Philippine Literature

During the American

Period (1898 – 1941)
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
 • The Filipino Revolutionists won against the
Spaniards who colonized for more than
300 years.
• June 12, 1898 raised the Philippine Flag as a
symbol of our independence at Kawit, Cavite
by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo – First President of
the Philippines.
• 1903 – The Filipino-American war resulted in
HISTORICAL the defeat of Gen. Miguel Malvar.
BACKGROUND • Many Filipino started writing again and the
NATIONALISM of the people remain
undaunted.
• Their writings clearly depicted their LOVE FOR
COUNTRY and their LONGINGS FOR
INDEPENDENCE.
 • Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo elected the first
President of the Philippines.
• The Peace movements started as early
as 1900. Filipino writers went into all
form of literatures news, reporting,
poetry, stories, plays and essay,
which depicted their love of country,
HISTORICAL and their longing for independence.
BACKGROUND
 IN 1910
• A new group started to write in English.
• Spanish, Tagalog, the Vernaculars and
finally English, were the mediums used
in literature during these times.
• The writers in Tagalog continued in
their lamentations on the conditions of
HISTORICAL the country and their attempts to
BACKGROUND arouse love for one’s native tongue.
The writers in English imitated the
themes and methods of the Americans.
 IN 1920
• The UP College Folio was later
replaced by the Philippine Collegian.
• Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez
stand out as a model of perfection in
character delineation, local color, plot
and message.
HISTORICAL
BACKGROUND
NEWSPAPER
that was published
during the American
Period
1 El Nuevo Dia (The New Day)
Established by Sergio Osmeña (1900) - THE American
censors twice banned this newspaper because of Osmeña
nationalistic writings

2 El Grito Del Pueblo (The Call of

the Nation)
Established by Pascual Poblete (1900)

3 El Renacimiento (The Rebirth)

Founded by Rafael Palma (1901)
 PLAYS
during the American
Period
 Plays During the American Period

Kahapon, Ngayon at Tanikalang Ginto by Malaya by Tomas Walang Sugat by

Bukas (Yesterday, Juan Abad Remigio Severino Reyes
Today and Tomorrow)

This was written by

Aurelio Tolentino. It
depicted the
suppressions done
by the American and
their plan to colonize
the Philippines.
CHARACTERISTICS
of Literature during
the American Period
 • There are 3 groups of writer
contributed to the Philippine Literature:
1. Literature in Spanish
2. Literature in Filipino
3. Literature in English
• During the 1st year of the American
Period, the languages used in writing
were Spanish Tagalog and the
different Dialects of the different
regions until in 1910 a new group
started to write in English.

CHARACTERISTICS
 • Those 3 Groups of Writers from this period
differed on their methods of reporting their
literary pieces.
1. Writers from Spanish were used to write on
Nationalism like honoring Rizal and other
heroes.
2. Writers from Tagalog continued in their
lamentation on the conditions of the country and
their attempts to arouse love for one’s native
tongue.
3. Writers in English imitated the themes and the
methods of the Americans.

CHARACTERISTICS
Literature
in
Spanis
h
 Filipino writers who were
inspired to write in praise of Rizal
 CECILIO APOSTOL
• wrote “A RIZAL” and considered the
best poem in praise of the hero of
Bagumbayan.
• Wrote poems dedicated to Rizal,
Jacinto, Mabini, and other heroes.
LITERATURE I
N SPANISH
 FERNANDO MA. GUERRERO
• He shared with Apostol the reigning the
Balagtasan in Spanish during their
times. He also dedicated a poem to
Rizal in June 19, 1901.
• CRISALIDAS (Kind of black, wooly
caterpillar) is the collections of the
LITERATURE I
best poems in a book of Fernando Ma.
N SPANISH
Guerrero. A CALL TO RIZAL
 JESUS BALMORI (Batikuling)
• He is well-known for his pen-name
Batikuling. He and Manuel Bernabe
participated in a debate on the topic
“Remembrance and
Forgetfulness”.
• He was elected Poet Laureate in
LITERATURE I
Spanish besting Manuel Bernabe.
N SPANISH
 MANUEL BERNABE
• Bernabe is a lyric poet; the fierceness
of his nationalistic spirit was unchanged
in any topic he wrote about. In his
debate with Balmori, he defended
Olvido (Forgetfulness)
LITERATURE I
N SPANISH
 MANUEL BERNABE
• Bernabe is a lyric poet; the fierceness
of his nationalistic spirit was unchanged
in any topic he wrote about. In his
debate with Balmori, he defended
Olvido (Forgetfulness)
LITERATURE I
N SPANISH
 MANUEL BERNABE
• he collected his poems in a book
entitled BAJO LOS COCOTEROS.
One of his writings dedicated to Rizal is
“ANTE EL MARTIR”.

LITERATURE I
N SPANISH
Other Writers
1. Adelina Guerrea
First woman poet in the Philippines
who was good in Spanish, who also
received Zobel Prize in her song
El Nido (The Nest).
2. Isidro Marpori
Became famous for his four books Other Writers
entitled “Aromas de Ensueno”
(Scents of Dreams).
3. Macario Adriatico
Who wrote the legend of Mindoro
entitled “La Punta De Salto”
(The Place of Origin) .
4. Epifanio delos Santos
He was a good leader and biographer
during the whole period of Spanish
Literature.
 
5. Pedro Aunario
He wrote the “Decalogo del Other Writers
Proteccionismo”.
Literature
in
Filipin
o
 FLORANTE AT LAURA of Francisco
Balagtas and URBANA AT FELISA of
LITERATURE I Modesto de Castro became the
N FILIPINO inspiration of the Tagalog writers.
 Julian Cruz Balmaceda classified the
three kinds of Tagalog poets. They were:
 
1. Poets of the Hearts (Makatang Puso):
These included Lope K. Santos, Inigo Ed.
Regalado, Carlos Gatmaitan, Pedro
Gatmaitan, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Cirilo
LITERATURE I
H. Panganiban, Deogracias del Rosario,
N FILIPINO
Ildefonso Santos, Amado V. Hernandez,
Nemicio Carabana, and Mar Antonio.
 2. Poets of life(Makata ng buhay): led
by Lope K. Santos, Jose Corazon de
Jesus, Florantino Collantes, Patricio
Mariano, Carlos Gatmaitan and Amado V.
Hernandez.
 
3. Poets of the Stage(Makata ng
LITERATURE I
Tanghalan): led by Aurelio Tolentino,
N FILIPINO
Patrricio Mariano, Severino Reyes, and
Tomas Remigio.
1. Lope K. Santos
a novelist, poet and author, and
grammarian covered three periods of
Tagalog literature – American,
Japanese and Contemporary Period.
He is known as the Father of the
National Language Grammar and Here are the
also called the “Apo” of the Tagalog autobiographies
of some of the
writers. BANAAG AT SIKAT was his
writers mentioned
masterpiece.
2. Jose Corazon de Jesus
Known as Huseng Batute and also
called the Poet of Love in his time.
Ang Isang Punong Kahoy (A
Tree) , an elegy, is his masterpiece.

Here are the

autobiographies
of some of the
writers mentioned
3. Amado V. Hernandez
Hernadez was dubbed Makata ng mga
Mangagawa (Poet of the Laborers) in
our Literature because for the intense
love for the poor workers or laborer. He
contributed a lot of writings to literature
like: Here are the
•Isang Dipang Langit (A Stretch Of autobiographies
of some of the
Heaven),
writers mentioned
•Bayang Malaya (A Free Nation),
•Ang Panday (The Blacksmith) And
•Munthing Lupa (A Small Plot),
•His Masterpiece is Ang Panday .
4. Valeriano Hernandez Pena
He was known as Tandang Anong
and his pen name was Kuntil Butil
(Small Grain). He considers NENE AT
NENENG his masterpiece.
 
5. Inigo Ed. Regalado Here are the
He was a son of popular writer during autobiographies
of some of the
the Spanish time known as Odalager.
writers mentioned
He reached the peak of his success by
the “sumpong” (whim) of his pen. He
also became the popular story-teller,
novelist and newspaperman.
 Short stories that started to appear in the
columns of
• Pagsandaliang Libangan (Short-time
LITERATURE I Leisure)
N FILIPINO • Dagli (Fast)
• Liwayway Publications
Literature
in
Englis
h
 • In a way, we can say that we can trace
the beginnings of the Philippine
literature in English with the comings of
Americans. For this purpose, we can
divide this period into three time
frames, namely:
1. The Period of Re-orientation:
LITERATURE I
N ENGLISH
1898-1910
2. The Period of Imitation: 1910-1941
3. The Period of Self-discovery:
1925-1941
The Period of Re-orientation
(1898 – 1910)
English as a literary vehicle came with the American
occupation in August 13, 1898 and as they say, a choic
e bestowed on us by history. By 1900, English came t
o be used as a medium of instruction in the public schools. Fro
m the American forces were recruited the first teachers
of English.
By 1908, the primary and intermediate grades were using
English. It was also about this time when UP, the forerunner
in the use of English in higher education, was founded.

PERIOD OF RE-ORIENTATION
 Writers of this period were period were still adjusting to the
newfound freedom after the paralyzing effect of repression of
thought and speech under the Spanish regime. They were
adjusting to the idea of democracy, to the new phraseology of
the English language and to the standards of English literary
style. Writers had to learn direct expression as conditioned of
direct thinking. They had to learn that sentence constructions,
sounds and speech in English were not the same as in the
vernacular. They had to discard sentimentality and floridity of
language for the more direct and precise English language.

PERIOD OF RE-ORIENTATION
Not much was produced during this period and what literature was
produced was not much of literary worth. The first attempts in English wer
e in two periodicals of this time:
El Renacimiento: Founded in Manila by Rafael Palma in 1901
Philippines Free Press: established in Manila in 1905 by R. McCullough
Dick and D. Theo Rogers. 
In 1907, Justo Juliano’s SURSUM CORDA which appeared in
Renacimiento was the first work to be published in English.
In 1909, Jan F. Salazar’s MY MOTHER and AIR CASTLES were also
published in this paper.

PERIOD OF RE-ORIENTATION
The Period of Imitation
(1910 - 1924)
• By 1919, the UP College Folio published the literary
compositions of the first Filipino writers in English.
They were the pioneers in short story writing.
• They were then groping their way into imitating American a
nd British models which resulted in a stilted, artificial and
unnatural style, lacking vitality and spontaneity.

PERIOD OF IMITATION
The Period of Self-Discovery
(1925 - 1941)
By this time, Filipino writers had acquired the mastery of
English writing. They now confidently and competently wro
te on a lot of subjects although the old-time favorites of love a
nd youth persisted. They went into all forms of writing like the
novel and the drama.

PERIOD OF SELF-DISCOVERY