Week 8
Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Philippine literature
Philippine literature is literature from prehistory, through its colonial
legacies, and through the present, connected with the Philippines.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Philippine literature
Pre-Hispanic literature in the Philippines was in fact epics passed down from
generation to generation, initially through an oral tradition.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Philippine Literary Forms
Philippine literature's diversity and richness grew with the country's history.
This is best understood in the sense of the pre-colonial cultural cultures of the
world and the socio-political backgrounds of their colonial and contemporary
practices.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Philippine Literary Forms
The typical unfamiliarity of Filipino with his indigenous literature was
primarily due to what was impressed upon him: that his country had been
"discovered" and, thus, Philippine "history" only began in 1521.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Philippine Literary Forms
Colonialists 'efforts to blot out the memory of the predominantly oral history
of the country have been so successful that today's Filipino writers,
musicians, and journalists are trying to redress this inequity by identifying
and disseminating the wealth of ethnic traditions in the country in schools
and in the mass media.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Philippine Literary Forms
The nationalistic pride rousings of the 1960s and 1970s have helped bring
about this change of mindset among a new generation of Filipinos concerned
about the "Filipino heritage."
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
The pre-colonial inhabitants of our islands show a rich past through their folk
speeches, folk songs, folk narratives and indigenous rituals and mimetic
dances that confirm our ties with our Southeast Asian neighbors.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
The most important of these folk speeches is the riddle of tigmo in Cebuano,
bugtong in Tagalog, paktakon in Ilongo, and patotototdon in Bicol. The
talinghaga or metaphor is central to the riddle, as it "reveals subtle parallels
between two unlike objects" and brings one's power of perception and humor
to the test.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
While some riddles are brilliant, some are on the verge of obscenity or are
sex-related.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Example
Gaddang:
Gongonan nu usin y amam If you pull your daddy's penis
Maggirawa pay sila y inam. Your mommy's vagina, too,
(Campana) screams. (Bell)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Proverbs or aphorisms express norms or codes of conduct, community beliefs
or values by offering nuggets of wisdom in a short, rhyming verse.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
The extended form, the tanaga, the mono-riming heptasyllabic quatrain,
which expresses insights and lessons about life, is "more emotionally charged
than the treacherous proverb, and thus has an affinity with folk lyrics."
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
basalhanon or extended didactic sayings of Bukidnon
daraida and daragilon of Panay.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Folk song, a form of folk lyric that expresses hopes and aspirations, people's
lifestyles as well as their loves.
As in children's songs or Ida-ida (Maguindanao), tulang pambata (Tagalog),
or cansiones para abbing (Ibanag), these are frequently repetitive and
sonorous, didactic and naã¯ve.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
lullabyes or Ili-ili (Ilongo)
love songs such as panawagon and balitao (Ilongo)
harana or serenade (Cebuano)
bayok (Maranao);
seven-syllable poems per line
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
Mangyan ambahans which are about human relationships, social
entertainment and also serve as a tool for teaching young people
work songs that depict people's livelihoods often sung to go with workers
'movements such as the Kalusan (Ivatan)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
the soliranin (Tagalog rowing song) or the mambayu, the Kalinga rice-
pounding song; verbal jousts / games like the duplo popular during the
wakes.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
Other folk songs are the drinking songs sung during carousels such as the
tagay (Cebuano and Waray);
dirges and lamentations extolling the deeds of the dead, such as the canoe
(Cebuano) or the Annako (Bontoc).
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
A type of narrative song or kissa between the Tausug of Mindanao, the parang
sabil, uses the exploits of historical and legendary heroes for its subject
matter. This speaks of a Muslim hero at the hands of non-Muslims seeking
death.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Folk narratives
epics and folk stories
Fables
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Our country's epics are considered ethno-epics because, unlike, say,
Germany's Niebelunginlied, our epics are not national because they are
"histories" of diverse groups that consider themselves "nations."
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
There are specific names to the epics:
Guman (Subanon)
Darangen (Maranao)
Hudhud (Ifugao)
Ulahingan (Manobo)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
There are specific names to the epics:
Guman (Subanon)
Darangen (Maranao)
Hudhud (Ifugao)
Ulahingan (Manobo)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Epics
Such epics revolve around supernatural events or heroic actions, and reflect
or affirm a community's values and traditions and ideals.
These are sung or chanted accompanying indigenous musical instruments
and dances performed by chanters during harvests, marriages, or funerals.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
Lam-ang (Ilocano)
Hinilawod (Sulod)
Kudaman (Palawan)
Darangen (Maranao)
Ulahingan (Livunganen-Arumanen Manobo)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
Pre-Colonial Times
Examples
Mangovayt Buhong na Langit (Tuwaang — Manobo Maiden)
Ag Tobig nég Keboklagan (Subanon)
Tudbulol (T'boli)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Religion and institutions that served European culture enriched the
languages of the lowlands, introduced theatre, which we would come to know
as komedya, sinakulo, sarswela, playlets and drama.
Religious prose and poetry, and secular prose and poetry can be categorized
as literature in this age.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Early catechism included religious songs penned by ladino poets or those
versed in both Spanish and Tagalog and were used to teach the Spanish
language to Filipinos.
The "Salamat nang walang hanga / gracias de sin sempiternas" (Unending
thanks) by Fernando Bagonbanta is a fine example contained in the Memorial
de la vida cristiana en lengua tagala, published in 1605.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
One type of religious lyrics are the meditative verses such as the dalit
appended to catechisms and novenas.
But among the religious poetry of the day, it is the pasyon in octosyllabic
quintillas that has been etched in the commemoration of Christ's suffering
and resurrection at Calvary by the Philippines.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
The "Ang Mahal na Passion ni Jesu Christong Panginoon natin na tola" (Holy
Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ in verse) by Gaspar Aquino de Belen
published in 1704 is the earliest known pasyon in the world.
Throughout the Lenten season other known pasyons are in Ilocano,
Pangasinan, Ibanag, Cebuano, Bicol, Ilongo and Waray.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Narrative Prose Types:
dialog (dialogue)
urbanity manual (book of conduct)
example (exemplum)
treatado (tratado)
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Narrative Prose:
The most well-known are the "Pagsusulatan ng Dalawang Binibini na si
Urbana at si Feliza" (Correspondence between the Two Maidens Urbana and
Feliza) by Modesto de Castro in 1864 and the "Ang Bagong Robinson" (The
New Robinson) by Joaquin Tuason in 1879, an adaptation of the novel by
Daniel Defoe.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Secular plays have emerged amid social and economic transitions, the rise of
an opulent class and the middle class that could take advantage of a European
education.
The most popular of secular songs followed a romantic tradition's
conventions: the languishing yet devoted lover, the mysterious, sometimes
heartless, competitor.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
The poets that were leading were Jose Corazon de Jesus (Huseng Sisiw) and
Francisco Balagtas. Some secular poets were Leona Florentino, Jacinto Kawili,
Isabelo de los Reyes and Rafael Gandioco who wrote in this same tradition.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
The metrical romance, awit, and korido in Tagalog is another popular secular
poetry.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
The metrical romance, awit, and korido in Tagalog is another popular secular poetry.
The awit is set in dodecasyllabic quatrains and in octosyllabic quatrains, the corido is set
in.
There are vivid tales of cavalry made for singing and chanting from European sources
such as Gonzalo de Cordoba (Gonzalo of Córdoba) and Ibong Adarna (Adarna Bird).
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
The awit as a prominent poetic genre reached new heights in Balagtas "Florante at Laura"
(approx. 1838-1861), the most famous of metric romances in the world.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Once, in 19th century Philippines, the winds of change started to blow.
Filipino intellectuals trained in Europe, called ilustrados, began writing about the
colonization downside.
This, combined with the masses 'simmering demands for reforms, gathered a formidable
force from writers such as Jose Rizal, Marcelo H. Del Pilar, Emilio Jacinto, Mariano Ponce
and Andrés Bonifacio.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
This led to the emergence of the Propaganda Movement, where prose works such as the
political essays and two political novels by Rizal, Noli Me Tangere and El filibusterismo,
helped usher in the Philippine revolution leading to the overthrow of the Spanish
government, while simultaneously planting the seeds of a Filipino national
consciousness.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Yet if the novels of Rizal are political, Pedro Paterno's novel Ninay (1885) is primarily
cultural, and is considered the first Filipino book. While Paterno's Ninay gave impetus to
more writing in Spanish to other novelists such as Jesus Balmori and Antonio M. Abad,
this did not flourish.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Other Filipino writers published the essay and short fiction in Spanish in La Vanguardia,
El Debate, Renacimiento Filipino, and Nueva Era. The more notable essayists and
fictionists were Claro M. Recto, Teodoro M. Kalaw, Epifanio de los Reyes, Vicente Sotto,
Trinidad Pardo de Tavera, Rafael Palma, Enrique Laygo (Caretas or Masks, 1925) and
Balmori who mastered the prosa romantica or romantic prose.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Spanish Colonial Tradition
Yet the arrival of English as the teaching medium in the Philippines hastened the decline
of Spanish so that English writing had overtaken Spanish writing by the 1930's.
Nevertheless, writing in the romantic style, from the awit and korido, will continue in
Magdalena Jalandoni's novels, during the death throes of the language. Under the new
colonialists patriotic writing persisted, however.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
American influence was profoundly rooted in the firm establishment of English as the
medium of instruction in all schools and in literary modernism that emphasized the
individuality of the writer and cultivated artisanal culture, often at the expense of social
conscience.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
The author, and later the National Artist for Literature, Jose Garcia Villa, used a free verse
and adopted the dictum, "Art for the sake of art," to the chagrin of other authors who
were more concerned with the utilitarian dimension of literature.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
Another poetry maverick who used the free verse and talked in her poetry about
unlawful love was Angela Manalang Gloria, a woman poet who described her time ahead.
Given the new dispensation's danger of censorship, more authors turned up "seditious
plays" and popular writing in the native languages flourished through the weekly outlets
including Liway and Bisaya.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
Tradition of Balagtas continued until poet Alejandro G. Abadilla promoted literary
modernism. Later, Abadilla inspired young poets who wrote modern verses such as
Virgilio S. Almario, Pedro I. Ricarte and Rolando S. Tinio in the 1960s.
The "Missing Stars" published by Paz Marquez Benitez in 1925 was the first popular
short story written by a Filipino in English. Later the short story demonstrated
outstanding skills to Arturo B. Rotor and Manuel E. Arguilla.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
In addition to this growth, writers in the provinces continued to write in the vernaculars.
Those such as Lope K. Santos, Valeriano Hernandez Peña and Patricio Mariano wrote
brief narratives that mirrored the early Tagalog short fiction called dali or pasingaw.
In the novels by Lope K. Santos and Faustino Aguilar, among others, P. Boquecosa who
also penned Ang Palad ni Pepe after Charles Dicken's David Copperfield even as the
realistic tradition had been kept alive.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
It should be noted that the novel in the vernaculars continued to be published and
serialized in weekly magazines like Liwayway, Bisaya, Hiligaynon and Bannawag, though
there was a dearth of the Filipino novel in English.
Since the 1920s to the present the essay in English was a potent medium. Journalists
such as Carlos P. Romulo, Jorge Bocobo, Pura Santillan Castrence, etc. were some of the
leading essayists who wrote formal to humorous to informal essays to delight Filipinos.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The American Colonial Period
Ignacio Manlapaz, Leopoldo Yabes and I.V. Mallari were among those who wrote critiques
established during the American. Yet it was the critique of Salvador P. Lopez that caught
attention when he received the 1940 Commonwealth Literay Award for his "Literature
and Culture" for the essay. This essay suggested that literature must have substance, and
that Villa's adherence to "Art for Art's Sake" is decadent.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Contemporary Period
The flowering of Philippine literature in the different languages particularly continues
with the introduction of new publications after the years of Martial Law and the revival
of dedicated literature in the 1960s and 1970s.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Contemporary Period
Filipino authors continue to write poetry, short stories, novels, novels, and essays
whether they are socially committed, linked to gender / ethnics, or personal purpose.
Of course, with the proliferation of writers 'workshops here and abroad and the bulk of
literature accessible to him through the mass media including the internet, the Filipino
writer has become more conscious of his craft.
Week 8: Philippine Pop Culture: Literature
The Contemporary Period
The numerous literary awards such as the Don Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for
Literature, the Free Press of the Philippines, Philippine Graphic, Home Life and Panorama
literary awards inspire him to contend with his peers and hope that his artistic works
will be recognized in the long term.
1. Wikipedia;
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phili
ppine_literature; April 10, 2020 Reference/s and Supplementary Material/s
2. Godinez-Ortega, Christine
F. The Literary Forms in Philippine
Literature. Seasite. Retrieved from
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/tagalo Online Supplementary Reading Material/s
g/literature/literary_forms_in_phili
ppine_lit.htm on April 10, 2020
