21 st Century Literature

Ms. Vanessa S. Benet, LPT.

 Philippine Poetry: Its form, language,
and speech
• In the early 1900’s,Filipino poetry celebrated
romanticism.
• Eventually as years went on poetry become
more formalist, it emphasize the language and
form rather than the style of the writer.
• Then modern poetry sprouted and writers are
more adventurous with their craft.
 Elements of Poetry
• Senses and images

Used by the writer to describe their

impressions of the topic or object
writing. Writers use imagery to create
vivid image they are writing.
 Elements of Poetry
• Senses and images
 Visual (Sense of sight)
Example:

The starry night sky looked so beautiful that it

begged him to linger, but he reluctantly left for
home.
Her smile when I saw her is as bright as the
morning sun.
 Elements of Poetry
• Senses and images
 Auditory (Sense of hearing)
Example:

As you hear the loud laughter of your friends.

Lions roaring angrily in the jungle.
The silence in the room was unnerving
 Elements of Poetry
• Senses and images
 Olfactory (sense of smell)
Example:

The sweet smell of jasmine

The fragrance of spring flowers made her joyful.
The rust like aroma of their blood is devouring
my mind
 Elements of Poetry
• Senses and images
 Gustatory (sense if taste)
Example:

Theburger, aromatic with spices, made his

mouth water in anticipation of the first bite
Sweet taste of success
 Elements of Poetry
• Senses and images
 Kinesthetic (sense of touch)
Example:

 The blind man touched the tree to learn if its skin

was smooth or rough.
 The cold handle of the knife is raging through my
veins.
 Elements of Poetry
 Diction
Filipino writers are very careful of the way they
write and the way they use.

Connotative- Meaning given by the writer.

Snake: Betrayal, Traitor, Evil.
Denotation- Real meaning of the word, based on
dictionary.
Snake: Reptile, Scaly, Cold
 Elements of Poetry
 Rhyme

 The way the author arranges, words, meters, lines,

and stanzas to create a coherent sound when the
poem is read out loud.
 “GABU”
:Carlos Angeles
 Hewas born in1921 in
Tacloban,Leyte.

 Hefinished studying at the

university of the Philippines.

 Hewon many awards including;

Republic Cultural Heritage Award
and Don Carlos Palanca Memorial
Award.
 Gabu
by Carlos Angeles

The battering restlessness of the

sea
Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At Gabu, and its pure consistency
Havocs the wasteland hard within
its reach.
Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart
Against the seascape where, for miles
around,
Farther than sight itself, the rock-
stones part
And drop into the elemental wound.
 The waste of centuries is grey and
dead
And neutral where the sea has
breached its brine,
Where the split salt of its heart lies
spread
Among the dark habiliments of Time.
 The vital splendor misses. For here
At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs
All things forfeited are most loved and
dear.

It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.

ANALYZATION OF THE POEM
Structure of the Poem
It has 4 quatrains or 4 lines per stanza
The rhyme scheme of the poem is ABAB
Persona- the person/character who is talking
in the poem.
Poetic license- the author can invent words
use words ungrammatically.
Sometimes local writers use their own
dialect, they tend to italicized the word for
emphasize.
How is the sea described in the
poem?

Write a problem about your life that

gives you peacefulness when you
fixed that problem.

What is the spiritual context of the

line, “The sea pursues a habit of
shores.
Close Reading of Filipino Poetry
The concept of Organic Unity was
established by the New Criticism school
of thought.

All the interdependent parts of the

literary selection must add up to create
one whole.
Close Reading of Filipino Poetry
All the parts and aspects in the literary
selection must contribute to one whole so
crucially that if one part is missing, the
selection is not complete or same anymore.

Close reading is a way to analyze the poem,

by carefully reading and rereading the text
until you have found its interpretation.
 “Is it a
Kingfisher?”
:Marjorie Evasco
 Shewas born Bohol on 21st of
September 1953.

 Shewrites bilingually in English

and Visayan, and is considered one
of the earliest feminist poets.

 Sheis currently a professor

emeritus of De La Salle
University,Manila
IS IT THE KINGFISHER?
:Marjorie Evasco

This is how I desire god on this island

With you today: basic and blue
As the sea that softens our feet with salt
And brings the living wave to our mouths
Playing with sounds of a primary language.
“God is blue,” sang the poet Juan Ramon
Jimenez,
Drunk with desiring, his hair, eyebrows,
Eyelashes turned blue as the kingfisher’s
wings.
It is this bird that greets us as we come
Round the eastern bend of this island;
Tells us the hairbreadth boundary between
us
Is transient in the air, permeable to the
blue
Of tropic skies and mountain gentian.
Where we sit on this rock covered with
seaweeds,
I suddenly feel the blueness embrace us,
This rock, this island, this changed air,
The distance between us and the Self
We have longed to be. A bolt of
burning blue
Lights in my brain, gives the answer
We’ve pursued this whole day:
Seawaves sing it, the kingfisher flies in
it,
This island is rooted in it. Desiring
God is transparent blue – the color
Which makes our souls visible
Seawaves sing it, the kingfisher flies in
it,
This island s rooted in it. Desiring
God is transparent blue – the color
Which makes our souls visible
How do you communicate with your
God?

What are some things that you see in

your daily life that associate with your
faith and your relationship with God?
 Fiction
A story that is entirely made up and is
not true. at times fiction may resemble
reality but fully circumstantial.

Example: Noli Me tangere and El

Filibusterismo
 Techniques of Fiction
 Character

Just like any other story it starts

with great character. It is the one that
the readers relate with, converse with,
and listen to the thoughts of.
 Techniques of Fiction
 Symbolism

The practice or art of using an

object or a word to represent an
abstract idea. An action, person, place,
word, or object can all have a symbolic
meaning.
 Techniques of Fiction
 Irony
1. Verbal Irony- When what is said by the reader is
not what he or she really meant.

2. Situational Irony- When the actual outcome of

the situation is different from the actual
outcome.

3. Dramatic Irony- When the readers know more

than the characters in the story.
 Techniques of Fiction
World Created by the writer

The world be fictional or real

depending on the choice of setting.
More often, these world and those in
them have significant symbolism in
the story.