Republic of the Philippines

NUEVA ECIJA UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND

Cabanatuan City, Nueva Ecija, Philippines
ISO 9001:2015 CERTIFIED

PAPAYA-OFF CAMPUS
Oltiveros, Genelyn S.

BSED- III ENGLISH

SEE 21 Literary Criticism

Instructor: Dr. Albert C. Bulawat

FORMALIST CRITICISM

Literary Piece: “Get Up and Bar the Door”

1. How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where does it go
next? How does it end? What is the work’s plot? How is its plot related to its
structure?

 “Get up and Bar the Door” is a humorous medieval folk ballad. It is about a
couple that get into an argument on who will get up to bar the door. It also has a
simple language for the medieval period, although it is not simple anymore
during this time period. It has a back and forth dialogue which is very
characteristic in most of the medieval ballads that effectively tells the story of the
stubborn couple.

2. What is the relationship of each part of the work to the work as a whole? How
are the parts related to one another?

 The ballad used a back and forth dialogue which is very characteristic in most of
the medieval ballads. Where the characters alternately convey. This effectively
presents the story of the stubborn couple. 
 3. Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the narrator,
speaker, or character revealed to the readers? How do we come to know and
understand this figure?

 The ballad was narrated from a third point of view. It frequently uses dialogue to
reveal the characters. This effectively shows the sides of characters in the ballad. 

4. Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how do
they relate to one another?

 The major characters are the wife and her husband, who argues over the open
door. While the minor characters are the two thieves who intrude the house of
the couple. The major characters represent the stubbornness and the minor
characters represent the consequence or harm of being stubborn. 

5. What are the time and places of the work- its setting? How is the setting related
to what we know of the characters and their actions? To what extent is the
setting symbolic?

 The work occurs at the house of the couple in November, around the time of
Martinmas. This emphasized the fact that it is cold. The setting sets the couple
into the conflict, where a cold wind blows across the floor and opens the door. 

6. What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or
otherwise create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what images,
similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their function? What
meanings do they convey?

 Personification: time being happy

Imagery: “pudding” being boiled & consumed, the house’s interior & the wife
skipping
Metaphor: “my hand is in my hussyfskap” – I’m busy doing chores
Diction: sae, cauld, gae, hussyfskap, nae, barrd, wad, ane, tak, ye, aff, auld, een,
wi’,gied 
 “It shoyuld nae be barrd this hundered year, it’s no be barrd for me” – I won’t
lock the door even if it stays open for a hundered years
This only suggests that the ballads were written during the medieval
period. It uses a simple language from the medieval period, although it is
not simple anymore in today’s world. The language used helps to locate
the written work origin.

FORMALIST CRITICISM
Get Up And Bar The Door

“Get Up And Bar The Door” is a humorous medieval folk ballad. It is about a couple
that get into an argument on who will get up to bar the door. A wife and her husband
were in their house, the wife was busy cleaning and her husband was just sitting down
and all of the sudden the wind flew the door open. They both started to argue on who
should close the door. The woman said that she was busy cleaning so she would not do
it while her husband was just sitting around watching her clean the house all day. The
both agreed to have a deal on whoever spoke first will be one to close the door while
the other one would rest. Neither of them spoke for the rest of the day. As midnight
came, two intruders walked into their home and ate the pudding that the wife had just
made and they watched in awe as neither of them could speak. However, when one of
these strangers proposed that they would kiss the wife, the husband stood up and
spoke regarding to them kissing his wife. Therefore, the wife had won the argument
and the husband had to get up and bar the door.

The ballad followed an AABB rhyme scheme. It also has a simple language for the
medieval period, although it is not simple anymore during this time period. It has a
back and forth dialogue which is very characteristic in most of the medieval ballads that
effectively tells the story of the stubborn couple. Though the ballad has a humorous
tone, it has a serious theme that demonstrates how stubbornness can cause harm to
herself/himself or others.