MIDTERM NOTES FOR LITERATURE 1

I. Elements of Fiction and Poetry

A. Elements of Fiction
The six major elements of fiction are character, plot, point of view, setting, style, and theme.
1. Characterization is a means by which writers present and reveal characters – by direct description, by showing the
character in action, or by the presentation of other characters who help to define each other.
Characters in fiction can be conveniently classified as major and minor, static and dynamic. A major character is an
important figure at the center of the story’s action or theme. The major character is sometimes called a protagonist
whose conflict with an antagonist may spark the story’s conflict. Supporting the major character are one or more
secondary or minor characters whose function is partly to illuminate the major characters. Minor characters are often
static or unchanging: they remain the same from the beginning of a work to the end. Dynamic characters, on the other
hand, exhibit some kind of change – of attitude, purpose, behavior, as the story progresses.
- Character -- A figure in a literary work (personality, gender, age, etc). E. M. Forester makes a distinction
between flat and round characters. Flat characters are types or caricatures defined by a single idea of quality,
whereas round characters have the three-dimensional complexity of real people.
2. Plot –- the major events that move the action in a narrative. It is the sequence of major events in a story, usually in
a cause-effect relation.
- the action element in fiction, is the arrangement of events that make up a story. Many fictional plots turn on a
conflict, or struggle between opposing forces, that is usually resolved by the end of the story. Typical fictional
plots begin with an exposition, that provides background information needed to make sense of the action,
describes the setting, and introduces the major characters; these plots develop a series of complications or
intensifications of the conflict that lead to a crisis or moment of great tension. The conflict may reach a climax
or turning point, a moment of greatest tension that fixes the outcome; then, the action falls off as the plot’s
- complications are sorted out and resolved (the resolution or dénouement). Be aware, however, that much of
twentieth-century fiction does not exhibit such strict formality of design.
3. Point of View -- the vantage point from which a narrative is told. A narrative is typically told from a first-person or
third-person point of view. In a narrative told from a first-person perspective, the author tells the story through a
character who refers to himself or herself as "I." Third –person narratives come in two types: omniscient and limited.
An author taking an omniscient point of view assumes the vantage point of an all-knowing narrator able not only to
recount the action thoroughly and reliably but also to enter the mind of any character in the work or any time in order
to reveal his or her thoughts, feelings, and beliefs directly to the reader. An author using the limited point of view
recounts the story through the eyes of a single character (or occasionally more than one, but not all or the narrator
would be an omniscient narrator).
- Third-Person Narrator (uses pronouns he, she, or they):
1. Omniscient: The narrator is all-knowing and takes the reader inside the characters’ thoughts, feelings, and
motives, as well as shows what the characters say and do.
2. Limited omniscient: The narrator takes the reader inside one (or at most very few characters) but neither
the reader nor the character(s) has access to the inner lives of any of the other characters in the story.
4. Setting –- That combination of place, historical time, and social milieu that provides the general background for the
characters and plot of a literary work. The general setting of a work may differ from the specific setting of an individual
scene or event.
5.Style -- The author’s type of diction (choice of words), syntax (arrangement of words), and other linguistic features
of a work.
6. Theme(s) -- The central and dominating idea (or ideas) in a literary work. The term also indicates a message or
moral implicit in any work of art.
7. A symbol is a person, object, image, word, ore vent that evokes a range of additional meanings beyond and usually
more abstract than its literal significance. Symbols are devices for evoking complex ideas without having to resort to
painstaking explanations. Conventional symbols have meanings that are widely recognized by a society or culture, i.e.,
the Christian cross, the Star of David, a swastika, a nation’s flag. A literary or contextual symbol can be a setting, a
character, action, object, name, or anything else in a specific work that maintains its literal significance while suggesting
other meanings. For example, the white whale in Melville’s Moby Dick takes on multiple symbolic meanings in the work,
but these meanings do not automatically carry over into other stories about whales.
 B. Elements of Poetry
o Alliteration is a repetition of the same consonant sounds in a sequence of words, usually at the beginning of a word
or stressed syllable: “descending dew drops;” “luscious lemons.” Alliteration is based on the sounds of letters, rather
than the spelling of words; for example, “keen” and “car” alliterate, but “car” and “cite” do not.
o Assonance is the repetition of similar internal vowel sounds in a sentence or a line of poetry, as in “I rose and told him
of my woe.”
o Figurative language is a form of language use in which the writers and speakers mean something other than the
literal meaning of their words. Two figures of speech that are particularly important for poetry are simile and metaphor.
A simile involves a comparison between unlike things using like or as. For instance, “My love is like a red, red rose.”
A metaphor is a comparison between essentially unlike things without a word such as like or as. For example, “My
love is a red, red rose.” Synecdoche is a type of metaphor in which part of something is used to signify the whole, as
when a gossip is called a “wagging tongue.” Metonymy is a type of metaphor in which something closely associated
with a subject is substituted for it, such as saying the “silver screen” to mean motion pictures.
o Imagery is the concrete representation of a sense impression, feeling, or idea that triggers our imaginative ere-
enactment of a sensory experience. Images may be visual (something seen), aural (something heard), tactile
(something felt), olfactory (something smelled), or gustatory (something tasted). Imagery may also refer to a pattern
of related details in a poem.
o Rhyme is the repetition of identical or similar concluding syllables in different words, most often at the ends of lines.
Rhyme is predominantly a function of sound rather than spelling; thus, words that end with the same vowel sounds
rhyme, for instance, day, prey, bouquet, weigh, and words with the same consonant ending rhyme, for instance vain,
rein, lane. The rhyme scheme of a poem, describes the pattern of end rhymes. Rhyme schemes are mapped out by
noting patterns of rhyme with small letters: the first rhyme sound is designated a, the second becomes b, the third c,
and so on.
o Rhythm is the term used to refer to the recurrence of stressed and unstressed sounds in poetry. Poets rely heavily
on rhythm to express meaning and convey feeling. Caesura is a strong pause within a line of poetry that contributes
to the rhythm of the line. When a line has a pause at its end, it is called an end-stopped line. Such pauses reflect
normal speech patterns and are often marked by punctuation. A line that ends without a pause and continues into the
next line for its meaning is called a run-on line or enjambment.
o Stanza is a grouping of lines, set off by a space, which usually has a set pattern of meter and rhyme.
o Tone conveys the speaker’s implied attitude toward the poem’s subject. Tone is an abstraction we make from the
details of a poem’s language: the use of meter and rhyme (or lack of them); the inclusion of certain kinds of details
and exclusion of other kinds; particular choices of words and sentence pattern, or imagery and figurative language
(diction). Another important element of tone is the order of words in sentences, phrases, or clauses (syntax).
II. National Artists for Literature and their contributions
1. Nick Joaquin
- May 4, 1917 – April 29, 2004
- a Filipino writer, historian and journalist, best known for his short stories and novels in the English language
- Nicomedes Joaquín y Márquez
- Pseudonym Quijano de Manila
- He was a seminarian in Hong Kong – who later realized that he could better serve God and humanity by being a
writer. This is reflected in the content and style of his works, as he emphasized the need to restore national
consciousness through important elements in Catholic Spanish Heritage
- Joaquín deeply admired José Rizal, the national hero of the Philippines, paying him tribute in such books as The
Storyteller's New Medium – Rizal in Saga, The Complete Poems and Plays of Jose Rizal, and A Question of
Heroes: Essays in Criticism on Ten Key Figures of Philippine History.
- He translated the hero's valedictory poem, in the original Spanish Mi Ultimo Adios, as "Land That I Love, Farewell!".
- He was able to preserve the culture of the Filipinos through the use of a different tongue.
- The English language used by Nick Joaquín became a medium to express his literary artistry and Filipino
Patriotism.
- Nick Joaquín was able to publish a large body of literary works during his time and through this, he has had great
contribution to the Philippine literature in English.
 - CONTRIBUTIONS: ANG LARAWAN, SUMMER SOLSTICE, THE WOMAN WITH TWO NAVELS, MANILA, MY
MANILA
2. Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez (NVM Gonzalez)
- Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzalez
- September 8, 1915-November 28, 1999
- National Artist for Literature (1997)
- fictionist, essayist, poet, and teacher
- He articulated the Filipino spirit in rural and urban landscapes.
- He won the First Commonwealth Literary Contest in 1940.
- He received the Republic Cultural Heritage Award in 1960 and the Gawad CCP Para sa Sining in 1990.. He
became U.P.’s International-Writer-In-Residence and a member of the Board of Advisers of the U.P. Creative
Writing Center. In 1987, U.P. conferred on him the Doctor of Humane Letters, honoris causa, its highest academic
recognition.
- Gonzalez failed his University of the Philippines entrance examination, but in 1949 he became the first to teach
college courses there without holding a degree.
- González was only one of two faculty members accepted to teach in the university without holding a degree. On
the basis of his literary publications and distinctions, González later taught at the University of California, Santa
Barbara, California State University, Hayward, the University of Washington, the University of California, Los
Angeles, and the University of California, Berkeley.
- Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include the following: The Winds of April, Seven Hills Away, Children of the Ash-
Covered Loam and Other Stories, The Bamboo Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and Beyond:
Twenty -One Stories, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of Justice: Selected
Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories.
- Major works of N.V.M Gonzalez include the following: The Winds of April, Seven Hills Away, Children of the Ash-
Covered Loam and Other Stories, The Bamboo Dancers, Look Stranger, on this Island Now, Mindoro and Beyond:
Twenty -One Stories, The Bread of Salt and Other Stories, Work on the Mountain, The Novel of Justice: Selected
Essays 1968-1994, A Grammar of Dreams and Other Stories.
3. Edith Tiempo
- April 22, 1919-August 21, 2011
- Nueva Viscaya
- National Artist for Literature (1999)
- poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic
- She is one of the finest Filipino writers in English whose works are characterized by a remarkable fusion of style
and substance, of craftsmanship and insight.
- Together with her late husband, Edilberto K. Tiempo, she founded and directed the Silliman National Writers
Workshop in Dumaguete City, which has produced some of the country’s best writers
4. Jose Garcia Villa
- August 5, 1908---February 5, 1997
- Doveglion
- National Artist for Literature in 1973
- He graduated from the University of the Philippines Integrated School and the University of the Philippines High
School in 1925.
- Pre-law at U.P -----pre-med---arts---painting creative writing
- Man’s Songs
- Mir I-Nisa –Best Short Story of the Year from the Philippine Free Press
- Comma Poet
- He was one of three Filipinos, along with novelist Jose Rizal and translator Nick Joaquin, included in World Poetry:
An Anthology of Verse from Antiquity to Our Time published in 2000, which featured over 1,600 poems written by
hundreds of poets in different languages and culture within a span of 40 centuries dating from the development of
early writing in ancient Sumer and Egypt.
5. Francisco Sionil Jose (F. Sionil Jose)
- December 3, 1924
 - National Artist for Literature (2001)
- In the five-novel masterpiece, the Rosales saga, cons isting of The Pretenders, Tree, My Brother, My
Executioner, Mass, and Po-on, he captures the sweep of Philippine history while simultaneously narrating the
lives of generations of the Samsons whose personal lives intertwine with the social struggles of the nation.
Because of their international appeal, his works, including his many short stories, have been published and
translated into various languages.
- José's works—written in English—have been translated into 28
languages,including Korean, Indonesian, Czech, Russian,
- Latvian, Ukrainian and Dutch
- F. Sionil Jose is also a publisher, lecturer on cultural issues, and the founder of the Philippine chapter of the
international organization PEN. He was bestowed the CCP Centennial Honors for the Arts in 1999; the Outstanding
Fulbrighters Award for Literature in 1988; and the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature, and
Creative Communication Arts in 1980.
- Rosales Saga novels - Puppy Love and Thirteen Short
- A five-novel series that spans three Stories (March 15, 1998)
centuries of Philippine history, translated - Olvidon and Other Stories (1988)
into 22 languages - Platinum: Ten Filipino Stories (1983)
- Po-on (Source) (1984) - Waywaya: Eleven Filipino Short
- The Pretenders (1962) Stories (1980) Asian PEN Anthology (as
- My Brother, My Executioner (1973) editor) (1966)
- Mass (December 31, 1974) - Short Story International (SSI): Tales by
- * Tree (1978) the World's Great Contemporary
- Other novels Writers (Unabridged, Volume 13,
- Gagamba (The Spider Man (1991) Number 75) (co-author, 1989)
- Viajero (1993) - Children's books
- Sin (1994) - The Molave and The Orchid (November
- Ben Singkol (2001) 2004)
- Ermita (1988) - Verses
- Vibora! (2007) - Questions (1988)
- Sherds (2008) - Essays and non-fiction
- Muse and Balikbayan: Two Plays (2008) - In Search of the Word (De La Salle
- Short Stories (with Introduction and University Press, March 15, 1998)
Teaching Guide by Thelma B. - We Filipinos: Our Moral Malaise, Our
Kintanar) (2008) Heroic Heritage
- The Feet of Juan Bacnang (2011) - Soba, Senbei and Shibuya: A Memoir of
- Novellas Post-War JapanHeroes in the Attic,
- Three Filipino Women (1992) Termites in the Sala: Why We are
- Two Filipino Women (1981) Poor (2005)
- Short story collections - This I Believe: Gleanings from a Life in
- The God Stealer and Other Literature (2006)
Stories (2001) - Literature and Liberation (co-author)
(1988)
6. Resil Mojares
- He is a Filipino ambassador, historian, cultural researcher and critic of Philippine literature.
- He has a bachelor’s degree in English, a master’s degree in Literature and postgraduate studies all at
the University of San Carlos, as well as a Ph.D. in Literature from the University of the Philippines Diliman.
- He is a retired Professor at the University of San Carlos(USC) in Cebu City,
- He was a founding director (1975–96) of USC's Cebuano Studies Center, a pioneering local studies center in
the Philippines.
- He has won several National Book Awards from the Manila Critics Circle for works in literary criticism, local and
national history, urban and rural history, and political biography.
 - Mojares has received the Free Press and Carlos Palanca prizes for his short stories, a fellowship from the UP
Creative Writing Center, and teaching and research fellowships from the Ford, Toyota, and Rockefeller
foundations, Fulbright Program, and Social Science Research Council (New York), and two prizes from outside
the country: the Grant Goodman Prize for History from the Association of Asian Studies, and the Fok Ying Tung
Southeast Asia Prize for his contribution to the development of civilization, culture and science in Southeast Asian
countries.
- He has also served as visiting professor or fellow at the Universities of Wisconsin, Hawaii, Michigan, Kyoto
University, UCLA, and the National University of Singapore.
- He received a Centennial Award for Cultural Research from the Cultural Center of the Philippines. Dr. Mojares
continues to write scholarly books like The War Against the Americans and Brains of the Nation, and is finishing a
definitive provincial history of Cebu. He has served in numerous professional organizations and selection
committees here and abroad. At present he is General Editor for the biographies of Ramon Magsaysay Awardees.
- CONTRIBUTIONS: Waiting for Mariang Makiling Essays in Philippine Cultural History, Origins and Rise of the
Filipino Novel, Interrogations in Philippine Cultural History, From Marcos to Aquino, The War in Cebu, Sugilanong
Sugboanon, House of Memory, Brains of the Nations, Casa Gorordo, The War Against the Americans
III. History of Philippine Literature
A. Pre-Colonial Times
- RIDDLES (bugtong) – battle of wits among participants. It is called Tigmo in Cebu, Paktakon in Ilonggo and
Patotdon in Bicol.
- PROVERBS (salawikain) – wise sayings that contain a metaphor used to teach as a food for thought.
- TANAGA – one stanza poems consisted usually of four lines with seven syllables, all lines rhyming.
- FOLK SONGS – one of the oldest forms of Philippine literature that emerged in the Pre-Spanish period.
a. Hele or oyayi -lullaby
b. Ambahan (Mangyan) –about human relationships and social entertainment
c. Kalusan (Ivatan) – work songs
d. Tagay (Cebuano and Waray) – drinking song
e. Kanogan (Cebuano) – song of lamentation for the dead
- FOLK TALES MYTHS – explain how the world was created, how certain animals possess certain characteristics,
why some places have waterfalls, volcanoes, mountains, flora and fauna
- LEGENDS – explain the origin of things. FABLES – used animal characters and allegory
- FANTASY STORIES – deal with underworld characters such as tiyanak, aswang, kapre and so on.
- EPICS – these are narratives of sustained length based on oral tradition revolving around supernatural events or
heroic deeds.
o Ex: Biag ni Lam-ang (Ilocano), Hinilawod (Panay), Kudaman (Palawan), Darangen (Maranao)
- FOLK TALES – made up of stories about life, adventure, love, horror and humor where one can derive lessons
about life.
B. Spanish Period
- Literary Forms under this period include propaganda literature and revolutionary literature and are classified as
secular and religious literature.
- PROPAGANDA LITERATURE – reformatory in objective.
- a. POLITICAL ESSAYS – satires, editorials and news articles were written to attack and expose the evils of
Spanish rule. i. 1882 – Diariong Tagalog ii. 1888 – La Solidaridad
- b. POLITICAL NOVELS i. 1887 – Noli Me Tangere ii. 1891 – El Filibusterismo
- REVOLUTIONARY LITERATURE – more propagandistic than literary as it is more violent in nature and demanded
complete independence for the country.
- a. POLITICAL ESSAYS – helped inflame the spirit of revolution 1896 – Kalayaan – was a newspaper of the
Katipunan which means "independence and solidarity” edited by Emilio Jacinto.
- b. POETRY 1896 – Hibik ng Pilipinas – Andres Bonifacio 1896 – Liwanag at Dilim – Emilio Jacinto 1898 – True
Decalogue – Apolinario Mabini
- 4. RIZALIST AGE 1896-1899 1896 - Noli Me Tangere and El Filibusterismo sparked the Revolution of 1896.
- RIZAL AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES JOSE RIZAL Philippine National Hero of the Philippines.
- a. 1896 – Mi Ultimo Adios – a poem written by Jose Rizal that was one of the last notes he wrote before his death.
 - MARCELO H. DEL PILAR Popularly known as Plaridel, he was the editor and co-publisher of La Solidaridad. 1888
– Dasalan at Tocsohan –a satire on the friars’ hypocrisy, licentiousness and greed sarcasm.
- ANDRES BONIFACIO He was the “Father of the Philippine Revolution”. 1896 – Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang Lupa –
directed to the Filipinos in order to arouse their spirit of nationalism and self-dependence.
- Ninay by PEDRO PATERNO is the first novel to be published during this period
C. American Period 1901-1946
- Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not escape being
imitative of American models of writing especially during its period of apprenticeship.
PERIOD OF APPRENTICESHIP (1910-1930)
a. TAGALOG NOVELS 1906 – Banaag at Sikat – by Lope K. Santos
b. ROMANTIC POETRY Pag-ibig – by Jose Corazon de Jesus.
c. SHORT STORIES i. 1925 – Dead Stars – by Paz Marquez Benitez. ii. 1927 – The Small Key – by Paz
Latorena iii. 1933 – Footnote to Youth –by Jose Garcia Villa iv. 1940 – We Filipinos are
Mild Drinkers –by Alejandro Roces.
d. NOVEL 1930 – Childe of Sorrow –first novel in English by Zoilo Galang.
- PERIOD OF EMERGENCE (1920-1930)
SHORT STORIES – most prevalent literary form.
Jose Garcia Villa – earned the international title “Poet of the Century”.
- During this period, writers were given the chance to write in newspapers.
- Some of these newspapers were:
1. 1902 – Ang Kaluwasan (Cebuano)
2. 1903 – Muling Pagsilang (Tagalog)
3. 1913 – Makinaugalingon (Ilonggo)
4. 1908 – Nueva Era (Ilokano)
- The best-known magazines that capitalized on short stories and poems were:
a. 1922 – Liwayway (Tagalog)
b. 1930 – Bisaya (Cebuano)
c. 1934 – Hiligaynon (Ilonggo)
d. 1934 – Bannawag (Ilokano)
- Ishiwara is the Japanese who managed the weekly Liwayway magazine during the Japanese period.
D. Japanese Period
- WAR YEARS (1942-1944) 1943
- Considered to be the Golden Age of Philippine literature for it enforced writers to use their vernacular in writing
literary works. It increased the number of vernacular literature at the time.
- Pinakamabuting Maikling Kathang Pilipino Suyuan sa Tubigan – Macario Pineda i.
- Lupang Tinubuan – Narciso Reyes ii.
- Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa – Liwayway Arceo
- PERIOD OF MATURITY AND ORIGINALITY (1945-1960)
a. Palanca Awards for Literature - Established in 1950.
- Jose Garcia Villa
- Nick Joaquin
- NVM Gonzales
- Bienvenido Santos
- Gregorio Brillantes
- Gilda Cordero Fernardo
- National Artist Awards - is an order bestowed on Filipinos who have made significant contributions to the
development of Philippine art.
- Jose Garcia Villa
- Nick Joaquin 1946 – Ginto Sa Makiling –by Macario Pineda 1947 – Heart of the Islands – collection of poems by
Manuel Viray 1950 – Philippines Cross Section – a collection of prose and poetry by Maximo Ramos and Florentino
Valeros 1952 – Prose and Poems – by Nick Joaquin 1953 – Philippine Writing – by. T.D. Agcaoili
- REPUBLIC PERIOD 1960-1985 1967 –
 - Horizons Least – a collection of works by Artemio Patacsil and Silverio Baltazar
1969 – Mga Ibong Mandaragit – Amado V. Hernandez
1970s The government took part in reviving old plays like the Cenaculo, the Zarzuela and the
Embayoka of the Muslims.
1972 – Kerima Polotan Tuvera’s novel The Hand of the Enemy Radio and Television – Radio
continued to be patronized during this period.
- The play series like SI MATAR, DAHLIA, ITO AND PALAD KO, and MR. LONELY were the forms of recreation of
those without television.
- Filipino Films - A yearly Pista ng mga Pelikulng Pilipino (Yearly Filipino Film Festival) was held during this time.
o Maynila…sa mga Kuko ng Liwanag – Bembol Roco was the lead role.
o Minsa’y Isang Gamu-Gamo; Nora Aunor was the principal performer here.
o Ganito Kami Noon…Paano Kayo Ngayon: led by Christopher de Leon and Gloria Diaz.
o Insiang: by Hilda Koronel
o Aguila: led by Fernando Poe Jr., Jay Ilagan and Christopher de Leon
- Comics, Magazines and other Publications - News on economic progress, discipline, culture, tourism and the like were
favored more than the sensationalized reporting of killings, rape and robberies.
- Filipino Poetry – Poems during this period were romantic and revolutionary.
- Filipino Songs – Many Filipino songs dealt with themes that were really true-to-life like those of grief, poverty,
aspirations for freedom, love of God, of country and of fellowmen.
E. Contemporary Period 1986-PRESENT
- Things that were used and exercised during the Contemporary Period are:
- Onomatopoeia – the use of words that imitate the sounds associated with the objects or actions they refer to.
- Messages in Poetry – the idea about life that a poet writes about is called the theme or message of the poem.
- Free Verse – a poem that has no regular rhyme or rhythm.
- Cause and Effect Relationship Using Adjectives – is a word that describes, limits, or points out a noun.
- Making Clear and Correct Comparison 1986 - The action of martial rule by President Ferdinand Marcos last September
21,1972 does not only oppress the writers' right to free expression but also created conditions that made collaboration
and cooperation convenient choices for artists' struggling for recognition and survival.
- 1997 – sa Ngalan Ng Ina, by prize-winning poet-critic Lilia Quindoza Santiago, is, to date, the most comprehensive
compilation of feminist writing in the Philippines.
- 1998 – Many are writing novels.
- As fictionist Rony Diaz noted as judge, he had to read 350 novel entries for the Philippine centennial literary contest in
1998.
- 2000s Many novels in English seem to have been written for literary contests like Palanca and Asia Man.
- 2010s The debate over textual and contextual criticism, balagtasismo and modernism, formalism and historical
criticism has persisted to this day in the academe. The more popular but banal issue is called “literature (art) and
propaganda.”
- Overall, the character of the Philippine literary scene after "EDSA" maybe pinpointed be referring to the theories that
inform literary production, to the products issuing from the publishers, to the dominant concerns demonstrated by the
writers' output, and to the direction towards which literary studies are tending.