Jeremy H.

Lacsina

SPE-23

History of Literature
The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which
attempts to provide entertainment,enlightenment, or instruction to the reader/listener/observer, as
well as the development of the literary techniques used in thecommunication of these pieces. Not
all writings constitute literature. Some recorded materials, such as compilations of data (e.g.,
acheck register) are not considered literature, and this article relates only to the evolution of the
works defined above.

The Beginnings of Literature

Literature and writing, though connected, are not synonymous. The very first writings from
ancient Sumer by any reasonable definition do not constitute literaturethe same is true of some
of the early Egyptian hieroglyphics or the thousands of logs from ancient Chinese regimes.
Scholars have often disagreed concerning when written record-keeping became more like
"literature" than anything else; the definition is largely subjective.
Moreover, given the significance of distance as a cultural isolator in earlier centuries, the
historical development of literature did not occur at an even pace across the world. The problems
of creating a uniform global history of literature are compounded by the fact that many texts
have been lost over the millennia, either deliberately, by accident, or by the total disappearance
of the originating culture. Much has been written, for example, about the destruction of
the Library of Alexandria in the 1st century BC, and the innumerable key texts which are
believed to have been lost forever to the flames. The deliberate suppression of texts (and often
their authors) by organisations of either a spiritual or a temporal nature further shrouds the
subject.
Certain primary texts, however, may be isolated which have a qualifying role as literature's first
stirrings. Very early examples include Epic of Gilgamesh, in its Sumerian version predating 2000
BC, and the Egyptian Book of the Dead written down in the Papyrus of Ani in approximately
1250 BC but probably dates from about the 18th century BC. Ancient Egyptian literature was not
included in early studies of the history of literature because the writings of Ancient Egypt were
not translated into European languages until the 19th century when the Rosetta stone was
deciphered.
Many texts handed down by oral tradition over several centuries before they were fixed in
written form are difficult or impossible to date. The core of the Rigveda may date to the mid 2nd
millennium BC. The Pentateuch is traditionally dated to the 15th century, although modern
scholarship estimates its oldest part to date to the 10th century BC at the earliest.
Homer's Iliad and Odyssey date to the 8th century BC and mark the beginning of Classical
Antiquity. They also stand in an oral tradition that stretches back to the late Bronze Age.

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Indian ruti texts post-dating the Rigveda (such as the Yajurveda, the Atharvaveda and
the Brahmanas), as well as the Hebrew Tanakh and the mystical collection of poems attributed
to Lao Tze, the Tao te Ching, date to the Iron Age, but their dating is difficult and controversial.
The greatHindu epics were also transmitted orally, likely predating the Maurya period.

Greek Lirerature
Ancient Greek society placed considerable emphasis upon literature. Many authors consider
the western literary tradition to have begun with the epic poems The Iliad and TheOdyssey,
which remain giants in the literary canon for their skillful and vivid depictions of war and peace,
honor and disgrace, love and hatred. Notable among later Greek poets was Sappho, who defined,
in many ways, lyric poetry as a genre.
A playwright named Aeschylus changed Western literature forever when he introduced the ideas
of dialogue and interacting characters to playwriting. In doing so, he essentially invented
"drama": his Oresteia trilogy of plays is seen as his crowning achievement. Other refiners of
playwriting were Sophocles and Euripides. Sophocles is credited with skillfully
developing irony as a literary technique, most famously in his play Oedipus the King. Euripedes,
conversely, used plays to challenge societal norms and moresa hallmark of much of Western
literature for the next 2,300 years and beyondand his works such as Medea, The
Bacchae and The Trojan Women are still notable for their ability to challenge our perceptions of
propriety, gender, and war. Aristophanes, a comic playwright, defines and shapes the idea
of comedy almost as Aeschylus had shaped tragedy as an art formAristophanes' most famous
plays include the Lysistrata and The Frogs.
Philosophy entered literature in the dialogues of Plato, who converted the give and take of
Socratic questioning into written form. Aristotle, Plato's student, wrote dozens of works on many
scientific disciplines, but his greatest contribution to literature was likely his Poetics, which lays
out his understanding of drama, and thereby establishes the first criteria for literary criticism.
The New Testament is an unusual collection of texts--John's Book of Revelation, though not the
first of its kind, essentially defines apocalypse as a literary genre.

Spanish Influence
Spanish influence on Filipino culture (Spanish: Influencia hispnica en la cultura filipina) are
customs and traditions of the Philippines which originated from three centuries of Spanish[1]

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colonisation. Filipinos today speak a variety of different languages including Cebuano, Tagalog,
Ilocano, Ilonggo, and Bikolano, in addition to English all of which contain up to several
thousand Spanish loanwords. Chavacano, a Spanish-based creole, is spoken in the Zamboanga
Peninsula (where it is an official language), Davao, and Cotabato in Mindanao, and Cavite in
Luzon.
The Philippines, having been one of the most distant Spanish colonies, received less migration of
people from Spain compared with the colonies in the Americas, Latin America. Most of the
influence during the colonial period came through Mexico, rather than directly from Spain, as the
Philippines was governed as a territory of New Spain.

Five Major Genres of Literature

Poetry
This is often considered the oldest form of literature. Before writing was invented, oral stories
were commonly put into some sort of poetic form to make them easier to remember and recite.
Poetry today is usually written down, but is still sometimes performed.
A lot of people think of rhymes and counting syllables and lines when they think of poetry, and
some poems certainly follow strict forms. But other types of poetry are so free-form that they
lack any rhymes or common patterns. There are even kinds of poetry that cross genre lines, such
as prose poetry. In general, though, a text is a poem when it has some sort of meter or rhythm,
and when it focuses on the way the syllables, words, and phrases sound when put together.
Poems are heavy in imagery and metaphor, and are often made up of fragments and phrases
rather than complete, grammatically correct sentences. And poetry is nearly always written in
stanzas and lines, creating a unique look on the page.
Poetry as experienced in the classroom is usually one of three types. There are the shorter, more
modern poems, spanning anything from a few lines to a few pages. Often these are collected in
books of poems by a single author or by a variety of writers. Edgar Allen Poes The Raven, is
one of the most commonly taught poems of this type. Then there are the classical, formulaic
poems of Shakespeares time, such as the blank verse and the sonnet. And finally there are the
ancient, epic poems transcribed from oral stories. These long, complex poems resemble novels,
such as Homers The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Prose
Once you know what poetry is, its easy to define prose. Prose can be defined as any kind of
written text that isnt poetry (which means drama, discussed below, is technically a type of
prose). The most typical varieties of prose are novels and short stories, while other types include
letters, diaries, journals, and non-fiction (also discussed below). Prose is written in complete

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sentences and organized in paragraphs. Instead of focusing on sound, which is what poetry does,
prose tends to focus on plot and characters.

Prose is the type of literature read most often in English classrooms. Any novel or short story
falls into this category, from Jane Eyre to Twilight and from A Sound of Thunder to The
Crucible. Like poetry, prose is broken down into a large number of other sub-genres. Some of
these genres revolve around the structure of the text, such as novellas, biographies, and memoirs,
and others are based on the subject matter, like romances, fantasies, and mysteries.

Drama
Any text meant to be performed rather than read can be considered drama (unless its a poem
meant to be performed, of course). In laymans terms, dramas are usually called plays. When
written down the bulk of a drama is dialogue, with periodic stage directions such as he looks
away angrily. Of all the genres of literature discussed in this article, drama is the one given the
least time in most classrooms. And often when drama is taught, its only read the same way you
might read a novel. Since dramas are meant to be acted out in front of an audience, its hard to
fully appreciate them when looking only at pages of text. Students respond best to dramas, and
grasp their mechanics more fully, when exposed to film or theater versions or encouraged to read
aloud or act out scenes during class.
The dramas most commonly taught in classrooms are definitely those written by the bard.
Shakespeares plays are challenging, but rewarding when approached with a little effort and a
critical mindset. Popular choices from his repertoire include Hamlet, Taming of the Shrew, and
Romeo and Juliet, among others. Older Greek plays are also taught fairly often, especially
Sophocles Antigone. And any good drama unit should include more modern plays for
comparison, such as Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman.

Non-fiction
Poetry and drama both belong to the broader category of fictiontexts that feature events and
characters that have been made up. Then there is non-fiction, a vast category that is a type of
prose and includes many different sub-genres. Non-fiction can be creative, such as the personal
essay, or factual, such as the scientific paper. Sometimes the purpose of non-fiction is to tell a
story (hence the autobiography), but most of the time the purpose is to pass on information and
educate the reader about certain facts, ideas, and/or issues.
Some genres of non-fiction include histories, textbooks, travel books, newspapers, self-help
books, and literary criticism. A full list of non-fiction types would be at least as long as this entire
article. But the varieties most often used in the classroom are textbooks, literary criticism, and
essays of various sorts. Most of what students practice writing in the classroom is the non-fiction

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essay, from factual to personal to persuasive. And non-fiction is often used to support and expand
students understanding of fiction textsafter reading Hamlet students might read critical
articles about the play and historical information about the time period and/or the life of
Shakespeare.

Media
The newest type of literature that has been defined as a distinct genre is media. This
categorization was created to encompass the many new and important kinds of texts in our
society today, such as movies and films, websites, commercials, billboards, and radio programs.
Any work that doesnt exist primarily as a written text can probably be considered media,
particularly if it relies on recently developed technologies. Media literature can serve a wide
variety of purposesamong other things it can educate, entertain, advertise, and/or persuade.
More and more educators are coming to recognize the importance of teaching media in the
classroom. Students are likely to be exposed to far more of this type of literature than anything
else throughout their lives, so it makes sense to teach them how to be critical and active
consumers of media. Internet literacy is a growing field, for example, since the skills required to
understand and use online information differ in important ways from the skills required to
analyze printed information. Teaching media literacy is also a great way for educators to help
students become participants in their own culture, through lessons on creating their own websites
or home movies or commercials.

Other Types of Literature

These are far from the only important genres of literature. Here are a few more that are
sometimes used in classrooms:
Oral Literature: The oldest type of literature, and the foundation on which culture was built.
Now most oral texts have been written down, of course, and are usually taught in the form of
epic poems or plays or folk tales.
Folklore/Folk Tales/Fables: A distinction is often made between regular prose and folklore.
Most folk tales were originally oral literature, and are short stories meant to pass on a particular
lesson or moral. They often have a timeless quality, dealing with common human concerns that
are just as relevant to us today, while still being products of a very specific culture and time
period.
Graphic Novels and Comic Books: It used to be that most educators saw comic books as the
lowest form of literature, not suitable or valuable for children. But times have changed, and
many teachers have come to realize that comic books and the more modern graphic novels are
both appealing to kids and are a valid form of literature in their own right.

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Pre-Colonial Period
Owing to the works of our own archaeologists, ethnologists and anthropologists, we are able
to know more and better judge information about our pre-colonial times set against a bulk of
material about early Filipinos as recorded by Spanish, Chinese, Arabic and other chroniclers of
the past.
Pre-colonial inhabitants of our islands showcase a rich past through their folk speeches, folk
songs, folk narratives and indigenous rituals and mimetic dances that affirm our ties with our
Southeast Asian neighbors.
The most seminal of these folk speeches is the riddle which is tigmo in Cebuano, bugtong in
Tagalog, paktakon in Ilongo and patototdon in Bicol. Central to the riddle is the talinghaga or
metaphor because it "reveals subtle resemblances between two unlike objects" and one's power
of observation and wit are put to the test. While some riddles are ingenious, others verge on the
obscene or are sex-related:
Gaddang:
Gongonan nu usin y amam If you pull your daddy's penis
Maggirawa pay sila y inam. Your mommy's vagina, too,
(Campana) screams. (Bell)
The proverbs or aphorisms express norms or codes of behavior, community beliefs or they
instill values by offering nuggets of wisdom in short, rhyming verse.
The extended form, tanaga, a mono-riming heptasyllabic quatrain expressing insights and
lessons on life is "more emotionally charged than the terse proverb and thus has affinities with
the folk lyric." Some examples are the basahanon or extended didactic sayings from Bukidnon
and the daraida and daragilon from Panay.
The folk song, a form of folk lyric which expresses the hopes and aspirations, the people's
lifestyles as well as their loves. These are often repetitive and sonorous, didactic and naive as in
the children's songs or Ida-ida (Maguindanao), tulang pambata (Tagalog) or cansiones para
abbing (Ibanag).
A few examples are the lullabyes or Ili-ili (Ilongo); love songs like the panawagon and
balitao (Ilongo); harana or serenade (Cebuano); the bayok (Maranao); the seven-syllable per line
poem, ambahan of the Mangyans that are about human relationships, social entertainment and
also serve as a tool for teaching the young; work songs that depict the livelihood of the people
often sung to go with the movement of workers such as the kalusan (Ivatan), soliranin (Tagalog
rowing song) or the mambayu, a Kalinga rice-pounding song; the verbal jousts/games like the
duplo popular during wakes.

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Other folk songs are the drinking songs sung during carousals like the tagay (Cebuano and
Waray); dirges and lamentations extolling the deeds of the dead like the kanogon (Cebuano) or
the Annako (Bontoc).
A type of narrative song or kissa among the Tausug of Mindanao, the parang sabil, uses for
its subject matter the exploits of historical and legendary heroes. It tells of a Muslim hero who
seeks death at the hands of non-Muslims.
The folk narratives, i.e. epics and folk tales are varied, exotic and magical. They explain how
the world was created, how certain animals possess certain characteristics, why some places have
waterfalls, volcanoes, mountains, flora or fauna and, in the case of legends, an explanation of the
origins of things. Fables are about animals and these teach moral lessons.
Our country's epics are considered ethno-epics because unlike, say, Germany's
Niebelunginlied, our epics are not national for they are "histories" of varied groups that consider
themselves "nations."
The epics come in various names: Guman (Subanon); Darangen (Maranao); Hudhud
(Ifugao); and Ulahingan (Manobo). These epics revolve around supernatural events or heroic
deeds and they embody or validate the beliefs and customs and ideals of a community. These are
sung or chanted to the accompaniment of indigenous musical instruments and dancing performed
during harvests, weddings or funerals by chanters. The chanters who were taught by their
ancestors are considered "treasures" and/or repositories of wisdom in their communities.
Examples of these epics are the Lam-ang (Ilocano); Hinilawod (Sulod); Kudaman
(Palawan); Darangen (Maranao); Ulahingan (Livunganen-Arumanen Manobo); Mangovayt
Buhong na Langit (The Maiden of the Buhong Sky from Tuwaang--Manobo); Ag Tobig neg
Keboklagan (Subanon); and Tudbulol (T'boli).

References:
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/100292-the-five-main-genres-ofliterature/
http://www.oocities.org/collegepark/pool/1644/precolonial.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_influence_on_Filipino_culture
http://www.brighthubeducation.com/homework-help-literature/100292-the-five-maingenres-of-literature/