Principles of Literary Criticism

Course outline:
Literary Criticism: definition
1-The Classical Greco-Roman Origins:
Plato (The Republic) versus Aristotle (The Poetics)
Longinus (On the Sublime)
Horace (The Art of Poetry)
2-Renaissance Criticism: (16th C) Philip Sydney The Defense of Poetry
3- Puritanism and Restoration criticism
4- Neo classicism: (17th C) John Dryden Essay on Dramatic Poesy, Samuel
Johnson, Alexander Pope
5- The Enlightenment (late 17th/ 18th) John Locke, David Hume
6- Romantic Criticism: (late 18th, 19th c) Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley
7- Twentieth Century Criticism:
Modernism
Formalism
Dialogism
1 Literary Criticism:
Definition: (From the Greek verb critikos = to judge or to decide), literary criticism
is the activity of doing and expressing an informal judgement or opinion about the
meaning, value, truth, beauty or artistry of a literary work. Literary Criticism is the
discipline of analyzing, interpreting and evaluating works of literature.
The principles of literary criticism result from the works of critics and theorists who
have, across the ages and up to the present, developed their views most of the time
through discussing literary works and by modifying and correcting those who
preceded them. This is why for this course we examine these principles as they
change from on period to another.
The origins and foundations of western literary criticism go back to the Ancient Greek
and Roman ages. In Ancient Greece (6th to 4th centuries B.C.) oral verbal literature
such as Epics, Odes, songs and plays were performed to audiences then encoded in
written texts, which means they became literature. Some scholars commented and
discussed these texts and this led to the coming into being of literary criticism.
The most important critical voices raising questions and writing about the value of
literary texts, were Aristotle and Plato. Aristotle was the pupil of Plato but his views
were very different from those of his teacher and they came to be the most influential.
Before Aristotle the dominant tendency of criticism was towards rhetorical criticism
as a result of the great attention given at the time to the art of rhetoric. Among the
proponents of this criticism were Demetrius, Cicero and the Sophists.

 In the 4th c BC Aristotle wrote The Poetics (in 26 books) which is considered
as the 1rst important critical book on literature and will remain the most
influential one for centuries. Aristotle applied a scientific method of analysis
to the study of literature. Even if he discusses the epic in relation to tragedy as
well as poetry, his main focus was on tragedy.
 He identifies the major elements of tragedy: Plot (plot is the soul of tragedy),
the tragic hero related to tragic error (Hamartia) and reversal of fortune
(Peripetia), Anagnorisis (recognition of error)

 Aristotle also discusses the unity of action in tragedy, a unified and complete
plot or structure with a beginning, a middle and an end is necessary for the
tragedy to achieve its effect which is named catharsis.
 Aristotle is interested in tragedy because it achieves the social and moral
function of mimetic art more powerfully than any other literary form through
its powerful cathartic effect.
 Catharsis is defined as the purging or purification of the emotions of pity and
fear that occurs when we as audience watch the tragedy. The spectator feels
pity for the tragic hero and identifies with his suffering in the face of the
power of fate. What happens to the tragic hero has an exemplary universal
significance. Catharsis leads to a kind of self-knowledge for the spectator who
has a new insight about his self and his world.

Comparison between Aristotle and Plato:

 Aristotle gives importance to the practical and formal details only as tools
for achieving the psychological and social function of literature. Criticism
for him is not simply the application of aesthetic principles, but should pay
attention to the function of a work of art in its social context.
 In fact, The Poetics is in Part, Aristotle's response to his teacher, Plato, who
argues in The Republic, that Poetry is a representation of mere appearances
and is thus misleading and morally suspect. Aristotle's approach is quite
different from Plato's. Fascinated by the intellectual challenge of forming
categories and organizing them into coherent systems, Aristotle approaches
literary texts as a natural scientist, carefully observing, identifying and
explaining the features of each category or type of text.
 Rather than concluding that poets should be banned from the perfect society,
the Republic as does Plato, Aristotle attempts to describe the social function,
and the ethical utility of art.
 Mimesis: most important concept in the classical definition of literature and
art in general. It means imitation.
Both Aristotle and Plato argue that artists and poets imitate nature. Thus,
literature is an imitation or a reflection of nature. However, they have different
views on the function of imitation in art and literature. Plato believes in the
existence of an ideal world, where exists a real form of every object found in
nature. A work of art which imitates nature is therefore twice far from the
reality it represents because it only imitates a copy of the original world of
ideals. Aristotle on the other hand, does not deal with the ideal world, he
analyzes the work of art in relation to nature. He argues that a work of art does
not imitate nature as it is but as it should be. An artist reflects reality to try to
improve it.