FM-AA-CIA-15 Rev.

0 10-July-2020

Study Guide in (Course Code and Course Title) Module No.__

STUDY GUIDE FOR MODULE NO. 2

APPROACHES TO LITERARY CRITICISM and PHILIPPINE LITERARY HISTORY

MODULE OVERVIEW

Literary works exist to be evaluated and criticized. Do you evaluate a book that entertained you? The
essay that contradicts your beliefs? The song that made you sad? The poem that made you think about its
meaning? The movie you watched that made you regret watching? Every literary piece that we encounter, we
give our thoughts about it. When we criticize or give reviews, we need to have guidelines to properly evaluate
a written art according to the angle you want and the leads us to LITERARY CRITICISM.

This module explores the tools needed to analyze and criticize literary works. These tools pertains to
the approaches to literary criticism that helps us to delve deeper into the literary texts, evaluating them from
different perspectives and angles. Moreover, when studying literature, not only one should know the
approaches to literary criticism but to also know the history of the literature in one’s community or country.
Hence, PHILIPPINE LITERARY HISTORY should not be taken for granted as it gives you the background on
how the literature in the Philippines started and evolved through time.

MODULE LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of the module, the students are able to:

1. Explain the cause and the effect of the different social issues through literary writing.
2. Use the appropriate literary criticism approach in the study and critiquing of literature.
3. Identify the relevance of literature to the society.
4. Develop a sense of connectivity with social realities and literature.

LEARNING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

Literature helps us to explore the unimaginable. Books and poems let us see a different world in our
minds and shapes our perspectives. To analyze and interpret literary piece, we need to use an approach. This
will help you in critiquing a text in different angles and viewpoints. There are various literary approaches and
in this course the following approaches are to be used:

Historical approach deals with the relation of the history and culture of the text with its production.
This is to examine the origin of the literary piece which may include the life of the author, his culture, and the
connection of the text in today’s era. A key point in using this approach is to understand the reason behind its
production and its effect to the target readers.

Biographical Approach focuses on the author and the text. This signifies that there is a connection
between the author and the literary piece. In this approach, you need to investigate the life of the author and
associate it with the text. This way, you can understand the text more given the background information of the
writer.

Sociological Approach concentrates on the social, economic, and political issues associated in the
text. It may examine the aforementioned issues in the society where the author’s belong to. This is to
understand the deeper meaning and purpose of the literary piece.

Reader’s Response Approach gives importance to the reader’s interpretation of the literary piece.
The readers were given the opportunity to decode the purpose and meaning of the story.

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Study Guide in (Course Code and Course Title) Module No.__

Formalist Approach analyses the literary work intrinsically. We based our analysis on the content
and structure of the literary piece without enforcing an external information.

Psychological Approach reflects how psychology affects literature and literary criticism. It deems to
analyze human behaviors -- the conscious and unconscious sides and on how it affects the mind of the author
on how to reflect emotions and behaviors into language. This approach can both analyze the mental state of
the author and the fictional characters in the story.

Feminist Approach concerns the portrayal of females in literature. Analysing a literary piece based
on the views, values, importance of the role of women in the story. In some literature, males are the center of
the story believing that females are to be submissive. This thinking are actually socially constructed and not
biologically determined. Thus, in the women’s perspective, gender equality should also be imposed in
literature.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1

1. In a minimum of 250-word essay, describe the usage and the importance of approaches in literary
criticism.

LEARNING CONTENTS (title of the subsection)

3.1 PHILIPPINE LITERARY HISTORY

Philippines has a rich culture shaped by its history. Literature is interrelated with his history as it
contains feelings, expressions, aspirations, traditions, values that pertains to the Philippine heritage.

It all started with the PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD when our ancestors have their own literature before
the country were colonized by different races. The Philippine ancient literature is remarkable in the forms of
oral literature which includes riddles (bugtong), proverbs (salawikain), sayings (kasabihan) and tanaga
(expresses life lessons), folk songs, folk tales which pertains to myths, legends, fables, and epic stories.
Records to prove the existence of these literature were destroyed when our country were colonized by the
Spaniards, however, some of these literature spread and passed on generations to generations through
mouth until authors put then into writing. Evidently, until today’s generation these are still known and valued
as part of Philippine culture.

1865 marks the start of the COLONIAL PERIOD with the arrival of Spaniards who served as
colonizers of the Philippines for more than three (3) centuries. In this times, the Filipinos change drastically as
they began to embrace catholic religion. Moreover, their lifestyles were civilized as they as start to build
houses from bricks and stones, the use of kitchen utensils, carriage, trains, and boats as a means of
transportation, and abiding to social classes. Spanish era strongly influences our local literature introducing
the religious and secular (non-religious) literatures. The religious literature includes pasyon (a long poem
about the passion and death of Christ), and senakulo (dramatization of pasyon), whereas some secular
literature are awit (e.g. Ibong Adarna), korido (e.g. Florante at Laura), and prose narratives.

After three centuries of Spanish regime, Filipino spirit was reawakened and heightened after the
death of three priests: Gomez, Burgos, and Zamora. These priests were killed without valid evidences for their
alleged crimes. With this arise different propaganda and revolutionary literature which intensify the need of
freedom from the colonizers. Propaganda literature that was reformatory in objective deals with the political
essays and novels (e.g. Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo) while revolutionary literature inflames the
spirit of revolution through political essays. The strong desire and unity of Filipinos for freedom lead them to
victory freeing Philippines from the Spaniards.

The Philippine Flag was hoisted on June 12 1898 as a symbol of freedom and independence after the
Filipino revolutionists won against the Spaniards. However, this independence did not last long when the
Americans came to colonize the country. The Americans reign over our country for years introducing English
as a literary vehicle and a medium of instruction. Filipino writers had a hard time adjusting with the idea of
democracy, learning the English language and the western literary trends. Westerners influence us with the
idea of Romanticism and Realism through various short stories which is a common literary form.

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Study Guide in (Course Code and Course Title) Module No.__

After the Americans, the Japanese occupied the Philippines reviving nationalism among Filipinos. At
the time when the country was colonized, Filipinos are forbidden to make use of the English language, thus
shifting to Filipino or vernacular language. This has help our literature to evolve with the aspirations to
highlight Filipino traditions, values, and culture from the different regions of the Philippines. Japanese
influences Filipinos two types of poems namely haiku (written in free verse containing 17 syllables divided into
3 lines with a 5-7-5 pattern), and tanka (31-syllable poem, traditionally written in a single and unbroken line).

In 1945, after four years of the Japanese occupation, The Americans came back to the Philippines
ending the Japanese regime. The Filipinos rejoiced and on July 04, 1946, the Philippine Flag was then raised
symbolizing freedom and independence, and the POST-COLONIAL PERIOD of the Philippine literature.

After gaining independence, a lot of changes happened. The freedom of Filipinos from colonizers
affected the Filipinos’ mind and spirit. Filipinos have become more confident in expressing their emotions and
ideas through writing. The proliferation of newspapers is a remarkable incident. There is also an increase
numbers of short stories and poems published. Throughout the years, the Philippine literature is evolving and
enriching with the modern changes.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2

1. In another essay, explain Philippine literature based on the brief history provided.

SUMMARY

Literary Criticism provides guidelines to help readers and critics analyze, interpret, understand the
things involve with the literary text: the author, the society, and the literary text itself. Some of the approaches
of literary criticism are biographical, historical, sociological, feminist, psychological, formalist, and reader’s
response.

Philippines have been through different periods from different colonizers, fighting for our
independence. There are three remarkable periods namely PRE-COLONIAL, COLONIAL, and POST-
COLONIAL PERIODS. With this, Philippine literature changed and evolved through the time. What we have
now, is a product of the past and we will always need it to understand and accept the present.

REFERENCES

Lacia. 2015. Literatures of the Philippines (3rd ed.). Rex Bookstore

Lumbera & Lumbera. 1997.Philippine Literature: A history and Anthology (Revised Ed.). Anvil Publishing Inc.
Lumbera, B. L., and Lumbera C. N. 2005. Philippine Literature: A History and Anthology. Anvil Publishing Co.
Saymo, Apolinario S. And Judy Imelda L. Lagoy.2004.Philippine Literature. Bulacan: Trinitas Publishing Inc.

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