Marie Joy Lim

 3.1: Based on the given articles, identify and discuss the given literary forms/elements from the following:

A.) Early Philippine Literature

   Literature is one of the most important things that can be used to know a country more and more. It reveals the works of the past to allow us to observe the changes and the development of the nation’s writings. As we all know, the Philippine Literature is very much connected to the Spanish and American Literature. As written in our country’s history, these nations has influenced us greatly. However, before we got influenced by this changes, we first had our literature that has been passed down to us by our forefathers. As the author had illustrated, it is the “awit” or the song that has withstood prehistorically. Most of the indigenous groups can still remember the lyrics of their songs. They had 16 forms of songs in different events, and it was noted by Father Chirino and Father Colin. 

   Some examples of these songs are “hele” or a lullaby in English. It is a soothing music usually sung for a child to sleep. The “soliranin”, a song for the pilgrims and “talindaw” for the sailors. They also have “kumintang” as their song for war and “kundiman” as their classic form of love song. They also have three different forms of songs for their courtship. “Panambitan” to court someone, “pamanhikan” as a Filipino song tradition of a man and his family visiting his future bride’s family in order to ask for her hand in marriage, and “subli” as a ritual song for marriage. 

   Besides the song, the Philippine Literature also have narratives that tells us the origins of our people, such as the “salawikain” or proverbs, “sawikain” or and idiomatic expression in English and “epiko” or epics. Salawikain is brief popular saying that gives advice about how people should live. Sawikain is a phrase that has a figurative meaning, and Epiko is a long poem narrating the adventures of the heroic figures or the history of the nation.

B. Philippine Literature in the Spanish Colonial Period

   The Spanish Colonization has a great impact to all the lives of the Filipinos. Their ill treatment towards us and their contributions in our country are painted in our minds. If we have known earlier how beautiful and abundant our country is, we wouldn’t have been colonized. Just recently, I’ve realized that we were slaves of our own country, and now we’re still enslaved in our own country. When the Spaniards came, they were the ones who got the most benefits of our natural resources and lots of our ancestors’ cultures had been devastated because of their influences. However, despite all these, there are still things that we are thankful for because of them. 

   The Philippines has been colonized all through quite a bit of it's set of experiences by significant powers; the Spanish affected race, language and culture. There are numerous Filipinos with blended race, and so forth are expanded in half breed dialects such as Cebuano and Tagalog. And lastly, the presentation of Christianity and Catholicism, presumably the inheritance that withstood the most. The writing of the Philippine native groups at the time of colonization and transformation into Christianity was principally oral, consisting of stories, legends and melodies. The conqueror annihilated whatever composed writing he could find and executed the country’s system of writing. 

   In the 19th Century, the print machines were possessed and overseen by the religious orders. Subsequently, religious themes ruled the culture of the Christianized majority. Printing overtook culture. The printed page, without help from anyone else, turned into the memory helper, the stage set for the improvement of writing. The turn of the century witnessed the Philippine revolution as well as the educated women bring out substantial poetries.

 

C. Philippine Literature During American Period

   Literature during the American Period is important for the lives and education of the Filipinos, because it shows the culture and history of the United States. Also, American Literature gives us the opportunity to know them and the great works of their authors better. At this time, a lot of Filipinos began composing again and the patriotism of each individual remain undaunted. Filipino writers went into all types of writing like poetries, stories, plays, news reporting, novels and essays. Their works obviously portrayed their adoration for country and their longings for freedom. 

   A lot of changes began to disentangle during this period. Most of the literary genres were impacted with the approaching of the Americans and the English language. The basic characteristics of all kinds of literature such as themes, settings, plots, images and characters are explained the American Literature. It also tells stories of what the Americans had with their unique cultures and traditions. 

   The different, yet equal advancements of Philippine writing in English and those in Tagalog and different dialects of the archipelago during the American time frame just demonstrate that writing in whatever language and in any environment can be made through the dynamic creative mind of journalists. Evidently, what was missing during the period was for the journalists in the different dialects to meet up, share encounter and furthermore, reach a resolution on the components that establish great writing in the Philippines.

3.2: Discuss the significant developments of the following periods.

A. Early Philippine literature

   The early Philippine Literature consists of narratives that are native in our country and has been preserved with much care by our ancestors. The nature of our literature comes down to the time wherein the citizens of our country create riddles, poems, proverbs and epics using the native alphabet called the “baybayin” that contributes to the development of our country’s literature even before the Spanish and the Americans came.

 

B. Philippine Literature in Spanish Colonial Period

   The church authorities embraced a strategy of spreading the Church doctrines by communicating to the natives in their own language. The first Spanish book that was imprinted in the Philippines – Doctrina Christiana, was a prayer book with a Tagalog interpretation. It was only exclusive to the preachers who read them aloud to the people, and the people rely only in their memory. As time passed by, the missionaries took a step in employing native speakers as interpreters. The employed native translators eventually learned how to read and write using the Spanish language as well as still speaking the native language. This development denoted the beginning of the improvement of Philippine Literature.

 

C. Philippine Literature in American Period

   The Philippine Literature in the American Period is the period of discovery and growth. The most significant development of this era is that the writers began to write competently and confidently. They can write in free verse, odes, elegies and sonnets. They also even started, by themselves, to write novels and dramas. Moreover, because of using English as the medium of instruction, they were able to take part in the country’s middle class and because of that, their societal status had improved.

 

3.3: How have these literary periods shaped our:

(A.) Ideological Perspectives

   Analyzing these three literary periods isn’t easy. Well, there are some parts that are easy to understand, but it doesn’t really sticks in our minds. But as we study much deeper, despite the injustice of the past, there are still some positive impacts that benefit us according to the idea of each literary periods. Our views change as we get different evidences. It goes the same with the history of the literature. As time passes, and as we get to read the different perspectives of the analysts, our perspective changes as well. And this is what I believe in – we have benefited a lot from the colonizers as much as how they benefit from us.

 

(B.) Societal Values

   Within every periods that lies, different people are within them. Ever since I was young, books had always been part of my development. I always read to escape the reality. However, literature is more than that. And now, what are the relevance of the literature in our society? There are a lot. In our modern society, the impact of the literature is undeniable. It is the reflection of our humanity for us to understand each other. By listening to the perspective of one another, we can easily figure out what they like, think and what they believe in. I believe that this is the value of literature in our society.

 

(C.) Political Views

The Philippine Literature has evolved through time and has withstood from generation to generation. We all get have our own political views after reading the article. From every periods that I have read, different genres appeared. However, it’s all just the same. They all reflect traditions, culture and lifestyle. This article gave me a political viewpoint that we should never let our beloved nation be enslaved with the other countries. We have always been wanting for a freedom for a long time now. President Duterte was right about what he said that Filipinos should not be a slave to anyone. Although being colonized had a positive impact for us, freedom is nothing compared to those. I’m saying this, because of I were to choose my president in this upcoming election, I would choose someone who would not drag Philippines down – and that is definitely not Leni.