The American Regime (1898-1941)  Walang Sugat by Severino Reyes

III. Characteristics of Literature During this Period

Historical Background
 There are 3 groups of writer contributed to the Philippine
 The American Revolutionist won against the Spaniards who colonized Literature:
o Literature in Spanish
us for more than 300 years.
o Literature in Filipino
 Philippine flag was hoisted on June 12, 1898
o Literature in English
 Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo elected the first President of the Philippines.
 During the 1st year of the American Period, the languages
 The Peace movements started as early as 1900. Filipino writers went
used in writing were Spanish Tagalog and the different
into all form of literatures news, reporting, poetry, stories, plays
Dialects of the different regions until in 1910 a new group
and essay, which depicted their love of country, and their longing
started to write in English.
for independence.
 Those 3 Groups of Writers from this period differed on their
I. Newspapers that was published during the American methods of reporting their literary pieces.
Period; o Writers from Spanish were used to write on
 El Nuevo Dia (The New Day) - Established by Sergio Nationalism like honoring Rizal and other heroes.
Osmeña (1900) THE American censors twice banned o Writers from Tagalog continued in their
this newspaper because of osmena nationalistic lamentation on the conditions of the country
writings and their attempts to arouse love for one’s native
 El Grito Del Pueblo (The Call of the Nation) – tongue.
Established by Pascual Poblete (1900) o Writers in English imitated the themes and the
 El Renacimiento (The Rebirth) – Founded by Rafael methods of the Americans.
Palma (1901)
A. Literature in Spanish
Filipino writers who were inspired to write in praise of Rizal;
 Cecilio Apostol
II. Plays during the American Regime Wrote poems dedicated to Rizal, Jacinto, Mabini, and
 Kahapon, Ngayon at Bukas (Yesterday, Today and other heroes.
Tomorrow) – This was written by Aurelio Tolentino. It To rizal poem
 Fernando Ma. Guerrero
depicted the suppressions done by the American and their He shared with Apostol the reigning the Balagtasan in
plan to colonize the Philippines. Spanish during their times. He also dedicated a poem to
 Tanikalang Ginto by Juan Abad
 Malaya by Tomas Remigio Rizal in June 19, 1901.

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 CRISALIDAS (Kind of black, wooly caterpillar) is the He was a good leader and biographer during the whole period of
collections of the best poems in a book of Fernando Ma. Spanish Literature

Guerrero. A CALL TO RIZAL 5. Pedro Aunario. He wrote the “Decalogo del

 Jesus Balmori (Batikuling)
Proteccionismo”
He is well-known for his pen-name Batikuling. He and
Manuel Bernabe participated in a debate on the topic
B. Philippine Literature in Filipino
“Remembrance and Forgetfulness”. He was elected

Poet Laureate in Spanish besting Manuel Bernabe.  FLORANTE AT LAURA of Francisco Balagtas and URBANA AT
 Manuel Bernabe FELISA of Modesto de Castro became the inspiration of the Tagalog
Bernabe is a lyric poet; the fierceness of his nationalistic
writers.
spirit was unchanged in any topic he wrote about. In his
Julian Cruz Balmaceda classified the three kinds of Tagalog poets.
debate with Balmori, he defended Olvido
They were:
(Forgetfulness)
1. Poets of the Hearts (Makatang Puso): These included Lope K.
 Claro M. Recto Santos, Inigo Ed. Regalado, Carlos Gatmaitan, Pedro Gatmaitan,
He collected his poems in a book entitled “Bajo Los Jose Corazon de Jesus, Cirilo H. Panganiban, Deogracias del
Cocoteros” Rosario, Ildefonso Santos, Amado V. Hernandez, Nemicio
(Coconut Tree) Carabana, and Mar Antonio.

Other Writers in Spanish: 2. Poets of life(Makata ng buhay): led by Lope K. Santos, Jose
Corazon de Jesus, Florantino Collantes, Patricio Mariano, Carlos
1. Adelina Guerrea
First woman poet in the Philippines who was good in Spanish, Gatmaitan and Amado V. Hernandez.

who also received Zobel Prize in her song El Nido (The Nest) 3. Poets of the Stage(Makata ng Tanghalan): led by Aurelio
Tolentino, Patrricio Mariano, Severino Reyes, and Tomas Remigio.
2. Isidro Marpori
Became famous for his four books entitled “Aromas de Short stories that started to appear in the columns of
Ensueno” (Scents of Dreams)  Pagsandaliang Libangan (Short-time Leisure)
 Dagli (Fast)
3. Macario Adriatico  Liwayway Publications
Who wrote the legend of Mindoro entitled “La Punta De Salto”
Here are the autobiographies of some of the writers mentioned:
(The Place of Origin)
o Lope K. Santos
4. Epifanio delos Santos

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 a novelist, poet and author, and grammarian covered three periods of and struggled to show the people the values one can get from
Tagalog literature – American, Japanese and Contemporary Period. He is the zarzuela and the simple plays.
known as the Father of the National Language Grammar and also
called the “Apo” of the Tagalog writers. BANAAG AT SIKAT was his Severino Reyes
masterpiece. Father of Tagalog Drama and author of the immortal
WALANG SUGAT.
 Jose Corazon de Jesus
Known as Huseng Batute and also called the Poet of Love in  Aurelio Tolentino
his time. Ang Isang Punong Kahoy (A Tree) , an elegy, is his The dramatist in whom the kapampangans take pride. Included
masterpiece. in his writings were LUHANG TAGALOG and KAHAPON, NGAYON
AT BUKAS.
 Amado V. Hernandez
Hernadez was dubbed Makata ng mga Mangagawa (Poet of  HermogenesIlagan
the Laborers) in our Literature because for the intense love for the Founded the group CampanaIlagan that presented many
poor workers or laborer. He contributed a lot of writings to literature dramas in central Luzon.
like:
 Patricio Mariano
 Isang Dipang Langit (A Stretch Of Heaven),
He wrote the novel NINAY and ANAK NG DAGAT (Son of
 Bayang Malaya (A Free Nation),
the Sea) his masterpiece.
 Ang Panday (The Blacksmith) And
 Munthing Lupa (A Small Plot),  Julian Cruz Balmaceda
 His Masterpiece is Ang Panday . He wrote the BUNGANGA NG PATING (Shark’s Mouth)

 Valeriano Hernandez Pena THE TAGALOG SHORT STORY

He was known as Tandang Anong and his pen name was
Kuntil Butil (Small Grain). He considers NENE AT NENENG his Two Tagalog stories were published during the American Period:
masterpiece.
 MGA KUWENTONG GINTO (Golden Stories) published in
 Inigo Ed. Regalado 1936
He was a son of popular writer during the Spanish time known  50 KUWENTONG GINTO ng BATIKANG KUWENTISTA ( 50
as Odalager. He reached the peak of his success by the “sumpong” Golden Stories 50 noted Storytellers) in 1939.
(whim) of his pen. He also became the popular story-teller, novelist o The first was written by Alejandro Abedilla and Clodualdo
and newspaperman. del Mundo that
contained the 25 best stories.
THE TAGALOG DRAMA o The second was
 During the advent of the American Period, Severino Reyes and written by Pedrito Reyes.
Hermogenes Ilagan started the movement against the moro-
moro (a play on the Spanish struggles against the Muslims)

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  PAROLANG GINTO (golden Lantern) and TALAANG She devoted her talent to the novel. She wrote ANG MGA
BUGHAW (Blue List) of Abadilla became the popular during this TUNIK SAN ISA CA BULACLAC.
period.
C. Philippine Literature in English
TAGALOG POETRY
The poetry writing is as old as History, poetry still surfaces with its In a way, we can say that we can trace the beginnings of the Philippine
sweetness, beauty and melody. literature in English with the comings of Americans. For this purpose, we can
divide this period into three time frames, namely:

OTHER Forms of Literature 1. The Period of Re-orientation: 1898-1910

1. Pedro Bukaneg 2. The Period of Imitation: 1910-1941
“Father of Ilocano Literature”. 3. The Period of Self-discovery: 1925-1941

2. Claro Caluya (1)The Period of Orientation (1898 – 1910)

“Prince of Ilocano Poets”.
Known as poet and novelist English as a literary vehicle came with the American occupation in
August 13, 1898 and as they say, a choice bestowed on us by history. By
3. Leon Pichay 1900, English came to be used as a medium of instruction in the public
Known as the best Bukanegero. Also poet, novelist, short story schools. From the American forces were recruited the first teachers of
writer, dramatist and essayist. English.

LITERATURE OF THE KAPAMPANGANS (PAMPANGO By 1908, the primary and intermediate grades were using English. It
LITERATURE) was also about this time when UP, the forerunner in the use of English in
higher education, was founded.
1. Juan Crisostomo Soto
“Father of Kapampangan” The word CRISOTAN (meaning Writers of this period were period were still adjusting to the newfound
balagtasan). freedom after the paralyzing effect of repression of thought and speech
under the Spanish regime. They were adjusting to the idea of democracy, to
2. Aurelio Tolentino the new phraseology of the English language and to the standards of English
He translated the KAHAPON, NGAYON AT BUKAS which he
literary style. Writers had to learn direct expression as conditioned of direct
called NAPON, NGENI AT BUKAS.
thinking. They had to learn that sentence constructions, sounds and speech
VISAYAN LITERATURE in English were not the same as in the vernacular. They had to discard
TOP MEN IN VISAYAN LITERATURE sentimentality and floridity of language for the more direct and precise
1. Eriberto Gumban English language.
“Father of Visayan Literature”. He wrote the Zarzuela, a
moro-moro and a play in Visayan. Not much was produced during this period and what literature was
produced was not much of literary worth. The first attempts in English were
2. Magdalena Jalandoni in two periodicals of this time:

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 (a) El Renacimiento: Founded in Manila by Rafael Palma in 1901 ESSAYS
(b) Philippines Free Press: established in Manila in 1905 by R.
McCullough Dick and D. Theo Rogers. The noted essayists of this time were: Carlos P. Romulo, Jorge C.
Bocobo, Mauro Mendez, and Vicente Hilario. Their essays were truly
scholarly characterized by sobriety, substance and structure. They excelled
In 1907, Justo Juliano’s SURSUM CORDA which appeared in in the series essay, especially the editorial type.
Renacimiento was the first work to be published in English.
The next group of writers introduced the informal essay, criticism and
In 1909, Jan F. Salazar’s MY MOTHER and AIR CASTLES were also the journalistic column. They spiced their work with humor, wit and satire.
published in this paper. These group included Ignacio Manlapaz, Godefredo Rivera, Frederico
Mangahas, Francisco B. Icasiano, Salvador P. Lopez, Jose Lansang and
(2)The Period of Imitation (1910 – 1924)
Amando G. Dayrit.
By 1919, the UP College Folio published the literary compositions of
SHORT STORIES
the first Filipino writers in English. They were the pioneers in short story
writing. They were then groping their way into imitating American and British In the field of short stories, DEAD STARS by Paz Marquez Benitez
models which resulted in a stilted, artificial and unnatural style, lacking written in the early 1920’s stand out as a model of perfection in character
vitality and spontaneity. Their models include Longfellow and delineation, local color, plot and message. Other short stories published
during this time were but poor imitations of their foreign models.
Hawthorne, Emerson and Thoreau, Wordsworth and Tennyson,
Thackeray and  The UP College Folio was later replaced by the Philippine
Macaulay, LongFellow, Allan Poe, Irving and other American writers of Collegian
the Romantic School.
 Newspapers and periodicals also saw print during this time like
o the Bulletin
Writers who pioneered in English poetry included: o the Philippines Herald (1920),
o the Philippine Review
 Fernando Maramag (the best editorial writer of this o the Independent,
period) o Rising Philippines and Citizens, and
 Juan F. Salazar o the Philippine Education Magazine 1924
 Jose M. Hernandez
 Vicente del Fierro
 Francisco Tonogbanua
 Maximo Kalaw
 Vidal A. Tan
 Francisco Africa
 Victoriano Yamzon.

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 o Here are few of the writers during this period: 1921: Zoilo M. Galang published his first volume of essays entitled LIFE AND
SUCCESS.
1910: Bernardo P. Garcia’s poem GEORGE WASHINGTON was publisher in El
Renacimiento. 1924: EliseoQuirino and Vicente Hilario wrote the essays THINKING FOR
OURSELVES.
1917: Eulogio B. Rodriquez, a research writer in the UP Collage of Liberal Arts
won the Vilamor Prize in the provincial history competition. He was an 1924: Rodolfo Dato published FILIPINO POETRY, the first anthology of poems.
authority on literary and cultural development in the Philippines.
1924: Carlos P. Romulo pubished a collection of plays DAUGHTERS FOR SALE
1919: Paz Marquez Benitez was editor of the Women’s AND OTHER PLAYS.

1924: Journal, the first literary magazine in English published in the 1925: Zoilo M. Galang published the first anthology of short stories in TALES
Philippines. OF THE PHILIPPINES.

1920: Marcelo de Gracia Concepcion gained recognition for Filipino poetry

abroad with his publication of thr poem AZUCENA, in the US.

1920: Procopio L. Solium wrote NEVER MIND AND OTHERS POEMS.

1921: Lorenzo E. Paredes wrote the first poetry anthology REMINISCENSES. Kahayon, A. & Zulueta C. (2005). Philippine literature: through the
years. Mandaluyong City: Catcho Hermanos, Inc.

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