21st CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

Quarter 1 – Lesson 2
Dimensions of Literary Text

What is Formalist Criticism?

➢ Formalist Critics (or New Critics) focus on the formal elements of a work – its
language, structure, and tone; they offer intense examinations of the relationship
between form and meaning within a work, emphasizing the subtle complexity of
how a work is arranged.

➢ i.e.: how such things as diction, irony, paradox, metaphor, symbolism, plot,
characterization, rhyme, or narrative technique develop the overall meaning of the
piece.

A formalist reads literature as an independent work of art rather than as a reflection

of the author’s state of mind or as a representation of a moment in history. Such things
as biography, history, politics, and economics, for example, are considered far less
important than the writing’s form. Words and image shape the work itself.

Applying Formalism in Analyzing a Literary Text

Step 1. The first step in the formalist approach is to read with an active and critical
mind and paying attention to the details of the poem.
(Note some details about the poem that made an impact on you while reading it.)

Step 2. Next carefully examine how it is written in narrative form, or in stanzas.

(Is the poem narrating a story? Is it written in narrative form, or in stanzas?)

Step 3. Note the word that appeals to the senses, more specifically look for images,
similes, metaphors and symbols used in the literary text.
(List down images, simile, metaphors or symbolism used in the poem that depict
geographic, ethnic and linguistic dimension of the poem.)

Step 4. Study who is narrating or telling what happens, who are the characters in the
literary piece and how are these characters revealed to the readers.
(Who are the characters mentioned in the poem? List down the words that reveal
the character’s trait.)

Step 5. Finally, how these parts work together will tell you the theme and the message
it conveys. It answers the question what it is about.
(What is the message being conveyed by the poem?)