, not substance

Salvador P. Lopez Jose Garcia Villa

- Art should serve the society - Art for art’s sake
- Literature should be for the masses /
proletarian

ii. The vitality of the Euro-Hispanic aspects was still evident of the Filipino literary tradition was
still evident.
1. Amado V. Hernandez (novels Luha ng Buwaya, Mga Ibong Mandaragit,poem Isang
Dipang Langit)
2. Lazaro M. Francisco ( novel Bayang Nagpatiwakal) Alejandro J. Abadilla (poem Ako
ang Daigdig)
iii. Short stories in Tagalog were sponsored and published by the Japanese during the war
years. (25 Pinakamabubuting Maikling Kwento ng Taong 1943)
iv. Other writers who emerged:
1. Genoveva Edroza Matute (Ako’y Isang Tinig, a collection of short stories) Kerima
Polotan (Stories, a collection of short story)
2. Rolando S. Tinio (playwright who translated into Filipino Death of a salesman, Miss
Julie, and Waiting For Godot)
v. Poets writing in English found themselves torn between Philippine social reality and
art
1. Carlos Angeles (A Stun of Jewels, a collection of poem)
2. Emmanuel S. Torres (Angels and Fugitives, Shapes of Silence, collections of poem)
vi. The Filipino novelists in English used the themes and techniques from Western novels
cannot get away from lived life in the Philippines.
1. Nick Joaquin (The Woman Who Had Two Navels
2. NVM Gonzales (Season of Grace, The Bamboo Dancers)

e. After EDSA
i. Edsa – educator, philanthropist, contributed s lot to music, etc. one of the first intellectuals of
the Philippines
ii. The post –EDSA centers for creative writing may be grouped into two:
1. academic institutions
2. writer’s organizations
iii. A post-EDSA state sponsored institution, the NCCA (National Commission for the Culture
and the Arts) was created
VIII. Poetry
a. Poetry may be distinguished from prose in terms of form by its compression, by its frequent (though
not prescribed) employment of the conventions of meter and rhyme and by its reliance upon the line
as a formal unit, by its heightened vocabulary and by its freedom of syntax. The characteristic of
emotional content of poetry finds expression through a variety of techniques. One of the most

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 ancient and universal of these techniques is the use of metaphor and simile to alter and expand the
readers’s imaginative apprehension through implicit or explicit comparison.
i. Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta (2003)
b. Elements
i. Sound (Sound and musical devices differentiate poetry from prose)
1. Rhyme – regular recurrence of similar sounds usually at the end of the line
2. Rhythm
a. Beat in music
b. Recurrence of pattern of sound
c. Result of systematically stressing / accenting words & syllables
3. Meter
a. Built up of a regular occurrence of accents whether word or rhetorical
accents
b. Poetic foot
i. Unit which is repeated with the presence of accented or unaccented
syllables (stressed and unstressed syllables)
ii. Kinds:
1. Iambic – unstressed + stressed
2. Trochaic – stressed + unstressed
3. Anapestic – two unstressed syllables + stress
iii. Spondaic – two successive stressed syllables
4. Repetition
a. Alliteration – repetition of initial consonant sound
b. Consonance – repetition of internal (middle) consonant sound
c. Assonance – repetition of the vowel sounds
d. Parallelism – repetition of grammatical patterns
5. Onomatopoeia
ii. Imagery – use of figurative language, evokes our senses, mental pictures / verbal
representations that concretize what we are describing
iii. Theme - general idea, often about the human experience that it wants to share with the
audience
iv. Figurative Language
1. Tropes - use of words or phrases are a way that effects a conspicuous change in
what we take to be their standard or literal meaning

a. Creative use of the language

2. Figures of Speech - departure from the standard usage is not primarily on the
meanings of the meaning the word, but in order of syntactical pattern of the words

a. Simile - is a comparison between two distinctly different things is explicitly

indicated by the word “like” or “as”.

b. Metaphor - is the use of word or expression that in literal usage denotes one
kind of thing is applied to a distinctly different kind of thing without asserting a
comparison

i. Parts:
1. Tenor – subject of comparison
2. Vehicle – object which owns the attribute character
ii. i.e.

Eye, gazelle, delicate wanderer

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 Drinker of horizon’s fluid (Stephen Spender)

1. “Eye”- Tenor

2. “gazelle”, “wanderer”, “drinker”- Vehicle

v. Allusion

1. An expression designed to call something to mind without mentioning it explicitly /

indirect reference

2. Refers to a textual, leaving the reader to figure out the connection between the
current work and work being referred to

3. Types:

a. Historical

i. i.e. She’s like Hitler. She’s my waterloo (Napoleon’s downfall).

b. Literary – i.e. He acts like Romeo.

c. Mythological – Achilles Heel, Argues-eyed, Brutus, Hands of Midas

i. Judas is a mythological allusion and archetypal of betrayal.

vi. Negative Capability – capability to be face to face with uncertainty and not need to grapple
what uncertainty could mean but be comfortable just facing the situation

1. Balance of positive and negative attributes

vii.Synecdoche – part stands for the whole

viii.Metonymy – using a name as a substitute for a name

c. Analysis of a Poem
i. Literal Text – something that relates to dramatic situation or what is happening in the poem
ii. Metaphorical Text – literal dramatic … figurative art …
d. First Poem: Mayon
i. Persona: Tourist/Traveler
1. Evidences: Holding a camera, postcard, retrato sa Cagsawa (souvenir shop)
ii. Dominant: Allusion & Imagery
1. Allusion: pana ni Pagtuga
2. Imagery:
a. Dalagang Namatay: Cemetery of Lovers = Image of Death
b. Lumulusaw na tae: Dirty / Will burn you = Image of Destruction
c. Manganganak … : Waiting for the explosion
i. The use of the term manganganak instead of sasabog shows the
literariness of the text.
iii. Theme: Talks about the destructiveness hidden behind beauty of the Mayon
iv. Negative Capability: Very beautiful and picturesque but destructive
e. Second Poem: The Haiyan Dead
f. Third Poem: Stonehenge
i. Structure: couplet form
ii. Dominant: Allusion
1. Proteus
2. Poet-king = Philosopher (original), God of Mountain (Function)
g. Fourth Poem: XVIII, From “AmsterdAm: A CyCle”
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i. DOMINANT:
1. Synecdoche:
a. the Creoles, the Natives, the Others = the colonized
b. cinnamons, their diamonds, … = our wealth
2. Metonymy: the Empire = the colonizer

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