"The collective body of literary productions, embracing the entire results of knowledge and fancy preserved in writing; also, the whole body of literary productions or writings upon a given subject, or in reference to a particular science or branch of knowledge, or of a given country or period; as, the literature of Biblical criticism; the literature of chemistry."
For my own definition regarding to that definition LITERATURE is about works creating something by using your imagination, art of writing which will be describe by itself as a part of literature! it helps us to know something about the past just like the ancient time and culture of many peolple that regard to literature!
SOURCES:
http://www.brainyquote.com/words/li/literature185325.html
http://images.search.yahoo.com/images/view?back=http%3A%2F%2Fimages.search.yahoo.com%2Fsearch%2Fimages%3Fp%3Dliterature%26ei%3DUTF-8%26fr%3Dyfp-t-832&w=640&h=480&imgurl=southerngent.files.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fliterature.jpg&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fsoutherngent.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F11%2F24%2Fgood-bad-writing-not-so-bad-after-all&size=71k&name=literature+jpg&p=literature&oid=599993f2d71c0058&fr2=&no=3&tt=5765907&sigr=12iqa54v0&sigi=11n6hr7e9&sigb=12fqjrqce
SEVERINO REYES is a Filipino writer, dramatist, and playwright,he was one of the giants of Tagalog literature of the early 20th century. To many people, Reyes was "Lola Basyang" from the popular Liwayway series he created entitled Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang. Son of Rufino Reyes and Andrea Rivera, Reyes was born in Sta. Cruz, Manila on February 11, 1861. He attended his early schooling in an institution owned by Catalino Sanchez. He then moved to San Juan de Letran College and later at the University of Sto. Tomas, where he studied philiosophy.
Reyes was imprisoned in 1896 by the Spaniards because he was suspected to be a Katipunero. He was released afterwards and thereafter concentrated on writing zarzuelas.
In 1902, Reyes founded and directed the Grand Compania de Zarzuela Tagala, which became famous during its time. The company travelled extensively, giving shows on neighboring towns and provinces.
"On June 14, 1902, the company staged his play Walang Sugat (No Wounds), a drama set in the historical events in Bulacan during the Philippine revolution.
In 1923, Reyes co-founded the Liwayway, a Tagalog literary weekly. There, Reyes created the series Mga Kuwento ni Lola Basyang (Tales of Lola Basyang), a series of fairy tale stories told by Lola Basyang- a character Reyes based on a neighbor named Gervacia de Guzman.
Severino Reyes died on September 15, 1942, when the Philippines was under the Japanese regime. The funeral procession was simple and quiet."
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Severino_Reyes#Citation
http://en.wikipilipinas.org/index.php?title=Image:Severinoreyes.jpg
JOSE DALISAY JR.
Dalisay was born in Romblon in 1954. He completed his primary education at La Salle Green Hills, Philippines in 1966 and his secondary education at the Philippine Science High School in 1970.
ACHIEVEMENTS
"Dalisay has won 16 Palanca Awards in five genres. For winning at least five First Prize awards, he was elevated to the Palanca Hall of Fame in 2000. He has also garnered five Cultural Center of the Philippines awards for playwriting; and FAMAS, URIAN, Star and Catholic Mass Media awards and citations for his screenplays. He also chaired the 1992 ASEAN Writers Conference/Workshop, in Penang, Malaysia. He was named one of The Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) of 1993 for his creative writing. In 2005, he received the Premio Cervara di Roma in Italy for extensively promoting Philippine literature overseas.
He has received Hawthornden Castle, British Council, David T.K. Wong, and Rockefeller (Bellagio) fellowships, and has held the Henry Lee Irwin Professorial Chair at the Ateneo de Manila University; and the Jose Joya, Jorge Bocobo, and Elpidio Quirino professorial chairs at U.P. Diliman. He has lectured on Philippine culture and politics at the University of Michigan, University of Auckland, Australian National University, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, St. Norbert College (Wisconsin, U.S.A.), University of East Anglia, University of Rome, London School of Economics, and the University of California, San Diego."
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jose_Dalisay,_Jr.
FRANCISCO BALAGTAS was born on April 2, 1788 to Juana dela Cruz and Juan Baltazar in Barrio Panginay, Bigaa, Bulacan.
He is a filipino poet for the tagalog equilvalent to William Shakespeare for his
poet romeo and juliet. He was called as the AMA NG BALAGTASAN.
LIFE AS A POET
"Balagtas learned to write poetry from José de la Cruz (Huseng Sisiw), one of the most famous poets of Tondo. It was de la Cruz himself who personally challenged Balagtas to improve his writing. (source: Talambuhay ng mga Bayani, for Grade 5 textbook)
In 1835, Kiko moved to Pandacan, where he met María Asunción Rivera, who would effectively serve as the muse for his future works. She is referenced in Florante at Laura as 'Celia' and 'MAR'.
Balagtas' affections for Celia were challenged by the influential Mariano Capule. Capule won the battle for Celia when he used his wealth to get Balagtas imprisoned under the accusation that he ordered a servant girl's head to be shaved. It was here that he wrote Florante at Laura—In fact, the events of this poem were meant to parallel his own situation.
He wrote his poems in Tagalog, during an age when Filipino writing was predominantly written in Spanish.
Balagtas published Florante at Laura upon his release in 1838. He moved to Balanga, Bataan in 1840 where he served as the assistant to the Justice of peace and later, in 1856, as the Major Lieutenant. He was also appointed as the translator of the court. He married Juana Tiambeng on July 22, 1842 and had eleven children. He died on February 20, 1862 at the age of 74. Upon his deathbed, he asked a favor that none of his children become poets like him, who had suffered under his gift as well as under others. He even went as far as to tell them it would be better to cut their hands off than let them be writers.
Balagtas is so greatly revered in the Philippines that the term for Filipino debate in extemporaneous verse is named for him: balagtasan."
SOURCES:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Balagtas
