st

21

Century Philippine
Literature from the Regions

L I T E R AT U R E

an enduring expression of

significant human experiences in words

well-chosen and arranged.
- perfect melting pot of the
different disciplines such as history,
science, values, and the languages.

Philippine Precolonial
Literature
Oral Literature

Stories

were

passed

down

from

one

generation to another.

Many tales were not preserved and have

vanished from local knowledge.

Proverb

salawikain

practical observations and philosophy of everyday

life

written usually in a rhyming scheme

aims to entertain while teaching basic skills in

surviving local life

Examples:

The broom is sturdy because its strands are

tightly bound.
Matibay ang walis, palibhasay magkabigkis.

While the blanket is short, learn how to bend.

Hanggat makitid ang kumot, matutong
mamaluktot.

If you persevere, you will reap the fruits of your

labor.
Kapag may tiyaga, may nilaga.

There is no need to cry over spilt milk.

Magsisi ka man at huli, wala nang
mangyayari.

Riddle

bugtong

rhyming couplets

used to test the wits of those who are listening to it

topics are usually parts of human body, household

tools and utensils, familiar flora and fauna, and many
others.

Folk Song

short poem intended to be sung

beautiful song that is an informal expression of our

ancestors experiences in life

ranges from courtship, to lullabies, harvests, funerals,

and others

expresses love, grief, despair, joy, doubt, hope and

sorrow

Tales

stories of the origin for certain places, their names, and

their creation

usually used to explain certain events or phenomena

MYTH story about superhuman beings and their

adventures

LEGEND story explaining the origin of things and

world phenomenon

Epic

long-winded poems about a hero and his

adventures and misadventures

usually tells a male hero who is born with pleasing

qualities that ancestors like in a person

male hero has supernatural capabilities

male hero is paired with a beautiful young maiden,

whom he will fall in love and will usually have to
go to battle for

The Hinilawod

HINILAWOD: FAMILY TREE

Suklang
Malayon

ALUNSINA

DATU PAUBARI

Labaw Donggon

Angoy
Ginbitinan

Abyang
Durunuun

Humadapnon

Malitong Yawa
Sinagmaling
Diwata

Abyang
Baranugon

Dumasig

Lubay Lubyok
Hanginun si
Mahuyokhuyokan

Sumpoy

Aso
Mangga

Dumalapdap

Buyong
Matanayon

Daughter
of Datu
Umbaw
Paumbaw
(Unnamed)

Burigadang
Pada
Sinaklang
Bulawan

Husband/Wife

Friend/Helper

Son/Daughter

Sister/Brother

LABAW DONGGONS ADVENTURES

He went to Handug where a beautiful
maiden named Angoy Ginbitinan lived.
He asked for the maidens hand in
marriage.
The father asked him to fight the monster
MANALINTAD as part of his dowry.
Through the help of his magic belt, he
succeeded.
To prove this, he brought the monsters
tail.

LABAW DONGGONS ADVENTURES

The moment he arrived home, Labaw
Donggon told his mother to take care of
his wife.
Before he gets to Tarambang Burok, he
has to pass to a ridge guarded by a giant
named SIKAY PADALOGDOG who has
hundred arms
Sikay Padalogdog was no match to Labaw
Donggons prowess and skill in fighting so
he gave up and allowed him to continue.
He won another maidens hand.

LABAW DONGGONS ADVENTURES

He went to another journey in Gadlum.
He aims to ask for the hand of Malitong
Yawa Sinagmaling Diwata who is a the
young bride of SARAGNAYAN, the lord
of darkness.
They engaged into a duel.
Labaw Donggon submerged Saragnayan
under water for seven years.
Labaw Donggon was imprisoned beneath
his house.

What are the typical elements in an epic

that are present in The Hinilawod?

How is the Filipino value of familyorientedness presented in the story?

Spanish Precolonial
Philippine
Literature

Forms of literature

It is a legendary religious narrative that usually

details the lives of saints or the history of a tradition.

Corridos were widely read during the Spanish period

that filled the populace's need for entertainment as

well as edifying reading matter in their leisure
moments.

These have measures of eight syllables (octosyllabic)

and recited to a martial beat.

Corrido

It is a chivalric poem about a hero, usually about a saint.

It is also usually sung and used in religious processions.

Like corridos, these were also widely read during the

Spanish period as entertaining, edifying, reading manner in
their leisure time.

It is also a fabrication of the writers imagination although

the characters and the setting may be European.

The structure is rendered dodecasyllabic quatrains.

Awit

 Best-known

and most entertaining forms of secular

literature during this period.

They

were the Philippine versions of the European

metrical tale or medieval romance.

Filipino writers notably Francisco Balagtas and Jose

dela Cruz and several other writers came up with

awit and corrido, which are long chivalric-heroiclegendary-religious poems verse tales dealing with
the loves and adventures of European nobility
especially those of France and Spain.

Awit & Corrido

 These

are said to be written in several

Philippine dialects although the Tagalogs

seem to have written the greatest number.

Awit and corrido are not epics.

Awit & Corrido

 The

most famous and most lasting religious

literature
A

rendering in the vernacular of the life and

Passion of Christ, in stanzas of five rhyming lines.

Often memorized,

it is chanted throughout most

of the Holy Week in shifts of three to four hours

each.
Thus chanted, it is called Pabasa.

Pasyon

It is the best-loved drama

It is staged during the entire Holy Week

It is actually the pasyon dramatized.

Octosyllabic, 8 verses in a stanza

Takes about 3 nights of staging

Kinds
Hablada the lines are spoken in a more deliberate
- manner showing the rhythmic measure of each verse
Cantada chanted like the pasyon

Cenaculo

Also known as Comedia de Capa y Espada, Moro-Moro is a

blood-and-thunder melodrama depicting the conflict of
Christians and Muslims.

It is usually about battles to the death and the proofs of faith.

A love angle is included in the plot with the lovers invariably

coming from the opposite camps of Christian and Muslim.

It ends with the conversion of the principal characters and

their people, to Christianity.

Moro-Moro

 It is a play that uses shadows as its main spectacle.

It

is like a puppet show with stories similar to metrical

romance.

This is created by animating figures made from

cardboard, which are projected onto a white screen.

form of dramatic entertainment performed on a

moonless night during a town fiesta or on dark nights
after a harvest.

Dialogues are from the corridor or awit or other religious

plays.

Carillo

It is the dramatic reenactment of St. Helenas search for the Holy

Cross.

St. Helena - mother of Constantine

- oftentimes credited to have influenced her son to be

the great Christian leader he is known for today.
- also well-known to have traveled to Syria to look for
the relics of Jesus Christs cross, the one that was used in his
crucifixion. It is widely believed that she found it in the same
country.

Tibag

In modern times, the Tibag has been reduced to this

triumphant end, the Santacruzan, in which the true
cross is carried in the procession.

With

the Flores de Mayo, these two festive processions

culminate the may months in many Filipino towns.

Tibag

 These

are native dramas that are connected to

Catholic

mourning

rituals

and

harvest

celebrations.
A

game which serves as a poetic vehicle of a

socio-religious nature celebrated during the

death of a person.

Duplo o Karagatan

 It

is one of the most famous forms of

entertainment in the Spanish era.

Zarzuelas

are musical comedies or melodramas

that deal with elemental passions of human

beings.
It

follows a certain plot, which shows either a

satirical look at society or a begrudged life.

Zarzuela

 These

kinds of Spanish colonial literature show

how welcoming Filipino ancestors were to

Catholic faith.
They

also helped shape the literature that we

have today, not only in terms of faith, but also in

terms of values system, societal norms, and
realizations about life.

As retold by Gat. Jose Rizal in Northern Luzon

LESSON #1
Always be willing to lend a helping hand.

LESSON #2
Some blessings in life are disguised in difficulties.

LESSON #3
Appreciate ones efforts in making you feel valued.

INTRODUCTION
TO POETRY

POETRY
-

is a patterned form of verbal or written

expression

of

ideas

in

concentrated,

imaginative and rhythmical terms that often

contain elements of sense, sound and
structure.

POETRY
is

considered as the oldest literary form.

has implied meaning/s which is/are evoked in

carefully selected words.

often considered as the most difficult and most

sophisticated of all literary genres.

compared to other literary forms, it is more

musical than the others.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY
Sense of the Poem
Sound of a Poem

Structure of a Poem

SENSE OF THE POEM

1.

Diction
-denotative and connotative meanings/
symbols

Denotation - dictionary meaning of the word.

Connotation - suggested or implied meaning

associated with a word beyond its dictionary
definition

SENSE OF THE POEM

2.

Imagery

otherwise known as sense of the mind.

use of sensory details or descriptions that

appeal to one or more of the five senses:

sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell.

SENSE OF THE POEM

3.

Figures of Speech

These are specific devices or a kind of figurative

language that uses words, phrases, and sentences

in a non-literal definition but, rather gives

meanings in abstractions.

SOUND OF A POEM
1.

Tone Color

It is achieved through repetition.

a. Repetition of Single Sounds
Alliteration
Assonance
Consonance

Rhyme

SOUND OF A POEM
A l l i t e r a t i o n - is the repetition of similar and

accented sounds at the beginning of words

EXAMPLE:
The fair breeze blew, the white foam flew,
The furrow followed free;
We were the first that ever burst
Into that silence sea.
- The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

SOUND OF A POEM
A s s o n a n c e - is the repetition of similar

accented vowel sounds

EXAMPLE:

Thou still unravished bride of quietness.

Thou foster child of silence and slow time.
- Ode on a Grecian Urn

SOUND OF A POEM
C o n s o n a n c e - is the repetition of similar
consonant sound typically within or at the end

of words
EXAMPLE:
Out of this house said rider to reader
Yours never will said farer to fearer
Theyre looking for your said hearer to horror,
- O Where Are You Going?

SOUND OF A POEM
Rhyme is the repetition of the same stressed
vowel sounds and any succeeding sounds in
two or more words.

Example:
I think that I shall never see
A poem as lovely as a tree
- Trees

SOUND OF A POEM
TYPES OF RHYME
Internal Rhyme

- rhyme within the line

Te r m i n a l R h y m e

- rhyme at the end of the line

SOUND OF A POEM
Rhyme Scheme
- pattern of rhyme form that ends a stanza
or a poem.

- is designated by the assignment of a

different letter of the alphabet to each new
rhyme

SOUND OF A POEM
Example:

Helen, thy beauty is to me

Like those Nicean barks of yore

That gently, oer a perfumed sea,

The weary, way-worn wander bore

To his own native shore

- To Helen

SOUND OF A POEM
1.

Tone Color

b. Repetition of Words

Example:

My dreams are dreams of thee, fair maid.

- Rural Maid

SOUND OF A POEM
1.

Tone Color

c. Repetition of Sentences or Phrases

Example:

I dream that one day our voices will be heard

I dream that one day our hopes become worth
- Paraiso

SOUND OF A POEM
2.

Rhythm

-pattern

of beats created by the arrangement of

stressed and unstressed syllables

-The

effect is derived from the sounds employed,

the varying pitches, stresses, volumes and

durations.

STRUCTURE OF A POEM
S T R U C T U R E is the manner in which
words are arranged and parts are
organized to form a whole poem.

STRUCTURE OF A POEM
1.

Word and its Order grouping of words and

choosing of words and verses where more often, poets
arrange them in the unnatural order to achieve an
effect

2.

Syntax is an effect achieved where words are

fractured to have a desired effect

3.

Ellipsis is the omission of words or several words

that clearly identify the understanding of an expression

4.

Punctuation is the use of meaningful symbols that

help provide meaning clues

STRUCTURE OF A POEM
STRUCTURE also refers to the way the
poem

is

organized.

This

correspond to the different types.

would

Types of Poetry
N a r r a t i ve Po e m

- poem that tells a story

Ly r i c Po e m

- poet is concerned mainly with presenting a

scene in words, conveying sensory richness of his
subject or the revelation of ideas or emotions
D r a m a t i c Po e m

- poem where a story is told through the verse

dialogue of the character and a narrator

Poem Appreciation
-

achieved only when one has comprehended the

plain sense or information communicated by the

poem;
-

also if the attitude and feeling conveyed are

captured, and with it the larger meaning of the
work which is only possible when the tone and
symbolic meaning are discerned.

Tone

writers attitude toward his subject and

mood and moral view

feeling that the poem has created in the

reader

emotional coloring of the work which is

indicated by the inflection of the speakers
voice

Symbol

image that becomes so suggestive that it

takes on much more meaning than its
descriptive value

considered the richest and the most

difficult of all the poetic figures.

GABU
By Carlos Angeles

CARLOS
ANGELES
Born on May 25, 1921 in Tacloban City, Leyte, the poet Carlos A. Angeles
graduated from Rizal High 1938 and went on to study at various universities,
first in pre-medicine and next pre-law. He had one semester at Ateneo de
Manila, two at UP in 1941 (where he became a member of the UP Writers'
Club), and one quarter at Central Luzon Colleges. He did not return to school
after World War II, but he led an impressive career as chief of the Philippine
bureau of International News Service from 1950 to 1958, guest of the US
State Department on a Smith-Mundt leader grant, press assistant under the
Garcia administration, and public relations manager of PanAm Airlines from
1958 to 1980. He also served in the board of directors of International PEN,
Philippine chapter.

CARLOS
ANGELES
In 1964, the same year that poetry was first considered in the Carlos
Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature, Angeles' collection of poems, A
Stun of Jewels(Manila: Alberto S. Florentino, 1963), received first prize in
the prestigious contest. Comprised of 47 poems and dedicated to Angeles'
wife, A Stun of Jewelsalso won the Republic Cultural Heritage Award for
Literature.
Angeles has been living in the USA since 1978. Married to Concepcion
Reynoso, he has seven children and 18 grandchildren, all residing in the
States.

GABU

by Carlos Angeles
The battering restlessness of the sea
Insists a tidal fury upon the beach
At Gabu, and its pure consistency
Havocs the wasteland hard within its reach.
Brutal the daylong bashing of its heart
Against the seascape where, for miles around,

Farther than sight itself, the rock-stones part

And drop into the elemental wound.

The waste of centuries is grey and dead

And neutral where the sea has beached its brine,

Where the split salt of its heart lies spread

Among the dark habiliments of Time.

The vital splendor misses. For here

At Gabu where the ageless tide recurs
All things forfeited are most loved and dear.
It is the sea pursues a habit of shores.

Where is Gabu?

Gabu, Philippines

Oh How to Find
Silence in the World
by Cirilo Bautista

CIRILO BAUTISTA

Cirilo F. Bautista (born 1941) is a multiawarded writer with exceptional achievements

and
significant
contributions
to
the
development of the Philippines literary arts.

Months before President Benigno Aquino 3rd

announced the 17th batch of National Artists,
word already gone around on the conferment
of one multi-awarded Filipino writer by the
name Cirilo Bautista.

CIRILO BAUTISTA

When the official proclamation was made on

June 20, it came as no surprise that the 73year-old was named National Artist for
Literature.

Having published 18 books written in different

forms of poetry, anthology, epic, and fiction,
Bautista displays mastery in his craft as he
easily shifts from English and Tagalog in his
writings.

O H H OW TO F IND S ILENCE IN THE W ORLD

B Y : C IRILO B AUTISTA
Being spotted in the color of skin,
why I take care in San Francisco,
waiting for the bus to Iowa.
They say racial prejudice is strong,
Negros and not whites kawawa,
and because of this they will revolt.
I shiver and shiver from fear and hunger
because I just landed from Tokyo.

A Negro came into the station

naka-African hairdo; he holds a small
whip: its scary to look, so
I did not look at him. Kumakalansing

the metal on the strings of his shoes

and he shouts, Peace, brothers! Smiled showing
white teeth. Looked at me
maybe he laughed at what he saw

a tiny dayuhan, dark and from

some lupalog. Upside down
my insides went in fright and pulled
a cigarette so the redness of my face

wouldnt show. I nahalata

that the Whites there too were quiet
so quiet, unable to speak in front
of that Negro. Only when he left returned

the normalcy in the stationothers

read again, neighbors gossiped again,
laughter, the janitor sweeped again.
After a while that Negro passed again

two white Americanas on each arm,

blonde, their beauty with no equal.
The janitor stopped sweeping.
I thought, So this is racial prejudice.

Kung Paano Matatamo ang

Katahimikan sa Mundo
by Cirilo Bautista

K UNG PAANO M ATATAMO ANG

K ATAHIMIKAN SA M UNDO

B Y : C IRILO B AUTISTA
Nakikilala sa kulay ng balat, ika nga,
kaya sa San Franciscoy maingat ako
habang naghihintay ng bus patungong Iowa.
Malakas daw ang racial prejudice, sabi nila,
kawawa ang mga Negro at mga di puti,
malapit na raw magrebolusyon dahil dito.
Ngatog na ngatog ako sa takot at gutom
dahil kalalapag ko lang buhat sa Tokyo.

Pumasok ang isang Negro sa istasyon

naka-African hairdo, may hawak na munting
latigo: nakatatakot tumingin, kaya
di ko siya tinignan. Kumakalansing
ang pilak na borlas ng kanyang sapatos
at sigaw niya, Peace, brothers! Ngumiting litaw
ang mapuputing ngipin. Tinignan ako
siguroy natawa siya sa kanyang natanaw

isang dayuhang maliit, maitim na kung

saang lupalog nanggaling. Bumaligtad
ang aking bituka sa takot at dumukot
ako ng sigarilyo para di malantad

ang pamumula ng aking mukha. Nahalata

kong pati ang mga Puting narooy tahimik
na tahimik, di makaimik sa harapan
ng Negrong iyon. Pagkaalis lang niya nagbalik

ang normalcy sa loob ng istasyonnagbasang

muli ang iba, tsismisang muli ang mga miron,
tawanan, ang dyanitor ay muling nagwalis.
Maya-mayay nagdaang muli ang Negrong iyon

kaakbay ang dalawang Amerikanang puti,

blonde, at sa kagandahay walang kaparis.
Napatigil ang dyanitor sa pagwawalis.
Naisip ko, Ganito pala ang racial prejudice.