PHILIPPINE

LITERATURE UNDER
U.S.
COLONIALISM
GROUP 5

Leader: Gardoce, Claudette Nicole Members:

Lapiz, Niño Jay

Segismundo, Rowell

Alvarez, Sweetzel

Dimayuga, Rio Jaena

Pasahol, Gladys Joy

Torres, Angelika
PHILIPPINE LITERATURE UNDER U.S. COLONIALISM

U. S. Colonialism

1898 – 1945
Philippine literacy production during the American period in the Philippines was spurred
by two significant developments in education and culture.

1. Introduction of free public instruction for all children of school age.

2. The use of English as a medium

THEIR LITERATURE WAS CHARACTERIZED BY;

• Nationalism
• Freedom of speech
• Experience
• Search for and use of a new medium.

PHILIPPINE LITERATURE IN ENGLISH IS DIVIDED INTO THREE TIME FRAMES:

a.The Period of Re – orientation: 1898 – 1910

b.The Period of Imitation: 1910 – 1925

c.The Period of Self – Discovery: 1925 – 1941

A. The Period of Re – orientation: 1898 – 1910

English as a literary vehicle came with the American occupation on August 13, 1898 and
by 1900, English became the medium of instruction in public schools.

Writers of this period were still adjusting to the newfound freedom different from the
Spanish regime where thoughts and speech were suppressed. They were also adjusting in the
use of the new language and to the standards of the English literary style.

B. The Period of Imitation: 1910 – 1925

Writers in this period made their way into imitating the American and British’s way of
writing that resulted in rigid and unnatural styles that lack vitality and spontaneity.

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
C. The period of Self – Discovery: 1925 – 1941

By this time, Filipino writers had acquired the mastery of English writing. They now
confidently and competently wrote on a lot of subjects although the old – time favorites of love
and youth persisted.

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 https://prezi.com/ujr0i5_p-
rby/philippine-literature-under-american-
regime/

3 TYPES OF WRITERS DURING THE US REGIME

1. Spanish writers wrote about nationalism.

2. Tagalog writers wrote about their lamentations on the conditions of the country and their
attempts to arouse love for one’s native tongue.
3. English writers imitated the themes and methods of the Americans.
Literature started to be felt in the following Newspaper;

• EL NUEVA DIA (THE NEW DAY) Established by Sergio Osmeña in 1900 The American
censors banned this twice and threatened Osmeña with banishment because of his
nationalistic writings.
• EL GRITO DEL PUEBLO (The Call of the Nation) Established by Pascual Poblete in 1900
was a pro-labor and radical nationalist newspaper advocates independence under the
protection of the United States.  EL RENACIMIENTO (The Rebirth) Founded by Rafael
Palma in 1901.
In 1910, a new group started to write in English. Hence, Spanish, Tagalog, the Vernaculars
and finally English, were the mediums used in literature during these times.

Writers during the American Period drew ideas from the Propaganda Movement and the
Revolutionary Movement to encourage the Filipinos to continue to fight against the U.S.
Colonialism. The demand for independence was supported by a campaign to make the
Americans aware of the Filipino culture. Some writers who use the Spanish language began to
shift to the American language for the fact that a larger population can now comprehend the
said language. It is a fact that Filipinos during the Spanish period were not given the chance to
learn the language, resulting in a very small population of people capable of understanding the
literary works.
The combination of the foreign language and the culture of a Filipino enabled fictionists
to produce great literary works. The public can now relate to the story because the public also
experiences what the story has to say and they can now understand the language being used
by the writer

Short stories in English of early Filipino fictionists are marked with American style. This
all changed with the founding of the U. P. Writers
Club in 1926 whose aim was to enhance and propagate the "language of Shakespeare."

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.

FILIPINO WRITERS UNDER U.S. COLONIALISM

KON
(IF)
Gardeopatra Quijano
Translated by Don Pagusara

If I had only wings,

I flies over the air,
I love them sobbing,
Enjoy, I will sing; I will look for
the mourning,
They will restore the cause.
If I just like fish,
I will scatter the black sea,
I will look for the pearl, All I
have good looks
I'll take it to the ground
To replace the new situation.
If only me hopefully the water,
I will destroy the shores;
I will free my cold,
And I will crush the young;
I will shake the mountain steeply To
impose new conditions.
If only me hopefully the day,
I will not cover the dark clouds
I will shave my ray,
I'll give it all nice
When you are all happy Sing,
happy, smiling!
And if it's me hopefully the wind,
Or, I will enjoy the flowers,
I will decorate everywhere
The petals that fall,
Perhaps there is a fragrance left.
The poets will be followed.

WRITER:
Dr. Gardeopatra G. Quijano is Cebu’s precious woman writer. She was born in
Alcantara, Cebu on April 27, 1918. She is better known as Inday Garding, Flora Burgos and
Gerardo Largavista. She is the daughter of Segundina Gador and Juan Quijano, an Aglipayan
bishop and an important figure in Cebu letters She is considered to be the first and only
feminist fictionist in the Cebuano language. She has published more than 150 stories and two
novels. She also won two first prizes from Bisaya for her short stories. she was also an ardent
advocate of women's rights on the issue of women's suffrage
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php/Gardeopatra_B._Quijano

To The National Hero

By Cecilio Apostol
Trans.by Alfredo S. Veloso

Immortal hero! Legendary colossus!

Emerge from the ossuary's abyss
Where you sleep the slumber of glory.
Come: our love that your memory inflames, calls you
from the shadowy eternity to crown with flowers
your memory.

This is the date, the funeral day, in which

the bloody tyrant
made you suffer the last torment,
as if, in breaking the earthen amphora,
the essence that in the amphora is enclosed would not
impregnate the wind.

Midday, clarity bewildering and

triumphant, chaste, brilliant
nudity, image of the truth!
Your intense transparence all
penumbra exiles.
Without the potency that your volcano encloses, oh
midday,
to the abyss would roll,
lifeless heavenly body, the earth.

Fulgent and ardent hour during

which the sun's bonfire
diffuses around the atmosphere
the breath from the crucible.

The whole earth feels transfixed in

flames;
around the fertile countryside strong winds
howl,
and trunks and branches
and affective elixir make.

Midday, exaltation of the

creative power to your
inspiring light
imagination burns.
How many select productions of
brilliant permanence,
that in art and in science
the human mind engendered, carry the
refulgent stamp
of your ardor and predominance!

In the uncertain hours, while

anxious people struggle to reach the
happy
repose of the last summit,
infuse in them with your learning serene
intensity
and the essential propriety
of your inherent energy, oh
divine Midday,
plenitude and clarity!

WRITER;

Cecilio Apóstol was a Filipino poet and poet laureate.His poems were once used to teach the
Spanish language under the Republic Act No. 1881.Apóstol wrote in English and Spanish, and
composed poems that demonstrated his mastery of Spanish. He composed the poem Al Heroe
Nacional (To the National Hero) which is dedicated to José Rizal. In the book of poems,
Pentélicas, he described landscapes evoking a vivid image. He died in Caloocan, Rizal.

Manuel, E. Arsenio. Dictionary of Philippine Biography Volume 3. Quezon City:

FilipinianaPublications, 1986.Zaide, Gregorio F. Great Filipinos in History. Manila:
Verde Bookstore, 1970.

Though You Tell Me Not

By: Evangeline Guerero
Translated by: Alfredo S. Veloso

I know you love me, though you tell me not, I know you hold me captive for always In the
strong nets of your life, Celestial thurible of a perennial dream.

Though you tell me not that without me You cannot live, My desire tells me ‘tis all true: That
many sad flowers girdle your forehead If when depressed, you think of an Awakening.

What shall I tell you? I look at you… and I am silent. Well do you comprehend now my deep
Silence. The star turned flower in the distant sky Contemplates its shadow on the waters
Without fear.

Let my sorrow on your breast repose, Like a weary traveling dove. Beneath the tepid shade of
the tranquil Orchard Let us the kind caress of peace enjoy.

May repose be a song, a serenade, While in the hour serene we baste The ripened dreams of
past epochs That with effluvium fill our old souls.

Though you tell me not you think of me, That all of me in your heart you keep, Return to
remembrance shall I and finding You, Though you tell me not I shall know that It is love!

WRITER;

Evangelina Guerrero was a poet, journalist in the Spanish language. She was the eldest
daughter of the "Prince of Filipino lyric poetry .She was borin in Quiapo, Manila on 29 May
1904. She was educated at the Escuela Catolica de Nuestra Señora de Guia and at the Centro
Escolar de Señoritas She refused the invitation to be the first woman to be a member of the
Academia Filipina because of health and modesty issues. She instead continued her work as a
journalist. In 1947 she was elected to the Academia Filipina. She died tragically young at 45 on
11 May 1949.

Brillantes, Lourdes. 81 Years of Premio Zobel: A Legacy of Philippine Literature in Spanish.

Philippines:Filipinas Heritage Library, 2006.

An Arm's Length Piece of the Sky

BY; Amado V. Herdandez

I am held by an evil leader seeking to cage

my thoughts,
a body weak, he says, is surrender,
emotions suppressed, advocacy hindered.

I am kept in a cruel place: rock, steel, bullets,

ferocious guards; isolated from the world
alive, treated as dead.

From the little window, my sole consolation is an arm's

length piece of the sky, full of tears, a paltry handkerchip
to dress a wounded heart, flag of my misfortune.

Sharp as lightning are the guards' eyes, at the gates,

with keys, no one can go near; the scream from a
nearby cell
resembles a cave animal's howl.

Days pass like a chain dragged along

by bloody feet,
the nights are a blanket of sorrow in the
coffin-like realm of the jail.

Sometimes, quiet footsteps pass,

with a line ofrattling, clinking chains;
to the pale sun momentarily exposed, a
thousand shadows escape.

Sometimes, the night is awakened by an

alarm - an escapee! - gunfire!
sometimes the old bell cries,
at the execution den, someone lies dying.

And this is my only world nowthe prison

house, a graveyard of the living; ten, twenty, and all
of my years my whole life will be here.

But a resolute mind knows not fear nor agony and hope still
springs in my heart:
imprisonment is part of the struggle, jail, the fate
of the embattled.
Man and God do not sleep the
unfortunate won't stay oppressed, tyranny has
a price to pay,
while a Bastille exists, people will resist.

And tomorrow, in this very place, I will see an arm's

length piece of the sky with no more tears, the golden sun of
victory will shine...
free, freedom I'll embrace!

WRITER:

Amado V. Herdandez Called as Makata ng mga Manggawa (Poet of the Laborers). His
poems portrays intense love for the poor worker or laborer. His contributions to
literature are Isang Dipang Langit (An Arm's Length Piece of the Sky); Bayang Malaya (A
Free Nation); Munting Lupa (A Small Plot), and, Ang Panday (The Blacksmith), his
masterpiece. http://ncca.gov.ph/subcommissions/subcommission-on-the-arts-
sca/literaryarts/philippine-literature-during-the-american-period/

THE SHORT STORY ALSO FLOURISHED DURING THE U.S. COLONIALISM.

Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez Summary:

Dead stars is a short story by Paz Marquez Benitez, written in 1925. The story is
basically a compilation of the complicated circumstances that every man has to go
through in life. Alfredo was torn between doing what is right and what is in his heart.
Alfredo Salazar is a lawyer and the main character in the story. He is the love of the life
of Esperanza. They have been together for four years and meant to get married in May.
Their relationship in the beginning was full of enthusiasm, full of love and happiness. But
like other long term relationships, their feelings for each other changes as time goes by.
Esperanza was beautiful, elegant, reserved, and distinctly not average type of a woman.
She loves her Alfredo so much and trusted him with her whole heart. After their four
years of engagement, Alfredo thought of finding his real wants. When Alfredo tried to
do some neighboring with his dad Don Julian, he met Julia Salas, their neighbor's sister-
inlaw. She was just a visitor in town and been there for only six weeks. They found good
company between themselves and as they knew it, it became a weekly habit for Alfredo
to visit her after every Sundays mass. Julia is the average type, not so beautiful but still it
interests Alfredo so much. As they grew their new friendship, Alfredo found new
happiness and starts to fall for her.

One day, his family invited Julia's family in their coconut plantation near their
beach. It's a chance for them to have some quality time together, but this is also the
time to say goodbye. Julia is planning to leave the town and go back home. It breaks the
heart of Alfredo and made him more confused than ever. He is thinking of choosing Julia
over his fiancée Esperanza, but what people will say is what he thinks matter most. He
married Esperanza after Julia left the town, he was not unhappy and realizes that
everything have fallen back into place. After eight years of marriage, Alfredo still can't
get over Julia's memories. His thought of Julia is hunting him, and those what-ifs
dilemma. Alfredo goes for a business trip to the town where Julia lived. While he is
there, Alfredo runs across Julia. He has never forgotten about his feelings for her, but
over time, he has come to accept his marriage to Esperanza. Alfredo finds that the
feelings he had for Julia are gone. He is content with his life, and the perceived love he
had felt for Julia all those years was like the "light of dead stars, long extinguished, yet
seemingly still in their appointed places in the heavens."

WRITER:

Paz Marquez-Benitez, who authored the first Filipino modern Englishlanguage short
story "Dead Stars", was born in Lucena City,
Quezon.Benitez was among the first generation of Filipinos trained in the American
education system which used English as the medium of instruction.She taught at the
University of the Philippines’ English department from 1916 to 1951, acquiring a
reputation as an outstanding teacher.

http://rosemunoz.blogspot.com/2015/01/dead-stars-by-paz-marquezbenitez.html

The Gift of the Magi

By O.Henry SUMMARY:
This tender story is one of the famous titles in the short story genre is a must read.The story is
about a young couple and how they meet the challenge of buying each other a Christmas gifts
when they don’t have enough money.This sentimental tale has a moral lesson and is widely
enjoyed during Christmas and the holiday season.

WRITER:

O.Henry was born under the name William Sydney Parter in Greensboro IN 1862.This American
Short Story writer has a rich canon and his short short stories are well known throughout the
world;noted for their witticism,clever wordplay and unexpected twist endings.

https://americanliterature.com/author/o-henry/bio-books-storiesHE

FOOTNOTE TO YOUTH
BY: Jose Garcia Villa
SUMMARY:

It was a story of a boy who was only 17 when he decides to marry his love one. He was
dodong, and he love teang so much that he could not wait for the right age to settle down in a
relationship that is hard to escape. It's the "marriage". At the age of 17 dodong and teang got
married without thinking of the risk being in an uneasy part of life. They just follow what they
feel. They don't think what would happen in their future. They got a child. Teang realized how
hard being a young parent. Her regret of she had done and think, what would be my life if i
marry my other suitors instead of dodong? Can I have the same life as of now? She regrets so
much of!!
Until one day, when their son grow. He follows the footsteps of his parents.
He wants to marry also at the age of 17. He told his parents what his plans.
Dodong have nothing to do but explain how hard and how risky to be in "marriage "at the
young age. But like dodong before, his son also wants to pursue what he wants. The lesson we
can learn is that marriage can wait the right time, if we want to be in this stage of life, we must
prepare ourselves against the risk of it. I know we can all be in to it if we like too but not at the
young age.

WRITER:

Jose Garcia Villa was a Filipino poet, literary critic, short story writer, and painter. He
was awarded the National Artist of the Philippines title for literature in 1973, as well as the
Guggenheim Fellowship in creative writing by Conrad Aiken. He is known to have introduced
the "reversed consonance rhyme scheme" in writing poetry, as well as the extensive use of
punctuation marksespecially commas, which made him known as the Comma Poet. He used
the penname Doveglion(derived from
"Dove, Eagle, Lion"), based on the characters he derived from himself. These animals were also
explored by another poet E. E. Cummings in Doveglion, Adventures in Value, a poem dedicated
to Villa.
http://www.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_summary_of_the_Footnote_to_Youth_b
y_Jose_Garcia_Villa

“Al héroe nacional”

¡No llores de la tumba en el misterio
del español el triunfo momentáneo,
que si una bala destrozó tu cráneo
tu Idea, en cambio, destruyó un imperio!
“To the National Hero”
Weep not over the silence of your tomb
over the fleeting Spanish triumph
for if a bullet destroyed your cranium
your idea, in turn, destroyed an empire!
(1898)