PHILIPPE RAE V.

VARIAS March 5, 2019

7-Mganesium English

PHILIPPINE LITERATURE THROUGH THE AGES

Philippine Literature During Pre-Colonial Period

Long before the Spaniards came to the Philippines, Filipinos had a civilization of their
own. This civilization partly came from Malay settlers and partly from their response to the new
environment many of these customs and traditions, government and way of life, have come
down to the present day, despite the changes brought about by westernization and
modernization. This is why it is possible to know about our distant past by simply observing
some customs and practices that hence resisted change and modernization.

Filipinos often lose sight of the fact that the first period of Philippine literary history is the
longest. Certain events from the nation’s history had forced lowland Filipinos to begin counting
the years of history from 1521, the first time written records by westerners referred to the
archipelago later to be called “Las Islas Filipinas”. However, the discovery of the “Tabon man” in
a cave at Palawan in 1962, has allowed us to stretch our prehistory as far as 50,000 years back.
The stages of that pre history show how the early Filipinos grew in control over their
environment. Through the researches and writings about Philippine history, much can be
reliably inferred about pre-colonial Philippine literature from an analysis of collected oral lore of
the Filipinos whose ancestors were able to preserve their indigenous culture by living beyond
the reach of Spanish colonial administrators.

The oral literature of the pre-colonial Filipinos bore the marks of the community. The
subject was invariably the common experience of the people constituting the village-food-
gathering, creature and objects of nature, work in the home, field, forests or sea, caring children,
etc. this is evident in the most common forms of oral literature like the riddle, the proverbs and
the song, which always seem to assume that the audience is familiar with the situations,
activities and objects mentioned in the course of expressing a thought or emotion, the language
of oral literature, unless the piece was part of the cultural heritage of the community like the
epic, was the language of daily life. At this phase of literary development, any member of the
community was a potential poet, singer or storyteller as long as he knew the language and had
been attentive to conventions of the forms.

The most appreciated riddles of ancient Philippines are those that are rhymed and
having equal numbers of syllables in each line, making them classified under the early poetry of
this country. Riddles were existent in all languages and dialects of the ancestors of the Filipinos
and cover practically all of the experience of the life in these times.

Almost the important events in the life of the ancient peoples of this country were
connected with some religious observance and the rites and ceremonies always some poetry
recited, chanted, or sung. The lyrics of religious songs may of course be classified as poetry
also, although the rhythm and the rhyme may not be the same.

Drama as a literary from had not yet begun to evolve among the early Filipinos.
Philippine theatre at this stage consisted largely in its simplest form, of mimetic dances imitating
natural cycles and work activities. At its most sophisticated, theatre consisted largely in its most
sophisticated, theatre consisted of religious rituals presided over by a priests or priestess and
participated in by the community.

Reference:
Abandal, J.R. (2016, March 8) Philippine Literature During Pre-Colonial Period.
Retrieved from jennyroseabandalblog.wordpress.com

http://jennyroseabandalblog.worpress.com/2016/03/08/summary-of-pre-colonial-period-
of-philippine-literature/

Philippine Literature During the period of apprentices

In 1900 English became the official medium of instruction in the Philippines schools. The
first teachers were army me and their wives. In 1901 the Philippines normal school was founded
to train the Filipinos teachers to take charge of elementary education. In the same year the army
transport, Thomas, bought 600 American teachers to the country to be incorporated into the
educational system. These teachers introduced English and American literature to the Filipinos.

The period of 1910 is generally called the period of apprenticeship or imitation. Virgina
R. Moreno, in her “a critical study of the shorty story in English written by Filipinos,” describes
the years 1910-1925 “ as a period of novices with their exercises in fiction-making and the rise
of the new language.”

The Filipino writers imitated American and English writers. This fact is hardly surprising
since the early writers were, for the most part, college students or young graduates whose
literally education had been largely confined to American and English authors.

The University of the Philippines was found in 1908. It became the center of the literary
effort. In September 1910, the first issue of the up folio came off the press. This publication was
recognized as embodiment of the early attempts of the Filipinos at self-expressions in English.

The UP Folio was replaced by the Philippine Collegian. Other publications which
introduced Philippine literature in English to the public were Philippine Review, Independent,
Rising Philippines, and Citizens.

In 1920 the Philippine Herald, the first Filipino daily in English, was founded. It paid for
literary work it published and thus gave a financial reward to writers in English, especially in the
short story.

The period of apprenticeship was inaugurated b two significant events. In 925 A. V. H.

Jartendorp became the editor-publisher of the Philippine Education Magazine. This soon
became the Philippine Magazine, the most influential literary magazine of its time. The Manila
Tribune was established in the same year. It began publishing a Sunday supplement featuring
original short stories and poems written in English. Other journals followed and there was a
market, although still very limited, for Filipino literary output in English.

In 1927 the UP writers club was founded and began publishing the Literary Apprentice,
which became the most prestigious college literary publication in the country. In the same year,
the Bureau of Education published Philippine Prose and Poetry, which was prescribed as a high
school textbook. Furthermore, Jose Garcia Villa introduced Walt Whitman to the Philippines with
the publication of his unconventional “Man Songs.” This brought in a wave of experimentation
and rapid development.

The literary output was further stimulated by literary contests. The first of these was that
offered by the Philippine Free Press in the field of the short story. The short story became the
favorite form among Filipino writers.

In 1927 the Free Press published the first anthology of Philippine short stories written in
English. The short stories during this period were either romantic tales of the past with
legendary figures or were imitations of plots and themes from American and other foreign
sources.

The most significant short story produced during this period was “Dead Stars” by Paz
Marquez-Benitez. It was published in the Philippines Herald on September 20, 1925. Her fellow
writers immediately recognized the story as incomparably superior to all other Filipino short
stories published up to then.

The poetry of the apprenticeship period was dominated by sentimental love lyrics. Verbal
exuberance made the poems artificial and insincere. “Sursum Surda is the first known Philippine
poem in English; it appeared in the Philippine Free Press in 1907.

The first notable collection of Philippine essays in English, “Thinking of Ourselves,”

compiled and edited by Vicente M. Hilario and Eliseo M. Quirino, appeared in 1924. The essays
dealt with Philippine traditions and history, religion, philosophy, ethics, literature and the arts,
politics and government, and other significant matters bearing on Philippine culture.

The play produced during this period was mostly highly emotional rather than emotional
experiences. Some were contrived melodramas or broad comedies.  American influence on the
Filipino drama was less discernable, but contact with American plays was extensive and foreign
plays were often staged in Manila. However, drama suffered from public apathy. It could not
compete with the zarzuela, which was then at the height of its popularity.

The early novels in English were sentimental. The fact is that the cultural basis of
literature was too thin to support a sustained, complex tradition necessary for a novel. Zolio M.
Galang’s “Child of Sorrow,” the first Filipino novel in English, was published in 1924.   

Reference:
Serrano, J. D.(2000). A Survey of Philippine Literature in English. 1988. Phoenix Press:
Quezon City. 
http://linglithumanities.blogspot.com/2011/10/notes-on-apprentice-ship-period-1910.html

Philippine Literature During Emergence

Vividly recreate the dizzying ferment in the literary scene of the late 1960s and
subsequent years for students born too late to have experienced the tremors and jolts that
shook the academe all over Metro Manila during those critical years. The year 1968 was when
the Communist Party of the Philippines was reestablished and activists of the national
democratic movement disseminated the political and cultural essays of Mao Zedong. The
subject matter of the essays suggests that cumulative impact of the ideas of the great Chinese
leader on the literary scene. Ideas on art and literature developed during China's revolutionary
struggle introduced Filipino teachers and writers to a literary theory they could pit against the
tenets of the New Criticism which, under the political conditions prevailing in the 1960s, was
proving itself to be reactionary. Dr. Ordoñez upon his return from Canada threw himself into the
thick of the struggle and found himself in the company of fellow professors in the forefront of the
movement.

Reference:
Ordonez, E.A. (2017) Emergent Literature on Philippine Writing. Goodreads.com.

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4046365.Elmer_A_Ord_ez

Philippine Literature During Contemporary Period

Following military rule in the 1960s, the contemporary period emerged. Poetry, prose
and short stories remain popular, but writing has become more competitive and professional
throughout the country. Writers are encouraged to attend workshops, and literary awards
ceremonies are held each year

The Filipino literary contemporary period is characterized by the use of native languages
as the main tool of literary expression rather than foreign languages. The contemporary period
began in the 1960s but truly began to flourish following the end of the martial-law dictatorship in
1986.The Philippines were first invaded by the Spanish in 1521, followed by the United States in
1898 and the Japanese in 1941. Filipino literature transformed to take on the occupiers'
language during these times. A rich culture of folk narratives and traditions served as the
foundation of Filipino literature prior to the Spanish invasion in 1521. With the Spanish invasion,
these native literary traditions were undermined and replaced with Spanish language traditions.
One of the most heralded Filipino writers, Jose Rizal, wrote all his works in Spanish when he
called for a revolution against Spanish occupation. With the invasion of the United States in
1898, the language for literary works turned to English, and new literary forms were introduced,
including the short story, essay and free-verse poem. Many Filipino writers during this period
attended American and British schools and brought Western literary traditions back to the
Philippines. English was suppressed during the Japanese occupation in 1941 and replaced with
Japanese literary traditions until 1946, when the Philippines became independent.The
contemporary movement toward the use of native languages in Filipino literature was slow to
begin due to the oppressive martial-law dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos from 1972 to 1986.
However, following the end of the dictatorship, the Philippines undertook an effort to resurface
their native language literary history, and the Philippine Commission on Higher Education made
it obligatory to teach Philippine literature to students.

Reference: