21st Century Literature from the Phillippines and the World

source:  https://zululandobserver.co.za/96814/10-things-to-do-indoors-on-a-rainy-day/ Title: The Rainy Day Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Author's Background: Born on February 27, 1807, in Portland, Maine, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow became a Harvard scholar versed in several European languages. He was heavily influenced by Romanticism and made a name as a poet and novelist with works like Hyperion, Evangeline, Poems on Slavery and The Song of Hiawatha. He was also known for his translation of Dante's The Divine Comedy.  Longfellow died on March 24, 1882, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Short Analysis: There is always time in our life when we realize that those days are gone. The days go out and play, those days of happiness we felt and those days shielded from the real world. We need to renew our hope, youth, and grief to show how much our past and future experiences affect our lives.

source:  http://www.dark-night.org/ Title: To Whom Shall I Tell My Sorrow Author: Anton Checkov Author's Background: Anton Chekhov was born on January 29, 1860, in Taganrog, Russia. Through stories such as "The Steppe" and "The Lady with the Dog," and plays such as The Seagull and Uncle Vanya, the prolific writer emphasized the depths of human nature, the hidden significance of everyday events and the fine line between comedy and tradegy. Chekhov died of tuberculosis on July 15, 1904, in Badenweiler, Germany. source:  https://www.biography.com/people/anton-chekhov-9245947 Vocabulary: Mare - an evil preternatural being causing nightmares. Hunchbacked - a person with a humpback. Nag - horse : one that is old or in poor condition. Kopecks - see ruble at money table Galosh - a shoe with a heavy sole. Epithet - a word or phrase that describes a person or thing. source: Merriam-Websters Dictionar, Google Characters:

source:  http://www.sushidog.com/bpss/stories/hills.htm Title: A Night in the Hills Author: Paz Marquez-Benitez Author's Background:  Paz Marquez-Benitez (1894 - 1983) was a Filipina short-story writer. Marquez-Benitez authored the first Filipino modern English language short story,   Dead Stars,  published in the Philippine Herald in 1925. Born into the prominent Marquez family of Quezon province, she was among the first generation of Filipino people trained in the American education system which used English as the medium of instruction. She graduated high school in Tayabas High School now, Quezon National High School. She was a member of the first freshman class of the University of the Philippines, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1912. Marquez-Benitez later became a teacher at the University of the Philippines, who taught short-story writing and had become an influential figure to many Filipino writers in the English language, such as Loreto Paras-S