PHILIPPINE LITERATURE

Literature
● Derived from the latin word “litera” which means letter
● It is defined as a piece of printed work related to the ideas and feelings of the people
that may be true or just a product of the writer’s imagination

2 Divisions of Literature
1. Prose
- It is a spoken or written language without metrical regularity
2. Poetry
- It is the imaginative expression of emotion, thought, or narrative, frequently in
metrical form and often using figurative language

Types of Prose
1. Novel
- is an extended fictional prose narrative, often including psychological
development of the central characters and of their relationship with a broader
world
2. Short Story
- is an artistic form of prose fiction which in centered on a single main incident
whose aims is to produce a single dominant impression.
3. Play
- is a piece of creative work presented on stage. It is usually divided into acts
4. Legend
- is a traditional or undocumented story about famous people, commonly
religious in character and frequently posing problems of authenticity
5. Fables
- is a story in either verse or prose, in which animals or inanimate objects are
given the mentality and speech of human beings to point out a moral lesson.
6. Anecdote
- is a product of the writer’s imagination whose aim is to bring out lessons to the
readers
7. Essay
- is a short piece of nonfiction dealing with a particular subject from a personal
point of view
8. Biography
- is an account of a person’s life. It may consist of factual details of a persons’
life told in a chronological order, but has generally become a matter of
interpretation as well as historical accuracy
9. News
- is a report of daily events in society, government, or in science and industry
10. Oration
- is a piece of work relative to speech whose aim is to arouse the listener’s
interest and emotion
Types of Poetry
1. Narrative poetry
- a form of poetry that is used to tell a story
a. Epic
- a cycle of poem dealing with some great deeds like the
founding of nation or the forging of national unity.
- They often use religious or cosmological themes.
b. Metrical tales
- a type of narrative written in verse. It is classified as either ballad
or metrical romance.
c. Ballads
- considered the shortest and simplest.
- It has a simple structure and tells of a single incident.
- There are also variations of these: love ballads, war ballads, and
sea ballads, humorous, moral, and historical or mythical ballads.
- this referred to a song accompanying a dance.
d. Metrical Romance
- a type of metrical tale composed of a long rambling love story
in verse. It is centered around the adventure of knights and lords
and their royal ladies during the age of chivalry.
2. Lyric Poetry
- is any short poem which is songlike.
a. Haiku
- a short Japanese poem consisting of 17 syllables arranged in
three lines. ( 5 7 5 )
b. Ode
- a serious lyric poetry which commemorates important public
events.
- It consists of stanzas with the same pattern of rhythm and rhyme.
c. Elegy
- a common lyric that deals with life and death.
- It mourns the death of a loved one.
d. Sonnet
- love poem which mostly consists of 14 lines and has a certain
pattern of rhyme and rhythm.
e. Folk songs (awiting bayan)
- These are short poems intended to be sung
- The common theme is love, despair, grief, doubt, joy, hope and
sorrow.
f. Psalms (dalit)
- This is a song praising God or the Virgin Mary and containing a
philosophy of life
g. Awit (song)
 - These have measures of twelve syllables (dodecasyllabic) and
slowly sung to the accompaniment of a guitar or banduria
h. Corridos (Kuridos)
- These have measures of eight syllables (octosyllabic) and
recited to a martial beat.

3. Dramatic Poetry
- tells stories like narrative, but in dialogues of play rhymes, repeating rhythms,
and other poetic elements.
a. Dramatic Monologue
- this a combination of drama and poetry which presents the
speech of a character in a particular situation at a critical moment
- The speaker addresses one or more people who are present
and are listening to the speaker, but who remain silent.
b. Soliloquy
- this a passage spoken by the speaker in a poem or by a
character in a play except that there is no one present to hear
him except the reader of the audience.
c. Comedy
- The word comedy comes from the Greek term “komos” meaning
festivity or revelry.
- This form usually is light and written with the purpose of
amusing, and usually has a happy ending
d. Melodrama
- This is usually used in musical plays with the opera.
- Today, this is related to tragedy just as the farce is to comedy
- It arouses immediate and intense emotion and is usually sad but
there is a happy ending for the principal character.
e. Tragedy
- This involves the hero struggling mightily against dynamic
forces; he meets death or ruin without success and satisfaction
obtained by the protagonist in a comedy.
f. Farce
- This is an exaggerated comedy.
- It seeks to arouse mirth by laughable lines; situations are too
ridiculous to be true
- the characters seem to be caricatures and the motives undignified
and absurd
g. Social poems
- This form is either purely comic or tragic and it pictures the life
of today. It may aim to bring about changes in the social
conditions.
 LITERARY PERIOD

9 periods in order (P,S,A,J,R,P,N,T,C)

1. Pre-colonial Period (0BC-1564)
2. Spanish Period (1565-1898)
3. American Period (1898-1941)
4. Japanese (1941-1945)
5. Rebirth of Freedom (1946-1970)
6. Period of Activism (1970-1972)
7. New Society (1972-1981)
8. Third Republic (1981-1985)
9. Contemporary (1986-present)

1. Pre-colonial Period
➔ Epigrams (Salawikain) have been customarily used and served as laws or rules on
good behavior by our ancestors during this period
➔ Ancient literatures were written on the perishable materials like dried leaves, bamboo
cylinder, and bark of the trees
➔ Ambahan – 7-syllable per line poem that is about human relationships and social
entertainment
➔ Kalusan - work songs that depict the livelihood of the people.
➔ Maxims - rhyming couples (5,6,8 syllables)

2. Spanish Period
➔ Noli me Tangere was the novel that gave spirit to the propaganda movement and paved
the way to the revolution in this period
➔ The first book ever printed in the Philippines is a Christian Doctrine or Doctrina
Christiana in 1593 by the Dominican press

3. American Period
➔ Pedro Bukaneg was named the Father of Ilocano Literature
➔ Among the well-loved forms of writing which abounded during this period were those of
children’s stories

4. Japanese Period
➔ Carlos P. Romulo won the Pulitzer Prize for his “I saw the fall of the Philippines, I see
the Philippines Rise and his Mother America and my Brother”

5. Rebirth of Freedom
➔ Palanca Memorial Awards was established

6. Period of Activism
 ➔ Jose F. Lacaba, in his books “Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage; The First Quarters
Storm and Related Events, wrote of the tragic and tumultuous moments in our
country’s history

7. New Society
➔ The government took part in reviving old plays like the Cenaculo, the Zarzuela and the
Embayoka of the Muslims. The Central Center of the Philippines, the Folk Arts
Theater and even the old Metropolitan Theater were rebuild in order to have a place
for these plays
➔ The themes of most poems dealt with patience, regard for native culture, customs
and the beauties of nature and surroundings
➔ A yearly Pista ng mga Pelikulang Pilipino (Yearly Filipino Film Festival) started during
this time

8. The Third Republic

➔ The Palanca Awards started choosing the best in novel writing
➔ Poems during this period were romantic and revolutionary

9. Contemporary
➔ Philippines literature in Tagalog was revived during this period

REGIONAL LITERATURE
Damiana Ligon Eugenio
● Mother of Philippine Folklore
● Region III Author

Jose F. Lacaba
● Author of “Days of Disquiet, Nights of Rage; The First Quarters Storm and Related
Events”
● Period of Activism

Leona Florentino
● She is considered as the "mother of Philippine women's literature,"
● “Mother of Feminist Literature” in the Philippines.

Graciano Lopez Jaena

● Well-known for his newspaper, La Solidaridad
● The author of the speech, Sa Mga Pilipino, a speech aimed to improve the condition of
the Filipinos to become free and progressive.

Ricardo Lee
● Filipino screenwriter, journalist, novelist, and playwright that was born at Daet,
Camarines Norte
● National Artists of the Philippines for Film and Broadcast Arts
Severino Reyes
● He is known as the "Father of Tagalog Plays" and as the "Father of the Tagalog
Zarzuela"
● Author of Walang Sugat

Francisco Balagtas
● Region III
● Author of Florante at Laura

Francisco Alvarado
● He is a well-known playwright of zarzuela in Lineyte-Samarnon (Waray)

Amador Daguio
● He was a Republic Cultural Heritage awardee for his works

Rogelio Sicat
● First prize in Liwayway magazine's best short story and the prized Carlos Palanca
Award both in the same year
● Author of Impeng Negro, a short story based on a half-black, half-Filipino boy

Lualhati Bautista
● Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Short Story in Filipino, Carlos Palanca Memorial
Awards for Novel in Filipino

Liwayway Arceo
● The author of Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa which won the second prize in the best short
stories of the year 1943.

Andres Bonifacio
● The author of Pag-ibig sa Tinubuang lupa

Edith Tiempo
● National Artist Award for Literature in 1999
● Region II
● poet, fictionist, teacher and literary critic was one of the finest Filipino writers in
English

Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales

● 1st commonwealth literary contest winner