6.2 LIT

• Philippine poems during the precolonial period highlighted epics, riddles, folk songs, and proverbs that depicted the spiritual beliefs and everyday lives of natives, while poetry under the Spanish colonial period focused on religion and values, which became instruments in spreading Christianity and Spanish-oriented culture
• Ladino poem


  A bilingual poem with religious themes, characterized by alternating lines or verses in Tagalog and Spanish
• In Spain, complimentary verses, usually a poem in sonnet form, appeared in books to encourage people to read them
• In the Philippines, a book entitled Memorial de la vida Cristiana en lengua Tagala (Guidelines for the Christian Life in the Tagalog Language) by Fr. Francisco Blancas de San Jose included a ladino or complimentary bilingual poem written by Francisco Bagongbanta known by its first line "Salamat nang walang hangga" (Unending Thanks)
• Pasyon


  A narrative poem about the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, consisting of five-line stanzas with eight syllables per line
• Awit


  A narrative poem that consists of 12 syllables per line and four lines per stanza, expressing adoration of the Blessed Virgin Mary and platonic and courtly love
• Kurido


  A narrative poem that consists of eight syllables per line and four lines per stanza, with a faster rhythm compared to an awit
• Dalit


  A religious poem in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary
• Francisco Baltazar (1788-1862) was considered the master of traditional Tagalog poetry, and his work Florante at Laura was a metaphor for the tyranny of the Spanish colonizers
• Popular poetry forms during the Spanish colonial period

  • Pasyon
  • Awit
  • Kurido
  • Dalit
• Prior to the arrival of the Spaniards in the Philippines, the poems are mostly focused on themes that depict our ancestors' spiritual beliefs
• The Spanish colonial period shifted the themes of our poetry, dealing with the spread of Christianity and the proliferation of Spanish customs and traditions