Name: Clarish Jermie A.

Maglana

Course & Year : BSED-English III

ELIT 116
ASSIGNMENT

 DIFFERENCES OF BIOGRAPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL

CRITICISM
Biographical criticism and psychological criticism are both literary analysis approaches,
but they focus on different aspects of a text and the author-reader relationship:
1. Biographical Criticism:
- This approach emphasizes the author's life and experiences, seeking to understand
how the author's personal history, cultural background, and life events may have
influenced their writing.
- It interprets the work in the context of the author's life, drawing connections between
the author's experiences and the themes, characters, and events in the text.
Key Questions: Who was the author? How did their life experiences inform their
writing? What events in the author's life might have inspired or shaped the work?

2. Psychological Criticism:
- Also known as psychoanalytic criticism, concentrates on the characters' and the
author's psyche. It delves into the subconscious motivations, desires, and conflicts that
influence the characters' actions and the author's creative process.
- It interprets the work by examining the characters' behavior and the author's psyche
through the lens of psychological theories, such as those developed by Sigmund Freud
or Carl Jung.
Key Questions: What unconscious desires or conflicts motivate the characters'
actions? How might the author's psychological state or personality be reflected in the
text? What role do elements like the id, ego, or superego play in the narrative?
  SIMILARITIES OF BIOGRAPHICAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
CRITICISM

Biographical and psychological criticism are both approaches to literary analysis that
consider the influence of an author's personal life and experiences on their work. Here
are some key similarities between the two:
-Both approaches center on the author, seeking to understand how their life,
experiences, and psychological makeup may have shaped their writing.
- They delve into the context in which the work was created, aiming to reveal
connections between the author's life and the themes, characters, or events in the text.
- Both approaches attempt to uncover the author's motivations, whether in terms of
personal experiences or psychological factors, that may have influenced the creation of
the work.

-By exploring an author's biography and psychological aspects, these criticisms can
provide a deeper and more nuanced understanding of a literary work and its intended
meanings.