Literary Criticism

Objectives:
1. Explain the use of the Approaches in Literary
Criticism specifically of Formalism and
Structuralism;

2. Appreciate the cultural and aesthetic diversity

of a literary text through poem analysis; and

3. Understand literary meanings in context and

the use of critical reading strategies by analyzing
a given text.
Literary Criticism
• is the evaluation, analysis, description and interpretation
of Literature.

• helps us to understand the relationship between authors,

readers, and texts.

• ultimately enhances the enjoyment of our reading of the

literary work
• “ LITERARY
CRITICISM is
the evaluation of
Literary Works.
This includes the
classification by
genre, analysis of
structure, and
judgement of
value.”
- Beckson Gatz
Critical Approaches
• are different perspectives we consider when looking at a
piece of literature.

• They seek to give us answers to these questions, in

addition to aiding us in interpreting literature:
1. What do we read?
2. Why do we read?
3. How do we read?
Critical Approaches
- addresses and attempts to deal with all elements of the
organic literary process:

The Author The world of

text

The text
The reader
itself
How do we use these Approaches?
We analyze We examine
a text for the individual
clues. pieces.

We then see how the

pieces fit together, to
show us a bigger picture
which is not explicitly
stated in a text.
Moral-Philosophical Criticism Psychoanalytic Criticism

Structuralism Romanticism

Marxism Mythologi
cal –
Feminism Archetypal
Criticism
Historical -
Biographical Formalism
Criticism
Formalism
Formalist Criticism
• emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its
meaning.

• is the study of the text WITHOUT taking into account any

outside influence such as: historical, biographical,
cultural, and political context.

• Views how a literary text is “organic” (can stand on its

own)
 Literariness

- it's the true essence

of a literary text.

- je ne sais quoi
 "Gee, which street do I go
down?"

"Two roads diverged in a wood

and I—I took the one less
traveled by."
What makes up What makes
a short story? up a poem?

How do these individual elements shape

the work and understanding of readers?
Literary Devices

• are the tools of individual writers to convey their

message, develop their story, and to produce special
effects in their writing.

• can clarify and emphasize concepts, create resonance

within a narrative, and invite readers to dig a little deeper
into the story’s themes.
 {Short STORY}
• Characters • Point of View
• Figures of Speech • Setting
• Imagery • Theme
• Plot
• Speaker and Tone • Structure
• Situation –Rhythm and
• Figurative Rhyme
Language –Verse Form
• Rhetorical –Stanzaic Form
Devices

{POEM}
structuralism
Structuralism
- is interested in identifying and analyzing the structures that
underlie any literary works. Structuralism care about discovering
the structures or rules that govern groups of literary works.

• relates literary texts to a larger structure, which may be:

– a particular genre;
– a range of inter-textual connections;
– a model of a universal narrative structure or a system of
recurrent patterns or motifs.
The 3 Dimensions in Individual Literary
Texts:

Naturalization Intertextuality Binary

of a text Oppositions
 Language is a system of structure
How would you say…..
* English (SVO)
-Susie brings coffee

*Japanese (SOV)
-sushi-ga co: hi:-o mottekuru
-Susie coffee bring

* Malagasy (VOS)
-Entin’ kafe Susie
-bring coffee Susie
 Intertextuality
- is the way that one text influences another.
• “He was lying so obviously, you could almost see his nose
growing.”
• “You’re a Solomon when it comes to decision making.”
• “It’s hard being an adult! Peter Pan had the right idea.”
• “This place is like a Garden of Eden.”
• “It’s been raining for 40 days and 40 nights.”
• “After all, to the well-organized
mind, death is but the next great
adventure”
– (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s
Stone by J.K. Rowling)

• “to die would be an awfully big

adventure.”
– (Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie)
• “No man is an
island … and
therefore never
send to know for
whom the bell
tolls; it tolls for
thee.”
– (For Whom the Bell
Tolls by Ernest The Spanish Civil War
Hemingway)
Binary Oppositions
Good & Evil

Rich & Poor

Young & Old

Man & Woman

are the contrast between two mutually
exclusive concepts or things that
Happy & Sad creates conflict and drives a narrative..
Structuralism
• is taken to be an effort to link up the culture, mind, and
universe; believes that culture can be understood
semiotically.

• the form and context

may be different, but
the same structure,
and they may actually
be saying the same
thing.
How to Use Structuralism in
Analyzing a Text:

• Look for specific patterns, repetitions, and

contrasts in characters, locations, objects,
language used, and decisions made.
 “I prefer to remain
unenlightened to better
appreciate the dark.”
Activity
 • The class will be divided into five (5)
groups. Each will group will analyze two
DEADLINE:
(2) poems by applying Formalist
Criticism and Structuralist Criticism
respectively.

• All Because You Kissed Me Goodnight –

Sandy Rolstan
(Formalist Criticism)
• Alone with Everybody – Charles
Bukowski
(Structuralist Criticism) SEPTEMBER 6, 2019
 All Because You Kissed Me Goodnight

by Sandy Rolstan

I climbed up the door and opened the stairs,

Said my pajamas and put on my prayers,
Then I turned off the bed and crawled into the light,
All because you kissed me goodnight!

Next morning I woke up and scrambled my shoes,

Picked up my eggs and toasted the news,
I couldn’t tell my left from right,
All because you kissed me goodnight!

That evening at last I felt normal again,

So I picked up my mother and called the phone,
I spoke to the puppy and threw Dad a bone,
Even at midnight the sun was still bright,
All because you kissed me goodnight!