The awit (
Tagalog for "song") is a type of
Filipino
Filipino may refer to:
* Something from or related to the Philippines
** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines.
** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...
poem
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings in ...
, consisting of 12-syllable
quatrain
A quatrain is a type of stanza, or a complete poem, consisting of four lines.
Existing in a variety of forms, the quatrain appears in poems from the poetic traditions of various ancient civilizations including Persia, Ancient India, Ancient Greec ...
s. It follows the
pattern of rhyming stanzas established in the Philippine epic ''
Pasyon
The ''Pasyón'' ( es, Pasión) is a Philippine epic narrative of the life of Jesus Christ, focused on his Passion, Death, and Resurrection. In stanzas of five lines of eight syllables each, the standard elements of epic poetry are interwoven wi ...
''. It is similar in form to the
corrido
The corrido () is a popular narrative metrical tale and poetry that forms a ballad. The songs are often about oppression, history, daily life for criminals, the vaquero lifestyle, and other socially relevant topics. Corridos were widely popular ...
.
One influential work in the awit form is ''
Florante at Laura
''Florante at Laura'' (full title: ''Pinagdaanang Buhay ni Florante at ni Laura sa Kahariang Albanya''; English: The History of Florante and Laura in the Kingdom of Albania) is an 1838 awit written by Tagalog poet Francisco Balagtas. It is co ...
'', an 1838
narrative poem
Narrative poetry is a form of poetry that tells a story, often using the voices of both a narrator and characters; the entire story is usually written in metered verse. Narrative poems do not need rhyme. The poems that make up this genre may be s ...
by
Francisco Balagtas
Francisco Balagtas y de la Cruz (April 2, 1788 – February 20, 1862), commonly known as Francisco Balagtas and also as Francisco Baltasar, was a Filipino Tagalog litterateur and poet during the Spanish colonial period of the Philippines. He is ...
.
See also
*
Dalit (poem)
The dalit is a type of short Filipino poem, consisting of four lines with eight syllables each.
There is a controversy regarding its origin. One school of thought states that the dalit is Spanish in origin, particularly because its syllabificati ...
*
Syllabic verse
Syllabic verse is a poetic form having a fixed or constrained number of syllables per line, while stress, quantity, or tone play a distinctly secondary role — or no role at all — in the verse structure. It is common in languages that are syl ...
*
Tanaga
The Tanaga is an indigenous Filipino poem, traditionally in the Tagalog language.
Format
The Tanaga consists of four lines with seven syllables each with the same rhyme at the end of each line --- that is to say a 7-7-7-7 Syllabic verse, with an ...
References
Philippine poetry
Rhyme
Stanzaic form
Filipino poems
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