An essay on Pangasinan Literature: Emergence of Pangasinan Poets and Poetry
In his Nobel Lecture, Czeslaw Milosz pointed out that: “Every poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him.”
But that is not the case for me who gave myself to this kind of avocation – that is, to writing poems in Pangasinan.
I started writing poetry in my native tongue in 2001. And relied solely on my mastery of the spoken language and instinctive phonetics to come out with my first poetic attempt. Still patterned, however, after the manner of my contemporaries who wrote in English.
I tried to maintain a certain image of a poet who wants to revive the petrified state of the Pangasinan literature – poetry in particular.
What is Pangasinan poetry?
Pangasinan poetry was once predominantly oral: tumatagaumen and bards performed poems; often, accompanied by tulali (a kind of string instrument similar to kudyapi or lyre.)
One good example of Pangasinan oral poetry was the Petek – a kind of poetic joust similar to the Tulang Patnigan of the Tagalogs.
When the written form of poetry became dominant and confined to the page, oral poetry became out of fashion and eventually forgotten. Such is the case of Pangasinan poetry.
Today, more and more people are reading and writing poetry. In the U.S., there’s the phenomenon of the poetry slams, which are essentially poetry performance competitions. There’s also the Def Poetry Jam created by Russel Simmons and Stan Lathan. The pair brought the Def Poetry Jam to wider attention when they produced a series that featured edgy poets who declaim and shout out in-your-face verses that are fresh and immediate about subjects personal and political.
I believe that poetry is a “mainstream” art form nowadays. And yes, there is still hope for the Pangasinan poetry and for the Pangasinan poets and writers to catch up with the current literary trends.
When I learned about the Ulupan na Pansiansiay Salitan Pangasinan (Association for the Preservation of the Pangasinan Language) and received an invitation from its president, Dir. Jaime P. Lucas of DTI-Pangasinan, I knew I had to get back to my home province to be a part of it.
Incidentally, the Ulupan was organized a few months or so before I started writing in Pangasinan language.
In the first three issues of the Balon Silew – the official publication of the Ulupan, the works of Sergio A. Bumadilla, Silas Bernabe, Leonarda C. Baltazar (Amor Cico), Nap Resultay, Dr. Linda R. Andaya, Dr. Fe S. Soriano, Dr. Fe P. Fernadez, Isaak Ballesteros and Leo P. De los Angeles echoed a diverse mode of contemporary poetry written in both traditional and modern Pangasinan orthography. Other notable works in the said publication are the poems of Jaime P. Lucas and Ma. Bryce Fabro in English, Filipino and Iluko.
This small group of poets and writers would eventually start a literary movement and criticism that would perhaps lead to the revival or formation of a new Awiran na Pangasinan (Pangasinan Academy of Letters.)
They would be the prime mover that would standardize the language, set a new trend and elaborate different forms and styles for the new breed of poets and writers to inherit.
I have been bothering myself trying to find my connection or literary link from the past. After reading some works of my contemporaries in Pangasinan, I realized now that I was not looking at the right perspective.
The Pangasinan poets will not emerge from the fossilized remains of his literary past.
The Pangasinan poets do not have the “phoenix complex” – that is, the tendency to rise from its own ruins or ashes.
Rather, the Pangasinan poets are a paradox; distinct and unique like the rare kind of epiphytic plants that have been pushed to the margins of evolution and nearly disappeared. And like these epiphytic plants, they will thrive in different time and place but bound by a collective instinct and determination to survive.
Note: This essay is still a work-in-progress.
In his Nobel Lecture, Czeslaw Milosz pointed out that: “Every poet depends upon generations who wrote in his native tongue; he inherits styles and forms elaborated by those who lived before him.”
But that is not the case for me who gave myself to this kind of avocation – that is, to writing poems in Pangasinan.
I started writing poetry in my native tongue in 2001. And relied solely on my mastery of the spoken language and instinctive phonetics to come out with my first poetic attempt. Still patterned, however, after the manner of my contemporaries who wrote in English.
I tried to maintain a certain image of a poet who wants to revive the petrified state of the Pangasinan literature – poetry in particular.
What is Pangasinan poetry?
Pangasinan poetry was once predominantly oral: tumatagaumen and bards performed poems; often, accompanied by tulali (a kind of string instrument similar to kudyapi or lyre.)
One good example of Pangasinan oral poetry was the Petek – a kind of poetic joust similar to the Tulang Patnigan of the Tagalogs.
When the written form of poetry became dominant and confined to the page, oral poetry became out of fashion and eventually forgotten. Such is the case of Pangasinan poetry.
Today, more and more people are reading and writing poetry. In the U.S., there’s the phenomenon of the poetry slams, which are essentially poetry performance competitions. There’s also the Def Poetry Jam created by Russel Simmons and Stan Lathan. The pair brought the Def Poetry Jam to wider attention when they produced a series that featured edgy poets who declaim and shout out in-your-face verses that are fresh and immediate about subjects personal and political.
I believe that poetry is a “mainstream” art form nowadays. And yes, there is still hope for the Pangasinan poetry and for the Pangasinan poets and writers to catch up with the current literary trends.
When I learned about the Ulupan na Pansiansiay Salitan Pangasinan (Association for the Preservation of the Pangasinan Language) and received an invitation from its president, Dir. Jaime P. Lucas of DTI-Pangasinan, I knew I had to get back to my home province to be a part of it.
Incidentally, the Ulupan was organized a few months or so before I started writing in Pangasinan language.
In the first three issues of the Balon Silew – the official publication of the Ulupan, the works of Sergio A. Bumadilla, Silas Bernabe, Leonarda C. Baltazar (Amor Cico), Nap Resultay, Dr. Linda R. Andaya, Dr. Fe S. Soriano, Dr. Fe P. Fernadez, Isaak Ballesteros and Leo P. De los Angeles echoed a diverse mode of contemporary poetry written in both traditional and modern Pangasinan orthography. Other notable works in the said publication are the poems of Jaime P. Lucas and Ma. Bryce Fabro in English, Filipino and Iluko.
This small group of poets and writers would eventually start a literary movement and criticism that would perhaps lead to the revival or formation of a new Awiran na Pangasinan (Pangasinan Academy of Letters.)
They would be the prime mover that would standardize the language, set a new trend and elaborate different forms and styles for the new breed of poets and writers to inherit.
I have been bothering myself trying to find my connection or literary link from the past. After reading some works of my contemporaries in Pangasinan, I realized now that I was not looking at the right perspective.
The Pangasinan poets will not emerge from the fossilized remains of his literary past.
The Pangasinan poets do not have the “phoenix complex” – that is, the tendency to rise from its own ruins or ashes.
Rather, the Pangasinan poets are a paradox; distinct and unique like the rare kind of epiphytic plants that have been pushed to the margins of evolution and nearly disappeared. And like these epiphytic plants, they will thrive in different time and place but bound by a collective instinct and determination to survive.
Note: This essay is still a work-in-progress.
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