Notes on Philippine Literature During the American Period

Philippine literary production during the American Period was spurred by developments in education and
culture. One is the introduction of free public instruction for all children of school age and two, the use of
English as medium of instruction in all levels of education in public schools.

The use of English as medium of instruction introduced Filipinos to Anlgo-American modes of thought, culture,
and life.

The educated class would be the wellspring of a vibrant Philippine literature in English.

Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not escape
being imitative of American models of writing especially during its period of apprenticeship.

In fiction, the period of apprenticeship in literary writing in English is marked by imitation of the style of
storytelling and strict adherence to the craft of the short story as practiced by popular American fictionist
(Anderson, Saroyan, Hemingway)

In 1925, Paz Marquez Benitez short story, "Dead Stars," was published and was made the landmark of the
maturity of the Philippine Writer in English. Soon after Benitez, short story writers began publishing stories no
longer imitative of American models.

The combination of writing in English while dwelling on Filipino customs and traditions earmarked the literary
output of major fictionist in English.

In 1936, 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 essay, “Literature and Society" won in the
Commonwealth Literary Awards. This essay posited that art must have substance and that poet Jose Garcia
Villa's adherence to "art for art's sake" is decadent.

The flowering of a literary tradition in English did not hamper the literary production in the native languages.
The early period of the 20th century was remarkable for the significant literary output of all major languages,

It was in the early American period that seditious plays, using the form of the zarsuwela (a Philippine version of
Spanish light operetta), were mounted.

Before the onset of WW II, Wilfredo Ma. Guerrero would gain dominance in theatre through his one-act plays,
which he toured through his "mobile theatre."
The novel in Tagalog, Iloko, Hiligaynon, and Sugbuanon also developed during the period aided largely by the
steady publication of weekly magazines like Liwayway, Bannawag, and Bisaya, which serialized the novels.

“Banaag at Sikat” or “From Early Dawn to Full Light” is one of the first literary novels written by Filipino author
Lope K. Santos in the Tagalog language in 1906. As a book that was considered as the "Bible of working class
Filipinos", the pages of the novel revolves around the life of Delfin, his love for a daughter of a rich landlord,
while Lope K. Santos also discusses the social issues such as socialism, capitalism, and the works of the
united associations of laborers.

Other Tagalog novelists wrote on variations of the same theme, the interplay of fate, love, and social justice.

Poetry in all languages continued to flourish. The Tagalogs, hailing Fransisco F. Balagtas as the nation's
foremost poet invented the Balagtasan in his honor. The Balagtasan is a debate in verse, a poetical joust done
almost spontaneously between protagonists who debate over the pros and cons of an issue.

The first balagtasan was held in April 6, 1924 at the Instituto de Mujeres. It was during this balagtasan that
Jose Corazon de Jesus, known Huseng Batute, emerged triumphant to become the first king of Balagtasan. As
Huseng Batute, de Jesus also produced the finest pomes and lyrics during the period.

The balagtasan would be duplicated in the Ilocos as the bukaneg, in honor of Pedro Bukaneg, the supposed
trascriber of Biag ni Lam-ang; and the Crissottan, in Pampanga, in honor of the esteemed poet of the
Pampango, Juan Crisostomo Sotto.

In 1932, Alejandro G. Abadilla with his poem, "Ako ang Daigdig" began the era of modernism in Tagalog
poetry. Modernist poetry, which utilized free or blank verses was intended more for silent reading than oral
delivery. 

http://linglithumanities.blogspot.com/2011/09/notes-on-philippine-literature-during.html
Philippine Literature during the American Period
Posted on April 14, 2015

DR. LILIA QUINDOZA-SANTIAGO

       Philippine literary production during the American Period 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 English as medium of instruction in all levels of education in public schools.

        Free public education made knowledge and information accessible to a greater number of Filipinos. Those who
availed of this education through college were able to improve their social status and joined a good number of educated
masses who became part of the country’s middle class.

        The use of English as medium of instruction introduced Filipinos to Anglo-American modes of thought, culture and
life ways that would be embedded not only in the literature produced but also in the psyche of the country’s educated
class. It was this educated class that would be the wellspring of a vibrant Philippine Literature in English.

        Philippine literature in English, as a direct result of American colonization of the country, could not escape being
imitative of American models of writing especially during its period of apprenticeship. The poetry written by early poets
manifested studied attempts at versification as in the following poem which is proof of the poet’s rather elementary
exercise in the English language:

Vacation days at last are here,

And we have time for fun so dear,
All boys and girls do gladly cheer,
This welcomed season of the year.
In early June in school we’ll meet;
A harder task shall we complete
And if we fail we must repeat
That self same task without retreat.
We simply rest to come again
To school where boys and girls obtain
The Creator’s gift to men
Whose sanguine hopes in us remain.
Vacation means a time for play
For young and old in night and day
My wish for all is to be gay,
And evil none lead you astray

                        – Juan F. Salazar   

Philippines Free Press, May 9, 1909

        The poem was anthologized in the first collection of poetry in English, Filipino Poetry, edited by Rodolfo Dato (1909
– 1924). Among the poets featured in this anthology were Proceso Sebastian Maximo Kalaw, Fernando Maramag,
Leopoldo Uichanco, Jose Ledesma, Vicente Callao, Santiago Sevilla, Bernardo Garcia, Francisco Africa, Pablo Anzures,
Carlos P. Romulo, Francisco Tonogbanua, Juan Pastrana, Maria Agoncillo, Paz Marquez Benitez, Luis Dato and many
others. Another anthology, The English German Anthology of Poetsedited by Pablo Laslo was published and covered
poets published 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 for America: Six Philippine Poets.
The six poets in this collection were Jose Garcia Villa, Rafael Zulueta da Costa, Rodrigo T. Feria, C.B. Rigor, Cecilio
Baroga and Carlos Bulosan.

        In fiction, the period of apprenticeship in literary writing in English is marked by imitation of the style of storytelling
and strict adherence 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
study of the Philippine short story in English from 1925 to 1955 points to these models of American fiction exerting
profound influence on the 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 stated that one of its aims was to enhance and
propagate the “language of Shakespeare.” In 1925, Paz Marquez Benitez short story, “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. Thus, story writers like Icasiano Calalang, A.E. Litiatco, Arturo
Rotor, Lydia Villanueva, Paz Latorena , Manuel Arguilla began publishing stories manifesting both skilled use of the
language and a keen Filipino sensibility.

        This combination of writing in a borrowed tongue while dwelling on Filipino customs and traditions earmarked the
literary 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 Native Soil by Juan C. Laya, are discourses on cultural identity,
nationhood and being Filipino done in the English language. Stories such as “How My Brother Leon Brought Home a
Wife” by Manuel Arguilla scanned the scenery as well as the folkways of Ilocandia while N.V. M. Gonzales’s novels and
stories such as “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. Apart from Arguilla and Gonzales, noted
fictionists during the period included Francisco Arcellana, whom Jose Garcia Villa lauded as a “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 devoted 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 essays on Literature and Societyprovoked debates,
the discussion centered on proletarian literature, i.e., engaged or committed literature versus the art for art’s sake literary
orientation. But this discussion curiously left out the issue of colonialism and colonial literature and the whole place 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. Polemicists who used to write in Spanish like Claro M. Recto, slowly started using English in the discussion
of current events even as newspaper dailies moved away from Spanish reporting into 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 hamper
literary production in the native or indigenous languages. In fact, the early period of the 20th century was remarkable for
the significant literary output of all major languages in the various literary genre.

        It was during the early American period that seditious 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 directed against the American imperialists.
Patricio Mariano’s Anak ng Dagat and Severino Reyes’s Walang Sugat are equally remarkable zarsuwelas staged
during the period.

        On the eve of World War II, Wilfredo Maria Guerrero would gain dominance in theatre through his one-act plays
which he toured through his “mobile theatre”. Thus, Wanted a Chaperone and The Forsaken Housebecame very
popular in campuses throughout the archipelago.

        The novel in Tagalog, Iloko, Hiligaynon and Sugbuanon also developed during the period aided largely by the steady
publication of weekly magazines like the Liwayway, Bannawag and Bisaya which serialized the novels.

        Among the early Tagalog novelists of the 20th century were Ishmael 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. The novel, however, was not released from the printing press until 1916, at
which time, the author, by his own admission 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 worker’s
movement was being formed. The novel’s hero, Luis Gatbuhay, is a worker in a printery who is imprisoned for a false
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, daughter of a
wealthy landlord. The love story of course is set also within the 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. Many 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 region’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 would 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. Thebalagtasan is a
debate in verse, a poetical joust done almost spontaneously between protagonists who debate over the pros and cons of
an issue.

        The first balagtasan was held in March 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 master 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. Lope K. Santos, epic poem, Ang Panggingera is also proof of
how poets of the period have come to master the language to be able to translate 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 , armed with new criticism and an orientation on modernist poetry would taunt
traditional Tagalog poetics with the publication of his poem, “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 utilized free or blank verses was intended 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.

        Like 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.

        Fiction in Tagalog as well as in the other languages of the regions developed alongside 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. He is considered the father 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 “light” fiction, a kind of story telling that uses language
through poignant rendition. Genoveva Edroza Matute’s “Ako’y Isang Tinig” and Liwayway Arceo’s “Uhaw ang Tigang
na Lupa” have been used as models of fine writing in Filipino by teachers of composition throughout the school system.

        Teodoro 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.

http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-sca/literary-arts/philippine-literature-during-the-american-period/
Ako ang Daigdig ni Alejandro Abadilla
I
ako
ang daigdig

ako
ang tula

ako
ang daigdig
ng tula
ang tula
ng daigdig

ako
ang walang maliw na ako
ang walang kamatayang ako
ang tula ng daigdig

II
ako
ang daigdig ng tula
ako
ang tula ng daigdig

ako ang malayang ako

matapat sa sarili
sa aking daigdig
ng tula

ako
ang tula
 sa daidig

ako
ang daigdig
ng tula
ako

III
ako
ang damdaming
malaya

ako
ang larawang
buhay

ako
ang buhay
na walang hanggan

ako
ang damdamin
ang larawan
ang buhay

damdamin
larawan
buhay
tula
ako

IV
ako
 ang daigdig
sa tula

ako
ang tula
sa daigdig

ako
ang daigdig

ako
ang tula

daigdig
tula
     ako....

Four Poems by José Garcia Villa

“In my desire to be Nude / I clothed myself in fire:— / Burned down

my walls, my roof / Burned all these down.”
José Garcia Villa was known as the “Pope of Greenwich Village” in 1940s New York City. A proponent of
experimentation and invention in poetry, the cerebral poet introduced the “reversed consonance”—when the last
sounded consonants of the last syllable are reversed for the corresponding rhyme, such as with near and run, and
light and tell—and a new poetic use of the comma, when a comma is placed to separate almost all the words in
a poem. He was interested in the relationship between the meaning of human life and the mystery of Creation,
and strove to find the I, to “reach that point where Man and God are in kinetic and heroic balance: where the
progression itself is the ordering and adhering into Identity.” The following are four poems from Garcia Villa’s
collection Anchored Angel: Selected Writings published by Kaya Press.

151

The, caprice, of, canteloupes, is, to, be,

Sweet, or, not, sweet,—

To, create, suspense. A return,

To, Greek, drama.
Their, dramaturgy, is, not, in, the, sweet,
Soil, but, in, the, eye,

Of, birds, the, pure, eye, that, decides,

To, bestow, or,

To, withold. Shall, I, be, sweet, or,

Not, sweet?—looking,

Up, at, your, face. Till, sudden:

I, will, be, sweet!

136

The, hands, on, the, piano, are, armless.

No, one, is, at, the, piano.
The, hands, begin, and, end, there.

There, no-one’s, hands, are, there:

Crystal, and, clear, upon, the, keys.
Playing, what, they, play.

Playing, what, they, are.

Playing, the, sound, of, Identity.
Yet, how, absurd, how, absurd, how, absurd!