Overview of

Philippine Literary
History
 TRY THIS!
A. Literature G. Riddles
B. Syllabary H. Epic
C. Prose I. Fables
D. Poetry J. Myth
E. Proverbs K. Legends
F. Folk Songs L. Tanaga
 TRY THIS!
1. These are truths and wise sayings expressed in a language
that is popularly known.
2. A form of language that has no formal metrical structure.
3. A written picture of life.
4. A story of gods and goddesses told using traditional
language explaining mysteries, beliefs, and cultural
practices.
5. These are stories explaining origins handed down from
the past and passed through different generations.
 TRY THIS!
6. This is a long narrative poem about quests and exciting
adventures of a hero with unusual strength and power.
7. Literary work in which special intensity is given to the
expression of feelings and ideas using distinctive style and
rhythm.
8. An ancient Filipino alphabet consisted of seventeen
symbols. They also called it a baybayin and incorrectly
called alibata.
 TRY THIS!
9. This is a game in a form of a mystifying question and a
mind puzzle intended to be solved.
10. These are stories intended to teach human values which
used animals as characters with human attributes.
“Philippine literature evolved in
relation to our historical
experience.”
 Of all the literary writings we
enjoy reading, which literary
work do you consider as the
greatest contribution of a writer
to Philippine history?
Jose Protacio Rizal Mercado Alonzo Y Realonda
 What were its roles?

• Gave spirit to the Propaganda Movement

and paved the way to the revolution
against Spain
• Courageously exposed the evils in the
Spanish-run government in the Phils
 Overview of
Philippine Literary
History
• What countries colonized the Philippines?

• Which one do you think influenced

Philippines the most?
 Read the selection below.
Literature illumines life. It grows on people’s
visions, on their behavior and in optimistic
experiences beyond the personal environment.
Philippine literature is filled with diverse work of
art and is continuously evolving in different times.
It started with chants, hums and songs and passed
through different generations and later became a
part of oral and written tradition.
 Read the selection below.
When colonization made an influence in the
development of the literary writings of the
Filipinos, that’s when oral literature is developed.
Oral literature such as riddles, proverbs and other
forms of poetry, different stories like myths, folks
and narratives that tell us about real-life practices
are said to be their language of life and a way of
promoting their cultural heritage.
 Read the selection below.
History has a very significant role in literature. It
does not only show facts using beautiful language but it
also presents the ideas and feelings of the people.
Literature also presents history and it manifests the
aspirations and dreams of the people. It shows what they
wish and hope for the nation, or for themselves, whether
about nationalism, love, or other aspects going on in life.
Literature evolves as a certain place had gone through a
lot of changes and stood the test of time.
 Questions
1. Based on the selection that you have read, how do you
define literature?

2. How do you describe the literary works of our ancestors

during earlier times?

3. How important is the role of history in literature? Explain

your answer.
PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD
 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

A. Characteristics
- (--BC to 1564)
- People love to explain how the world was
created and love to craft stories that they
believe exist
- Some were preserved and some are gone
 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

B. Literary Forms
1. Oral literature
- Riddles (bugtong)
- Proverbs (Salawikain)
 PROVERBS

• Practical observations and philosophy

of everyday life written usually in a
rhyming scheme
• Meant to entertain and at the same time
teach basic skills in surviving local life
 PROVERBS

Kung ano ang puno, siya ang bunga.

(Whatever the tree, so is the fruit.)

Kung walang tiyaga, walang nilaga.

(If you don’t persevere, you can expect no
reward.)
 PROVERBS

Ang matapat na kaibigan, tunay na

maaasahan.
(You will know a true friend in time of need.)

Matibay ang walis, palibhasa’y magkabigkis.

(People gain strength by standing together.)
 PROVERBS

Yang ataog aw madugdug. (An egg once

broken.)
Di da mamauli. (Will never be the same.)
 PROVERBS

In lasa iban uba, (Love and cough,)

Di hikatapuk. (Cannot be hidden.)

Ti agutak, (He who cackles,)

Isut nagitlog. (Laid the egg.)
 RIDDLES

• Written just like proverbs but they

demand answers
• Used to test the wits of those who are
listening
• Known for its flippant nature
 RIDDLES

Heto na si Kaka, bubuka-bukaka.

(Here comes Kaka, walking with open legs.)

Sa araw ay bungbong, sa gabi ay dahon.

(Roll in the morning, leaf in the evening.)
 RIDDLES

Baboy sa lasang, ang tunok puro lansang.

(A wild pig of the forest is covered with
spikes.)

Sominub lawiyan. Mbowat lawitan.

(It dived. It rose.)
 FOLK SONGS

• Mirrored the early forms of

culture
• Many of these have 12 syllables
- Kundiman
- Kumintang o Tagumpay
- Ang Dalit o Imno
- Ang Oyayi o Hele
- Talindaw
 FOLK SONGS

1. Uyayi - lullaby
2. Kumintang – war song
3. Kundiman – melancholic love song
4. Harana - serenade
5. Tagay – drinking song
6. Mambayu – Kalinga rice pounding song
7. Subli – dance ritual song of courtship/
marriage
8. Kanogan (Cebuano) – song of lamentation
 PRE-COLONIAL PERIOD

3. Oral Lores
- Myths
- Legends
- Fables
- Epics
 LEGENDS

• Believed to have historical basis

• More often secular than
spiritual
• Legends are regarded as true
but they are set in a period
considered less remote
 LEGENDS

• A form of prose with themes

about the origin of a thing,
place, location or name
• Reflects old Filipino customs
 MYTHS

• Considered to be truthful accounts

of what happened in the remote past
• Usually sacred and often associated
with theology and ritual wherein
characters are not usually human
beings
• Earlier world
 MYTHS

• Narratives that explain the

origin of the world, of
mankind, of death,
geographical features and
the phenomena of nature.
FOLKTALES and FABLES

• Stories about life, adventure, love,

horror, and humor where one can
derive lessons about life (just like
fables)
• Fables feature animals that are
given human characteristics and
have morals
FOLKTALES and FABLES
• Juan Tamad
• Si Mariang Mapangarapin
Moral: Gawing makatotohanan ang mga layunin
para ito ay maisakatuparan.
• The Monkey and the Turtle (Fable)
• Ang Punong Kawayan
Moral: Pinagpapala ang mga mababa ang loob.
• Ang Kalbong Datu
Moral: Ang pag-ibig ay maipapakita sa iba’t ibang
paraan.
 REFLECT UPON

How can these precolonial forms of

literature be of use to your life right
now?
SPANISH COLONIZATION
 FACTS

1. Catholic religion and Spanish language

2. Fiestas were held to honor the saints, the
pope and the gov’t
3. Recreation: theater, cockfight,
horseracing
4. Formed classes of society
 INFLUENCES

1. Roman alphabet
2. Christian doctrine
3. Spanish language
4. European tradition
5. Ancient lit was collected and translated
to Tagalog
 SPANISH COLONIZATION

A. Characteristics
- (1565 – 1863)
- Classifications: religious and secular
- Introduced Spanish as the medium of
communication
 SPANISH COLONIZATION

B. Literary Forms
1. Religious Literature
- Pasyon
- Senakulo
2. Secular Literature
- Awit
- Korido
- Prose Narratives
PASYON

• A Christian narrative poem

about the life and sufferings
of Jesus
• Usually sung during Lenten
season
SENAKULO

• A stage play on the passion

and death of Christ
• Cantada – chanted like the
Pasyon
• Hablada – spoken in a more
deliberate manner (rhymes)
KOMEDYA

• Greek term “komos”

which means festivity or
revelry
• Usually light and written
for the purpose of amusing
and usually has a happy
ending
KOMEDYA: AWIT

• AWIT have measures of 12

syllables (dodecasyllabic)
and slowly sung to the
accompaniment of a guitar
or banduria
• Florante at Laura by
Franciso Balagtas
KOMEDYA: KORIDO

• KORIDO have measures of

eight syllables (octo-
syllabic) and recited to a
martial beat

• Ibong Adarna
AWIT VS KORIDO
PROSE NARRATIVE
 SPANISH COLONIZATION

Recreational Plays
- Zarzuela – musical comedy about the
society
- Panuluyan – a play about Joseph and
Mary’s search for a place to stay in
Bethlehem
- Salubong – reenactment of the risen
Christ with his Mother
 SPANISH COLONIZATION

Recreational Plays
- Moro-Moro – drama depicting the
conflict between Christians and
Muslims
- Carillo – shadow play
- Tibag – a play depicting St. Helena’s
search for the Holy Cross
ZARZUELA
PANULUYAN
SALUBONG
MORO-MORO
CARILLO
 Nationalistic/Propaganda and
Revolutionary Period

A. Characteristics
- (1864 – 1896)
- Planted seeds of nationalism in
Filipinos
- Spanish to Tagalog
Nationalistic/Propaganda and
Revolutionary Period
 NATIONALISTIC LITERATURE

1. Fray Botod
- Exposed how some of the friars were
greedy, ambitious and immoral

2. Ang Cadaquilaan ng Dios

- Catechism sarcastically aimed at
Spanish priests
NATIONALISTIC LITERATURE
NATIONALISTIC LITERATURE
 NATIONALISTIC LITERATURE

1. Ang Dapat Mabatid ng mga Tagalog

(Bonifacio)
- Outline of the basic tenets of
nationalism
2. Ang Dekalogo
- obligations of the countrymen
 NATIONALISTIC LITERATURE

1. The Rise and Fall of the Philippine

Republic (Mabini)
- essay highlighting the establishment of
the Philippine republic and its
subsequent doom due to disunity
among the Filipinos
AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD
 AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

1. The use of English alongside Filipino

2. Opportunities of education to the
poor
3. Filipino writers imitated English and
American models.
4. Poems written were amateurish and
mushy.
 AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

1. Honoring Rizal and other heroes

2. Lamentation on the conditions of the
country
3. Aimed to arouse love for native
tongue
4. Imitating the themes and methods of
the Americans
 AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

• POETRY
- Freestyle and American style of writing
(and Romanticism)
- Addressed concerns under the
Americans
- In the later part, some started to write
using the awit form retelling history
 AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

• DRAMA
- Degrade the Spanish rule and to
immortalize Katipunan heroes
- Filipino adaptation of Spanish zarzuela
(Severino Reyes)
- Walang Sugat (1902) – sarswela
depicting the cruelty of friars and
glorifying the heroes of the Katipunan
 AMERICAN COLONIAL PERIOD

• NOVELS
- Imitative of Rizal’s portrayal of social
conditions by colonial oppression
JAPANESE OCCUPATION PERIOD
 Contemporary Period

- Arising of the literary innovations

adopted and created by Filipinos
- Various literary awards have sprouted
- There are a lot of new forms from the
basic genres of literature
- Even people who do not have a
significant literary genre can write and
express freely