'Philippine Literature In The Spanish Colonial Period Essay\r'

'The existing literary productions of the Filipino ethnic conclaves at the time of triumph and conversion into Christianity was mainly ad-lib, consisting of epics, legends, songs, riddles, and proverbs. The conquistador, especi exclusivelyy its ecclesiastic arm, destroyed some(prenominal) drop a line adjudges he could find, and hence rendered the corpse of piece inoperable. Among the solely inhering systems of written material that guide existd atomic phone number 18 the syllabaries of the Mindoro Mangyans and the Tagbanua of Palawan. The Spanish colonial strategy was to undermine the native oral tradition by substituting for it the hi written report of the be sack outd of Christ. Although Christ was by no substance war- kindred or sexu eithery attractive as many a(prenominal) of the heroes of the oral epic tradition, the invoke of the Jesus myth inhered in the sponsor’s superior magic: by promising eternal life for every iodine, he democratized t he power to rise above finish. It is to be emphasized, however, that the native tradition survived and even ostentationed in atomic number 18as inaccessible to the colonial power. Moreover, the tardiness and the miss of labor of the colonial administration in making a man genteelnessal system work meant the survival of oral tradition, or what was left- reach(a) of it, among the conquered tribes.\r\nThe church authorities take a policy of sp canvasing the church doctrines by communicating to the native (pejoratively cal direct Indio) in his own lyric poem. Doctrina Christiana (1593), the first book to be printed in the Philippines, was a prayerbook scripted in Spanish with an accompanying Tagalog translation. It was, however, for the unshargond use of the missionaries who invariably read them forte to the un garner Indio catechu mens (Medina), who were to rely mainly on their memory. except the task of translating spectral instructional materials obliged the Spanish missionaries to take a most practical step, that of employing native speakers as translators. Eventually, the native translator learned to read and write twain in Spanish and his native language. (Forms of Literature)This maturement marked the commencement ceremony of Indio literacy and thus spurred the creation of the first write literary native text by the native. These writers, called ladinos because of their fluency in both Spanish and Tagalog, receive their work, mainly devotional poetry, in the first decade of the 17th snow. Among the earlier writers of note were Francisco de San Jose and Francisco Bagongbata (Medina).\r\n entirely by remote the most gifted of these native poet-translators was Gaspar Aquino de Belen (Lumbera, p.14). Mahal Na Pasion ni Jesu Christo, a Tagalog poem found on Christ’s passion, was print in 1704. This long poem, original and homespun(p) in its rendition of a humanized, indeed, a nativized Jesus, is a milestone in the narrative of Philippine letters. Ironically †and perhaps dear because of its intumesce-grounded influence on the touristy mental imagery †as artifact it tag the beginning of the end of the old fab sociableization and a conversion to the saucy paradigm introduced by the colonial power. Until the nineteenth one C, the printing extractes were owned and managed by the religious orders. Thus, religious physical pieces dominated the culture of the Christianized majority. But the native oral written materials, whether secular or mythico-religious continued. Even among the Christianized ethnic groups, the oral tradition persisted in much(prenominal) organizes as legends, sayings, conjugal union songs such(prenominal) as the balayan and parlor plain such as the duplo.\r\nIn the eighteenth century, secular literature from Spain in the phase of medieval ballads inspired the native poetic-drama form called the komedya, later to be called moro-moro because these often dealt w ith the theme of Christians triumphing over Moslems. (Peronality) Jose de la Cruz (1746 †1829) was the inaugural office of the komedya during his time. A poet of prodigious output and graceful flair, de la Cruz marks a round point in that his elevated style distinguishes his work from folk idiom (as for instance, that of Gaspar Aquino de Belen). except his appeal to the non-literate was universal. The favouriteity of the dramatic form, of which he was a operate, was receivable to it creation experienced as performance both by the lettered minority and the illiterate but rightfully appreciative majority. Francisco Baltazar (1788 †1862), popularly called Balagtas, is the acknowledged chieftain of traditional Tagalog poetry. Of peasant origins, he left his hometown in Bigaa, Bulacan for Manila, with a strong last to improve his lot finished education. To co-occurrence his studies, he worked as a interior(prenominal) servant in Tondo.\r\nHe steeped him self i n classical studies in cultivates of p rest streamige in the capital. Great social and governmental changes in the world worked together to make Balagtas’ life baloney as poet possible. The industrial mutation had ca utilize a big(p) movement of commerce in the globe, creating wealth and the opportunity for material return in the life of the working classes. With these great material changes, social values were trans create, allowing great social mobility. In short, he was a child of the global bourgeois conversion. all-encompassing ideas, in time, broke class †and, in the Philippines †even racial barriers (Medina). The word Filipino, which used to refer to a restricted group (i.e., Spaniards born in the Philippines) expanded to implicate not only the acculturated tight Chinese mestizo but also the acculturated Indio (Medina). Balagtas was one of the first Indios to flex a Filipino. But the crucial element in Balagtas’ unique(p) genius is that, being caught between two cultures (the native and the colonial/classical), he could surpass codes (or was perceived by his compatriot audience to be switching codes), provide insight and breeding to his oppressed compatriots in the very style and guise of a tradition provided him by a foreign (and oppressive) culture.\r\nHis narrative poem Florante at Laura written in terrific Tagalog, is most tyranny in Albanya, but it is also perceived to be about tyranny in his Filipino homeland (Lumbera). Despite the foreign influence, however, he remained legitimate to his native traditions. His poetise bumps were performed to the motley crowd. His poems were birdsong by the literate for the benefit of the unlettered. The mensurable regularity and rhyme performed their age-old mnemotechnical function, despite and because of the world of printing. Printing overtook tradition. The printed page, by itself, became the mnemonic device, the stage bent-grass for the development of pros e. The first Filipino bracing was Ninay, written in Spanish by Pedro Paterno, a Philippine-bornilustrado (Medina p. 93). Following the sentimental style of his first book Sampaguitas (a show of poems in Spanish), the novel endeavored to high motiveless the endearingly unique qualities of Filipinos. unfreeze Hero Jose Rizal (1861 †1896) chose the realistic novel as his medium. Choosing Spanish over Tagalog meant challenging the oppressors on the latter’s own turf.\r\nBy constitution in prose, Rizal also scale down his ties with the Balagtas tradition of the figurative indirection which veiled the hypothetical(p) subversiveness of many writings at that time. Rizal’s two novels, the Noli Me Tangere and its sequel El Filibusterismo, chronicle the life and ultimate death of Ibarra, a Filipino educated abroad, who attempts to revitalize his artless through and through education. At the closure of the Noli, his efforts end in near-death and exile from his cou ntry. In the Filibusterismo, he returns afterward reinventing himself as Simoun, the wealthy jeweler, and hastens social decay by tho corrupting the social fabric work the oppressed react furiously to get down the system. But the insurrection is foiled and Simoun suffers a violent death. In a sense, Rizal’s novels and patriotic poems were the inevitable conclusion to the social movement for unaffixed reforms known as the Propaganda Movement, waged by Graciano Lopez Jaena, and M.H. del Pilar.\r\nThe two novels so vividly re impart corruption and oppression that despite the lack of any clear advocacy, they served to instill the credence that there could be no effect to the social ills but a violent one. Following closely on the failed crusader movement, and on Rizal’s novels, was the Philippine revolution headed by Andres Bonifacio (1863 †1897). His closest aide, the college-bred Emilio Jacinto (1875 †1899), was the revolutionary fundamental law†™s ideologue. Both were admirers of Rizal, and like Rizal, both were writers and social critics profoundly influenced by the liberal ideas of the French enlightenment, about human dignity. Bonifacio’s most important work are his poems, the most well-known being Pag-Ibig Sa Tinubuang Lupa.\r\nJacinto wrote political quizs expressed in the language of the folk. Significantly, although each writer could necessitate written in Spanish (Bonifacio, for instance, wrote a Tagalog translation of Rizal’s Ultimo Adios), both chose to communicate to their fellowmen in their own native language. The figure of Rizal dominates Philippine literature until the present day. Liberalism led to education of the native and the ascendancy of Spanish. But Spanish was undermined by the very ideas of liberation that it helped spread, and its diminish led to nativism and a renaissance of literature in the native languages. The turn of the century witnessed not only the Philippine revolutio n but a quieter though no less real outbreak. The educated women of the diaphragm produced significant poetry. Gregoria de Jesus, wife of Andres Bonifacio, wrote notable Tagalog poetry. Meanwhile, in Vigan of the Ilocano North, Leona Florentino, by her poetry, became the foremost Ilocano writer of her time.\r\nPhilippine literary production during the the Statesn closure in the Philippines was spurred by two significant developments in education and culture. One is the introduction of free public instruction for all children of school age and two, the use of face as medium of instruction in all levels of education in public schools. Free public education make knowledge and information accessible to a greater number of Filipinos. Those who availed of this education through college were able to improve their social spot and joined a dependable number of educated masses who became part of the country’s middle class.\r\nThe use of position as medium of instruction introduc ed Filipinos to Anglo-American modes of thought, culture and life ways that would be infix not only in the literature produced but also in the person of the country’s educated class. It was this educated class that would be the wellspring of a vibrant Philippine Literature in side of meat. Philippine literature in slope, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not escape being imitative of American models of writing especially during its item of apprenticeship. The poetry written by too soon poets manifested studied attempts at versification as in the following poem which is cogent evidence of the poet’s rather elementary lick in the English language: pass days at last are here,\r\nAnd we have time for fun so dear,\r\nAll boys and girls do gladly cheer,\r\nThis welcomed conciliate of the year.\r\nIn early June in school we’ll meet;\r\nA harder task shall we fill in\r\nAnd if we fail we must repeat\r\nThat self said(prenomina l) task without retreat.\r\nWe simply rest to come again\r\nTo school where boys and girls concord\r\nThe Creator’s gift to men\r\nWhose sanguine hopes in us remain.\r\n spend means a time for play\r\nFor young and old in wickedness and day\r\nMy wish for all is to be gay,\r\nAnd evil none lead you widely\r\n†Juan F. Salazar Philippines Free Press, May 9, 1909\r\nThe poem was anthologized in the first collection of poetry in English, Filipino meter, edit by Rodolfo Dato (1909 †1924). Among the poets have in this anthology were Proceso Sebastian Maximo Kalaw, Fernando invalidateamag, Leopoldo Uichanco, Jose Ledesma, Vicente Callao, Santiago Sevilla, Bernardo Garcia, Francisco Africa, Pablo Anzures, Carlos P. Romulo, Francisco Tonogbanua, Juan Pastrana, female horse Agoncillo, Paz Marquez Benitez, Luis Dato and many separates. An some other anthology, The English German Anthology of Poets edited by Pablo Laslo was promulgated and covered poets print from 1924- 1934 among whom were Teofilo D. Agcaoili, Aurelio Alvero, Horacio de la Costa, Amador T. Daguio, Salvador P. Lopez, Angela Manalang Gloria, Trinidad Tarrosa, Abelardo Subido and Jose Garcia Villa, among others. A third pre-war collection of poetry was edited by Carlos Bulosan, chorus line for America: Six Philippine Poets. The vi poets in this collection were Jose Garcia Villa, Rafael Zulueta da Costa, Rodrigo T. Feria, C.B. Rigor, Cecilio Baroga and Carlos Bulosan.\r\nIn assembly, the issue of apprenticeship in literary writing in English is marked by imitation of the style of story congress and strict adhesion to the craft of the short story as practiced by popular American fictionists. Early short story writers in English were often dubbed as the Andersons or Saroyans or the Hemingways of Philippine letters. Leopoldo Yabes in his take up of the Philippine short story in English from 1925 to 1955 points to these models of American fiction practiseing profound influence on th e early writings of story writers like Francisco Arcellana, A.E. Litiatco, Paz Latorena. . When the University of the Philippines was founded in 1908, an elite group of writers in English began to exert influence among the culturati. The U.P. Writers Club founded in 1926, had utter that one of its aims was to enhance and propagate the â€Å"language of Shakespeare.” In 1925, Paz Marquez Benitez short story, â€Å"Dead Stars” was published and was made the landmark of the maturity of the Filipino writer in English. Soon after Benitez, short story writers began publishing stories no longer imitative of American models.\r\nThus, story writers like Icasiano Calalang, A.E. Litiatco, Arturo Rotor, Lydia Villanueva, Paz Latorena , Manuel Arguilla began publishing stories manifesting both good use of the language and a incisive Filipino sensibility. This combination of writing in a borrowed tongue while inhabitation on Filipino tradition and traditions earmarked the lite rary output of major Filipino fictionists in English during the American period. Thus, the major novels of the period, such as the Filipino Rebel, by Maximo Kalaw, and His congenital Soil by Juan C. Laya, are chats on cultural identity, nationhood and being Filipino do in the English language. Stories such as â€Å"How My Brother Leon Brought Home a married woman” by Manuel Arguilla scanned the scenery as well as the folkways of Ilocandia while N.V. M. Gonzales’s novels and stories such as â€Å"Children of the Ash Covered Loam,” present the panorama of Mindoro, in all its customs and traditions while configuring its characters in the human dilemma of nostalgia and poverty.\r\nApart from Arguilla and Gonzales, noted fictionists during the period include Francisco Arcellana, whom Jose Garcia Villa lauded as a â€Å"genius” storyteller, Consorcio Borje, Aida Rivera, Conrado Pedroche, Amador Daguio, Sinai Hamada, Hernando Ocampo, Fernando Maria Guerrero. Jose Garcia Villa himself wrote several short stories but use most of his time to poetry. In 1936, when the Philippine Writers League was organized, Filipino writers in English began discussing the value of literature in society. Initiated and led by Salvador P. Lopez, whose seeks on Literature and order provoked meditates, the intervention centered on proletarian literature, i.e., engaged or pull literature versus the art for art’s sake literary orientation. But this countersign curiously left out the issue of colonialism and colonial literature and the whole military position of literary writing in English under a colonial set-up that was the Philippines then. With Salvador P. Lopez, the essay in English gained the upper hand in day to day discourse on politics and governance.\r\nPolemicists who used to write in Spanish like Claro M. Recto, late started using English in the discussion of current events even as publisher dailies moved away from Spanish describe i nto English. Among the essayists, Federico Mangahas had an easy facility with the language and the essay as genre. Other noted essayists during the period were Fernando Maramag, Carlos P. Romulo , Conrado Ramirez. On the other hand, the flowering of a vibrant literary tradition due to historical events did not altogether trammel net literary production in the native or indigenous languages. In fact, the early period of the twentieth century was remarkable for the significant literary output of all major languages in the miscellaneous literary genre. (Forms Of lit) It was during the early American period that uncontrollable plays, using the form of the zarsuwela, were mounted. Zarsuwelistas Juan Abad, Aurelio Tolentino ,Juan Matapang Cruz. Juan Crisostomo Sotto mounted the classics like Tanikalang Ginto, Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas and Hindi Ako Patay, all enjoin against the American imperialists.\r\nPatricio Mariano’s Anak ng Dagat and Severino Reyes’s Walang Sugat a re equally remarkable zarsuwelas arranged during the period. On the eve of World struggle II, Wilfredo Maria Guerrero would gain dominance in theatre through his one-act plays which he toured through his â€Å"mobile theatre”. Thus, Wanted a Chaperone and The Forsaken House became very popular in campuses throughout the archipelago. The novel in Tagalog, Iloko, Hiligaynon and Sugbuanon also developed during the period support largely by the steady payoff of weekly magazines like the Liwayway, Bannawag and Bisaya which serialized the novels. Among the early Tagalog novelists of the 20th century were shipwreck survivor Amado, Valeriano Hernandez Peña, Faustino Aguilar, Lope K. Santos and Lazaro Francisco. Ishmael Amado’s Bulalakaw ng Pag-asa published in 1909 was one of the earliest novels that dealt with the theme of American imperialism in the Philippines.\r\nThe novel, however, was not released from the printing press until 1916, at which time, the author, by h is own portal and after having been sent as a pensionado to the U.S., had other ideas apart from those he wrote in the novel. Valeriano Hernandez Peña’s Nena at Neneng narrates the story of two women who happened to be best of friends as they cope with their relationships with the men in their lives. Nena succeeds in her married life while Neneng suffers from a stormy marriage because of her jealous husband. Faustino Aguilar published Pinaglahuan, a love triangle set in the early years of the century when the histrion’s movement was being formed. The novel’s hero, Luis Gatbuhay, is a worker in a printery who isimprisoned for a phony accusation and loses his love, Danding, to his rival Rojalde, son of a wealthy capitalist. Lope K. Santos, Banaag at Sikat has almost the same theme and motif as the hero of the novel, Delfin, also falls in love with a rich woman, girlfriend of a wealthy landlord. The love story of course is set also in spite of appearance th e background of development of the worker’s trade union movement and throughout the novel, Santos engages the readers in lengthy treatises and discourses on socialism and capitalism.\r\nMany other Tagalog novelists wrote on variations of the same theme, i.e., the interplay of fate, love and social justice. Among these writers are Inigo Ed Regalado, Roman Reyes, Fausto J. Galauran, Susana de Guzman, Rosario de Guzman-Lingat, Lazaro Francisco, Hilaria Labog, Rosalia Aguinaldo, Amado V. Hernandez. Many of these writers were able to produce three or more novels as Soledad Reyes would bear out in her book which is the result of her dissertation, Ang Nobelang Tagalog (1979). Among the Iloko writers, noted novelists were Leon Pichay, who was also the country’s poet laureate then, Hermogenes Belen, and Mena Pecson Crisologo whose Mining wenno Ayat ti Kararwa is considered to be the Iloko version of a Noli me Tangere. In the Visayas, Magdalena Jalandoni and Ramon Muzones woul d lead most writers in writing the novels that dwelt on the themes of love, courtship, life in the farmlands, and other social upheavals of the period. Marcel Navarra wrote stories and novels in Sugbuhanon. Poetry in all languages continued to flourish in all regions of the country during the American period. The Tagalogs, hailing Francisco F. Balagtas as the nation’s foremost poet invented the balagtasan in his honor.\r\nThebalagtasan is a debate in verse, a poetical joust through with(p) almost spontaneously between protagonists who debate over the pros and cons of an issue. The first balagtasan was held in show 1924 at the Instituto de Mujeres, with Jose Corazon de Jesus and Florentino Collantes as rivals, bubuyog (bee) and paru-paro (butterfly) aiming for the love of kampupot (jasmine). It was during this balagtasan that Jose Corazon de Jesus, known as Huseng Batute, emerged triumphant to become the first king of the Balagtasan. Jose Corazon de Jesus was the finest cut across of the genre. He was later followed by balagtasistas, Emilio Mar Antonio and Crescenciano Marquez, who also became King of the Balagtasan in their own time. As Huseng Batute, de Jesus also produced the finest poems and lyrics during the period. His debates with Amado V. Hernandez on the political issue of independence from America and nationhood were mostly done in verse and are testament to the vitality of Tagalog poetry during the era.\r\nLope K. Santos, epic poem, Ang Panggingera is also create of how poets of the period have come to master the language to be able to ingeminate it into effective poetry. The balagtasan would be echoed as a poetical fiesta and would be duplicated in the Ilocos as thebukanegan, in honor of Pedro Bukaneg, the supposed transcriber of the epic, Biag ni Lam-ang; and theCrissottan, in Pampanga, in honor of the esteemed poet of the Pampango, Juan Crisostomo Sotto. In 1932, Alejandro G. Abadilla , gird with new criticism and an orientation on mo dernist poetry would taunt traditional Tagalog poetics with the event of his poem, â€Å"Ako ang Daigdig.” Abadilla’s poetry began the era of modernism in Tagalog poetry, a departure from the traditional rhymed, measured and orally recited poems. Modernist poetry which employ free or blank verses was think more for silent reading than oral delivery. Noted poets in Tagalog during the American period were Julian Cruz Balmaceda, Florentino Collantes, Pedro Gatmaitan, Jose Corazon de Jesus, Benigno Ramos, Inigo Ed. Regalado, Ildefonso Santos, Lope K. Santos, Aniceto Silvestre, Emilio Mar. Antonio , Alejandro Abadilla and Teodoro Agoncillo.\r\nLike the writers in English who formed themselves into organizations, Tagalog writers also formed the Ilaw at Panitik, and held discussions and workshops on the value of literature in society. Benigno Ramos, was one of the most politicized poets of the period as he aligned himself with the peasants of the Sakdal Movement. assembl y in Tagalog as well as in the other languages of the regions developed on base the novel. Most fictionists are also novelists. Brigido Batungbakal , Macario Pineda and other writers chose to dwell on the vicissitudes of life in a changing rural landscape. Deogracias Del Rosario on the other hand, chose the city and the emerging social elite as subjects of his stories.\r\nHe is considered the convey of the modern short story in Tagalog Among the more popular fictionists who emerged during the period are two women writers, Liwayway Arceo and Genoveva Edroza Matute, considered forerunners in the use of â€Å"light” fiction, a kind of story telling that uses language through poignant rendition. Genoveva Edroza Matute’s â€Å"Ako’y Isang Tinig” and Liwayway Arceo’s â€Å"Uhaw ang Tigang na Lupa” have been used as models of fine writing in Filipino by teachers of composition throughout the school system.\r\nTeodoro Agoncillo’s anthology 25 Pinakamahusay na Maiikling Kuwento (1945) included the foremost writers of fiction in the pre-war era. The separate, yet parallel developments of Philippine literature in English and those in Tagalog and other languages of the archipelago during the American period only prove that literature and writing in whatever language and in whatever climate are able to survive mainly through the active imagination of writers. Apparently, what was lacking during the period was for the writers in the various languages to come together, share experiences and come to a conclusion on the elements that constitute good writing in the Philippines.\r\n'