Exploring Literature of the

Islands
Philippines, Island Southeast Asia, and
Mainland Asia
 Part I: The Philippines
Philippine literature before 1940 can, in general, be
divided into three periods:

1. The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

2. The Spanish Occupation
3. The American Occupation
 The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ The legendary age produced oral literature

handed down from our elders.
❖ Very little of this early literature remains, but from
what is left, we can conclude that the literature of
this period consisted of magical incantations,
myths, legends, and folktales.
 The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Evidently our early ancestors believed in sun and

moon worship, tree worship, and worship of other
forms of nature.
❖ They also believed in good spirits. In fact, the
mountain groups and even in some of our barrio
folk still believed in these spirits.
 The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ The myths and the legends explained the origins

of the universe, human races, the first man and
woman, and the land regions.
❖ The epic age produced a wealth of literature.
Scholars estimate that we have no fewer than
twenty four epics.
 The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ These are distributed across different regions of

the archipelago and are written in different
Filipino languages.
❖ The ones that are better known all over the
islands are the following:
The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Biag ni Lam-ang
(ILOCOS)
The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Hudhud and
Alim
(IFUGAOS)
The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Maragtas
(PANAY)
The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Bantugan
(MARANAW)
The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Bidasari
(adapted by the
Muslims of Sulu)
The Legendary Epic Age (Pre- Spanish)

❖ Indarapatra and
Sulayman
(MARANAW)
 The Spanish Occupation

❖The Spaniards introduced Christianity to

the Philippines. Consequently, much of
the literature produced during this period
were religious in nature.
The Spanish Occupation

❖ Among the early books

written was the Pasyon,
a story of life of Christ
beginning with the
Annunciation and ending
with the Crucifixion.
The Spanish Occupation
MORO-MORO
❖ was a type of drama that
became extremely popular
❖ Its subject matter was always a
conflict between the Christians
and the Moros (Mohammedan
Moors), with Christianity
triumphing at the end.
 The Spanish Occupation

❖ The corrido and awit were very popular

forms of poetry during the latter part of the
Spanish rule and the early part of the
American Regime.
❖ Awit also dealt with the adventures of
knight but in a light romantic tone.
The Spanish Occupation
CORRIDO
❖ Was a long narrative in verse narrating the
deeds of a legendary hero.
❖ Although the setting was foreign and some of
the incidence absurd and fantastic, still, corrido
provided reading material for the masses.
❖ The priest favored it because of its religious
nature, as it always began with a religious
invocation.
 The Spanish Occupation

❖ The Filipino poets patterned some of their

works after the corrido, the most notable of
which is Florante and Laura by Francisco
Baltazar (Balagtas), now considered a classic
in Philippine literature.
The Spanish Occupation
AWIT
❖ Often portrayed as a story that talks about how
love conquers all, the awit—a type of Filipino
poem consisting of twelve syllables and four
stanzas—revolves around lovers separated by
unfair situations.
❖ “Florante at Laura” is “a sustained poetic
interrogation about the nature of justice, truth
and the human commitment to social-political
equity” by heralding stories “between father and
son, ruler and ruled, lover and beloved, Christian
and Muslim [and] man and woman.”
The Spanish Occupation
The Life of Don Juan Tiñoso of the Kingdom of
Valencia and Princess Flocerpida of the Kingdom
of Hungary
❖ is considered one of the most popular
Philippine metrical romances. It has been
printed in Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilocano,
Bicolano and Hiligaynon. As to the date of the
Tagalog version
❖ However, like the majority of Philippine
romances this work is anonymous.
The Spanish Occupation
The Life of Don Juan Tiñoso of the Kingdom of
Valencia and Princess Flocerpida of the Kingdom
of Hungary
❖ is considered one of the most popular
Philippine metrical romances. It has been
printed in Tagalog, Kapampangan, Ilocano,
Bicolano and Hiligaynon. As to the date of the
Tagalog version
❖ However, like the majority of Philippine
romances this work is anonymous.
 The Spanish Occupation
❖ Early in the 19th century with the opening of the Suez Canal
and a change in the government administration, many young
Filipinos found themselves going to Europe.
❖ The contact with the outside world made these Filipinos move
for reforms.
❖ Filipinos wrote impassioned nationalistic poetry in Spanish,
imitative of European models.
❖ Prose was much used as a medium for reform.
The Spanish Occupation
❖ Antonio Luna founded the newspaper
La Independencia.
❖ The La Independencia newspaper had
a short lifespan, it was published for
just 2 years 2 months and 8 days.

❖ In that short time it was the voice of

the Philippine Revolution against
Spain and then became the voice of
Filipinos as the Americans reaped
genocide on the people of the
Philippines.
The Spanish Occupation

❖ José Protasio Rizal Mercado y

Alonso Realonda wrote his
masterpieces- tshe Noli Me
Tangere (Touch Me Not) and
its sequel, El Filibusterismo
(The Subversive or the reign of
Greed)
The Spanish Occupation
❖ The two novels were banned
because they aimed to reveal the
abuses of the Church and the state
in the Philippines during the Spanish
Occupation.
❖ On the whole, the literature of the
period fell under propaganda and
were written by the leaders of the
movement against Spain.
 The American Occupation
❖ The coming of the Americans introduced the English language,
which the Filipinos began using as a literary medium. Thus
began the Philippine literature written in English.
❖ English as a literary vehicle for Filipino writers is a choice forced
by history.
❖ With the coming of the Americans, a new system of education
begun, and English was made the medium of instruction in
schools.
 The American Occupation
❖The Filipino writers started to write, albeit
haltingly at first, producing an imaginative verse
patterned after American and European models,
but soon progressed to produce a body of
literature for the world to notice.
❖Filipinos are among the best literary writers in
Asia.
The American Occupation
❖ Manuel Estabilla Arguilla was an
Ilokano writer in English, patriot, and
martyr. He is known for his widely
anthologized short story "How My
Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife.
❖ Written by Manuel Arguilla, "How My
Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife"
is the story of a man introducing his
city-born wife to his more provincial
family.
 The American Occupation
❖ The Balagtasan would be echoed as a poetical
fiesta and would be duplicated in the Ilocos as
the Bukanegan, in honor of Pedro Bukaneg,
the supposed transcriber of the epic, Biag ni
Lam-ang; and the Crissottan, in Pampanga, in
honor of the esteemed poet of the Pampango,
Juan Crisostomo Sotto.
The American Occupation

❖ Nestor Vicente Madali Gonzales,

better known as N.V.M. Gonzales,
fictionist, essayist, poet, and
teacher, articulated the Filipino
spirit in rural, urban landscapes.
❖ Children of the Ash-Covered Loam
is a story of a boy named Tarang
who want to help his father.
Tarang was seven years old.
 Processing Questions
1. What are the three general divisions of Philippine
literature and what was the basis for such divisions?
2. What were the kinds and examples of literature
produced during each period?
3. Why do you think we have so many epics when
other countries only have one?
4. How do literary works reflect the culture of the
Filipinos?