21st Century Literature - Genres, Forms, and Filipino Canonical Authors

Vocabulary flashcards covering literary genres, forms, sample stories, and notable Filipino canonical authors.

Poetry

A literary genre that expresses feelings and ideas through the rhythmic qualities of language.

Narrative Poetry

A form of poetry that tells a story, often employing voices of a narrator and characters.

Dramatic Poetry

Poetry written in the form of a speech or dialogue meant to be performed.

Lyric Poetry

Short, musical verse that expresses personal emotions or thoughts of a single speaker.

Epic

A long narrative poem about heroic deeds and events significant to a culture or nation.

Ballad

A narrative poem or song passed orally that tells a dramatic story, typically in short stanzas.

Haiku

A Japanese lyric form of three lines (5-7-5 syllables) that captures a moment or image from nature.

Monologue

An extended speech by one character in a play or poem, expressing thoughts aloud.

Ode

A formal lyric poem that praises or glorifies an event, individual, or idea.

Elegy

A mournful, reflective poem lamenting the death of someone or the passing of life.

Soliloquy

A speech in drama where a character speaks thoughts aloud when alone on stage.

Sonnet

A 14-line lyric poem, often in iambic pentameter, with a specific rhyme scheme.

Fiction

Prose literature created from the imagination, including novels and short stories.

Prose

Written or spoken language in its ordinary, non-metrical form.

Non-fiction

Prose writing based on facts, real events, and real people.

Short Story

A brief work of prose fiction focusing on a single incident or theme.

Novel

A long prose narrative with complex characters and plot.

Play

A dramatic work intended for performance by actors on a stage.

Biography

A factual account of someone’s life written by another person.

Autobiography

A factual account of a person’s life written by that person.

Memoir

A factual narrative focusing on personal memories of specific experiences.

Diary / Journal

A daily record of personal experiences, reflections, and observations.

21st-Century Literature

Contemporary works (2000-present) reflecting modern themes, technologies, and global perspectives.

Story 1 (Harry Potter)

A boy on his 11th birthday discovers he is a wizard and attends a magic school, uncovering the truth about his parents.

Story 2 (Bird Box)

After a force causes those who see it to die, a mother and her children journey blindfolded to reach safety.

Story 3 (Romeo and Juliet)

Tragic love between two youths from feuding families who commit suicide rather than live apart.

Canonical Author

A writer widely respected for works that have significantly shaped literary tradition.

N.V.M. Gonzales

National Artist 1997; fictionist and poet known for The Winds of April, Seven Hills Away, Work on the Mountain.

Nick Joaquin

National Artist 1976; wrote The Woman Who Had Two Navels and A Portrait of the Artist as Filipino.

Carlos P. Romulo

National Artist 1982; diplomat-writer of The United, I Walked with Heroes, I Saw the Fall of the Philippines.

Amado V. Hernandez

National Artist 1973; socialist poet-novelist of Bayang Malaya, Isang Dipang Langit, Luha ng Buwaya.

Jose Garcia Villa

National Artist 1973; introduced reversed consonance rhyme and comma poems; author of Many Voices.

Committed Art

Literature dedicated to social justice and political advocacy, practiced by Amado V. Hernandez.

Reversed Consonance Rhyme Scheme

Villa’s technique where end-word consonants are reversed for sound patterning (e.g., near/ran).

"Dead Stars"

A short story by Paz Marquez Benitez exploring lost love and the illusion of lingering feelings.