Identifying
Representative Texts
under Pre-Colonial
Philippine Literature:
Short Poems and
Songs
Read the following items below and identify what term is being
referred to. Write your answer on the blank space before its number.
___________ 1.) It refers to a poem which has every two lines with
an identical rhyme or all the lines with the same end rhyme.
___________ 2.) It is an example of mono-rhyming heptasyllabic quatrain.
___________ 3.) I t is a mother song to calm or put a baby to sleep.
___________ 4.) It is a Harana in Tagalog, Panawagan or Balitaw in Visayas.
___________ 5.) It is a cebuana and Waray drinking song.
Content and Skill-Building
Mono-rhyming heptasyllabic lines (A short poem). ( Monorhyme
refers to a poem which has every two lines with an identical rhyme
or all the lines with the same end rhyme.) These single-rimed lines,
which consist of seven syllables per line, appeared in the
Vocabulario de la lengua Tagala, a rare Spanish source of “early
oral lore obtained direct from the people” (Lumbera & Lumbera 3).
● Tanaga (A short poem). An example of a mono-rhyming
heptasyllabic quatrain;, the tanaga is an extended form of the
proverb expressing its message with intense emotion.
● Folk song. The Filipino is a lover of the lyric and these verses
during pre-colonial times were enjoyed in melodious tones.
● Lullaby or hele. This is a mother’s song to calm a baby or put
him to sleep. The words are original and unique for each singer.
This is known as ili-ili in Ilongo and duwayya in Ilokano.
● Love songs or serenade. This is the harana in Tagalog,
panawagan or balitao in Ilongo, bayok among the Maranaos,
and tapat among the Ilocanos
● Ambahan. This Mangyan song depicts human relationships and
social entertainment and serves as a tool for teaching the young.
● Work songs. The rural folks being serious in their everyday
chores, they had songs for practically all important occasions
such as rice planting, harvesting, drying the rice on the stalk, and
pounding rice grains in the husk. Documented samples include
the kalusan of the Ivatans, soliranin which is a Tagalog rowing
song, and mambayu or Kalinga rice-pounding song.
● Tagay. This is a Cebuana and Waray drinking song.
● Kanogon [Cebuano], annako [Bontoc], and dung-aw
[Ilocano]. These are the dirges and lamentations
celebrating the life and praising the deeds of the dead.
● Parang-sabil. This is a type of folk narrative among the
Tausug of Mindanao, focusing on the heroic feat of their
legendary heroes.
○ Duplo. This was a verbal joust or a poetical game
during wakes. It is the forerunner of balagtasan.
Interestingly, some authors classify it as a folk song.
Precolonial Poetry
-played a central part of community life in villages of pre-
colonial Philippines.
-An indigenous oral tradition of bugtong (riddles) and
sawikain (proverbs) *Short four-line poems called tanaga
evolved from this oral tradition. Each line contained seven
or eight syllables, and at the heart of the poem was a cryptic
metaphor called a talinghaga.
Purposes of Poems
-All-night dramatic performances
-Easier means for the local history, politics, and culture to be passed
from generation to generation
From verses, popular folk songs developed:
diona, talindao, and auit (songs sung at home);
indolanin and dolayanin (street songs);
hila, soliranin, and manigpasin (rowing songs);
holohorlo and oyayi (cradle songs);
ombayi (songs of sadness);
omiguing (songs of tenderness);
tagumpay (triumphant songs);
dopayanin (boat songs);
hiliriao(drinking songs); and
diona(wedding songs).
It usually speaks about various topics in life, love, friendships
and socio-political awareness
it expresses a sense of simplicity and appreciation towards a
commoner's life through the times in the history of the
country.
Monorh tanaga Folk Lullaby/ Love ambah Work tagay kanogo Parang
yming song hele song/ an song n Sabil
heptasy serena
llabic de
Skill-building
Now that you already know the types of short poems and songs during the pre-colonial period, let’s bring our writing by
doing this exercise. This requires you to create a list of your fears, happy memories, accomplishments, and dreams.
Examples are given for you. *Answers may vary
Fears
Example: Happy Accomplish
Dreams
Being mis- Memories -ments
understood
● Tanaga, like the Japanese haiku, are usually
devoid of titles. They are poetic forms that
should be able to stand on their own.
● The majority are passed down by oral tradition
and include proverbial forms, moral precepts,
and bits of a code of ethics.
● It consists of four lines, each with seven syllables
and the same rhyme at the end of each line — —
that is, a 7–7–7–7 Syllabic poem with AAAA,
ABAB, AABB, ABBB and ABBA rhyme schemes.
● . What are the famous Philippine Literature?
• Noli Me Tángere by Dr. José Rizal
• Florante at Laura by Francisco Balagtas
• Mga Ibong Mandaragit by Amado V. Hernandez
• The Woman Who Had Two Navels by Nick Joaquin
• Po-on A Novel by F. Sionil Jose
• Banaag at Sikat by Lope K. Santos
• Ilustrado by Miguel Syjuco
• Dekada ’70 by Lualhati Bautista
● Why is it important to study pre-colonial
Philippines?
● Studying the Pre-Colonial literature on the Philippines is
important because it gives us insight to the bases of the literary
prose displayed during the Spanish colonization. Studying
literature is fun because you can add some information in our
own history. We need to study that, so that we can know the life
before.
