WHAT DO YOU SEE?

Introduction to Literary Criticism

Definition and Use

 “Literary criticism” is the name given to works written by

experts who critique—analyze—an author’s work.
 It does NOT mean “to criticize” as in complain or
disapprove.
 Literary criticism is often referred to as a “secondary
source”.
Definition and Use

 Literary criticism is often referred to as a “secondary

source”, because it is used to analyze your primary
work—the work or text (novel) you are reading.
 Literary criticism is used by people who want to use an
expert’s opinion to support their own ideas.
Definition and Use

 Remember, literary criticism is used by readers to

analyze, NOT by authors to write.
 Therefore, when you begin to analyze your novel, you’ll
make use of expert, reliable literary criticism to support
your opinion—your thesis—which you will develop for
your paper.
Questions to Ponder for
Each Theory/Approach

 What are the benefits of

each form of criticism?
 What are potential
problems with each form?
 Is there a “right” or a
“wrong” form?
 Can the mode of criticism
alter the entire meaning
of a text?
Critical Approaches to
Consider
1. Cultural Criticism
2. Formalist Criticism
3. Reader-Response Criticism
4. Biographical Criticism
5. Psychological Criticism
6. Historical Criticism
7. Mythological Criticism
8. Gender Criticism (Feminism)
Upon Seeing an Orange
 Gender Theory – What possibilities are available to a woman
who eats this orange?
 Formalism – What shape and diameter is the orange?
 Marxist Theory – Who owns this orange? Who gets to eat it?
 Historicism – Were there phenomena that this orange faced
before it bloomed?
 Cultural Theory – do other cultures need to do rituals before
eating this orange?
Orange cont’d
 Reader Response Theory – What does the orange taste like?
What does the orange remind the reader of?
 Psychological/Psychoanalytical – I want this orange now! Will I
get in trouble if I eat it?
 Biographical – who planted the orange; what is its connection
to the life of the farmer?
 Humanistic – what good will I get when I eat this orange?
1. Cultural Approach
 The reader is concerned about the culture of the race or
group described in the selection.
Cultural Division
1. Material Culture – consists of the group tools,
implements, objects, artifacts, and other items that have
physical existence; and
2. Non-material culture – consists of the group’s language,
religion, beliefs, laws, folkways, customs, traditions, and
more that has no physical existence.
1. Cultural Approach
The Wedding Dance by Amador Daguio
- What were the traditions employed in the story?
- Does Awiyao love Lumnay? why/not?
- If you were Awiyao/Lumnay, what will you do?
- Will you choose Culture/Tradition over love?
Why/not?
2. Formalistic Approach
 A formalist reading of a text focuses on symbol, metaphor, imagery, characterization, and so on.
 Formalism ignores the author’s biography and focuses only on the interaction of literary elements within
the text.
 Consider the elements of
plot, narrator, structure, etc.
 It’s what you do most often
in English literature.
2. Formalistic Approach Cont’d

Two Major Principles of Formalism

1. A literary text exists independent of any
particular reader or author and, in a sense, has
a fixed meaning.
2. The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and
“universal.”
Formalistic Criticism Cont’d
 THE RHODORA by Ralph Waldo Emerson
- What does the message mean?
- Are there symbols and figurative language present in
the poem?
- How is the poem structured?
THE RHODORA
Ralph Waldo Emerson

On being asked, whence is the flower.

In May, when sea-winds pierced our solitudes,
I found the fresh Rhodora in the woods,
Spreading its leafless blooms in a damp nook,
To please the desert and the sluggish brook.
The purple petals fallen in the pool
Made the black water with their beauty gay;
Here might the red-bird come his plumes to cool,
And court the flower that cheapens his array.
Rhodora! if the sages ask thee why
This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,
Tell them, dear, that, if eyes were made for seeing,
Then beauty is its own excuse for Being;
Why thou wert there, O rival of the rose!
I never thought to ask; I never knew;
But in my simple ignorance suppose
The self-same Power that brought me there, brought you.
3. The Reader-Response Approach
Reader-Response Criticism asserts that a great deal of
meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to it.
 Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects our
perception of meaning in a text (how we feel at the beginning
vs. the end)
 Deals more with the process of creating meaning and
experiencing a text as we read. A text is an experience, not
an object.
 The text is a living thing that lives in the reader’s imagination.

READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING

3. The Reader-Response Criticism
2 Important Ideas in Reader-Response
1. An individual reader’s interpretation usually changes
over time.
2. Readers from different generations and different time
periods interpret texts differently.

Ultimately… How do YOU feel about what you have

read? What do YOU think it means?
Reader-Response Cont’d

 THE CULPRIT’S HANDS by KBV

- What did you feel about the poem
- What is your perception about it?
- Do you have any comments about the poem?
 SUCCESS IS COUNTED SWEETEST by EMILY
DICKINSON
Success is Counted Sweetest
Success is counted sweetest
By those who ne'er succeed.
To comprehend a nectar
Requires sorest need.

Not one of all the purple Host

Who took the Flag today
Can tell the definition
So clear of victory

As he defeated – dying –
On whose forbidden ear
The distant strains of triumph
Burst agonized and clear!
4. Biographical Criticism

 As the name suggests, this type of

criticism reads the text looking for the
author’s influence.
 By examining the author’s life, we can
have a deeper understanding of his/her
writing.
Biographical Criticism

Biographical
Criticism argues
that we must take an
author’s life and
background into
account when we
study a text.
Biographical Criticism

Three Benefits:
1. Facts about an author’s experience can help a reader
decide how to interpret a text.
2. A reader can better appreciate a text by knowing a
writer’s struggles or difficulties in creating that text.
3. A reader can understand a writer’s preoccupation by
studying the way they apply and modify their own life
experiences in their works.
4. Biographical Criticism

A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens

- What is the connection of Charles Dickens’ novel with
his life?
- What do the ghosts symbolize in regards to the life of
Dickens?
- What do the protagonist symbolize in connection to the
author’s life?
ON HIS BLINDNESS--- John Milton
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent which is death to hide
Lodg'd with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide,
"Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?"
I fondly ask. But Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies: "God doth not need
Either man's work or his own gifts: who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state
Is kingly; thousands at his bidding speed
And post o'er land and ocean without rest:
They also serve who only stand and wait." 
5. Psychological Criticism

 Psychological critical theory applies the theories

of psychology to a text in order to better
understand its characters.
 Based largely on the theories of neurologist
Sigmund Freud, this theory hinges on an
examination of people’s (characters’)
unconscious desires.
Psychological Criticism
What governs human behavior?
 Id– the animal nature that says, “Do what
feels good.”
 Ego – the reality-based part of your
personality that makes decisions to satisfy
the Id and Superego
 Superego – the socialized “conscience”
that tells you what’s right or fair
 Psychological Criticism
Oedipus Complex – Every boy
has the unconscious desire to
please his mother;
consequently, sons are afraid of
their fathers, and fathers are
threatened by their sons.
Electra Complex – Every daughter
has the unconscious desire to
please her father; consequently,
daughters are deeply afraid of
their mothers, and mothers are
deeply threatened by their
daughters.
Electra Complex…
Psychological Criticism
 Of course, these
complexes have their
origins in literature and
mythology.
 Psychological criticism is
a way to understand
characters, not diagnose
them.
 Narcissism
6. Historical Criticism
 A reader should make use of historical approach if the
reading selection deals with events having historical
significance.
 Some written selections are based on actual
happenings; however, writers modify real occurrence to
create fiction.
 This approach is especially useful if the selection
emphasizes an event having great importance or
influence or impact.
Historical Criticism

 HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME by

Victor Hugo
- Is there a significant event in the story that will
contribute to the society in today’s generation?
- what are the instances in the story that had
happened in the past?
7. Mythological Criticism
 This stance is not about mythology.
 It is about the universal elements of human life that are
common in all cultures.
 Like ancient mythology, literature is a window to creating
meaning for human life. (The Creation)
 In other words, stories make us feel like our lives are
more significant.
 There is an allusion…
Mythological Criticism
 Central to mythological theory are archetypes.
 Remember, archetypes are those universal
elements present in the literature of all
cultures. (symbols, elements, themes…)
Mythological Criticism
 Mythological Criticism seeks to
understand how the story
constructs meaning in the
human existence through
archetypes.
 For example, note the ways
text/pictures have examined
betrayal.
Mythological Criticism
 Common Archetypes
 The Hero = Beowulf, Spiderman…
 The Outcast = Cain…
 The Quest = Star Wars, Beowulf…
 Sacrificial King = Jesus, The Lion the Witch
and the Wardrobe…
 Evil Personified = Wicked Witch of the West…
8. Gender Criticism

 Gender criticism analyzes literature through the

lens of socially-constructed gender roles.
 The largest part of gender criticism is feminism,
which critiques and seeks to correct women’s
subordination to men in society.
 In its most basic form, feminism is about equality.
Gender Criticism

 A newer segment of gender criticism is looks for the

influence of homosexuality within texts.
 Research of this type is fairly difficult because
homosexuality was largely suppressed in Europe and
America, and it hasn’t been openly discussed until the
last few decades.
A Feminist Reading of Cinderella
 As a single, young woman, Cinderella is without means or opportunity because
she is unattached to a father or a husband.
 It is only through the magic of a fairy godmother that she can be made presentable
and meet the prince AND he is the only means of her escaping her plight.
 What skills does she have? She is beautiful, can sing well, and is kind. These are
highlighted as the desirable qualities in a woman (hence, her UGLY,
UNTALENTED, stepsisters who are portrayed as undesirable).
Feministic Criticism

Feminist Criticism is concerned with

the role, position, and influence of
women in a literary text.
 Asserts that most “literature”

throughout time has been written

by men, for men.
 Examines the way that the female

consciousness is depicted by both

male and female writers.
The Feministic Criticism

4 Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism

1. Western civilization is patriarchal.
2. The concepts of gender are mainly
cultural ideas created by patriarchal
societies.
3. Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature.”
4. Most “literature” through time has been
gender-biased.
Feminist Criticism

 Moana (the Movie)

- What is your view about Moana as a hero in the movie?
 GEORGE ELIOT
 TO THE VIRGINS TO MAKE MUCH OF TIME by
ROBERT HERRICK
To The Virgins to Make Much of Time
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may, 
Old Time is still a-flying; 
And this same flower that smiles today 
Tomorrow will be dying. 

The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, 

The higher he’s a-getting, 
The sooner will his race be run, 
And nearer he’s to setting. 

That age is best which is the first, 

When youth and blood are warmer; 
But being spent, the worse, and worst 
Times still succeed the former. 

Then be not coy, but use your time, 

And while ye may, go marry; 
For having lost but once your prime, 
You may forever tarry.
More literary Theory!!!
Marxist Criticism

 Bases approach largely on works of Karl Marx (1818-

1883) German political philosopher.
 Investigates assumptions and values associated with
culture, race, class.
 For example: Are the rich always good or bad? Are the
poor always good or bad?
Marxist Criticism

 Explores the power struggles of those

who are minorities in dominant group.
 Examines who has/does not have
power, how they attained it/why they
don’t have it, and what they do with
it/how they are manipulated by it.
Marxist Criticism

 Believes that literature is essentially

political; it either supports or refutes
economic oppression. In other words,
the author either reinforces the status
quo or rebels against it.
Literary Criticism

 Remember, one need not be a Marxist to use a Marxist

approach, any more than one needs to be a woman to
use a feminist approach.
 Any critic can take any approach that helps him/her
explain what they think the author is saying in his/her
work.
Literary Criticism

 Once you have decided what you think the author of

your novel is saying—what his/her message is—you
can then decide on which critical approach you think
will work best to support your opinion.