Philippine Literature

Major literary
Literature genres

~ Latin word
“literatura” which Poetry
~Written means writing;
works “literatus” means
collectively, learning
Fiction
especially
those of Drama
enduring It is both oral and written
importance, work characterized by Essay or nonfiction
exhibiting expressive or imaginative
creative writing, nobility of prose
imagination thoughts, universality and
and artistic timeliness.
2
skill
 Poetry
3 major types: narrative or story-telling poem, lyric, and dramatic
Narrative or story-telling poem includes epic, ballad, metrical tale and
metrical romance.
Lyric is composed of the sonnet, elegy, ode, simple lyric and song.
Dramatic poetry is classified as poetic plays like comedy, tragedy,
dramatic history , force, melodrama; masque and dramatic monologue.

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 Fiction
- Based on author’s imagination
- Main purpose is to interest, stimulate, instruct, and
divert
- Narrated – focuses on one or few characters who
change in attitude as they interact with each other
and deal with problems

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 Drama
- A story of conflict told in entirely in dialogue
and in dramatic writing
- Performed by actors to the audience
- Elements: characters, plot, theme, and
dialogue (action and situations)

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 Nonfiction Prose
- Represented by news reports, feature articles, essays,
editorials, historical and biographical works
- Describes or interprets facts and presents judgments and
opinions
- Truth in reporting ang logic in reasoning
- Forms of discourse: narration, description, exposition,
and persuasion

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 Points to remember
Persona – the speaker of the poem, either the poet or the
character in the literary piece
Sound devices: onomatopoeia (a word or phrase that imitates
or suggests the sound it describes), alliteration (repetition of
initial consonant sounds), consonance (repetition of similar
consonant sounds preceded by accented vowels), and
assonance (repetition of vowel sound)

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 Points to remember
Rhyme – repetition at regular intervals of similar
sounds)
Rhythm – pattern created in arranging stressed and
unstressed syllables
Figurative language – simile, metaphor,
personification

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- Underlying central idea
- Expresses the author’s opinion or raises a question about human
nature or the meaning of human experience
- Generalization it communicates about life

Theme
- Time, place, weather, seasons, physical props, and the character’s clothing,
wider culture which the conflict and action occurs
- May be found at the beginning of the story or may emerge as the story unfolds
- At times setting may take on much more importance, representing something
abstract or symbolic.

Setting
- Person/s in the story
- May be flat or round: flat (has only one trait); round (possesses different traits,
some of which may even seem to be contradictory)
- Static or dynamic: static (character does not change from the beginning until
the end of the story); dynamic (changes in some way during the course of the
work)

Character
Exposition – background; tells how and why the characters arrived at the at the specific time and
place
Rising action – narrative hook; the author snares your attention
Climax – turning point of the story; greatest emotional involvement
Falling action – reader learns the reaction of the characters to the climax
Resolution – final tying together of the story; it may leave the readers hanging as to what happened

Plot
Group Task
Share with your group the first thing that comes in your mind when you encounter
the following words. Choose the best answers and write down on your paper.

a. Closed door f. bird

b. Open door g. nakedness
c. Oven h. toasted bread
d. Woman i. candle
e. Man j. change
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 Elements of Poetry
• Denotation – literal meaning of the word; dictionary
meaning
• Connotation – associations and implications that go
beyond the literal meaning of the word; suggested or
implied
• Personal connotations – related to the experiences of the
person who uses or reads/hears the word
• General connotations – word is based on one’s general
experiences; general reactions of the majority of people
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 Open-end Quality by Lilia Lopez-Chua
Lilia Lopez-Chua (1956) Region 11: Davao City
The writer is a graduate of Creative Writing from Boston University. Lopez-Chua’s poetry
has been published in three special issues of the “Road Map Series” in Davao.

i like open ends too,

a house with a front door
and a back open
where you can skip in and out
and not be some bread
stuffed into a toaster
charred and burnt
with no other choice
but to lie in there
‘til some nut comes
to help you out
I do not want to be helpless
like some jack-in-the box
always waiting for Jackie boy
to loosed an end
to stick my neck out
only to be smashed
flat, till the tip of the my head
meets the base of my feet.
I want to stretch my arms
and legs far and wide
to shed off my shadow
if I like –
to take off my head, body
legs and arms and
run around only with myself.
Naked and perfect
an open-end quality.

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1.What are the things the persona likes and doesn’t
like?
2.What must be his/her struggle?
3.What might be the real yearnings of the speaker?
4.What kind of feeling is expressed in this line:
“always waiting for Jackie Boy”?
5.What are the other implications and suggestions of
the poem?
6.Recall the times in your life when you just wanted
to be yourself or be free.
 Elements of Poetry
Communicating Experience through Imagery
Imagery – appeals to senses on the surface level, or directly through its
music and rhythm
Visual Imagery – most frequently occurs in poetry
Auditory Imagery – represents sound
Olfactory Imagery – odor
Gustatory Imagery – flavor
Tactile Imagery – hardness, softness, wetness, or heat or cold
Organic Imagery – internal sensation – hunger, thirst, fatigue, or nausea
Kinesthetic Imagery – movement or tension in the muscles or joints
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“
Imagery evokes vivid experience. It
conveys emotion, suggests ideas and

”
causes mental reproduction of sensations.
 Amira by Mae Monteclaro Roca
Mae Monteclaro Roca (1956) Region 12: Cotabato City/New York, USA
Roca is Muslim born in Cotabato. She graduated from Brokenshire School of Nursing in 1978. She is both a performer
and a playwright. Her play “Lanlunay” was performed at a PETA-sponsored festival in 1984. During her stay at Jeddah
where she worked as a nurse supervisor of the National Guard Central Medical Clinic, she wrote poems. Her collection,
“Sandstorm in Jeddah” was published in 1990 as a special issue of the “Road Map Series”.

My consciousness is lulled
Racing through oceans and miles
Nibbling over my fingers
The number of days and months
Tracing in anxiety Her coos and cry
Through the mirror of my mind Are now all echoes
The image of the infant Being reviewed in my skull
I couldn’t help Hopelessly capturing a sight
But leave behind Of her growing up
An unfolding so beautiful
That I will never witness
At all.

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Thank you