LIT01 | 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHLIPPINES AND THE WORLD

TOPIC Various Dimensions of Philippine Literary History

Designed by Mr. Justy P. Tuquib, LPT, MA; Lovella A. Silfavan, LPT

Module
Sources https://ncca.gov.ph/about-ncca-3/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/literary-arts/the-
literary-forms-in-philippine-literature/
https://www.studocu.com/ph/document/university-of-saint-anthony/century-literature/geographic-
linguistic-and-ethnic-dimensions-of-philippine-literary-history-from-pre-colonial-to-the-
contemporary/26147039

Learning Outcomes

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to create a graphic timeline of the Philippine Literary History
by noting important developments leading to what we call as 21st Century and promote literary awareness
by posting a trivia on important facts, insights, or realizations about the literary history of the Philippines
via social media.

Overview

Essential Question
What is the significant contribution of each era in
the development of Philippine Literature?

This module is carefully designed to equip you with the necessary knowledge on the development
of the literary history in the country. It gives you an overview on how every literary era contributed in the
development of our literature.

The Philippine Literary History

Philippine Literature is divided into different periods. These periods are unique in the way that each
possesses different ways of life, culture, and issues. People created literature in response to these periods
which reflected their own feelings, aspirations, customs and traditions. These writings eventually became
mirrors of history.

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The diversity and richness of Philippine literature evolved side by side with the country's history. This
can best be appreciated in the context of the country's pre-colonial cultural traditions and the socio-political
histories of its colonial and contemporary traditions (Ortega, 2020).

The following are the literary periods of the Philippines:

a. Pre-colonial- Owing to the works of our own archaeologists, ethnologists and anthropologists, we
are able to know more and better judge information about our pre-colonial times set against a bulk of
material about early Filipinos as recorded by Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and other chroniclers of the
past.

b. Spanish Era-In this period, Filipinos underwent several changes especially in lifestyle and religion.
Spanish language became the literary language and the language of the intellectual during this
time. Literature is mostly anchored to Christian teachings and in so doing effectively instilled to the
early Filipinos the Christian faith. Hence, literature in this period may be classified as religious prose
and poetry and secular prose and poetry.

c. American Period- American influence was deeply entrenched with the firm establishment of English
as the medium of instruction in all schools and with literary modernism that highlighted the writer's
individuality and cultivated consciousness of craft, sometimes at the expense of social
consciousness.

d. The Japanese Regime- Development of literature was interrupted during this period because of the
war. Philippine Literature written in English was stopped by the Japanese so Filipino writers turned
to the Filipino language when writing which led to the rising of Filipino literature.

d. Contemporary Literature- literary experiments and innovations were created due to some
technological advancement like Textula of Frank Rivera. The major issue that surfaced in this era is
on how socio-political factors affect the emergence of “regionalistic literature” and “Literature of the
Imperial Manila”.

Many authorities vary when it comes to how the literary periods should be divided, but one thing
is in common, they were arranged based on certain features (e.g. time, authors, and genres). Our
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Philippine literary history shows the massive changes that our regional and national literature has to
go through. Moreover, beyond the literary history is how our country, our people, and our culture have
developed as reflected on our literature.

To achieve these goals, certain points were taken into account.

A. Graphic Timeline/Infographic Timeline- by doing this activity, you get to see the overall picture
on how our literature develops starting from the Pre-Colonial Era down to the Contemporary/21st
Century Literature. It also develops your multimedia literacy skills on how would you present the
development of the country’s literary history that is both informative and creative.

B. Literary Trivia- by doing this activity, you get to share to your friends or to your sphere of influence
on the significant developments of our own literary history. You get to provide them interesting
facts about a certain author, a literary work of art, and anything that you have read related to this
topic that will promote literary awareness through the use of social media platforms.

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Tasks

After a thorough discussion and review on the literary history of the Philippines, you are asked to do the
following tasks:

Activity 6.1: Graphic Timeline/Timeline Infographic on the Literary History of the Country (20
points)

Directions: You will create a graphic timeline on the literary history of the Philippines. In this
task, you need to provide only the contribution of that era in the development of our literature.
The graphics that you will create will, therefore, be related on that contribution. See attached
Rubric in Canvas.

What is a Graphic Timeline or Timeline Infographic?

Timeline Infographic is one of the best ways to make complex information interesting and
easy to understand. It involves the use of “graphics” like pictures and with descriptions or
captions that serve as the explanation.

For more ideas on how to create Infographic Timeline, you may visit:
https://venngage.com/blog/how-to- create-a-timeline-infographic-in-6-steps/

Example of a Graphic Timeline:

Source: Google Photo

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Activity 6.2: Literary Trivia (10 points)

Directions: Post a trivia on any of the interesting facts you have learned about the literary
history of the Philippines either on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Be sure that your post is
set to Public or Friends. Then, take a screenshot of your post and upload it in our LMS. See
attached Rubric in Canvas.

Sample Post

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