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Philippine (Filipino) Poetry in English
Philippine (Filipino) Poetry - "Sursum Corda" was the first known Philippine poem in English published in the Philippine Free Press in 1907.
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This and the other early poems were poor imitations of Western models. Later the Filipino poets gained full control of the English language and turned out more original poems.
In 1925, Marcel de Gracia Concepcion's volume of poems, Azucena, was published. Written in free verse it proved a milestone in Philippine poetry for it veered away from the usual metric forms. The first Filipino poet to really get away from the conventional standards was Jose Garcia Villa with his Man Songs. Because of these poems he was expelled from the University of the Philippines. He succeeded however in making Filipino realize their power and their ability to write freely, while making their poems distinctly Filipino in mood.
His second collection of poetry was Poems by Doveglion which won the Commonwealth Literary Award in 1941. Have Come, Am Here was published in the United States. His next collection is Poems 55. Compact, suggestive, powerful, his poems have been acclaimed by British and American critics.
Besides Jose Garcia Villa, the 1939's produced the following poets: Aurelio ALvero, Abelardo Subido, Cornelio Faigao, Conrado B. Rigor, Rafael Zulueta da Costa, Bienvenido N. Santos, Nick Joaquin, Angela Manalang Gloria, Toribia Mano, and Trinidad Tarrosa who were intensely personal lyric poets.
Today new names have been added to this lists of poets: Rolando Carbonell, Virgina Moreno, Edith tiempo, Cirilo Bautista, Ophelia Alcantara-Dimalanta, Emmanuel Torres, Alejandro Hufana, Ricardo Demetillo, Tita Lacambra Ayala, Gilberto Centino III and Jose Lansang, Jr. The Filipino poet today shows artistic originality and a growing sense of creative sensibility.