Spanish Colonization:

Brought changes in the Philippine Literature in three areas:

-- Content

-- Medium (language)

-- Form

Spanish came with sword and cross with the purpose of:

* Territorial Expansion 

* Evangelization

To serve this purpose they need a tool of Philippine Literature

The content of Literature during their time is mostly:

: Pasion

:Life of Saints

:Religious Books

:Prayers

:Psalms

:Marian Hymns

 Spaniards  needed a translators to:

> Thought Spanish language to the selective Filipino People

> Introduce the use of  Roman Alphabets

and finally on 1593 ,The Spaniards brought in the Printing Press.

Medium(language) became TRIALINGUA 

* Castillan ( Spanish Language)

*Tagalog

* Various dialects of the different tribes.

The literature of the Philippines before the advent of the Spaniards was predominantly a reflection of the indigenous culture and traditions of the land. The people of Manila and native groups within the Philippines used to write on bamboo and the are caceae palm. They used knives for inscribing the ancient Tagalog script. The literature thus preserved was limited to the seventeen basic symbols of the language. With just three vowels and consonantal symbols that had predetermined, inherent sound, the literature handed down was in a 'raw' state and needed to be developed.

The Tagalog language script that was used initially to preserve and hand down literature, was limited to a diacritical mark or 'kudlit' that further modified pronunciation and writing. The dot, line or arrow head was either placed above or below the symbol. The literature thus preserved has played a very important role in the public schooling arena and the rise of the educated class. The colonization by Spain breathed a different kind of life into vernacular and Filipino literature. Spain brought about liberal ideas and a sense of internationalism to the people of Philippines, which was reflected in the popularity of chivalric heroic poems called 'awit' and religious poems called 'corridos'. Religious literature, biography of saints and folktales became the mainstay of vernacular literature during the early period of colonization