21ST CENTURY something laughable, but in reality, the answer is
more serious than expected.
LITERATURE
BY: SOFIA LUNA
PHILIPPINE PRECOLONIAL LITERATURE
• Before the Philippines was colonized, it was
already brimming with a rich tradition of oral
literature.
• However, because paper was not invented yet,
many of these tales were not preserved and have
vanished from local knowledge.
 Here are their descriptions and other forms of
literature that were passed on by the early
Filipinos to today’s generation…
➢ PROVERBS
- These are practical observations and philosophy of
everyday life that are written usually in a rhyming
scheme. It is obviously meant to entertain while
teaching basic skills in surviving local life.
Examples
1. “Kung ano ang puno, siya ang bunga.”
(Whatever the tree, so is the fruit)
2. “Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga.”
(If you don’t persevere, you can expect no reward)
3. “Walang naninira sa bakal kundi sariling
kalawang.”
(Nothing destroys iron but its own corrosion)
➢ RIDDLES
- These are like proverbs with one main difference:
they demand an answer and are used to test the wits
of those who are listening to them. Usually, riddles
are used in a battle of wits, where locals young and
old join and/or watch to see who is the smartest.
- Another characteristic of Filipino riddles is their
flippant nature – they seem to be referring to
Examples
1. Isang balong malalim, punong-puno ng patalim.
(A deep well that is full of chisels.) - BIBIG
2. Dalawang batong maitim, malayo ang dinarating.
(Two black stones that reach far.) - MATA
3. Limang puno ng niyog, isa’y matayog.
(Five coconut trees, one stands out.) - KAMAY
4. Hayan na, hayan na di mo pa makita.
(It's here, it’s here, but you cannot see) – HANGIN
➢ FOLK SONGS
- These are beautiful songs that are informal
expressions of our ancestor’s experiences in life.
These range from courtship to lullabies, harvests,
funerals, and others.
Examples
1. Sitsiritsit Alibangbang
2. Dungawin mo, Hirang
➢ TALES
- These are stories of origin for certain places, their
names, and their creation. These are also known as
myths and legends. They usually are used to explain
certain events or phenomena in our ancestors’ lives
that cannot be explained by the limited practical kind
of science they knew back then.
Example : Maria Makiling
➢ EPICS
- These are long poems about a hero and his
adventures and misadventures. It usually tells of a
male hero who is born with all the pleasing qualities
that your ancestors like in a person and who also has
superhuman capabilities.
 HINILAWOD (Tales from the Halawod
River)
THE EPIC OF THE HILIGAYNON
REGION
• Hiligaynon, also called Ilongo, or Panayan,
fourth largest ethnolinguistic group of the
Philippines, living in Panay, western Negros,
southern Mindoro, Tablas, Romblon, Sibuyan,
Guimaras, and northwestern Masbate.
FELIPE LANDA JOCANO
- Author of Hinilawod
- Filipino anthropologists became interested in native
folklore. He traveled the hinterlands of his home
province, Panay, with two colleagues collecting folk
songs, stories, and riddles.
- In 1999, he was awarded a special citation for a
lifetime of writing and publishing on various aspects
of Philippine culture by the Manila Critics Circle.
WHAT IS HINILAWOD?
- An epic story about the exploits of brothers Labaw
Donggon, Humadapnon, and Dumalapdap.
SPANISH COLONIAL PHILIPPINE
LITERATURE
• Miguel Lopez de Legazpi, the first Spanish
governor-general in the Philippines
• It became centered on the Christian faith, and the
stories about natural phenomena suddenly
became all about the lives of saints and other
religious hymns.
• Slowly, Philippine literature started to emulate
the traditional Spanish ways of themes and forms
in writing, including the repetitive plots and
obvious shadowy characters
 Despite these changes, Filipinos still found a way
to make Spanish literature their own, as shown
through these common kinds…
➢ CORRIDO
- Is a legendary religious narrative form that usually
details the lives of saints or the history of a tradition.
Ex. Ibong Adarna
➢ AWIT
- Is a chivalric poem about a hero, usually about a
saint. It is also usually sung and used in religious
processions.
Ex. Florante at Laura
➢ CENACULO
- Is a dramatization of the passion of Christ. It
highlights the sufferings and death of Jesus Christ,
and it is also done during the Lenten season
➢ MORO-MORO
- Or Comedia de Capa y Espada is a blood-and-
thunder melodrama depicting the conflict between
Christians and Muslims. It is usually about battles to
the death and the proofs of faith.
➢ CARILLO
- is a play that uses shadows as its main spectacle.
That is created by animating figures made from
cardboard, which are projected onto a white screen.
➢ TIBAG
- Is the dramatic reenactment of St. Helena’s search
for the Holy Cross. St. Helena is the mother of
Constantine and is oftentimes credited to have
influenced her son to be the great Christian leader he
is known for today. She is also well-known to have
traveled to Syria to look for the relics of Jesus
Christ’s cross, the one that was used in his
crucifixion. It is widely believed that she found it in
the same country.
➢ DUPLO OR KARAGATAN
- Are native dramas that are connected to Catholic
mourning rituals and harvest celebrations.
➢ ZARZUELA
- Is probably one of the most famous forms of
entertainment back in the Spanish era. These are
musical comedies or melodramas that deal with the
elemental passions of human beings. It follows a
certain plot, which shows either a satirical look at
society or a begrudged life.
PHILIPPINE POETRY
• Poetry is probably the most sophisticated of all
literary genres. Your Filipino ancestors, through
oral tradition, shared epics, proverbs, riddles, and
folksongs in poetic form – with a specific formal
scheme in which they strictly followed.
• Yet, poetry is still the chosen genre of many local
writers, for it offers a uniqueness that other
genres may not achieve: the opportunity to see
the world anew, with every single written word.
• In the early 1900s, Filipino poetry celebrated
romanticism, and several poems about love
flourished
• As the years went on, poetry became more
formalist – the emphasis of the poetry is more on
the form and language that the poet used, rather
than the theme itself.
• Modern poetry sprouted, and nowadays, writers
are more adventurous in their craft.
GEMINO ABAD
- Writer and Literary critic
- Has written that the journey to creating a local
poetic identity has been continually transformed by
the different colonizers who have stayed in the
country and the continued fascination with
languages.
ELEMENTS OF POETRY
1. SENSES AND IMAGES
- These are used by the writer to describe their
impressions of their topic or object of writing.
* Sight - Visual
* Taste - Gustatory
* Smell - Olfactory
* Touch - Tactile
* Hear – Auditory
2. DICTION
- It is another important element in Filipino poetry.
In fact, Filipinos are very careful of the way they
write and the words they use to form their poems.
- It is the denotative and connotative meaning of the
words in a sentence, phrase, paragraph, or poem.
a. Denotative – Literal Meaning
b. Connotative – Implied/Figurative meaning
- positive and negative
3. RHYME SCHEME - A poet may use a word grammatically or not – often
called as poetic license-and may invent words too.
- It is the way the author arranges words, meters,
lines, and stanzas to create a coherent sound when
the poem is read out loud.
CLOSE READING
- It may be formal or informal, depending on the way
the poem was written by the poet. • It says that all the interdependent parts of a literary
selection must add up to create on whole.

Socrates (Plato’s teacher)

4. SPEAKER
- The voice that talks to the reader.
Plato
- Sometimes, it refers to itself as ‘I’ or ‘me’ or
sometimes in third person.
Aristotle (One of Plato’s students)

Organic Unity

New Criticism school of thought

• To understand the organic unity of a poem, you must
use the process of close reading.
• Close reading is a way for you to analyze the poem
by carefully reading and rereading a text until you
have found its interpretation.

WHY DO WE READ A TEXT?

5. STRUCTURE
FIRST READ
- It is the arrangement of words and lines, either
Determine what the text says
together or apart.
- It also refers to the way the interdependent parts of
it are organized to form a whole poem. SECOND READ
Prose – stanzas and verses/lines Determine how the text works
Poetry – paragraph

THIRD READ
6. WORD ORDER Evaluate the quality of content and make connections
- It is either the natural or the unnatural arrangement of
words in a poem.