Reader Response Theory

This is the easiest “lens” in terms of

literary analysis and theory. This type
of response focuses on the activity of
reading a work of literature.
Reader response theory states that we
each bring our own personal
experiences to the reading of literature.
Reader response asks the reader to
make personal connections to the text
by asking and answering questions
about the text that are meaningful to us
personally.
This is the type of writing you have
probably been doing all throughout
high school.
 Reader Response Theory
Reader response gives you a voice.
As long as you can defend your opinion
with textual support (using examples
from the text) then it is valid.
It isn’t an opportunity or an excuse to
go “way out there” and make up crazy
things that don’t exist in the text.

However – reader responses are usually

very different from each other. Because
you are all different, your personal
responses to literature will be very
different!
Examples of reader-response type
questions:
 “What do I personally think that this text
means?
“Have I ever had an experience like this?
What did I learn from it?”
“Have I ever felt the way that the
characters in this text feel?”
“What personal qualities or characteristics
do I have that might be relevant to my
reading of this text?
“Are my morals reflected in this text? How
are my morals the different or the same as
those highlighted in the text?”
“What issues are the most important in the
text? Why do I think these issues are the
most important?”
“What words or phrases are most
important to me? Why?”
 What is this poem about?

Overnight, very Little or nothing.

Whitely, discreetly, So many of us!
Very quietly So many of us!
Our toes, our noses We are shelves, we are
Take hold on the loam, Tables, we are meek,
Acquire the air, We are edible.
Nobody sees us, Nudgers and shovers
Stops us, betrays us; In spite of ourselves.
The small grains make room. Our kind multiplies:
Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles We shall by morning
The leafy bedding, Inherit the earth.
Even the paving. Our foot's in the door.
Our hammers, our rams Write 2-3 sentences
Earless and eyeless, explaining what you
Perfectly voiceless, think this poem is talking
about. Then pick out the
Widen the crannies,
stanza (verse of poetry)
Shoulder through the holes. We that is most meaningful
Diet on water, to you – you like the
sound of it, or it speaks
On crumbs of shadow.
to you – be prepared to
Bland-mannered, asking discuss what you write!
The preceding poem is called
“Mushrooms” and it was written
by Sylvia Plath.

How did you come to some idea of

what this poem meant?

Who you are combined with what

you are reading causes you to
create meaning.

Let’s look at a chart that explains

this concept
 Reader-Response Diagram
 

This diagram graphically illustrates the principles of

reader-response theory. Under the “READER”
column, consider what personal characteristics,
qualities or history might be relevant to your reading
of the text. On the right side, under the heading
“TEXT” write what textual properties affect your
reading (such as use of dialect, narrative structure,
punctuation, sentence length.) After completing the
right and left side, students then investigate how their
personal response and the characteristics of the text
create “MEANING” – they write their statements
about what the text means to them in the middle of
the chart. (Appleman)
 
 READER MEANING TEXT
 
 
 
  
 
 
 EXAMPLE Reader-Response Diagram
 
 
READER MEANING TEXT
 
Here you write Here you write
 
personal characteristics of
characteristics
  the text you are
that relate to reading such as
  
the text you vocabulary,
  analyzing.
are sentence length,
  type of literary
work, punctuation

Together these make up the way a

reader gets individual meaning. Who
you are and what you are reading
results in meaning.