TRADITIONS AND FORMS OF

PHILIPPINE POETRY
ETHNIC TRADITIONS
•    The diversity and richness of Philippine literature evolved side by side with
the country's history. This can best be appreciated in the context of the
country's pre-colonial cultural traditions and the socio-political histories of its
colonial and contemporary traditions.         
•        The average Filipino's unfamiliarity with his indigenous literature was
largely due to what has been impressed upon him: that his country was
"discovered" and, hence, Philippine "history" started only in 1521.
•        So successful were the efforts of colonialists to blot out the memory of the
country's largely oral past that present-day Filipino writers, artists and
journalists are trying to correct this inequity by recognizing the country's wealth
of ethnic traditions and disseminating them in schools and in the mass media.
•        The rousings of nationalistic pride in the 1960s and 1970s also helped
bring about this change of attitude among a new breed of Filipinos concerned
about the "Filipino identity."
 THE ELEMENTS OF ETHNIC TRADITIONS

• Epic - This relates to the adventures of a super hero with

powers and serve as a code of values for a particular ethnic
group.
• Folk song - A song that is transmitted orally from one
generation to another and known as awiting bayan in
Tagalog.
• Proverbs - A concise statement that teach morality and
tradition and usually expressed as rhyming pairs of lines that
depict two different elements.
• Short poems - This usually has four lines, with 5-12 syllables
per line.

• Poetic jousts - This may involve marriage negotiations

between two families in which every region has their own
version.
 EXAMPLES

• Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas

"Sa isang madilim gubat na mapanglaw

dawag na matinik ay walang pagitan,
halos naghihirap ang kay Pebong silang
dumalaw sa loob na lubhang masukal.
Malalaking kahoy ang inihahandog
pawang dalamhati, kahapisa’t lungkot,
huni pa ng ibon ay nakalulunos
sa labong matipi’t nagsasayang loob.
Tanang mga baging, na namimilipit ..."
• Tutubi (Dragonfly) by Gonzalo K. Flores
• Isang Punungkahoy (The Tree) by Jose Corazon de Jesus
• Isang Dipang Langit (A Piece of Heaven) by Amado V. Hernandez