Ang Poetikong Filipino: Isang Penomenolohikong Paggalugad sa Pagpapakahulugan ng Pitong Pangunahing Kritiko*

The Philippine Poetic: A Phenomenological Explication of its Definitions by Seven Filipino CriticsAs a means to harness what Jonathan Culler calls, "literary competence," each teacher of literature is expected to be armed with the capacity to form an efficient framework in reading, one that guides students in their own textual experience. Each teacher too manages to have his/her own practice of reading depending on individual politics, or institutional positions. In this paper, the author seeks to create a phenomenological reading to the act of reading poetry. The author examines selected Filipino texts that explain the practice of reading poetry (as explicated by seven major writer-critics from the Philippines: Gemino Abad, Virgilio S. Almario, Cirilo F. Bautista, Isagani R. Cruz, E. San Juan Jr., Edith L. Tiempo, and Bienvenido Lumbera). This project envisions to create a cartography of the "landscape" of reading in the Filipino context. This work is a new contribution to Filipino literature, as it aspires to understand the trajectories, possibilities, and future of harnessing literary competence. In the end, this paper endeavors to attempt a more "located" reading practice of poetry (a practice based on contexts, time, and history)