Different periods of

Philippine literature
II Spanish Colonization Period
II. SPANISH COLONIZATION
PERIOD (1565 - 1883)
Spain began colonizing the Americas under
the Crown of Castile and was spearheaded
by Spanish congquistadors. The Americas
were invaded and incorporated into the
Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil,
British America, and some small regions of
South America and the Caribbean.
A. Characteristics
1. It has two distinct classifications: religious
and secular. It introduced Spanish as the
medium of communication.
B. Literary Forms
1. Religious Literature - Religous lyrics written
by ladino poets or those versed in both
Spanish and Tagalog were included in early
catechism and were used to teach Filipinos
the Spanish language
a. Pasyon
• long narrative poem about
the passion and death of
christ. The most popular
was “Ang Mahalna
Passion ni Jesu cristong
Panginoon Natin” by
Aguino de Belen
b. Senakulo
• dramatization of the
pasyon; it shows the
passion and death of
christ
2. Secular (non-religous)
Literature
a. Awit
• colorful tales of chivalry
made for singing and
chanting

Example: Ibong adarna

b. Korido
• metrical tale written in
octosyllabicquatrains (a
line of verse with eight
syllable)

Example: Florante at Laura

by Francisco Baltazar
C. Prose Narratives
written to prescribe proper • Examples: Modesto de
decorum Castros “pagsusulatan ng
* Dialogo dalawang Binibini na si
Urbana at si Feliza” and
Juaquin Tuason’s “ Ang
* Ejemploii: Manuel de
Bagong Robinson” ( The
Urbanidad
new Robinson) in 1879

* Tratado