LIT 111: Philippine Literature MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM

1 – INTRO TO LIT
 Introduces us to new worlds of
Literature – “litera” = individual written experience
character (letter)
-an expression of human feelings, thoughts, and Importance of the Study of Literature
ideas whose medium is language, oral and  Expresses our emotions, beliefs,
written aspirations & sentiments
 Reflects the ideologies & philosophies
Nature of Literature of life
Literature is…  Informs, entertains & teaches a lesson
1. Art  Discover oneself & grow personally
2. Aesthetic (beliefs, attitudes, values, customs &
3. Expressive traditions of the people of the world.
4. Affective  Appreciate literary masterpieces &
5. Everything in print value meaning of life
 Understand literary trends &
Roles of Literature techniques
1. Transmitter of values  Gives distinctive qualities of literary
2. Preserver of ideals, customs and works
traditions  Realize universality of events in human
3. Mirror of culture life w/c we need to understand &
4. Agent of change accept
5. Source of pleasure  Understand values of other people of
the world, work for attainment of world
Significance of Literature peace and progress
1. Expanding horizons
2. Building critical thinking skills 12 Literary Compositions that have
3. A leap into the past Influenced the World
4. Appreciation for other cultures and 1. The Bible / The Sacred Writings –
beliefs become the basis of Christianity
5. Better writing skills (Palestine & Greece)
6. Addressing humanity 2. Koran – muslim bible (Arabia)
3. The Iliad and the Odyssey – source
7 literary standards of myths & legends of Greece (by
1. Artistry Homer)
2. Intellectual value 4. The Mahabharata – longest epic of
3. Suggestiveness or Emotional Value the world , contains history of
4. Spiritual Value religion in India
5. Permanence 5. Canterbury Tale – depicts religion &
6. Universality customs of English in early days
7. Style (Geoffrey Chaucer, England)
6. Uncle Tom’s Cabin – sad fate of
Importance of Literature slaves: this has become the basis of
 This helps us to understand what life is democracy later on (Harriet
by reflecting our own life with others Beecher Stowe, U.S.)
 To be mature in dealing life 7. The Divine Comedy – shows
 Life could be learned from the life of religion & customs of the early
others Italians (Dante of Italy)
 Teaches us how to live
LIT 111: Philippine Literature
8. El Cid Compeador – shows cultural
characteristics of the Spaniards and
their national history
9. The Songs of Roland – tells about
golden age of Christianity in France
(includes Doce Pares &
Roncesvalles)
10. The book of the dead – includes
cult of Osiris & mythology &
theology of Egypt
11. The book of the days – became the
basis of Christian Religion
(Confucius of China)
12. One Thousand and One nights /
Arabian Nights – ways of govt. of
industries and of the society of
Arabs & Persians (Arabia & Persian
(Iran)
2 – UNDERSTANDING LITERACY GENRES
2 main divisions of literature (accdg. to
type/genre)
1. Poem – composition usually written in
verse
- rely heavily on imagery, precise
word choice, metaphor
- consisting of patterns of stresses
(metric feet) / of patterns of diff-
length syllables (classical prosody)
- may / may not utilize rhyme
2. Prose – doesn’t adhere to any particular
formal structures (other than simple
grammar)
- Spoken / written language w/o
metrical structure distinguished
from poetry/ verse
Poetry – latin word “poema” = something
composed/ created
- universal as language; almost as
ancient
Poetry writing – most challenging, ff.
reasons are:
1. the choice of proper words/
grammar
2. denotative & symbolical meaning of
the chosen grammar
3. limitation imposed by structure &
rhythm of sounds
MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM
Narrative Poetry – type of poetry written/ tell/
to narrate an incident usually ff. a chronological
order
- describes an important event in life either
real or imaginary
1. Epic – long narrative poem w/c tells
the exploits of a hero possessing
supernatural powers, associated w/
the development of origin of a
nation/ place
2. Metric tale – narrative poem, deals
w/ rustic life/ pastoral scenes that
suggests a mood of peace &
contentment
3. Metrical romance – love story in
verse dealing w/ exploits /
adventures of knights/ lords and
their highborn ladies during age of
chivalry
4. Ballad – short simple narrative
poem composed to be sung, tells of
a single incident
Lyric Poetry – expression of poet’s personal
feelings & beliefs
- originally to be sung to the accompaniment
of lyre/ any string instrument
- refers to the utterance of human heart in
poetic form
1. Folksongs (awiting bayan) –
traditional song that has been sung
w/ fun and gaiety and handed down
from generation to generation, rich
in rhythm and rhyme
 language: vernacular/ written &
sang in the local dialect from
where it came from
2. Sonnets – fixed love poem of Italian
origin consisting of 14 lines (5 foot
iambic rhyming accdg. to a
prescribed scheme)
3. Elegy – lyric poem w/c expresses
feelings of grief & melancholy, and
whose theme is death
4. Ode – long formal lyric poem w/
serious theme
 often honors people,
commemorates events,
LIT 111: Philippine Literature
responds to a natural scenes/
considers serious human
problems
5. Psalms (dalit) – sacred song/ poem
used in the praise/ worship of the
deity, biblical hymns
 book of Psalms
6. Nursery rhymes – short lyrical
poems intended for children to
recite and/or sing about some are
narratives (Jack & Jill)
 full of rhyme & rhythm, words
& tunes easily remembered &
memorized
7. Riddle – misleading/ puzzling
question posed as a problem to be
solved/ guessed
 some are considered poems
(figurative & have certain shape
in terms of rhymes)
8. Song (awit) – have measures of 12
syllables ( dodecasyllabic)
 Slowly sangto the
accompaniment of guitar
(Florante at Laura by Francisco
Baltazar)
9. Corridos (kurridos) – have
measures of 8 syllables
(octosyllabic)
Dramatic Poetry – poetic form used to set forth
life and character through the use of dialogue
and action
 tell stories through speech of
the characters
 action in powerful, emotion-
packed lines (Shakespeare’s
plays)
Accdg. to events/ situations:
 Comedy – greek term “komos” =
festivity/ revelry
 Usually light & written w/
purpose of amusing, usually has
happy ending
 Melodrama – exaggerated characters &
situations to produce sensational
MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM
effects, violent, emotional appeals & a
happy ending
 Tragedy – hero struggling mightily
against dynamic forces
 death/ ruin w/o success &
satisfaction of protagonist in a
comedy
 Farce – exaggerated form of comedy
depicting ridiculous & impossible
situations intended to produce
boisterous laughter
 Historical play – a drama, the materials
w/c are taken from the lives of
outstanding figures in history
Accdg. to manner of delivery:
 Dramatic monologue – character
expressing his thoughts & emotions w/o
the other characters knowing what is
being said
 combines drama & poetry in
presenting the speech of a
single character addressed to
one or more listeners who are
silent
 talking to oneself
 Soliloquy – thinking aloud
 Character sketch – short description of
a qualities & traits of a person
Special Type of Poetry
1. Concrete Poetry – poetry that is meant
to seen on the page
 words are arranged into shape
that imitates the subject
 effect is usually playful
2. Haiku – form of poetry that originated
in Japan
 has 3 lines:
 1st and 3rd lines have 5 syllables
 2nd has 7
 Usually depicts a scene in
natureand often implies a
strong feeling
3. Limerick – has short lines, swift, catchy
rhythm and heavily stressed rhymes
LIT 111: Philippine Literature
 there are 3 beats in the 1st, 2nd,
and 5th lines w/c rhyme
 2 beats in 3rd and 4th lines w/c
also rhyme
 most limericks follow the rhyme
scheme aabba
4. Epigram – short rhyming poem w/
some sort of satirical content
 also a succinct, pithy saying
Ex:
Sir, I admit your general rule,
That every poet is a fool,
But you yourself may serve to show it,
That every fool is not a poet
3 – PROSE
Fiction – imaginary people caught in imaginary
situations
 usually read for pleasure &
intended to expand/ refines our
life & quicken our senses
 latin word “fictio”= to invent or
make up
 fiction comes in 2 forms: the
novel & the short story
(Literature of Power)
Non-fiction – not invented
 actual facts and information
(Literature of Knowledge)
4 categories of Fiction:
 Realistic fiction – uses elements
that are related to life-life
situations
- e.g. short stories,
novels, teleserye &
telenovelas
 Biographical fiction – tells a
story about a person who
actually lived but the
experiences told may not be
factual
- e.g. Flor Contemplation
story, Epimatco Velasco
etc.
MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM
 Historical fiction – uses a real
setting usually in the past
- characters are
imaginary
- e.g. Sakay, Rizal, Titanic
etc.
 Fanciful fiction – combination
of real and imaginary events
- e.g. fairytales
Types\ Forms of Fiction
 Short story – narrative,
involving one or more
characters, one plot, and one
single impression
 Myths – deal mainly with the
creation of the universe; origin
of man, the gods and
supernatural beings and native
culture heroes
 Legends – deal mainly with the
origin of local phenomena or
happenings, origin of places,
plants, animals, things and
names
 Fables – deal with animals and
inanimate beings made to
speak and act like rational
beings, pointing out morals
 Parables – short fictitious
narrative that describes some
true to life human experience
to illustrate a moral lesson or
religious principle
 Anecdotes – merely product of
the writer’s imagination and the
main aim is to bring out lessons
to the readers
 Folktale – any fictional folktale
about a person; may inbvolve
true to life people as legendary
heroes and situations take the
form of make-believe
characters as in fairy tales or
similar short narratives
 Fairytale – involves fictional
characters that intervene into
human lives and often told
LIT 111: Philippine Literature
children to arouse wonder and
surprise like a fable
- Generally told to bring
out a useful truth
Novel – type of invented of fictional and prose
narrative, usually long and complex
- deals w/ human experiences through
moral lesson or religious episodes
- many characters and sub-conflicts
affect directly/ indirectly the main
character
- divided into chapters
- events are true to life stories & span a
long period of time
Types/ Forms of Non-Fiction
 Essay – short work of writing that treats
a topic from an author’s personal point-
of-view
- Most common form of
literature
 Article – strong information about
science, current events, interesting and
important people, books, theater
- how people in other
parts of the country
lives (national &
international probs)
 Biography – true, personal account of a
person’s life, told or narrated by other
person
- Factual presentation of
the life story of an
individual in a manner
calculated to produce a
unified impression of
the character, mind and
personality of the
subject
 Autobiography – type of non-fictional
prose narrative of the true personal
account of person told or narrated by
himself
 Journal – form of diary but tends to be
more detached, more detailed and
more reflective
MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM
 Diary – day-to-day chronicle of events,
personal and intimate nature, privately
kept.
 News – report of everyday events,
society, government, science and
industry, accidents, happenings
nationally or not
 Oration – formal treatment of a subject
and intended to be spoken in public
- appeals to Intellect, to
the will of to the
emotions of the
audience
4 – PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
Pre-Colonial Period
 culture of India, China, and
southeastern Asia had reached that
country through the early settlers
 Phil. Islands were part of a great Hindu-
Malayan empire ruled from Java and
Sumatra (neighboring islands to the
southwest)
 Mohammedanism | Moslems came into
Sulu Archipelago and Mindanao and
converted the people
Government
 barangay was the Filipino’s earliest
form of government
 came from Malay word “barangay” or
“balangay” w/c means sailboat
 each barangay was ruled by a datu or
village chief who was also known as
raha/ rajah
- to rule and govern his
subjects and to
promote their well-
being
- in times of peace, he
was the chief executive,
legislator, and judge
- in times of conflict, he
was the supreme
commander of the
warriors
LIT 111: Philippine Literature
Social Classes
classes were divided into 4:
 Maginoo (Noble class) – royal blooded;
Datu
 “Ginoo” , “Dayang” for women
 ‘panginoon’ – most powerful
who owns many slaves and
owned extensive properties
 Timawa (freeman or commoner)
 commoners of community
 given the privilege to acquire
property, have any job, pick
their own wives, and also have
a slave
 illegitimate children of a datu to
another commoner or slave
 Maharlika (warrior) – well respected
warriors of barangay
 provide protection to the
community, prepare own
weapons at own expense
 honored through a feast before
leaving
 Alipin (servant) – serve anyone above
their class
 do the work inside a home
1. Aliping Namamahay – have own
quarters inside their master’s property,
has right to choose husband/ wife, can
own property, being paid for service
2. Aliping Saguiguilid – no home, lives w/
their masters, can be sold by their
masters, serves w/o getting paid,
cannot marry w/o permission of master
Education
- fit for the needs of their times
- no formal schooling
- parents trained their children informally
- taught them by showing exactly how
things are done
Spiritual Belief
- believed in a powerful Bathala who
created man and the world
MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM
- believed in various deities
corresponding to the various aspects of
nature
- venerated the soul-spirits of dead
relatives as well as anitos or idols to w/c
they give offerings
Writing System
 Baybayin – one of the precolonial
writing system of early Filipinos
 came from tagalong term
‘baybay’ = spell
The Pre-Colonial Philippines
 first period of the Philippine literary
history is the longest
 begin counting the years of history from
1521
 “Las Islas Filipinas” – first written
records by Westerners referred to the
archipelago
 “Tabon Man” - cave in Palawan in 1962
 subject of oral literature of precolonial
Filipinos was the common experience of
the people
 language of oral literature – language of
daily life
 thousands of maxims, proverbs,
epigrams, and the like have been listed
by many diff. collectors and researchers
from many dialects (Tagalogs, Cebuano,
and Ilocano dialects)
 Maxims – Sayings/ Kasabihan
e.g.
o Ang batang matapat,
pinagkakatiwalaan ng
lahat
o Walang mahirap na
gawa ‘pag dinaan sa
tiyaga
 Proverbs – Salawikain
e.g.
o Kung ano ang puno,
siya ang bunga.
LIT 111: Philippine Literature
 Epigram – Inscription/
Pagsalungat
e.g.
o Kung sino ang unang
gumawa ng batas, siya
ang unang lumalabag
(allegorical stanzas abounded in local literature)
 Tanaga – one stanza poem that
consists usually of 4 lines with 7
syllables, all lines rhyming
e.g.
o Sarili nating sining
Na kilanli’y nalibing
Kaya’t akin nang hiling
Ibig dito’y, magturing
o I point this to our own
art
Where repute was took
apart
So now this wish, I
impart,
May it be fond to you
heart.
 Riddles (bugtong) – most
appreciated of ancient Phil.
 rhymed and having equal no. of
syllables in each line
e.g.
o Kaisa-isang plato, kita
sa buong mundo
(buwan)
 Events are connected with
some religious observance
 Drama – not yet begun to
evolve among early Filipinos
 Philippine Theater – simplest
forms, mimetic dances imitating
natural cycles and work
activities
e.g.
o Itik-itik – copying the
movements of ducks
o Idaw – hunting rituals
MIDTERMS – 2ND YEAR 1ST SEM
o Dugso – thanksgiving
for harvest
 Prose narratives in prehistoric
Philippines consisted largely or
myths, hero tales, fables and
legends
 Myths – based on religion and have
supernatural characters or
creatures
 also explain some sort of
natural phenomenon
e.g.
o The Flood Story (Igorot)
o Malakas and Maganda
(Tagalog)
 Hero Tales / Epics – long-winded
poems about a hero and his
adventures and misadventures
e.g.
o Biag ni Lam-Ang (Ilocano)
o Agyu: The Ilianon Epic of
Mindanao (Manobos of
North Cotabato)
 Fables – short story that teaches a
lesson or conveys a moral/ animal
characters
e.g.
o Ang pagong at ang matsing
o Ang langgam at tipaklong
 Legends – traditional story or group
of stories told about a particular
person or place
e.g.
o Alamat ng Kasoy
o Alamat ng buwan at araw
 The most significant pieces of oral
literature that may safely be
presumed to have originated in
prehistoric times are folk epics