Biographical Approach

• Dates back to the

Renaissance period from
19th to 20th centuries
(Griffith, 2002).
Definition

• According to Reaske(1966)
biographical approach
examines the literary work
in relation to the author’s
life.
Definition
- It considers the ways age,
race, gender, family, education,
and economic status of the
author (Zaporozhets, 2004).
Philosophers:
• Samuel Johnson
- is reputed to be the first great
biographical critic. His book is Lives of the
poets(1779).
• Sainte Beuve
- argued that to understand a work it
is necessary to understand its author.
Sample Works:

• On His Blindness
Milton’s
sonnets • On His Deceased Wife

Tennessee • The Glass of Menagerie

William