21st Century Literature and Philippine Literary History

Vocabulary flashcards covering literary periods, regional texts, conventional genres, 21st-century genres, literary context, and reading approaches.

Literature

Defined as 'the very best reality simulator we have,' it tells the story of man, helps understand human nature, provides entertainment, and preserves literary heritage.

Prose

Literature written in sentences and paragraphs using natural language resembling everyday speech to convey stories, ideas, and emotions without poetry's structured patterns.

Poetry

Literature that follows a systemic structure, employs rhythmic and metrical patterns, and relies on figurative language to add depth and layers of meaning.

Epic

A long narrative poem that recounts the supernatural adventures, romance, and heroic deeds of tribal heroes.

Sonnet

A 14-line poem that expresses deep personal emotion.

Elegy

A formal poem written to express grief and sorrow.

Ode

A formal lyrical poem written to express strong feelings of praise, admiration, or respect.

Baybayin

An ancient, indigenous writing system used by Filipinos, coming from the word meaning 'to spell.'

Alibata

A term for Baybayin invented in 1914 by a Filipino scholar named Paul Rodriguez Verzosa.

Biag ni Lam-ang

The oldest recorded Philippine folk epic in written form, originating from the Ilocos Region.

Riddles

Competitive, rhyming word puzzles using images to guess objects, known as bugtong in Tagalog, burburtia in Ilocano, and paktakon in Ilonggo.

Proverbs (Salawikain)

Short sayings that express a community's wisdom, ethical rules, and timeless truths.

Idioms (Sawikain)

Expressions with symbolic or figurative meanings that cannot be understood directly from their literal words.

First Mass in Limasawa

Celebrated on March 31, 1521, in Masawa, Southern Leyte, it was the first ever documented Catholic mass in the Philippines.

Corrido

A legendary religious narrative detailing the lives of saints or history of traditions, such as Ibong Adarna.

Moro-moro (Komedya)

The most popular form of secular theater used by Spanish priests in the Philippines during the Spanish Period.

Huseng Sisiw (Jose dela Cruz)

A playwright who wrote numerous popular moro-moro plays, elevating the genre's literary style and stagecraft.

Cenaculo

A recreational play depicting Jesus' Passion and death, performed during Holy Week.

Panunuluyan

A recreational play depicting Mary and Joseph seeking shelter, performed from December 16 to 24.

Period of Enlightenment (1872-1898)

A literary period that altered Philippine literature from religious to political themes and saw the rise of journalism.

Ilustrados

Privileged Filipino students who transformed into intellectual leaders during the Spanish era.

La Solidaridad

The flagship newspaper of the Propaganda Movement, founded in Barcelona, Spain on December 13, 1888.

Period of Active Revolution (1896-1898)

A era when Philippine literature shifted from peaceful requests to aggressive themes, written primarily in Tagalog.

Jose Garcia Villa

A writer during the American Regime known for his comma poems and reversed consonance.

Haiku

A free verse poem made up of 17 syllables divided into three lines in a 5-7-5 form.

Tanaga

A traditional poem made up of 4 lines with 7 syllables each, usually in an AABB or ABAB pattern.

Imagery

A poetic element that uses figurative language to create a mental image for the reader and appeal to the senses.

Organic Imagery

A type of imagery that describes internal sensations, feelings, and emotions such as fatigue, fear, love, loneliness, and despair.

Gabu

A poem by Carlos A. Angeles set in a village in Laoag, Ilocos Norte, which compares human life to a restless sea.

Virgilio Senadrin Almario (Rio Alma)

A poet, literary historian, and critic born March 9, 1944, who published 12 books of poetry in 34 years and wrote 'Maskara.'

Stanza

The basic building block of a poem consisting of a grouping of lines related to the same thought or topic.

Couplet

A two-line stanza, usually rhymed, that forms the foundation of Western verse.

Meter

The basic rhythmic structure of a line of poetry that gives a poem its beat and musical quality.

Iamb

A two-syllable metrical foot following an unstressed to stressed pattern (da-DUM).

Trochee

A two-syllable metrical foot following a stressed to unstressed pattern (DUM-da).

Anapest

A three-syllable metrical foot following a two unstressed to stressed pattern (da-da-DUM).

Dactyl

A three-syllable metrical foot following a stressed to two unstressed pattern (DUM-da-da).

Short Story

Brief fiction shorter than a novel (1,000-7,500 words) that focuses on a single plot and few characters and can be read in one sitting.

Novel

A work of fiction containing 50,000 or more words.

Text-Talk Novels

Fast-paced 21st-century narratives presented in blog, email, and IM format that simulate social media interaction.

Chick-Lit

A fiction genre addressing modern womanhood, featuring an urban heterosexual female protagonist in her late 20s-30s focused on personal growth.

Dribble

A flash fiction subgenre consisting of exactly 50 words that relies heavily on strong verbs.

Drabble

A flash fiction subgenre consisting of exactly 100 words.

Creative Non-Fiction

A relatively young genre, also called literary non-fiction, that uses literary styles and techniques to create factual narratives.

Sci-Fi (Science Fiction)

A genre of speculative fiction involving imaginative concepts such as futuristic science and technology, also called 'literature of ideas.'

Digi-Fiction

A form of triple-media literature that combines three media: a book, a movie/video, and an internet website.

Context

The circumstances and background factors affecting the writer and reader that influence meaning and help a text be fully understood.

Skimming

A reading approach performed 3-4 times faster than regular reading that focuses on getting the main idea or general overview.

Scanning

A reading approach focused on searching rapidly for specific keywords, dates, names, or numerical details.

Intensive Reading

A slow, careful, and thorough reading approach used to understand small details and specific information in short texts.

Extensive Reading

A fast, voluntary reading approach of large amounts of longer text done primarily for enjoyment or pastime.