STAGES OF LITERATURE

DR. RHEYDITH G. CONTE

 1.How can history of a nation be learned?

>It’s law
>It’s political statement

Nation’s spirit
>read it’s literature ( review what happened to the Filipino since
1900)
2. What is the importance of the quality of art?

> share with others the intense realization of human

experience
( you may recognize your own experiences )

>Filipino differs from others

3.What are the quality of literature

>should be memorable

>should be clear and forceful

>reveals the spirit of the Filipino

4. 3 stages of Literature
>Early Period ( 1900 -1930)
>Middle Period ( 1930 -1960)
>Modern Period ( 1960 -1974 )
 EARLY PERIOD ( 1900 – 1930 )
>American forces ( Manila )

> Pres. William McKinley directed ( Philippine Commission to make English

the official medium of instructions for public schools )

>first teachers – members of US Army

>August 1901, 600 American teachers arrived ( Thomas ) replacing teachers

>Philippine Normal School was founded

>1899 ( Newspaper : The Courier , Insular Press, Manila Freedom

>1900 Daily Bulletin founded

>1902 The Cablenews
>1905 Philippine Free Press edited by F. Theodore Rogers
( Bilingual weekly in English & Spanish in 1908)
>1908 UP - English for higher education
>UP – College Folio published
>magazine – printed the works of the first promising writers in English
>more ghost- taught moral
>1913- speeches to students
>Filipino writing in English was formal and imitative
>Influences from the Spanish Language
>1920 – Philippine Herald founded by Manuel L. Quezon edited by Paz
Marquez Benitez
1925-Filipino writers received further encouragement
– original manuscript 1,000
>1927- Writer’s Club ( Literary Apprentice)
>1st Filipino Novel in English ( A Child of Sorrow )
>1930 essay , short stories ( Zoilo M. Galang )
>Short Stories –Work of novies
Dead Stars
>Poem – 1st known “ Sursum Corda” by Justo Juliano
 Middle Period ( 1930 -1960)
>mastering of vocabulary
>learning the mechanics of grammar
>imitating Western Writers
>Leopoldo Ybas
>Feb 26, 1909 – Philippine writers League
>Cultural Activities –uplift cultural Standards
>Salvador P. Lopez – POLETARIAN LITERATURE ( Interpretation of the experience of
the working class in a world that has been rendered. Doubly dynamic by its struggles )
>Proclamation Philippine Independence July 4, 1946 ( writers new sense of
responsibility and freedom )
>1950 Carlos Palanca Memorial Award for Literature
> “Clay” –Juan T. Gatbonton’s 1st prize English Short Story
>HUKBALAHAP GUERRILLAS
ESSAY
>CAPTURE Filipino life and culture
> social consciousness
e.g Francisco B. Icusino 1941 ( My Nipa Hut )
>deeply sympathy for common tao

SHORT STORIES
>most rapid development
>early didactic stories
>ROMANTIC TALES
>FARM LIFE
>CITY LIFE

POEMS
>romantic in character
 THE MODERN PERIOD ( 1960 -1974 )

1st Group
>growing sense of nationalism
>sharper perception of their own country
>literature from the Masses , for the Masses
2nd Group
>art of literature itself

>writers who revealed a skillful; command of the language and who reflected in their works the political and
social unrest around them.

>in poetry the contributions are often sentimental and read more like prose than verse

>Essayists have written about social or political questions, history or literary criticism.

>Short Stories gradually shifted from themes which the writers treated, for the authors gradually shifted
from themes of private problems and rural life to themes of national problems and city life.

>Poems >further development in skill and originality that focus on the events that were happening in the
Philippines and throughout the world.
>1960s (satirical mood – anthology of lives)
>new poets reflected the mood of questioning and unrest