• An interpretative approach that

emphasizes literary form and the

study of the literary devices within
the text.
• Formalism (a.k.a New Criticism)
ignores the author’s biography and
focuses only on the interaction of
literary elements within the text.
• New Criticism arose in opposition to
biographical or vaguely impressionistic
approaches.
• It sought to establish literary studies as
an objective discipline.
• Its desire to reveal organic unity in
complex texts may be historically
determined, reflective of early 20th
century critics.
• Intentional Fallacy - equating the meaning of a
poem with the author's intentions.

• Affective Fallacy - confusing the meaning of a

text with how it makes the reader feel. A
reader's emotional response to a text
generally does not produce a reliable
interpretation.

• Heresy of Paraphrase - assuming that an

interpretation of a literary work could consist
of a detailed summary or paraphrase.
• Close reading (from Bressler - see General
Resources below) - "a close and detailed
analysis of the text itself to arrive at an
interpretation without referring to historical,
authorial, or cultural concerns" (263).

• Defamiliarization - Literary language, partly by

calling attention to itself as language,
estranged the reader from the familiar and
made fresh the experience of daily life.
ASSUMPTIONS
• Texts possess meaning in and of themselves;
therefore, analyses should emphasize intrinsic
meaning over extrinsic meaning (verbal sense
over significance in E.D. Hirsch's view).
• The best readers are those who look most closely
at the text and are familiar with literary
conventions and have an ample command of the
language.
• Meaning within the text is context-bound. This
means that readers must be ready to show how
the parts of the text relate to form a whole.
ASSUMPTIONS
• The test of excellence in literature: the extent

to which the work manifests organic unity.

• The best interpretations are those which seek

out ambiguities in the text and then resolve
these ambiguities as a part of demonstrating
the organic unity of the text.
METHODS
• Close reading of texts - this includes paying
attention to semantic tensions that complicate
meaning. At the end, though, these ambiguities
must be resolved.
• Learn and apply the appropriate literary
conventions that apply in any discourse (e.g.
imagery, motifs, metaphor, symbols, irony, paradox, structural
patterns, choice of narrative perspective, oppositions, prosody,
etc.).
CRITICISMS OF THIS APPROACH
• Some critics of this approach have argued
that a New Critic's commitment to revealing
organic unity of a work blinds him or her to
elements in the text that do not contribute to
this unity.
• Others have argued that in dismissing the
importance of history, or the response of
readers as irrelevant to an understanding of
the work, New Critics have contradicted their
own claims that meaning is context bound.
1. Does this work follow a traditional
form or chart its own development?
2. How are the events of the plot
recounted (i.e. in sequential fashion or
flashback)?

3. How does the work’s organization

affect its meaning?

4. What is the effect of using the
literary device?
5. What recurrences of words, images
or sounds do you notice?
6. How does the narrator’s point of
view shape the meaning?
7. What visual patterns do you find in
this text?
8. What progressions in nature are
used to suggest meaning?
 Bressler, C. E. Literary Criticism: An Introduction to Theory
and Practice. New York: Prentice Hall, 2004.

 Habib, M.A.R. A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to

Present. Oxford, Blackwell, 2008.

 Leitch, Vincent B, Gen. Ed. The Norton Anthology of

Literary Theory and Criticism, New York and London:
W.W. Norton and Company, 2001.

 Roberts, Edgar V. Writing About Literature. New Jersey:

Prentice Hall, 2003.

 http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#newcriticism
 http://www1.assumption.edu/users/ady/hhgateway/gatew
ay/Approaches.html#New Criticism/Formalism