Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Notes on other forms of Philippine pre-colonial poetry

Notes and anecdotes on other forms of Philippine pre-colonial poetry, mostly taken from my Filipino 14 class under Mr. Popa.

    The tanaga is a form of Philippine pre-colonial poetry used by the Tagalogs. It is composed of four lines, employs a heptameter, has the rhyming scheme aaaa, and employs the use of metaphors. The ambahan is another form of poetry that is common within the Hanunoo-Mangyans (the "true" strain of Mangyans). It has no set length, a heptameter, has the rhyming scheme aaaa, and is available both in written and oral form, wherein it is chanted. The dalit is another form of poetry from the Tagalogs, and is similar to the tanaga except that it uses an octameter instead. It is commonly used during wakes.

No comments: