Grhrt

PHILIPPINE POETRY IN ENGLISH TODAY

    Philippine literature in English is an interesting case, full of paradoxes and contradictions. It is barely 71 years old, yet its writers have achievedhigh localand internationalreputation, a fact which becomes more significant if one remembers that in the Philippines, aside from English, there are nine other major languages used as mediaof literary expression; its writes at present are faced with the problems engendered by their choice of English, a foreign language, as the medium of expression; and, in spite of the reputation it had attained, Philippine literature in English lacks a literary tradition. There are things one has to consider in studying Philippine literature in English if he desires profound and realistic results. This paper, then, will deal with these things in order to give proper perspective of this literature. Becauseof the limitation on the length of this paper, it will touch mainly on the art of poetry.

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    The English language was introduced into the Philippines by the Americans at the start of the century; it is surprising, however, that only 40 years after, the Filipinos were already adept with it. One is constantly amazed? wrote Edgar Snow, By the ease with which Filipinos master the difficult idiom of the American Language, and by the eloquence with which they employ it?when English was made the medium of instruction in all schools during the American occupation , English become more widespread, the result being that now, 70 years later, it is the most popular spoken language in the country, This skill with the foreign language consitutes a great advantage that our writers hold over their Asian counterparts, In such writing conferences as the breadloaf, Iowa, and Harvard workshops, foreigners are indeed amazed by Filipinos?facility in using English. At the 1968-69 Iowa international Writers?Workshop , for instance, of the more than 30 participants from almost all parts of the world, only a...