21st Century Literature from the Philippines and the

World
Hand Outs for 3rd Quarter Examination
Pre-Colonial Literature (Early Times – 1564)

• Proverbs are simple and traditional sayings that give us nuggets of wisdom. It delivers significant
truths about life in a form of little entertainment. In Filipino, these are called salawikain.
• Riddles are playful statements or questions having an obscure meaning intended to be
answered or solved. The statement may sound like humorous but it has a deeper meaning. In
Filipino, these are called bugtong.
• Folksongs are traditional songs of our ancestors that have been passed down from one
generation to another. These local songs are considered part of the rich culture of the Filipinos.
• Tales are creative stories that generally talk about how one thing came to be. It speaks of the
origin of a particular thing.
• Epics are long-narrative poems about the heroic deeds, adventures, and even misfortunes of a
hero.

Spanish - Colonial Literature (1565-1898)

• Cenaculo - a play depicting the life and sufferings of Jesus Christ.

• Pasyon – a narrative poem about the life of Jesus Christ which is usually sung during Lenten
season.
• Awit – a form of Filipino poetry about a hero, that is a bit closer to a narrative.
• Zarzuela – a form of musical comedy that is usually comic and presents sarcastic look at
society.
• Corrido - a narrative song which is often about oppression, history and other topics about
society.
• Moro-moro or Comedia de Capa y Espada - a blood-and-thunder melodrama depicting the
conflict of Christians and Muslims.
• Carillo - a play using shadows to project the animated figures made from cardboards.
• Tibag - a drama that reenacts the search of St. Helena for the Holy Cross.
• Duplo or Karagatan – a drama that is connected to mourning rituals of the Catholics and
harvest celebrations.

American - Colonial Literature (1899-1945)

• Nationalistic plays with freedom and independence as themes also flourished during
this period
• The “Thomasites” were American soldiers who came to our country to become
teachers.
• Filipino enjoyed freedom and independence in writing literary pieces.

Contemporary Period (1946- Present)

• Filipino writer during this period has become more efficient of his art and skills.
• Various literary awards have sprouted which motivate writers to produce more literary
pieces and to sustain the life of Philippine Literature
• Filipino writers enjoy their freedom to continue to write stories, poetry, essays, novels,
and others that have vivid contribution to the society

21st Century Authors from other Regions:

Cirilo F. Bautista- was a poet, fictionist and essayist from Quezon City, died in pneumonia at 76.

Works: “Sunlight on Broken Stones (2000)”  “Tinik sa Dila: Isang Katipunan Ng Mga Tula (2003)” 
“The Trilogy of Saint

Roberto Ong- “Phantom of Filipino Literature” Works: “Stainless Longganisa (2005)”  “Ang Paboritong
Libro ni Hudas (2003)”  “ABNKKBSNPLAKO (2001)  “Kapitan Sino (2009)”
Miriam Santiago - an Ilongga academic, lawyer, judge, author and stateswoman famous for her witty
and sharp mouth as well as her Hugot lines loved by the youth.

Teresa Magbanua- an active advocate and spokesperson for the Women’s Suffrage Movement during
her time and keeps on writing despite her mother’s protestations.

Jason Paul Laxamana – a writer, Indie filmmaker, book author and a pride of Pampanga. For without an
audience, a film is just a light projected on a screen

Gilda Olvidado – is a Cebuana movie and television writer and a melodrama novelist.

Felipe Landa Jocano – is an Ilonggo educator and an author from Cabatuan known for his significant
body of work Philippine cultural anthropology for documenting and translating the famous Western
Visayan folk epic, “Hinilawod.

Leoncio P. Deriada – is known as the “Father of Contemporary West Visayan literature,” an Ilonggo
multilingual writer, multi-awarded novelist, playwright, and poet whose works became a Palanca Hall of
Fame in 2001.

Alicia Tan Gonzalez – a native of Bacolod City, whose specialization and expertise is in Creative Writing
in Hiligaynon. She was a Carlos Palanca Hall of Fame Awardee for winning five first places in the
Hiligaynon Category for Maikling Kwento

Graciano Lopez Jaena- an Ilonggo hero, writer and prolific orator who wrote about the injustices
brought upon by the Spanish friars

Stevan Javellana- was a Filipino writer born in Iloilo, famous for his best-selling war novel “Without
Seeing the Dawn”

Angel Morte Magahum -a writer, novelist, composer, lyricist and poet, famous for composing the song
“Iloilo Ang Banwa Ko” and “Bilong-Bilong”

Binukot- is a Panay Bukidnon tribe well-kept maiden, isolated from society since she was little with the
hopes that this would increase their marital value and family prestige

Sibalom River- Hinilawod’s setting was in the mouth of the river.

Peter Solis Nery – a multi-award-winning Filipino poet, fictionist, and playwright from Dumangas, Iloilo.
His poetry and short stories made him the Hall of Fame awardee of Palanca Awards in 2012.

ELEMENTS OF POETRY

Imagery – This is one of the essential elements of poetry that give the reader the totality of the poem.
The writer shows what the poem is all about and not merely tells

Rhythm –It refers to the sound pattern and the arrangement of rhyming words that make up the poem.

Sound – It refers to how the poem sounds like when read. There are poems that sounded soft and
melodious. This is called euphony. Others are sounded brittle and stiff. This is called cacophony.

Density – It is what distinguishes poetry from prose. This is the ability to say little and mean much
through the use of metaphors and nonconformity with traditional grammar styles.

Line – It is a very important part of poetry. It is an element that makes it unique to prose.

Ballad – a form of a narrative poetry that is considered to be the simplest and shortest form. Its verses
suggest significant events meant to be sung.

Comedy – a literary work written in a comic style or treating a comic theme. A drama of light and
amusing character and typically with a happy ending.

Closed drama – a play that is not intended to be performed onstage, but read by a solitary reader or
sometimes out loud in a small group. It is also called “closet drama.”

Epic – a long narrative poem that tells stories about life, quests and adventures of a supernatural hero

Elegy – a lyric poem with the subject matter of death. It represents a tone of deep feeling of a personal
grief for someone who passed away.

Farce – a light dramatic composition marked by broadly satirical comedy and improbable plot
 Literary elements – the identifiable characteristics of a whole text Literary genre – a category of literary
composition. Genres may be determined by literary technique, tone, content, or even (as in the case of
fiction) length

Melodrama – a sensational dramatic piece with exaggerated characters and exciting events intended to
appeal to the emotions

Metric Tale – a long poem that tells an already developed story in verse, also called “metric romance”

Monologue – a dramatic sketch performed by one actor

Ode – a majestic type of lyric poetry with expression of enthusiasm and dignity to

Rhythmic scheme – the pattern of sounds that are repeated at the end of a line or stanza

Rhyme verse – a work of poetry that contains rhyming vowel sounds at particular moments

Soliloquy – a poem, discourse, or utterance of a character in a drama that has the form of a monologue
or gives the illusion of being a series of unspoken reflections

Song – this is a short lyric poem which is intended primarily to be sung and has the particular melodious
quality required by the singing voice

Sonnet – a fixed verse form of Italian origin consisting of 14 lines that are typically 5 foot iambics
rhyming according to a prescribed scheme

Tragedy – a serious drama typically describing a conflict between the protagonist and a superior force
(such as destiny) and having a sorrowful or disastrous conclusion that elicits pity or terror

Context is the idea in which the writer and reader connect on an issue presented in the text. It
determines whether the reader understands the idea of the author or not.

Socio-cultural Context. The idea of a text that refers to how the culture and society affect the literary
work is known as socio-cultural context. It involves analyzing how the writer leads his reader’s
awareness to social, physical, political and cultural issues. This context helps the reader’s understanding
of culture and society.

The biographical context is about understanding author’s background. Studying the author’s values,
education, achievements and his motivations in writing gives us the glimpse of how the author was
shaped by his experience and belief system.

Linguistic context refers to the context within the discourse, that is, the relationship between words,
phrases, sentences and even paragraphs. 7 Sometimes, linguistic context matters from the author’s
language style based on his social standing, educational status, or psychological state of mind.

Multimedia is the field concerned with the computer-controlled integration of text, graphics, drawings,
still and moving images (video), animation, audio, and any other media where every type of information
can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally (Marshall, 2001).

 Text material: up to 10% but never should exceed 1,000 words

 Music, lyrics, and music video: up to 10% but never should exceed 30 seconds

 Illustration and Photographs: may use entire picture, but never more than 5 images by one artist or
photographer; while, when using pieces from a collected works publication, 10% of the whole or 15
images are allowed

 Numerical data sets: up to 10% or 2,500 fields or cell entries

Graphic Organizer – the diagrammatic way of organizing facts, concepts ideas or terms

Peer Assessment – one’s responsibility in evaluating or assessing other learner’s work against a set of
assessment criteria related to the learning goal

Rubric – a scoring guide used to evaluate a perfomance, product or project. It is composed of three
parts: performance criteria, rating scale and indicators

Self-Assessment – the evaluation done by an individual to his or her own personal work or performance
in respect to the specified standard of evaluation
Student-Led and Three-way Conference – a reflective learning strategy wherein a student is given an
opportunity to present and explain his/her work in a conference. Usually, the learning tool that he/she
will present is in the form of a portfolio.

Target setting –the identification of important tasks to be executed and evaluated by an individual at
work

Time management – the process of organizing and dividing a task into sub-tasks so that the specified
targets can be achieved in just a short span of time.

LUWA-the most popular game during the belasyon or vigil of the dead.

BINUKOT-Panay Bukidnon tribe well-kept maiden

JALAUR RIVER-Western Visayas epic, Hinilawod’s setting

JUSTIN HALL - First ever blogger