Schools Division of Iloilo

Senior High School

21st Century Literature from the Philippines and World
1st Quarter Examination

Directions: Read each question carefully and choose the letter of the best answer.

1. The tales about aswang are timeless and circulate even until this generation. This folk narrative is considered
as
A. folktale B. legend C. myth D. epic

2. The story “Si Bao kag si Amo” features the turtle and the monkey as the main characters of the story. This is
an example of
A. legend B. myth C. fable D. folktale

3. Which of the following are the characteristics of the Philippine literature in pre-colonial period?
I. Written in leaves and other indigenous materials.
II. Depicts people’s livelihood, customs and traditions.
III. Passed down to every generation by word of mouth.
IV. Includes chants, proverbs, songs and folk narratives.

A. I, II, III B. III, IV C. I, II, III, IV D. II, III, IV

4. During the Spanish Colonial Period, the following characteristics were observed in literature, except
A. The plays usually depicted Christianity.
B. The native literature continued.
C. The literatures were inclined to Christianity.
D. The religious instructional materials were all written in Spanish.

5. The literary pieces of the middle-class writers brought European ideals of liberty which gave rise to Filipino
nationalism. This happened during __________________ period.
A. Pre-colonial B. Spanish C. American D. Japanese

6. A kundiman is a song of longingness. Which of the following lines from “Kundiman” hints at what the
persona is longing for?
A. coming together to vibrate / in the saddest of frequencies
B. I said hold in my own language / again and again, hawak, kapit
C. Your keys dangled by the sink. / Somewhere a chord is diminished
D. tahan na, uwi na. Then strained / to hear all the engines in this city

7. In the poem “Kundiman,” what is the significance of choosing the Tagalog term kundiman over an equivalent
English term like “serenade” or “ballad”?
A. The term is a cultural symbol. C. The term makes a great pun at the end.
B. The term is in the title for consistency. D. The term is an allusion to folk musicians.

Read the stories below and answer the questions that follow.

The Monkey and the Crocodile

(A Tagalog Fable)

One day, a monkey saw a tall Macopa tree laden with ripe fruits, which stood by a wide river. It was
hungry, so it climbed the tree and ate all of the fruits. When it climbed down, it could find no means by which
to cross the river. Then it saw a young crocodile who had just woke up from its siesta. It said to the crocodile in
a friendly way, “My dear Crocodile, will you do me a favor?”
The crocodile was greatly surprised by the monkey’s amicable salutation. So, it answered humbly, “Oh,
yes! If there is anything I can do for you, I shall be glad to do it.” The monkey then told the crocodile that it
wanted to get to the other side of the river. Then the crocodile said, “I’ll take you there with all my heart. Just
sit on my back, and we’ll go at once.”
The monkey sat firmly on the crocodile’s back, and they began to move. In a short while they reached
the middle of the stream. Then the crocodile began to laugh alouD. “You foolish monkey!” it said, “I’ll eat your
liver and kidneys, for I’m very hungry.” The monkey became nervous. Trying to conceal its anxiety, it said, “I’m
very glad that you mentioned the matter. I thought myself that you might be hungry, so I have prepared my
liver and kidneys for your dinner. Unfortunately, in our haste to depart, I left them hanging on the Macopa
tree. Let us return, and I’ll get them for you.”
Convinced that the monkey was telling the truth, the crocodile turned around and swam back to the
direction of the Macopa tree. When they got near the riverbank, the monkey nimbly jumped up onto the land
and scampered up the tree. The crocodile came to realize what happened and said, “I am a fool.”
8. What is likely the lesson taught by “The Monkey and the Crocodile”?
A. Do not trust everyone. C. Your cunning can take you anywhere.
B. Beware of the deceitful. D. Being clever is better than being strong.

9. What character trait does the monkey possess which enabled it to avoid getting eaten?
A. amiable B. naïve C. clever D. hasty

10. What figure of speech is present in the last line of the fable?
A. irony B. personification C. metaphor D. simile

Read the lines from Ballad of a Mother’s Heart by Jose La Tierra Villa and answer the questions that follow.

"There's not a thing I would not do

For you, Beloved," said he.
"Then go," said she, "to your mother dear
And bring her heart to me."

11. The lines above state that the persona

A. adores the person very much C. loving the person very much
B. is willing to do anything for his beloved D. is talking to his mother’s enemy

“Without another word,

Youth left and went to his mother dear.
And opened her breast and took her heart.
He did not shed a tear!”

12. The persona is

A. willing to hurt his mother just to follow what he feels
B. hurting his mother by disobeying her
C. able to fulfill his mission
D. happy and victorious in taking his mother’s heart

And then he heard a voice,

Not from his lips but all apart:
"Get up," it said; "Were you hurt, Child?"
It was his mother's heart.

13. What characteristic does the mother have?

A. regretful B. caring C. sacrificial D. emotional

14. With these lines, what can you infer as a youth?

A. Take all the risks to prove your true love. C. Nothing can be more than a mother’s love.
B. Fall in love with the right person. D. Be firm with your decisions in love.

The Creation
(An Excerpt from the Tagalog myth)

After a while the parents grew very tired of having so many idle and useless children around. They
wished to be rid of them, but they knew of no place to send them to. Time went on, and the children became so
numerous that the parents enjoyed no peace. One day, in desperation, the father seized a stick and began
beating them on all sides.
The beating frightened the children so much that they fled in different directions. Some seek hidden
rooms in the house. Some concealed themselves in the walls. Some ran outside, while others hid in the
fireplace. Several fled to the sea.
Now it happened that those who went into the hidden rooms of the house later became the chiefs of the
islands; and those who concealed themselves in the walls became slaves. Those who ran outside were free men;
and those who hid in the fireplace became Negroes; while those who fled to the sea were gone many years, and
when their children came back they were the white people.

15. What does the excerpt suggest about the society of the native Filipinos?
A. Parents should be strict.
B. There are different classes of people.
C. Idle and useless people should be punished.
D. Beating children is a way to teach them how to behave properly.
16. What figure of speech is portrayed in the lines: “The beating frightened the children so much that they fled
in different directions”?
A. hyperbole B. paradox C. personification D. oxymoron

17. Why did the parents “enjoy no peace” in the selection?

A. The children are playing all day. C. The children are lazy.
B. The children are very noisy. D. The children are fighting each other.

Juan Gathers Guavas

(A Tagalog Folktale)

One day several neighbors came to Juan’s home to visit. His father wanted to give the guests something
to eat, so he sent Juan to get some ripe guavas for them.

Full of mischief, Juan decided to play a joke on his father’s guests. He went to get the guavas and ate all
of them while thinking of a good joke. Then he saw a wasp’s nest hung nearby. With some difficulty he
managed to take it down and put it into a tight basket. He hastened home and gave the basket to his father.
Quickly he left the room where the guests were and closed the door and fastened it.

As soon as Juan’s father opened the basket, the wasps flew over the room. With the door locked, the
people fought to get out of the windows. After a while Juan opened the door. When he saw the swollen faces of
the people, he cried.

“What fine, rich guavas you must have had! They have made you all so fat!”

18. What is likely the purpose of the story?

A. to teach a lesson C. to give emphasis on a virtue
B. to amuse its listeners D. to educate the readers about society

19. The word “some” in the second paragraph refers to the

A. neighbors B. guests C. children D. guavas

20. What meaning can be derived from the folktale above?

A. In everything that you do, there will always be consequences.
B. If you work hard, you will become successful.
C. Only the truth can set one free.
D. Sometimes, one needs some time to reflect.

21. From what popular Filipino short story is the text below?

Ca Celin drove away hi-yi-ing to his horse loudly. At the bend of the camino real where the big duhat tree grew,
he rattled the handle of his braided rattan whip against the spokes of the wheel.

A. The Wedding Dance C. Footnote to Youth

B. We Filipinos are Mild Drinkers D. How My Brother Leon Brought Home A Wife

22) Who is the author of literary text above?

A. Manuel E. Arguilla C. N.V.M. Gonzales
B. Amador Daguio D. Jose Garcia Villa

Read the following sentences and identify the figure of in each item.
A. Personification C. Metaphor E. Alliteration
B. Simile D. Onomatopoeia

23. The sound of the gangsas beat through the walls of the dark house like muffled roars of falling waters.

24. The wind whistled against my cheeks and the rattling of the wheels on the pebbly road echoed in my ears.

25. She sells seashells by the seashore.

26. And then he heard a voice,

Not from his lips but all apart:
"Get up," it said; "Were you hurt, Child?"
It was his mother's heart.

27. Her house is a prison in the night.

 My Brother’s Peculiar Chicken
by Alejandro Roces

I expected our chicken to die of fright. Instead, a strange thing happened. A lovesick expression came into the
red rooster’s eyes. Then it did a love dance. That was all our chicken needed. It rushed at the red rooster and in
one lunge, it buried its spurs into its opponent’s chest. The fight was over.

“Tiope! Tiope! Fixed fight!” the crowd shouted.

Then a riot broke out. My brother and I had to leave through the back way. I had the chicken under my arm.
We ran toward the coconut groves and kept running till we lost the mob. As soon as we were safe, my brother
said:

“Do you believe it is a rooster now?”

“Yes,” I answered.

I was glad the whole argument was over.

Just then the chicken began to quiver. It stood up in my arms and cackled with laughter. Something warm and
round dropped into my hand. It was an egg.

28. Based on the description of the passage above, what is the scenario?
A. a group of “sabungeros” in a cock pit C. a group of students in a classroom
B. a group of protesters on the street D. a group of people in the market

29. The ending of story tells us that the chicken

A. laid egg C. produced an egg
B. hatched its eggs D. cracked an egg

30. What can be implied on the text?

A. a brother who wants to prove something
B. a brother who is boastful of his chicken
C. a brother who needs help from someone
D. a brother who cares a lot for loved one

Patadyong ni Inday (An Excerpt)

Sammy Rubido

I. Si Inday nga bata kang isa ka mangunguma

Pungyahun manaya-naya, pamanit daw porselana
Anang ginpanubli, ang patadyong ni lola na
Angay gid kana kay ang lawas gakurbada

II. Pangabuhi nga namat-an amu ang pagpanguma

Tana man gakapot kang arado kag pala
Suray man sa adlaw, init gina agwanta
Ana lang ginapandong ang patadyong ni lola na

III. Ay Inday dumduma ang bilin kang imong lola

Nga ang mga babayi indi lang pangkusina
Ay Inday dumdum ang bilin kang imong lola
Nga ang mga babayi pwede man magdumara

31. What literary context can be identified from the excerpt?

A. linguistic B. bibliographical C. socio-cultural D. political

32. What meaning can be implied in the third stanza?

A. Women are not only designated to be mere housewives.
B. Women are just equal to men.
C. Women have the right to lead the society.
D. Women have the ability to lead in all aspects of life.

33. Which of the following literary approaches defines the given excerpt?
A. Historicism C. Feminism
B. Marxism D. Structuralism
 Old Women in Our Village (An Excerpt)
Merlie M. Alunan

Old women in my village say

the sea is always hungry, they say,
that’s why it comes without fail
to lick the edges of the barrier sand,
rolling through rafts of mangrove,
smashing its salt-steeped flood
on guardian cliffs, breaking itself
against rock faces, landlocks, hills,
reaching through to fields, forests,
grazelands, villages by the water,
country lanes, towns, cities where
people walk about in a dream,
deaf to the wind shushing
the sea’s sibilant sighing
someday we come
someday we come
someday . . . .

34. Why does the persona list land features like mangroves, hills, forests, and cities?
A. to produce length in the poem that will suggest the passing of time
B. to show that tidal waves and floods can destroy everything on land
C. to make the poem relatable to anyone from rural areas to city centers
D. to create an image of a coastal town that is developed and highly urbanized

35. Which of these statements does not give a possible explanation of how the last three lines of the excerpt are
written?
A. The lines mimic the rhythm of rolling tidal waves.
B. The lines make the stanza look like flowing sea waves.
C. The lines do not follow spelling and grammar conventions to aggravate the reader.
D. The lines give emphasis on particular words, which heightens the sense of foreboding.

SULAT
Nay,
Nabuy-an ko ang imo sulat sa pagdawu kang kartero
Tuman gali ka bug-at bisan sampanid lamang
Ang malauring nga tinta tama ka siri
Siguro nagtagos sa papel
Kag naghigku sa lamesa mo sa kusina
Pero sa ubus kang papel
Naglubad ang iban nga mga tinaga
Daw mga isla kon turukun
Ginapangita ko kon diin nayon ang Antique
Nay, indi ko run mabasa ang sulat mo
Raku pa nga mga isla ang ga turuhaw
Napuno run ang pahina
Kon ano man ang sugid mo parte kay Tatay
Kag akun mga libayun
Kaluy-an sanda kang Diyos
Nay, indi run ako pagsulati
Agud indi mamanstahan ang lamesa mo sa kusina
Kag ang mga isla
Indi ko gusto nga makita ruman.

36. What effect does the choice of words such as nabuy-an, bug-at, naghigku, and mamantsahan has on the
text?
A. Evokes extreme longing C. Portrays loss of hope or despair
B. Emphasizes hope and love D. Creates a positive feeling

37. According to the speaker’s eyes, what does she see “sa mga isla” that were formed on the paper?
A. Her province, Tacloban C. Her homeland, Antique
B. Her province, Iloilo D. Her homeland, Davao

38. Why does the speaker does not want to see the islands on the paper formed from ink?
A. Because it reminds her how much she misses home
B. Because she doesn’t want to go back home
C. Because the image reminds her of her painful past
D. Because she is contented of her present life

39. What Filipino value is strongly reflected in the text?

A. Close-family ties C. Positive disposition
B. Respect to elders D. Hard work

40. Based on the imagery of the text, what can you infer?
 A. The child has heartaches to her home town. C. The child enjoys being away from home.
B. The child misses her home and her family so much. D. The child takes good care of her mother at
home.

The Haiyan Dead

Merlie M. Alunan
do not sleep.
They walk our streets
climb stairs of roofless houses
latchless windows blown-off doors
they are looking for the bed by the window
cocks crowing at dawn lizards in the eaves
they are looking for the men
who loved them at night the women
who made them crawl like puppies
to their breasts babes they held in arms
the boy who climbed trees the Haiyan dead
are looking in the rubble for the child
they once were the youth they once were
the bride with flowers in her hair
red-lipped perfumed women
white-haired father gap-toothed crone
selling peanuts by the church door
the drunk by a street lamp waiting
for his house to come by the girl dreaming
under the moon the Haiyan dead are
looking for the moon washed out
in a tumult of water that melted their bodies
they are looking for their bodies that once
moved to the dance to play
to the rhythms of love moved
in the simple ways - before wind
lifted sea and smashed it on the land ---
of breath talk words shaping
in their throats lips tongues
the Haiyan dead are looking
for a song they used to love a poem
a prayer they had raised that sea had
swallowed before it could be said
the Haiyan dead are looking for
the eyes of God suddenly blinded
in the sudden murk white wind seething
water salt sand black silt ---- and that is why
the Haiyan dead will walk among us
endlessly sleepless---

41. Based in the text, which of the following assumptions may be true about the author’s view on the effect of
natural calamity to human life?
A. It is beyond human control. C. It awakens the culture of “bayanihan.”
B. It destroys life and livelihood. D. It shows lack of faith.

42. How does the author feel about the tragic experience of her fellow citizens in Tacloban as expressed in her
poem, “Haiyan Dead”?
A. She is determined not to forget those who perished in the storm.
B. She is hopeless that her province will be fully restored.
C. She is angry to those who have abandoned the victims.
D. She is forgiving of the cruelty that the typhoon has brought.

43. Which words in the text emphasized the destruction of the typhoon Haiyan or Yolanda?
A. looking, sleepless, sudden C. swallowed, smashed, seething
B. melted, raised, blinded D. climb, crawl, walk

44. What does the structure imply about the meaning of the text?
A. It suggests the pain the victims felt during the typhoon.
B. It reflects the chaos people experienced during the typhoon.
C. It stresses the lack of awareness of people about the typhoon.
D. It expresses the hopeless situation of the people during the typhoon.
45. Haiyan dead is used as a metaphor to whom?
A. beautiful bride B. white-haired father C. red-lipped women D. typhoon victims

46. What can you infer from the imagery of the lines below?

“---- and that is why

the Haiyan dead will walk among us
endlessly sleepless---”

A. Ghosts wander around the place. C. People do not forget the dead.
B. Souls of the dead remain unrest. D. People will keep looking for the dead.

47. What Filipino belief is strongly reflected in the text?

A. life after death C. ceremony for the dead

B. proper burial for the dead D. reincarnation of the dead

The Return (An Excerpt)

by Edith L. Tiempo

If the dead years could shake their skinny legs and run
As once he had circled this house in thirty counts,
he would go thru this door among those old friends and they would not shun
Him and the tales he would tell, tales that would
bear more than the spare
Testimony of willed wit and his grey hairs.

And he would live in the whispers and locked heads.

Wheeling around and around turning back was where he started:
The turn to the pasture, a swift streak under a boy’s running;
The swing, up a few times and he had all the earth he wanted;
The tower trees, and not so tall as he had imagined;
The rocking chair on the porch, you pushed it and it started rocking,
Rocking, and abruptly stopped. He, too, stopped in the doorway, chagrined.
He would go among them but he would not tell, he could be smart,
He, an old man cracking the bones of his embarrassment apart.

48. Which of the following is the theme of the poem?

A. Friendship is important and should be cherished in life.
B. Old age is worse than getting sick for it cannot be treated.
C. Time is irreversible, and memories can only be remembered and cherished.
D. Memories are important aspect of life and we only know its value at old age.

49. What is being described by the poem?

A. life of a person who had no friends C. life of a person who loved to travel
B. life of a person who lost hope D. life of a person who suffered from pain

50. Which of the following words support that the persona in the poem is old?
A. whispers, started, memories
B. swift streak, doorway, boy’s running
C. smart, cracking the bones circles
D. rocking chair, grey hairs, dead years
Prepared by:

Colleen Hyacinth B. Cabayao Dueñas GCHS

Michael D. Elisteria Miag-ao NHS
Agustin T. Estoque Oton NHS
Marjorie P. Ledesma Janiuay NCHS
Cherry Claire A. Parochelin Oton NHS
Leopoldo Quiñon, Jr. Janiuay NCHS
Arlene A. Salvante Zarraga NHS

References

Ang, J. M. (2016). Literatura: 21st Century Philippine and World Literatures. Manila, Philippines:
Mindshapers Co., Inc.
Tayao, L., Alonzo, R., & Flores, E. (2017). 21st-century literature from the Philippines and the world.
Quezon City, Philippines: C&E Publishing Inc.
Quipper. (2017). 21st century literature from the Philippines and the world. Retrieved from
https://link.quipper.com

Answer key:
1. C
2. C
3. C
4. B
5. C
6. C
7. D
8. B
9. C
10. B
11. B
12. A
13. C
14. C
15. D
16. A
17. C
18. B
19. D
20. A
21. D
22. A
23. B
24. A
25. E
26. A
27. C
28. A
29. C
30. A
31. C
32. D
33. C
34. D
35. C
36. C
37. C
38. C
39. C
40. A
41. B
42. B
43. C
44. B
45. D
46. B
47. A
48. C
49. B
50. D