LANGUAGE OF LITERARY TEXTS

• engage with a range of texts, in a variety of media and forms, from different periods, styles, and
cultures
• develop skills in listening, speaking, reading, writing, viewing, presenting and performing
• develop skills in interpretation, analysis and evaluation
• develop sensitivity to the formal and aesthetic qualities of texts and an appreciation of how they
contribute to diverse responses and open up multiple meanings
• develop an understanding of relationships between texts and a variety of perspectives, cultural
contexts, and local and global issues and an appreciation of how they contribute to diverse
responses and open up multiple meanings
• develop an understanding of the relationships between studies in language and literature and
other disciplines
• communicate and collaborate in a confident and creative way
• foster a lifelong interest in and enjoyment of language and literature.

enumerate various definitions of the term “literature,”

identify some characteristics of the language used in the literary pieces, explain
basic characteristics of different approaches to teaching language through
literature,
exemplify some sorts of language deviations in the literary pieces and explain their
importance for developing language awareness, appreciate the necessity
of integrating literature into EFL/ESL contexts, give some examples of
pros and cons of the use of literature in ELT.
Chapter I:
INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
I. Literary Genres
A. Prose/Fiction
B. Poetry
C. Drama

A. ELEMENTS OF PROSE/ FICTION

What is Prose/fiction
ELEMENTS:
1. SETTING
-refers to the time, place and period in which the action
takes place.
Setting: can help in the portrayal of character.
“…it was so quiet and lonesome out, even though it was
Saturday night. I didn’t see hardly anybody on the street.
Now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing the
street with their arms around each other’s waists and all,
or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all
of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet
wasn’t funny. New York’s terrible when somebody laughs
on the street very late at night. You can hear it for miles.
It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed.”
The Catcher in the Rye (81)

Setting: can establish the atmosphere of a work.

“During the whole of a dull, dark, and soundless day in
the autumn of the year, when the clouds hung
oppressively low in the heavens, I had been passing
alone, on horseback, through a singularly dreary tract of
country.”
“The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe
Setting: in some works of fiction, action is so
closely related to setting that the plot is directed
by it.
“The new man stands, looking a minute, to get the set-up
of the day room. One side of the room younger patients,
known as Acutes because the doctors figure them still
sick enough to be fixed, practice arm wrestling and card
tricks…Across the room from the Acutes are the culls of
the Combine’s product, the Chronics. Not in the hospital,
these to get fixed, but just to keep them from walking
around the street giving the product a bad name.
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”

CHARACTER
-The people (or animals, things, etc. presented as people)
appearing in a literary work.
Types of Characters:
• Protagonist: The leading character in a literary work.
• Antagonist: The character who opposes the
protagonist.
PLOT
The series of events and actions that takes place in a
story.
Elements of Plot
A. Conflict
• Man VS Man
• Man VS Nature
• Man VS Society
• Man VS Himself

B. Plot Line
 Climax:The turning point. The most intense
moment (either mentally or in action

Rising Action: the series of conflicts and Falling Action: all of the action which
crisis in the story that lead to the climax. follows the Climax.

Exposition:The start of the story. The Resolution:The conclusion, the tying

way things are before the action starts. together of all of the threads.

POINT OF VIEW:
Who is telling the story?
A. Omniscient Point of View: The author is telling
the story.
“The boy with fair hair lowered himself down the last
few feet of rock and began to pick his way toward the
lagoon. Though he had taken off his school sweater and
trailed it now from one hand, his grey shirt stuck to him
and his hair was plastered to his forehead. All around him
the long scar smashed into the jungle was a bath of
heat.”
The Lord of the Flies - William Golding

B. Limited Omniscient: Third person, told from the

viewpoint of a character in the story.
 “In his black suit he stood in the dark glass where the
lilies leaned so palely from their waisted cutglass vase.
He looked down at the guttered candlestub. He
pressed his thumbprint in the warm wax pooled on the
oak veneer. Lastly he looked at the face so caved and
drawn among the folds of funeral cloth, the yellowed
moustache, the eyelids paper thin. That was not
sleeping. That was not sleeping.
All the Pretty Horses - Cormac McCarthy

C. First Person: Story is told from point of view of one

of the characters who uses the first person pronoun
“I.”
“I have been afraid of putting air in a tire ever since I
saw a tractor tire blow up and throw Newt Hardbine’s
father over the top of the Standard Oil sign. I’m not
lying. He got stuck up there. About nineteen people
congregated during the time it took for Norman Strick
to walk up to the Courthouse and blow the whistle for
the volunteer fire department.” The Bean Trees -
Barbara Kingsolver

THEME
• The theme of a piece of fiction is its central idea. It
usually contains some insight into the human
condition.
• In most short stories, the theme can be expressed in
a single sentence.
 • In longer works of fiction, the central theme is often
accompanied by a number of lesser, related themes,
or there may be two or more central themes.
• Themes should be stated as a generalization.

SYMBOLISM
- A symbol represents an idea, quality, or concept larger
than itself.

A Journey can symbolize

life.

Water may represent a new beginning.

OTHER FICTION ELEMENTS

Allusion:
a reference to a person, place or literary, historical,
artistic, mythological source or event.
“It was in St. Louis, Missouri, where they have that
giant McDonald’s thing towering over the city…”(Bean
Trees 15) Atmosphere:
 - the prevailing emotional and mental climate of a
piece of fiction.
Dialogue:
- the reproduction of a conversation between two of
the characters.
Foreshadowing:
- early clues about what will happen later in a piece of
fiction.
Irony:
- a difference between what is expected and reality.
Style:
- a writer’s individual and distinct way of writing. The
total of the qualities that distinguish one author’s
writing from another’s.
Structure:
- the way time moves through a novel.
o Chronological: starts at the beginning and

moves through time. o Flashback: starts in

the present and then goes back to the past.

o Circular or Anticipatory: starts in the

present, flashes back to the past, and returns
to the present at the conclusion.
Source: http://mandikercher.bhasd.org/wp-
content/uploads/sites/86/2016/08/Elements-of-Fiction-6-
and-7.ppt
B. ELEMENTS OF POETRY
1. FORM 2. SOUND DEVISES 3. IMAGERY 4.
MOOD/TONE 5. THEME
POETRY is a form of writing that uses not only words,
But also form,
Patterns of sound,
Imagery, And
figurative
language To
convey the
message.
Any Poem will include some or all of these elements.

1. FORM:
• A poem’s form is its appearance. Poems are divided
into lines. Many poems, especially longer ones, may
also be divided into groups of lines called stanzas.
• Stanzas function like paragraphs in a story. Each one
contains a single idea or takes the idea one step
further.
What is the purpose of the first stanza of “The
Highwayman”?
The wind was a
torrent of darkness,
among the gusty
trees. The moon was a
 ghostly galleon
tossed upon cloudy
seas.
The road was a ribbon
of moonlight over
the purple moor, And
the highwayman
came riding -
Riding – riding –
The highwayman came
riding up to the old
inn door.
Sets the scene
2. SOUND DEVISES
Some poems use techniques of sound such as
rhythm, rhyme, and alliteration.

Rhythm:
- The pattern of beats or stresses in a poem.
- Poets use patterns of stressed and unstressed
syllables to create a regular rhythm.
Try beating out the rhythm with a finger as you read
these lines.
She was a child and I was a child,
In this kingdom
by the sea; But we
loved with a love
that was
more than love –
 I and my Annabel
Lee; Rhyme:
The repetition of the same or similar sounds, usually
in stressed syllables at the ends of lines, but sometimes
within a line. There are strange things done in the
midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;

Rhyme Scheme
The rhyming pattern that is created at the end of
lines of poetry.
Mary had a little lamb, A
Its fleece as white as snow. B
And everywhere that Mary went, C
The lamb was sure to go. B
If the poem does not have a rhyme scheme it is
considered to be a free verse poem.
Try this well-known nursery poem:
Twinkle, twinkle little star ________
How I wonder what you are________
Up above the world so high________
Like a diamond in the sky________
Alliteration
The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginnings of
words.
Seven silver swans swam silently seaward.
Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers.

Onomatopoeia
Words that are used to represent particular sounds.
Crash Boom
Bang Zip
Repetition
• The repeating of a particular sound devise to create
an effect.
• To create emphasis, a poet may repeat words or lines
within the poem.

IMAGERY
Poets use words that appeal to the reader’s senses of
sight, sound, touch, taste, and smell.
Which senses does the following stanza appeal to?

Back, he spurred like a

madman, shouting
curses to the sky, With
the white road smoking
behind him and his
rapier brandished high.
FIGURES OF SPEECH
 Figures of speech are a special
kind of imagery.  They create
pictures by making comparisons.
Simile
A comparison using like
or as. Talk of your cold!
through the parka’s
fold it stabbed like a
driven nail.
Metaphor
Describes one thing as if it were another.
The moon was a ghostly galleon
tossed upon cloudy seas.
Extended Metaphor
A metaphor that extends throughout the entire poem
instead of just a few lines of the poem.
Mother to Son
Langston Hughes
Well, son, I’ll tell you:
Life for me ain’t been no crystalstair.
It’s had tacks in it,
And splinters,
And boards torn up,
And places with no carpet
on the floor – Bare.
But all the time
I’se been a-climbin on,
And reachin’ landin’s,
And turnin’ corners,
And sometimes goin’ in
the dark Where there
ain’t been no light.
So, boy, don’t you
turn back. Don’t you
set down on the
stops ‘Cause you
finds it kinder hard.
don’t you fall now –
For I’se still goin’, honey,
I’se still climbin’, and life for me ain’t been no crystal
stair.

Personification
Gives human characteristics to something
nonhuman.
…and the stars o’erhead
 were dancing heel and toe…
In “The Highwayman,” images create a picture of
Tim. Which figures are used to describe his eyes and his
hair?
His eyes were hollows of madness, his hair like
moldy hay,
eyes : hollows of madness : Metaphor
hair : moldy hay : Simile

Exercise:
Which figures are used to describe the following?
1. My love is like a rose.
_____________________
2. Our love bloomed in the garden.
_____________________
3. The rose tipped its head as we passed by.
_____________________

MODE/TONE
-The feelings the author’s word choices give the poem.
The only other sounds the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
THEME
- The theme of a poem is its central or main idea.
- To identify a poem’s theme, ask yourself what ideas
or insights about life or human nature you have
found in the poem.
Source:
https://www.slideshare.net/fherkastelan/elements-
of-poetry-131689580
C. ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
DRAMA
Drama is a composition in prose form that presents a
story entirely told in dialogue and action and written with
the intention of its eventual performance before an
audience.
Drama has a two-fold nature: LITERATURE and THEATRE.
ELEMENTS OF DRAMA
1. SETTING
Setting identifies the time and place in which the
events occur. It consists of the historical period, the
moment, day and season in which the incidents take
place. It also includes the sceneries in the
performance which are usually found in the
preliminary descriptions.
2. CHARACTERS
Characters are the people in the play and thus
considered as the principal material in a drama.
 CHARACTER ASPECTS
• Physical identifies peripheral facts such as age,
sexual category, size, race and color. It deals with
external attributes which may be envisaged from the
description of the playwright or deduced from what
the characters say or what other characters verbalize
about his appearance.

• Social embraces all aspects that can be gleaned

from the character’s world or environment as
exemplified by the economic status, occupation or
trade, creed, familial affiliation of the characters.

• Psychological discloses the inner mechanism of the

mind of the character as exemplified by his habitual
responses, attitudes, longings, purposes, likes and
dislikes. It is considered as the most indispensable
level of character categorization because routines
and emotions, thoughts, attitude and behavior
enable the readers to know the character
intrinsically.

• Moral discloses the decisions of the characters,

either socially acceptable or not, exposing their
intentions, thus projecting what is upright or not.

3. PLOT
Plot lays out the series of events that form the
entirety of the play. It serves as a structural
framework which brings the events to a cohesive
form and sense.
 TYPES OF PLOT
• Natural Plot is a chronological sequence of events
arrangement where actions continuously take place
as an end result of the previous action
• Episodic Plot – each episode independently
comprises a setting, climax, and resolution;
therefore, a full story in itself is formed.

FRAMEWORK OF PLOT

Beginning

Middle

Ending

BEGINNING identifies information about the place, such

as geographical location, social, cultural, political
background or period when the event took place.
• Exposition is the point where the playwright
commences his story. It reveals the identity of story’s
initial crisis.
Middle is composed of a series of difficulties:
• Complications bring changes and alterations in the
movement of the action which take place when
discovery of novel information, unexpected alteration
of plan, choosing between two courses of action or
preface of new ideas are revealed.
• Crisis reveals the peak of anticipation in the series
of incidents.
 • Obligatory Scene identifies the open collision
between two opposing characters or forces.
• Discovery discloses points which are previously
unknown, characterized as something mysterious,
strange, unfamiliar and thus revealed through
objects, persons, facts, values, or self-discovered.
Ending is the final major component of the story which
brings the condition back to its stability. This part
brings satisfaction to the audience which extends to
the final curtain as peace is completely restored.

THEME
Theme is considered as the unifying element that defines
the dramatized idea of the play. It is the over-all sense or
implication of the action. It defines the problem,
emphasizes the ethical judgment and suggest attitude or
course of action that eliminates the crisis is an acceptable
way.
STYLE
Style refers to the mode of expression or presentation
of the play which points out the playwright’s position or
viewpoint in life.

MAJOR DRAMATIC ATTITUDE

• Realism is an accurate detailed, and life-like
description in a play where things are presented as
real as can be set in actual life, with dialogues
sounding like day-to-day conversation.
 • Non-realism is method of presentation identified as
something stylized or theatricalized whereby artist
uses his feral imagination in projecting his ideas.

GENRES OF DRAMA
• Tragedy is a type of drama that shows the downfall
and destruction of a noble or outstanding person,
traditionally one who possesses a character weakness
called a tragic flaw. The tragic hero, through choice or
circumstance, is caught up in a sequence of events
that inevitably results in disaster.
• Comedy is a type of drama intended to interest and
amuse the audience rather than make them deeply
concerned about events that happen. The characters
overcome some difficulties, but they always overcome
their ill fortune and find happiness in the end.
• Tragicomedy is a play that does not adhere strictly
to the structure of tragedy. This is usually serious play
that also has some of the qualities of comedy. It
arouses thought even with laughter.
• Farce is a play that brings laughter for the sake of
laughter, usually making use grossly embellished
events and characters. It has very swift movements,
has ridiculous situations, and does not stimulate
thought.
• Melodrama shows events that follow each other
rapidly, but seems to be governed always by chance.
The characters are victims in the hands of merciless
fate.
Source:
https://www.madera.k12.ca.us/cms/lib04/CA01001210/
Centricity/Domain/91/Elements %20Of%20DramaEDI.ppt
II. How to study and read literary texts: CRITICAL APPROACHES TO LITERATURE Unit
focus question:
How do we study literature?
How do viewpoint and bias affect our perception of reality?
CRITICAL APPROACHES are different perspectives we consider when looking at a piece of
literature.
They seek to give us answers to these questions, in addition to aiding us in interpreting
literature.

1. What do we read?
2. Why do we read?
3. How do we read?
CRITICAL APPROACHES TO CONSIDER

1. Reader-Response Criticism

2. Formalist Criticism

3. Psychological/Psychoanalytic Criticism

4. Sociological Criticism
A. Feminist/Gender Criticism
B. Marxist Criticism
5. Biographical Criticism
6. New Historicist Criticism
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?

1. 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
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?
2. The Formalist Approach
Formalist Criticism emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning,
focusing on literary elements and how they work to create meaning.

 Examines a text as independent from its time period, social setting, and
author’s background. A text is an independent entity.

 Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the effects of literary

elements and techniques on the text.
Two Major Principles of Formalism

1. A literary text exists independent of any particular reader and, in a sense, has a fixed
meaning.

2. The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and “universal.”

3. The Psychological/ Psychoanalytic Approach
Psychological Criticism views a text as a revelation of its author’s mind and personality. It
is based on the work of Sigmund Freud.

 Also focuses on the hidden motivations of literary characters

 Looks at literary characters as a reflection of the writer

4. The Sociological Approach
Sociological criticism argues that social contexts (the social environment) must be
considered when analyzing a text.

 Focuses on the values of a society and how those views are reflected in a text
  Emphasizes the economic, political, and cultural issues within literary texts 

Core Belief: Literature is a reflection of its society.

4A. The Marxist Approach

Marxist Criticism emphasizes economic and social conditions. It is based on the political
theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

 Concerned with understanding the role of power, politics, and money in

literary texts
Marxist Criticism examines literature to see how it reflects

 The way in which dominant groups (typically, the majority) exploit the
subordinate groups (typically, the minority)

 The way in which people become alienated from one another through power,
money, and politics
4B. The Feminist Approach
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.
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.

5. The Biographical Approach
Biographical Criticism argues that we must take an author’s life and background into
account when we study a text.
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.
6. The New Historicist Approach
New Historicist Criticism argues that every literary work is a product of its time and its
world.
New Historicism:

1. Provides background information necessary to understand how literary texts were

perceived in their time.

2. Shows how literary texts reflect ideas and attitudes of the time in which they were
written.

 New historicist critics often compare the language in contemporary documents and
literary texts to reveal cultural assumptions and values in the text.
REMEMBER

 We will never look at a text STRICTLY from one standpoint or another, ignoring all
other views. That is antithetical to what we are trying to do.

 We should always keep our focus on the text and use these critical approaches to
clarify our understanding of a text and develop an interpretation of it.
CHAPTER II: READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM
History and purpose

 The domain of literature has a vast horizon representing a cluster of literary

theories. Each of these theories has come from a different school of thoughts,
forming a strict sense of the systematic study of literature. The purpose is to analyze
the subtleties of literature that includes social prophecy, interdisciplinary themes,
intellectual history, and moral philosophy. Hence, it considers anything that has
relevance to interpret meaning to humans.

 Reader response criticism, in modern academics, is another literary theory, focusing

on the audience or reader experience of any literary work. The theory gained
popularity because of its contrastive ideology. The tradition theories primarily
focused on the form or content of the literary work.

 Typically, reader response criticism revolves around the phenomena “Respond to

Reading”.

 The theory identifies the reader as the significant and active agent who is
responsible to impart the real meaning of the text by interpreting it. The modern
school of thoughts argues on the existing perception of the literature. Literature is
 like performing art that enables reader creates his own text-related unique
performance.

 It stood against the other theories of new criticism and formalism, which totally
ignored the reader’s role in re-creating the meaning. New criticism considered that
only structure, form and content, or whatever is within the text, create, the meaning.
There was no appeal to the author’s intention or his authority, nor did it consider
the readers psychology. None of this single element was focused on the new critics
orthodox.

 Reader-Response criticism is not a subjective, impressionistic free-for-all, nor a

legitimizing of all half-baked, arbitrary, personal comments on literary works.
Instead, it is a school of criticism which emerged in the 1970s, focused on finding
meaning in the act of reading itself and examining the ways individual readers or
communities of readers experience texts. These critics raise theoretical questions
regarding how the reader joins with the author "to help the text mean." They
determine what kind of reader or what community of readers the work implies and
helps to create. They also may examine the significance of the series of
interpretations the reader undergoes in the reading process.
Kinds of reader-response criticism

A. Individualists- In the 1960s, David Bleich began collecting statements by

influencing students of their feelings and associations.[clarification needed] He used
these to theorize about the reading process and to refocus the classroom teaching of
literature. He claimed that his classes "generated" knowledge, that is, knowledge of
how particular persons recreate texts
B. Experimenters-Reuven Tsur in Israel has developed in great detail models for the
expressivity of poetic rhythms, of metaphor, and of word-sound in poetry (including
different actors' readings of a single line of Shakespeare).
Richard Gerrig in the U.S. has experimented with the reader's state of mind during
and after a literary experience. He has shown how readers put aside ordinary
knowledge and values while they read, treating, for example, criminals as heroes.

C. Uniformists -Wolfgang Iser exemplifies the German tendency to theorize the reader
and so posit a uniform response. For him, a literary work is not an object in itself but
an effect to be explained. But he asserts this response is controlled by the text. For
the "real" reader, he substitutes an implied reader, who is the reader a given literary
work requires. Within various polarities created by the text, this "implied" reader
makes expectations, meanings.

D. Objections- critics under this hold that, to understand the literary experience or the
meaning of a text, one must look to the processes readers use to create that meaning
and experience. Traditional, text-oriented critics often think of reader-response
 criticism as an anarchic subjectivism, allowing readers to interpret a text any way
they want. They accuse reader-response critics of saying the text doesn't exist.

E. Extensions - relates to psychology, both experimental psychology for those

attempting to find principles of response, and psychoanalytic psychology for those
studying individual responses. Post-behaviorist psychologists of reading and of
perception support the idea that it is the reader who makes meaning.

 To reader-response based theorists, however, reading is always both subjective and

objective, and their question is not "which" but "how".[clarification needed] Some
reader response critics (uniformists) assume a bi-active model of reading: the
literary work controls part of the response and the reader controls part. Others, who
see that position as internally contradictory, claim that the reader controls the whole
transaction (individualists).

 In such a reader-active model, readers and audiences use amateur or professional

procedures for reading (shared by many others) as well as their personal issues and
values. Another objection to reader-response criticism is that it fails to account for
the text being able to expand the reader's understanding. While readers can and do
put their own ideas and experiences into a work, they are at the same time gaining
new understanding through the text. This is something that is generally overlooked
in reader-response criticism.
The Purpose of Reader-Response
Reader-response suggests that the role of the reader is essential to the meaning of a text,
for only in the reading experience does the literary work come alive. For example, in Mary
Wollstonecraft Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818), the monster doesn’t exist, so to speak, until
the reader reads Frankenstein and reanimates it to life, becoming a co-creator of the text.
Thus, the purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending your
personal reaction to a text.
Your critical reading of a text asks you to explore:

1. why you like or dislike the text;

2. explain whether you agree or disagree with the author; 3. identify the
text’s purpose; and
4. critique the text.
There is no right or wrong answer to a reading response. Nonetheless, it is important that
you demonstrate an understanding of the reading and clearly explain and support your
reactions. Do not use the standard approach of just writing: “I liked this text because it is so
cool and the ending made me feel happy,” or “I hated it because it was stupid, and had
nothing at all to do with my life, and was too negative and boring.” In writing a response you
may assume the reader has already read the text. Thus, do not summarize the contents of
the text at length. Instead, take a systematic, analytical approach to the text.
Write as a Scholar
When writing a reader-response write as an educated adult addressing other adults or
fellow scholars. As a beginning scholar, if you write that something has nothing to do with
you or does not pass your “Who cares?” test, but many other people think that it is
important and great, readers will probably not agree with you that the text is dull or boring.
Instead, they may conclude that you are dull and boring, that you are too immature or
uneducated to understand what important things the author wrote.

Criticize with Examples

If you did not like a text, that is fine, but criticize it either from: A.

principle, for example:

Is the text racist?

Does the text unreasonably puts down things, such as religion, or groups of people, such as
women or adolescents, conservatives or democrats, etc?
Does the text include factual errors or outright lies? It is too dark and despairing? Is it falsely
positive?

B. form, for example:

Is the text poorly written?
Does it contain too much verbal “fat”?
Is it too emotional or too childish?
Does it have too many facts and figures?
Are there typos or other errors in the text?
Do the ideas wander around without making a point?
In each of these cases, do not simply criticize, but give examples. As a beginning scholar, be
cautious of criticizing any text as “confusing” or “crazy,” since readers might simply
conclude that you are too ignorant or slow to understand and appreciate it.

The Structure of a Reader-Response Essay

Choosing a text to study is the first step in writing a reader-response essay. Once you have
chosen the text, your challenge is to connect with it and have a “conversation” with the text.
 In the beginning paragraph of your reader-response essay, be sure to mention the
following:

1. title of the work to which you are responding;

2. the author; and
3. the main thesis of the text.
Then, do your best to answer the questions below. Remember, however, that you are
writing an essay, not filling out a short-answer worksheet. You do not need to work through
these questions in order, one by one, in your essay. Rather, your paper as a whole should be
sure to address these questions in some way.
What does the text have to do with you, personally, and with your life (past, present or
future)? It is not acceptable to write that the text has NOTHING to do with you, since just
about everything humans can write has to do in some way with every other human.
How much does the text agree or clash with your view of the world, and what you consider
right and wrong? Use several quotes as examples of how it agrees with and supports what
you think about the world, about right and wrong, and about what you think it is to be
human. Use quotes and examples to discuss how the text disagrees with what you think
about the world and about right and wrong.
What did you learn, and how much were your views and opinions challenged or changed
by this text, if at all? Did the text communicate with you? Why or why not? Give examples
of how your views might have changed or been strengthened (or perhaps, of why the text
failed to convince you, the way it is). Please do not write “I agree with everything the author
wrote,” since everybody disagrees about something, even if it is a tiny point. Use quotes to
illustrate your points of challenge, or where you were persuaded, or where it left you cold.
How well does the text address things that you, personally, care about and consider
important to the world? How does it address things that are important to your family, your
community, your ethnic group, to people of your economic or social class or background, or
your faith tradition? If not, who does or did the text serve? Did it pass the “Who cares?”
test? Use quotes from the text to illustrate.
What can you praise about the text? What problems did you have with it? Reading and
writing “critically” does not mean the same thing as “criticizing,” in everyday language
(complaining or griping, fault-finding, nit-picking). Your “critique” can and should be
positive and praise the text if possible, as well as pointing out problems, disagreements and
shortcomings.
How well did you enjoy the text (or not) as entertainment or as a work of art? Use quotes
or examples to illustrate the quality of the text as art or entertainment. Of course, be aware
that some texts are not meant to be entertainment or art: a news report or textbook, for
instance, may be neither entertaining or artistic, but may still be important and successful.
 For the conclusion, you might want to discuss; a.) your overall reaction to the text, b.)
whether you would read something else like this in the future, c.) whether you would read
something else by this author, and d.)if would you recommend read this text to someone
else and why.
Key Takeaways
In reader-response, the reader is essential to the meaning of a text for they bring the text to
life.
The purpose of a reading response is examining, explaining, and defending your personal
reaction to a text.
When writing a reader-response, write as an educated adult addressing other adults or
fellow scholars.
As a beginning scholar, be cautious of criticizing any text as “boring,” “crazy,” or “dull.” If
you do criticize, base your criticism on the principles and form of the text itself.
The challenge of a reader-response is to show how you connected with the text.
Reader-Response Essays Example
Why We Crave Horror Movies
Virginia Kearney
Do horror movies that make you laugh count as horror movies?
Thesis and Topic Sentences
Here are a sample thesis and topic sentences (responding to the popular essay by Stephen
King, "Why We Crave Horror Movies"
(http://faculty.uml.edu/bmarshall/Lowell/whywecravehorrormovies.pdf)
Thesis Sentence: I agree with Stephen King that horror movies are very popular; however,
I disagree that watching them keeps people from doing violence.
Topic Sentence #1: Even though King wrote his essay many years ago, his assertion that
horror movies are popular is still true today.
Topic Sentence #2: King argues that people watch horror movies in order to keep their
inner demons from coming out but I think that people watch horror movies more for the
fun of it.
Topic Sentence #3: What I most disagree with in the essay is the idea that watching
violence prevents violence.
Topic Sentence #4: The increase in public violence, including almost monthly accounts of
school shootings, makes me wonder if, in fact, watching violence on the screen actually
makes some people more prone to acting it out.
Conclusion topic sentence: Most of all, I think King's message to not worry about what we
watch is naïve and possibly dangerous; in fact, my own response to his argument is to think
more carefully about what sort of images I want to view and have rattling around in my
own nightmares.
Response Questions
There are a variety of ways to respond. Here are some of the questions you can ask yourself
to help develop your response:
Do you agree or disagree with the author's ideas?
Is this article convincing? Where and why?
What about the language, tone, style or use of examples is effective for the audience?
What in your own life does this article remind you of?
How effective that article is at convincing the audience.
What is the larger argument that this article is arguing about? What part does this
article play in that larger discussion?
Can you apply the lesson of this text to your own life experience?
What is the meaning of this article? Why is it important?
When you've written a good thesis and topic sentence outline like the one above,
writing the rest of the essay is easy.
Start with the outline. Add some examples from the article, your life or other things
you've read, heard or seen. Before you write these all out, you might want to do a scratch
outline like this:
Introduction: I can start this paragraph with a story about waking up with a
nightmare as a kid after seeing a horror movie. Then I can add a summary sentence about
the article: Stephen King, in his 1982 article for Playboy, “Why We Crave Horror Movies,”
contends that we love horror movies because they help us to have a safe release valve for
the inner demon inside of us.
Thesis: While I think Stephen King’s article, "Why We Crave Horror Movies" is an
enjoyable read, I don’t believe that horror movies help us keep sane; in fact, I think that
prolonged looking at violence probably desensitizes us, and makes us more prone to either
act out in violence, or ignore the violence of others.
Topic Sentence #1: King is an exceptional writer, and I think he is especially effective in his
use of language and tone to keep the reader engaged so that they enjoy reading even if they
don't agree.
Supporting Evidence: I can use evidence from the article to show it is interesting and fun
to read. I can also talk about how it was published in Playboy originally, and include
information about the audience of Playboy and why they would like it, but also say I
enjoyed it too. I will point out that even though I didn't like the dead baby in a blender joke,
I found myself repeating it to my roommate who thought it was hilarious. That shows how
King knows how to write in a way to keep us interested and also proves his point that we do
like horror.
Topic Sentence #2: While King says watching horror movies keeps the “hungry alligators”
under control, I think looking at violence desensitizes us.
Supporting Evidence: I can use evidence about my personal story of being desensitized to
violence. I may use news items to confirm that people involved in mass shootings have
watched lots of violent images. I can look up to see if there are any studies about that.

Topic Sentence #3: King believes that we are all crazy and would act out in violence if we
didn't have periodic outlets like horror movies, but I believe watching violence can cause
craziness, and that pretend violence leads some people towards real violence.
Supporting Evidence: I can use stories of people who have imitated violent acts from
movies or video games to prove this point. I think the story about the two 12-year-old girls
who stabbed another girl because of Slenderman would be good evidence here.
To Misread or to Rebel: A Woman’s Reading of “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty”
At its simplest, reading is “an activity that is guided by the text; this must be processed by
the reader who is then, in turn, affected by what he has processed” (Iser 63). The text is the
compass and map, the reader is the explorer. However, the explorer cannot disregard those
unexpected boulders in the path which he or she encounters along the journey that are not
written on the map. Likewise, the woman reader does not come to the text without outside
influences. She comes with her experiences as a woman—a professional woman, a divorcée,
a single mother. Her reading, then, is influenced by her experiences. So when she reads a
piece of literature like “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” by James Thurber, which paints a
highly negative picture of Mitty’s wife, the woman reader is forced to either misread the
story and accept Mrs. Mitty as a domineering, mothering wife, or rebel against that picture
and become angry at the society which sees her that way.
Due to pre-existing sociosexual standards, women see characters, family structures, even
societal structures from the bottom as an oppressed group rather than from a powerful
position on the top, as men do. As Louise Rosenblatt states: a reader’s “tendency toward
identification [with characters or events] will certainly be guided by our preoccupations at
the time we read. Our problems and needs may lead us to focus on those characters and
situations through which we may achieve the satisfactions, the balanced vision, or perhaps
merely the unequivocal motives unattained in our own lives” (38). A woman reader who
feels chained by her role as a housewife is more likely to identify with an individual who is
oppressed or feels trapped than the reader’s executive husband is. Likewise, a woman who
is unable to have children might respond to a story of a child’s death more emotionally than
a woman who does not want children. However, if the perspective of a woman does not
match that of the male author whose work she is reading, a woman reader who has been
shaped by a male-dominated society is forced to misread the text, reacting to the “words on
the page in one way rather than another because she operates according to the same set of
rules that the author used to generate them” (Tompkins xvii). By accepting the author’s
perspective and reading the text as he intended, the woman reader is forced to disregard
her own, female perspective. This, in turn, leads to a concept called “asymmetrical
contingency,” described by Iser as that which occurs “when Partner A gives up trying to
implement his own behavioral plan and without resistance follows that of Partner B. He
adapts himself to and is absorbed by the behavioral strategy of B” (164). Using this
argument, it becomes clear that a woman reader (Partner A) when faced with a text written
by a man (Partner B) will most likely succumb to the perspective of the writer and she is
thus forced to misread the text. Or, she could rebel against the text and raise an angry,
feminist voice in protest.
James Thurber, in the eyes of most literary critics, is one of the foremost American
humorists of the 20th century, and his short story “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty” is
believed to have “ushered in a major [literary] period … where the individual can maintain
his self … an appropriate way of assaulting rigid forms” (Elias 432). The rigid form in
Thurber’s story is Mrs. Mitty, the main character’s wife. She is portrayed by Walter Mitty as
a horrible, mothering nag. As a way of escaping her constant griping, he imagines fantastic
daydreams which carry him away from Mrs. Mitty’s voice. Yet she repeatedly interrupts his
reveries and Mitty responds to her as though she is “grossly unfamiliar, like a strange
woman who had yelled at him in the crowd” (286). Not only is his wife annoying to him, but
she is also distant and removed from what he cares about, like a stranger. When she does
speak to him, it seems reflective of the way a mother would speak to a child. For example,
Mrs. Mitty asks, “‘Why don’t you wear your gloves? Have you lost your gloves?’ Walter Mitty
reached in a pocket and brought out the gloves. He put them on, but after she had turned
and gone into the building and he had driven on to a red light, he took them off again”
(286). Mrs. Mitty’s care for her husband’s health is seen as nagging to Walter Mitty, and the
audience is amused that he responds like a child and does the opposite of what Mrs. Mitty
asked of him. Finally, the clearest way in which Mrs. Mitty is portrayed as a burdensome
wife is at the end of the piece when Walter, waiting for his wife to exit the store, imagines
that he is facing “the firing squad; erect and motionless, proud and disdainful, Walter Mitty
the Undefeated, inscrutable to the last” (289). Not only is Mrs. Mitty portrayed as a
mothering, bothersome hen, but she is ultimately described as that which will be the death
of Walter Mitty.
Mrs. Mitty is a direct literary descendant of the first woman to be stereotyped as a nagging
wife, Dame Van Winkle, the creation of the American writer, Washington Irving. Likewise,
Walter Mitty is a reflection of his dreaming predecessor, Rip Van Winkle, who falls into a
deep sleep for a hundred years and awakes to the relief of finding out that his nagging wife
has died. Judith Fetterley explains in her book, The Resisting Reader, how such a portrayal
of women forces a woman who reads “Rip Van Winkle” and other such stories “to find
herself excluded from the experience of the story” so that she “cannot read the story
without being assaulted by the negative images of women it presents” (10). The result, it
seems, is for a woman reader of a story like “Rip Van Winkle” or “The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty” to either be excluded from the text, or accept the negative images of women the story
puts forth. As Fetterley points out, “The consequence for the female reader is a divided self.
She is asked to identify with Rip and against herself, to scorn the amiable sex and act just
like it, to laugh at Dame Van Winkle and accept that she represents ‘woman,’ to be at once
both repressor and repressed, and ultimately to realize that she is neither” (11). Thus, a
woman is forced to misread the text and accept “woman as villain.” as Fetterley names it, or
rebel against both the story and its message.

So how does a woman reader respond to this portrayal of Mrs. Mitty? If she were to follow
Iser’s claim, she would defer to the male point of view presented by the author. She would
sympathize with Mitty, as Thurber wants us to do, and see domineering women in her own
life that resemble Mrs. Mitty. She may see her mother and remember all the times that she
nagged her about zipping up her coat against the bitter winter wind. Or the female reader
might identify Mrs. Mitty with her controlling mother-in-law and chuckle at Mitty’s
attempts to escape her control, just as her husband tries to escape the criticism and control
of his own mother. Iser’s ideal female reader would undoubtedly look at her own position
as mother and wife and would vow to never become such a domineering person. This
reader would probably also agree with a critic who says that “Mitty has a wife who
embodies the authority of a society in which the husband cannot function” (Lindner 440).
She could see the faults in a relationship that is too controlled by a woman and recognize
that a man needs to feel important and dominant in his relationship with his wife. It could
be said that the female reader would agree completely with Thurber’s portrayal of the
domineering wife. The female reader could simply misread the text.
Or, the female reader could rebel against the text. She could see Mrs. Mitty as a woman who
is trying to do her best to keep her husband well and cared for. She could see Walter as a
man with a fleeting grip on reality who daydreams that he is a fighter pilot, a brilliant
surgeon, a gun expert, or a military hero, when he actually is a poor driver with a slow
reaction time to a green traffic light. The female reader could read critics of Thurber who
say that by allowing his wife to dominate him, Mitty becomes a “non-hero in a civilization in
which women are winning the battle of the sexes” (Hasley 533) and become angry that a
woman’s fight for equality is seen merely as a battle between the sexes. She could read
Walter’s daydreams as his attempt to dominate his wife, since all of his fantasies center on
him in traditional roles of power. This, for most women, would cause anger at Mitty (and
indirectly Thurber) for creating and promoting a society which believes that women need
to stay subservient to men. From a male point of view, it becomes a battle of the sexes. In a
woman’s eyes, her reading is simply a struggle for equality within the text and in the world
outside that the text reflects.
 It is certain that women misread “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” I did. I found myself
initially wishing that Mrs. Mitty would just let Walter daydream in peace. But after reading
the story again and paying attention to the portrayal of Mrs. Mitty, I realized that it is
imperative that women rebel against the texts that would oppress them. By misreading a
text, the woman reader understands it in a way that is conventional and acceptable to the
literary world. But in so doing, she is also distancing herself from the text, not fully
embracing it or its meaning in her life. By rebelling against the text, the female reader not
only has to understand the point of view of the author and the male audience, but she also
has to formulate her own opinions and create a sort of dialogue between the text and
herself. Rebelling against the text and the stereotypes encourages an active dialogue
between the woman and the text which, in turn, guarantees an active and (most likely)
angry reader response. I became a resisting reader.

Works Cited
Elias, Robert H. “James Thurber: The Primitive, the Innocent, and the Individual.”
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 5. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980.
431–32. Print.
Fetterley, Judith. The Resisting Reader. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1978. Print.
Hasley, Louis. “James Thurber: Artist in Humor.” Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 11.
Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. 532–34. Print.
Iser, Wolfgang. The Act of Reading: A Theory of Aesthetic Response. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins UP, 1981. Print.
Lindner, Carl M. “Thurber’s Walter Mitty—The Underground American Hero.”
Contemporary Literary Criticism. Vol. 5. Ed. Dedria Bryfonski. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980.
440–41. Print.
Rosenblatt, Louise M. Literature as Exploration. New York: MLA, 1976. Print.
Thurber, James. “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.” Literature: An Introduction to Critical
Reading. Ed. William Vesterman. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace, 1993. 286–89. Print.
Tompkins, Jane P. “An Introduction to Reader-Response Criticism.” Reader Response
Criticism: From Formalism to Post-Structuralism. Ed. Jane P. Tompkins. Baltimore: Johns
Hopkins UP, 1980. ix-xxvi. Print.
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Reading-Response-Sample-Paper

CHAPTER EXERCISE:
CHAPTER III: FORMALIST CRITICISM

• refers to critical approaches that analyze, interpret, or evaluate the inherent features
of a text.
• not only grammar and syntax but also literary devices.
• reduces the importance of a text’s historical, biographical, and cultural context.
A Formalist Approach studies a text as only a text, considering its features for examples,
rhymes, cadences, literary devices in an isolated way, not attempting to apply their on
their say as to what the text means.in general, formalists are focused on the facts of a
text, because they want to study the text, not what others say about it.
Formalist Literary Criticism focuses on the text as the major artifact worthy of study
rather than, say, the author him/herself, the historical time period during which the text
was written, how the text response to gender roles or class concern during the period,
or anything else that exist outside the world itself.
As a literary criticism approach which provides readers with the way to understand
and enjoy a work for its own inherent value as a piece of literary art. Formalist critics
spend a great deal of time analysing irony, paradox, imagery, and metaphor. They are
also interested in a works setting, characters, symbols and point of view.
What isn’t for formalist criticism?

• It does not treat the text as an expression of social, religious, or political idea;
neither does it reduce the text to being a promotional effort for some cause or belief.
• Those who practice formalism claim they do not view works through the lens of
feminism, psychology, Marxism, or any other philosophical standpoint.
Other names of formalist criticism

1. Russian Formalism

2. New Criticism

3. Aesthetic criticism

4. Textual criticism

5. Ontological criticism
6. Modernism

7. Formalism

8. Practical criticism
 In the field of literary criticism, a formalist approach is one that studies a text as a text
and nothing more. For example the formalist reading of a poem would focus on its
rhythms, rhymes, cadences and structure. The text is a living, breathing thing,, critics
say, and its meaning shifts over time.

GLOSSARY OF MAJOR FORMALIST LITERARY TERMS

A. Character -creation and representation of fictional persons and entities
Antagonist- the main villain
Antihero- a central sympathetic character with significant personal flaws
Static- not growing or changing, an inactive personality
Protagonist- the main character the audience is expected to sympathize with
Symbolic- caricature that is representative of certain kinds of people
B. Figures of speech -various expressive devices used in lieu of plain prose for vivid depiction
Irony- paradoxical events, ideas, or attitudes that are played off against each other
Sarcasm- making serious fun of things, ideas, people, or events
Satire- synthesis of heavily developed ironies and sarcasms
Metonymy Personification Simile
C. Symbolism -using inanimate or imagined things to stand for real situations
Intangible- imaginary or "mental" symbols
Tangible- physical or "actual" symbols
D. Imagery- specific details used to describe characters, situations, things, ideas, or events
Hearing- images that make you hear sounds in your mind
Seeing- images that draw mental pictures
Smelling- images that bring the memories of odors and aromas to mind
Tasting Touching Extrasensory
E. Plot- a series of events or happenings that organize a text
Climax Conflict  external  internal Denouement F. Foreshadowing
G. Point of view- perspective of the controlling narrative voice
 First person Limited omniscience Objective Omniscient Third person
H. Setting- atmosphere, historical period, physical setting, or mood of text
Place- physical or psychical locations of events, things, characters, and historical time
Ahistorical- not grounded in any "real" historical period; imaginary or fantasy
Chronological- linear telling of events
Backward- starting at the end and working toward the beginning
Forward - starting at the beginning and working toward the end
Flashbacks- looking back into time
Circular -a reflection that begins anywhere, goes to the end, works its way to the
beginning, and eventually gets
Historical- grounded in a "real" historical time period
In media res -beginning more or less in the middle of events
Mood -emotional and internal descriptions that help us better understand the
setting

I. Theme- a major idea or message in the text. It contributes to the overall success of the
text.
Controlling idea- the major theme of a work
Related ideas- subthemes that contribute to the development of the main idea
Separate issues- ideas not directly related to the main idea or subthemes, but that
are nevertheless important Formalist Criticism sample essays:
A Rose for Emily: A Formalist Approach
Victoria J. Crossman

Using a formalist approach to critiquing this story gave me a different way of reading
“A Rose for Emily.”I went into reading this piece with the decision already made that I would
use a formalist approach. The narration of “A Rose for Emily” is written in first person, or as
a member of the community. Using phrases such as, “we did not say she was crazy then”
(86) made the story believable, as if it actually happened, rather than a third person
narrative most fiction stories use. The imagery Faulkner presents in this story gives off a
setting in the old south. Words such as “tradition,” (93) “generation” (93), and “sort of
hereditary obligation” (93) contribute to an old southern feel. Even though the story is
written as if it were told by a member of the community, the imagery is fitting since
Faulkner himself is from Mississippi during the Civil War (83).The old feel of the story is
suitable, since “A Rose for Emily” begin and ends with her death. The old-timey feel aids the
reader in realizing that they are reading a story which switches back and forth over the
main characters life. The plot of “A Rose for Emily” jumps back and forth in
nonchronological order. This method of storytelling delivers an immense element of
surprise at the end of the story. The narration also ties into the element of surprise at the
end of the story. Since the story is read as if a member of society were writing it in present
tense, there is very little way the reader could predict the end of the story until further
down. For example, in the story Emily purchases poison and the members of the
community were certain “she will kill herself” (88). Later, Emily’s cousins report to the
community “that she had bought a complete outfit of men’s clothing, including a nightshirt”
(88). However, if the events of the story were reversed in order, it would be easier for the
reader to conclude what actually happened – that Emily murdered Herbert with rat poison.
Part of using a formalist approach is deciding whether or not a story can be considered a
piece of art. In my opinion, I think that “A Rose for Emily” can be considered a piece of art.
Faulkner won a Nobel Peace Prize in literature, and I can certainly see why. The story was at
first slightly confusing as far as the plot goes, but as the story developed the plot became
more apparent. Even if the plot were understood from the beginning, Faulkner has a strong
command of English, creating wonderful scenes of imagery and I was able see everything
that was being described in the story vividly.
https://victoriajcrossman.wordpress.com/american-literature/a-rose-for-emily-a-
formalistapproach/

CHAPTER IV: PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM

WHAT IS A PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICAL APPROACH?

Psychoanalytic Theory is a branch of literary criticism which was built on the principles of
psychoanalysis developed by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939). As Lois Tyson points out,
aspects of psychoanalysis have become so ingrained in our culture that terms such as
“sibling rivalry, inferiority complexes, and defense mechanisms are in such common use
that most of us feel we know what they mean without ever having heard them defined”
This school of literary criticism maintains that we can better understand and interpret
literature by applying the methods of psychoanalysis both to literary characters and their
authors, often at the same time. This is most often done by treating the work as a dream
and interpreting the content to find the hidden meaning, achieved through a close analysis
of the language and symbolism.
Sigmund Freud
Psychoanalytic criticism builds on Freudian theories of psychology. While we don't have the
room here to discuss all of Freud's work, a general overview is necessary to explain
psychoanalytic literary criticism.
The Unconscious, the Desires, and the Defenses
Freud began his psychoanalytic work in the 1880s while attempting to treat behavioral
disorders in his Viennese patients. He dubbed the disorders 'hysteria' and began treating
them by listening to his patients talk through their problems. Based on this work, Freud
asserted that people's behavior is affected by their unconscious: "...the notion that human
beings are motivated, even driven, by desires, fears, needs, and conflicts of which they are
unaware..." (Tyson 14-15).
Freud believed that our unconscious was influenced by childhood events. Freud organized
these events into developmental stages involving relationships with parents and drives of
desire and pleasure where children focus "...on different parts of the body...starting with the
mouth...shifting to the oral, anal, and phallic phases..." (Richter 1015). These stages reflect
base levels of desire, but they also involve fear of loss (loss of genitals, loss of affection from
parents, loss of life) and repression: "...the expunging from consciousness of these unhappy
psychological events" (Tyson 15).
Tyson reminds us, however, that "...repression doesn't eliminate our painful experiences
and emotions...we unconsciously behave in ways that will allow us to 'play out'...our
conflicted feelings about the painful experiences and emotions we repress" (15). To keep all
of this conflict buried in our unconscious, Freud argued that we develop defenses: selective
perception, selective memory, denial, displacement, projection, regression, fear of intimacy,
and fear of death, among others.

Id, Ego, and Superego

Freud maintained that our desires and our unconscious conflicts give rise to three areas of
the mind that wrestle for dominance as we grow from infancy, to childhood, to adulthood:
id - "...the location of the drives" or libido
ego - "...one of the major defenses against the power of the drives..." and home of the
defenses listed above
superego - the area of the unconscious that houses Judgment (of self and others) and
"...which begins to form during childhood as a result of the Oedipus complex" (Richter
1015-1016)

Oedipus Complex
Freud believed that the Oedipus complex was "...one of the most powerfully determinative
elements in the growth of the child" (Richter 1016). Essentially, the Oedipus complex
involves children's need for their parents and the conflict that arises as children mature and
realize they are not the absolute focus of their mother's attention: "the Oedipus complex
begins in a late phase of infantile sexuality, between the child's third and sixth year, and it
takes a different form in males than it does in females" (Richter 1016).
Freud argued that both boys and girls wish to possess their mothers, but as they grow
older "...they begin to sense that their claim to exclusive attention is thwarted by the
mother's attention to the father..." (1016). Children, Freud maintained, connect this conflict
of attention to the intimate relations between mother and father, relations from which the
children are excluded. Freud believed that "the result is a murderous rage against the
father...and a desire to possess the mother" (1016).
Freud pointed out, however, that "...the Oedipus complex differs in boys and girls...the
functioning of the related castration complex" (1016). In short, Freud thought that "...during
the Oedipal rivalry [between boys and their fathers], boys fantasized that punishment for
their rage will take the form of..." castration (1016). When boys effectively work through
this anxiety, Freud argued, "...the boy learns to identify with the father in the hope of
someday possessing a woman like his mother. In girls, the castration complex does not take
the form of anxiety...the result is a frustrated rage in which the girl shifts her sexual desire
from the mother to the father" (1016).
Freud believed that eventually, the girl's spurned advances toward the father give way to a
desire to possess a man like her father later in life. Freud believed that the impact of the
unconscious, id, ego, superego, the defenses, and the Oedipus complex was inescapable and
that these elements of the mind influence all our behavior (and even our dreams) as adults
- of course this behavior involves what we write.

Freud and Literature

So what does all of this psychological business have to do with literature and the study
of literature? Put simply, some critics believe that we can
"...read psychoanalytically...to see which concepts are operating in the text in such a way
as to enrich our understanding of the work and, if we plan to write a paper about it, to yield
a meaningful, coherent psychoanalytic interpretation" (Tyson 29). Tyson provides some
insightful and applicable questions to help guide our understanding of psychoanalytic
criticism.

Typical questions:

1. How do the operations of repression structure or inform the work?

2. Are there any Oedipal dynamics - or any other family dynamics - at work here?
3. How can characters' behavior, narrative events, and/or images be explained in terms
of psychoanalytic concepts of any kind (for example, fear or fascination with death,
sexuality - which includes love and romance as well as sexual behavior - as a
primary indicator of psychological identity or the operations of ego-id-superego)?
 4. What does the work suggest about the psychological being of its author?
5. What might a given interpretation of a literary work suggest about the psychological
motives of the reader?
6. Are there prominent words in the piece that could have different or hidden
meanings? Could there be a subconscious reason for the author using these
"problem words"?
Carl Jung
Jungian criticism attempts to explore the connection between literature and what Carl Jung
(a student of Freud) called the “collective unconscious” of the human race: "...racial
memory, through which the spirit of the whole human species manifests itself" (Richter
504). Jungian criticism, which is closely related to Freudian theory because of its
connection to psychoanalysis, assumes that all stories and symbols are based on mythic
models from mankind’s past.
Based on these commonalities, Jung developed archetypal myths, the Syzygy: "...a
quaternion composing a whole, the unified self of which people are in search" (Richter
505). These archetypes are the Shadow, the Anima, the Animus, and the Spirit: "...beneath...
[the Shadow] is the Anima, the feminine side of the male Self, and the Animus, the
corresponding masculine side of the female Self" (Richter 505).
In literary analysis, a Jungian critic would look for archetypes (also see the discussion of
Northrop Frye in the Structuralism section) in creative works: "Jungian criticism is
generally involved with a search for the embodiment of these symbols within particular
works of art." (Richter 505). When dealing with this sort of criticism, it is often useful to
keep a handbook of mythology and a dictionary of symbols on hand.
Typical questions:

1. What connections can we make between elements of the text and the archetypes?
(Mask, Shadow, Anima, Animus)
2. How do the characters in the text mirror the archetypal figures? (Great Mother or
nurturing Mother, Whore, destroying Crone, Lover, Destroying Angel)
3. How does the text mirror the archetypal narrative patterns? (Quest, Night-
SeaJourney)
4. How symbolic is the imagery in the work?
5. How does the protagonist reflect the hero of myth?
6. Does the “hero” embark on a journey in either a physical or spiritual sense?
7. Is there a journey to an underworld or land of the dead?
8. What trials or ordeals does the protagonist face? What is the reward for overcoming
them
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d_schools_of_criticism/psychoanalytic_criticism.html
Psychoanalyzing Alice: Sexual Symbolism
Alice practically begs to be psychoanalyzed; it is easy to treat it as a dream, because it IS a
dream. As William Empson wrote, “To make the dream-story from which Wonderland was
elaborated seem Freudian one only has to tell it”. And ever since Freud began publishing
his theories, critics have been applying them to Alice. The first wave of Alice psychoanalysts
focused on the sexual symbolism in the novel, which according to the theory reveals
Carroll’s own repressed sexuality. For instance, A. M. E. Goldschmidt interprets Alice’s
ordeal in the hallway of doors in Chapter 2 this way:
Here we find the common symbolism of lock and key representing coitus; the doors of
normal size represent adult women. These are disregarded by the dreamer and the interest
is centered on the little door, which symbolizes a female child; the curtain before it
represents the child’s clothes.
Goldschmidt provides evidence that certain events, such as Alice’s “penetrating” the rabbit
hole, the keys and the locks, and the small door, are “colorful” symbols of the act of sex,
which he interprets as proof of the “the presence, in [Lewis Carroll’s] subconscious, of an
abnormal emotion of considerable strength”. Schilder also interprets the extreme violence
of many of Wonderland’s inhabitants as the representation of Carroll’s frustrated sexual
urges . Psychoanalysts’ work also reveals addition complexities regarding Carroll’s
relationship with his fictional. She represents not only his “love object,” but also a substitute
for a mother and sister, and his own unconscious desire to reject his adult masculinity and
to become a little girl himself.
And it does not require a great interpretive leap to believe that an “unmarried clergyman of
the strictest ‘virtue’” with a well-documented penchant for making “childfriends” might
unconsciously try to relieve this tension through his writing. However, psychoanalysis of
Alice can produce more than just a highly sexualized reading. And, indeed, as
psychoanalysts began to further refine the Freudian theories, psychoanalytic criticism of
Alice began to evolve.

Psychoanalyzing Alice: The Child and Identity

Later psychoanalysts have focused more Alice’s experiences in Wonderland functioning as
an allegory for the developing ego, or, in other words, for growing up. For, despite having
been written by a middle-aged man, many critics have found it worthwhile to study the
character of Alice as an example of the child-mind dealing learning to understand the world
and itself. As Phyllis Stowell writes,
Like all children, Alice must separate herself from identification with others, develop an
ego, become aware of aggression (her own and others’), and learn to tolerate adversity
without succumbing to self-pity…In other words, Alice has to grow up.
 Identity is a crucial theme in Alice. Alice is asked to identify herself by several of the
creatures of Wonderland and often she is unable to respond. She usually feels that she is too
tall to be herself, or too small, or that she is another person altogether (“I must have been
changed for Mabel!”). And it is only when “who she is and how she sees herself are no
longer subject to the erratic and uncontrollable unknown” can she gain a measure of power
to deal with the absurdity around her.
Phyllis Greenacre takes the allegory of childhood back even farther, to the time when verbal
language begins to supplant bodily activity, around fifteen to thirty months. She calls Alice
“about as close a portrayal as can be accomplished in language of that realm in childhood’s
development when the child is emerging from its primitive state of unreason, to the
dawning conception of consequences, order and reason“ (418). And since Alice is a book
meant for children that has actually been popular among children for over a century, there
seems to be some evidence that children relate to Alice since they are facing the same
challenges and issues regarding developing a “reasonable” view of the universe and
establishing their own identity.

Psychoanalytic Criticism: Hamlet as a Victim of Oedipus Complex

The psychoanalytic concept Oedipus complex refers to the emotions and psychosexual
desires during the phallic stage in the developmental process, which a boy child possesses
towards his mother creating a parallel sense of rivalry towards the father (Liu and Wang
1420). The psychological complex was introduced by Freud with the term being derived
from the character in Greek folklore, Oedipus, who unintentionally slew his father and
subsequently married his mother (Liu and Wang 1420). Freud asserted that the complex
manifests in children at a young age but ends with the child identifying with the parent of
the same sex hence repression of carnal instincts. However, Freud analyzed further that the
suppressed yearnings of the subconscious manifest in later years dictating the child’s
behavior. Freud analysis of Hamlet with his psychological theory argued that the titular
character’s behavior and decisions are subconsciously driven by Oedipus complex. In the
play, Hamlet is demonstrated as unveiling the traits of the complex through his
possessiveness over his mother. According to Freud, the portrayal of Hamlet’s relationship
and his mother has also shown repressed sexual desires and connotations that resemble
the oedipal complex philosophy. Furthermore, Hamlet’s reluctance and procrastination to
avenge his father’s death has been attributed to the concept of rivalry or opposition
towards the father in the theory. Hamlet is a victim of Oedipus complex due to his hesitancy
to take revenge and his repressed psychosexual fondness and fixation towards his mother.
Hamlet’s reluctance and indecision to avenge his father’s murder is an indication of
Oedipus complex. Hamlet’s obligation seems to be all forgotten on his return home and
does not exhibit any indication of planning to murder Claudius. The reason for Hamlet’s
hesitance to abide by his father’s command to avenge his death is Hamlet’s subconscious
gratitude to Claudius for murdering his father (Rashkin 24-25). According to the Freudian
concept, Hamlet suffers from deep-rooted aspects of the complex hence still exhibits rivalry
towards the father and wishes to replace him. The play is about Hamlet’s seeking revenge
but there are no clear reasons for his indecision to kill Claudius. Hamlet’s consciousness is
heavily under conflict due to the fact that he is obligated to undertake the revenge but is
also secretly glad about his father’s death. Jacques Lacan argued using the Freudian concept
and indicated that Hamlet’s melancholy and reluctance to kill Claudius is because he views
Claudius as a reflection of his repressed oedipal self (Rashkin 25). Hamlet still retains his
oedipal instincts and desires and because Claudius was able to kill Hamlet Sr. and sleep
with Gertrude, Hamlet lives his oedipal fantasy through him. Hamlet’s decision to finally
murder Claudius comes in Act 5 which is a long period after discovering he is his father’s
murderer. In Scene III, Hamlet kills Claudius with no hesitation only after the death of his
mother Gertrude. Hamlet’s reluctance was associated with his repressed desires towards
Gertrude and due to her death, his oedipal instincts died too hence had no inhibitions
anymore. Moreover, Hamlet’s oedipal instincts are also exhibited through his hatred of
Claudius and Gertrude’s relationship.

Hamlet’s anger and jealousy towards Claudius and his marriage to his mother illustrate
Hamlet as a victim of Oedipus complex. Hamlet demonstrates hostility and hatred towards
Claudius because of his hastened nuptial to his mother. He views Gertrude’s remarriage and
affection to his uncle as revolting; in his first monologue he asserts “O, most wicked speed,
to post/with such dexterity to incestuous sheets!” (Shakespeare 1.2.157-158). Due to his
suppressed yearnings towards his mother, Hamlet experiences jealousy when Gertrude
directs affection to any other man apart from him. He is shown as being concerned with his
mother’s remarriage more than his father’s death. Hamlet’s jealousy is fully exhibited when
he scolds his mother in his chambers about her sexual deeds with Claudius and confesses
his true feelings towards their marriage. Hamlet wishes to be the object of love and desire
for his mother and not his uncle. His Oedipal instincts believe that he should be with his
mother now that his father is now deceased (Jamwal 123). However, Claudius taking the
position of his father which he subconsciously craves awakens rage and hatred towards
him. In the third Act, when Hamlet stabs Polonius assuming it is Claudius, illustrates his
desire to eliminate the ‘father’ figure for his mother’s full affection which is a clear
manifestation of Oedipus complex.
Hamlet’s oedipal complex is apparent through the deep fondness for his mother and the
frequent sexual allusions. In the third scene Hamlet converses to his mother in soliloquies
that are filled with sexual inferences, he reproaches her of “…honeying and making love /
Over the nasty sty!” (3.4.93-94). The Freudian concept asserts that sexual behavior and
thought shapes a person’s psychology and Hamlet’s discourse is an exemplification. The
strong sexual desires for his mother triggers his disgust and jealousy of the thought of
sexual encounter between her and Claudius (Cameron 170). Hamlet gets explicitly sexual in
his words further into the conversation by obsessing over physical contact between
Claudius and his mother. He also advises Gertrude to refrain from laying in bed with the
king once and it will be easier to refuse his sexual advances in the future. Hamlet obsession
with his mother’s carnal pleasures alludes to his unconscious sexual jealousy and desires
that stem from the psychological complex.
Additionally, the nature Ophelia and Hamlet’s relationship is as a result of the unresolved
oedipal feelings towards Gertrude. The unrequited love amid Ophelia and Hamlet is due to
his unhealthy psychological bond with his mother (Jamwal 123). Hamlet never views
Ophelia as a lover and does not express strong sexual or emotional attraction for her as it is
subconsciously reserved for her mother. Hamlet’s complex feelings for his mother is
paralleled through Ophelia; He despises Ophelia for being obedient to his father
Polonius as it subconsciously reminds him of Gertrude’s submission to Claudius (Cameron
175). His Oedipal instincts do not allow Hamlet to express affection to another woman and
he only uses Ophelia as a target for outbursts and frustrations he has towards his mother.
In the play, Hamlet is evidently a victim of Oedipus complex as reflected through his
behaviors and decisions throughout. According to the Freudian concept, the boy child’s
behaviors are dictated by the repressed psychosexual desire and emotions towards the
mother. The point of focus in the play is Hamlet’s obligation to avenge his father’s death
which only takes place after a series of internal conflicts. The theme of indecision can only
be linked to Hamlet’s unresolved oedipal feelings and instincts. His reluctance in taking
revenge is attributed to his mental conflict between his obligation and the oedipal instinct
to exult his father’s death. More explicit indications of Hamlet’s psychological complex is his
hatred and disgust of his mother’s quick remarriage to Claudius. He obsesses about
Gertrude’s decision to marry and engage in sexual activities with him and relentlessly
rebukes her for it. A child’s fixation with the parent’s sexual life is an unusual endeavor and
can only be explained through the concept of Oedipus complex. Lastly, Hamlet’s complex
relationship with Ophelia is a clear reflection of the suppressed sexual feelings and the
unnatural psychological bond with his mother.

Works Cited
Cameron, Eileen. “The Psychology of Hamlet.” International Journal of Language and
Literature II.3 (2014): 161-177. Web. 25 April 2018.
Jamwal, Rishav. “Was Hamlet a victim of Oedipus Complex: A peep into his psyche.”
International Journal of English Language, Literature and Humanities III.2 (2015): 118-125.
Web. 25 April 2018.
Liu, Yan and Chencheng Wang. “Oedipus Complex in Literature Works.” Journal of Language
Teaching and Research II.6 (2011): 1420-1424. Web. 25 April 2018.
Rashkin, Esther. Family Secrets and the Psychoanalysis of Narrative. Princeton University
Press, 2014. Web. 25 April 2018.
Shakespeare, William. “The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark .” n.d. The Complete
Works of William Shakespeare. Web. 25 April 2018.
https://literatureessaysamples.com/psychoanalytic-criticism-hamlet-as-a-victim-of/
CHAPTER V: SOCIOLOGICAL CRITICISM
Sociological criticism is literary criticism directed to understanding literature in its larger
social context; it codifies the literary strategies that are employed to represent social
constructs through a sociological methodology.
This approach “examines literature in cultural, economic and political context in which it is
written or received,” exploring the relationships between the artist and the society.
Sometimes it examines the artist society to better understand the authors literary work;
other times, it may examine the representation of such society elements within the
literature itself.

• “Sociological critics argue that literary works should not be isolated from the social
contexts in which they are embedded” (DiYanni 1571).

• “Sociological critics emphasize the power relations are played out by varying social
forces and institutions” (DiYanni 1571).

• “Sociological critics attempt to analyze literature form one of these two lenses:

• Conditional of production, such as schools, magazines, publishers, and fashion.

• The applicability of a given work—fiction especially—in studying the dynamics of a

given society.

A. FEMINIST CRITICISM
Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or more broadly,
by the politics of feminism. It uses the principles and ideology of feminism to critique the
language of literature.
Takes as a central precept that the patriarchal attitudes that have dominated w2estern
thought have resulted, consciously or unconsciously, in literature “full of unexamined ’male
produced’ assumptions.”
Feminist criticism attempts to correct this imbalance by analyzing and combating such
attitudes.
Other goals of feminist critics include “analyzing how sexual identity influences the reader
of a text” and “examining how the images of men and women in imaginative literature
reflect or reject the social forces that have historically kept the sexes from achieving total
equality.
Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)Feminist criticism is concerned with "the ways in which
literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or undermine the economic, political,
social, and psychological oppression of women" (Tyson 83).

HISTORY
The first wave refers mainly to women's suffrage movements of the nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries (mainly concerned with women's right to vote).
The second wave refers to the ideas and actions associated with the women's liberation
movement beginning in the 1960s (which campaigned for legal and social equality for
women).
The third wave refers to a continuation of, and a reaction to, the perceived failures of
secondwave feminism, beginning in the 1990s.

Feminists
-are "person[s] whose beliefs and behavior[s] are based on feminism."
Feminist theory exists in a variety of disciplines, emerging from these feminist movements
and including general theories and theories about the origins of inequality, and, in some
cases, about the social construction of sex and gender.
Feminist activists have campaigned for women's rights—such as in contract, property, and
voting — while also promoting women's rights to bodily integrity and autonomy and
reproductive rights.

POINTS FOR DISCUSSION

 PATRIARCHY
 MEN AND MASCULINITY
 CULTURE
 MUSIC
 SEXUALITY
 PORNOGRAPHY
 PROSTITUTION AND TRAFFICKING

B. MARXIST CRITICISM
Marxist literary criticism is a loose term describing literary criticism based on socialist and
dialectic theories. Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social
institutions from which they originate.
It is a loose term describing literary criticism based on socialist and dialectic theories.
Marxist criticism views literary works as reflections of the social institutions from which
they originate.
According to Marxists, even literature itself is a social institution and has a specific
ideological function, based on the background and ideology of the author
The English literary critic and cultural theorist Terry Eagleton defines Marxist criticism this
way:
“Marxist criticism is not merely a 'sociology of literature', concerned with how novels get
published and whether they mention the working class. Its aim is to explain the literary
work more fully; and this means a sensitive attention to its forms, styles and, meanings. But
it also means grasping those forms, styles and meanings as the product of a particular
history.”

Marxism is a method of socioeconomic analysis that views class relations and social conflict
using a materialist interpretation of historical development and takes a dialectical view of
social transformation. It originates from the works of 19th-century German philosophers
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
MARXIST APPROACH FOCUSES ON:

• Relationship between text and reality.

• Tensions and contradictions in the society.
• See literature as intimately linked to SOCIAL POWER.
• Uncover the inner workings of society

RECURRENT TERMS IN A MARXIST LITERARY CRITICISM:

I. BASE-SUPERSTRUCTURE MODEL
Base- real economic situations, factories, labor
Superstructure – art, politics, religion, the law, elite

II. IDEOLOGY - The shared beliefs and values held in unquestioning manner by
culture
III. HEGEMONY
Antonio Gramsci “refers to the pervasive system of assumptions, meanings and
values---the web of ideologies”
Shapes the way things look, what they mean, and therefore what reality is for the
majority of the given culture
IV. FALSE CONSCIOUSNESS
They enjoys the fruit of belonging to a dominant group of the society and fail to notice the
ways in which economic structure marginalizes others
 V. REIFICATION
People are turned into commodities useful in market exchange.
Media’s obsession with tragedy.

MARXIST CRITICISM:
a. Identifies class struggle, inequalities, and oppressive economic forces as they appear on
text.
b. Examines whether the author is sympathetic to the working class and challenges
economic inequalities found in a capitalist societies.
In analysing a text, ask the following questions:

I. Does the text reflect or resist dominant ideology?

II. Does the main character in a narrative affirm or resist bourgeoisie values?
III. Whose story gets told in the text? Lower groups ignored or devalued?
IV. Are values that support the dominant econo mic group given privilege?
V. What were the economic conditions for the publications for the work of a work?

CHAPTER VI: BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

 Biographical criticism uses details about an author's personal life to analyse the
author's works.

 It relies on autobiographies, correspondence, and other primary materials about the

author and is a form of historical criticism.

 Critics doing biographical analysis carefully examine incidents in the lives of authors
and try to identify events, settings, objects, buildings, people, etc. found in the novels
with historical sources.

 The difficultly with this sort of criticism, and reason it has somewhat fallen out of
favour, is that fictionalized accounts, even when they may have been inspired by
actual events and people, often suffer a sea change when they are introduced into
novels. Advantages
 Works well for some which are obviously political or biographical in nature.

 It also is necessary to take a historical approach in order to place allusions in there

proper classical, political, or biblical background.
QUESTIONS TO CONSIDER IN USING THIS APPROACH

A. What aspects of the author’s personal life are relevant to this story?

B. Which of the author’s stated beliefs are reflected in the work?

C. Does the writer challenge or support the values of her contemporaries?

D. What seem to be the author’s major concerns? Do they reflect any of the writer’s
personal experiences?

E. Do any of the events in the story correspond to events experienced by the author?

F. Do any of the characters in the story correspond to real people?

CHAPTER VII: NEW HISTORICISM What

is New Historicism?
New Historicism is a literary theory based on the idea that literature should be studied and
interpreted within the context of both the history of the author and the history of the critic.
Based on the literary criticism of Stephen Greenblatt and influenced by the philosophy of
Michel Foucault, New Historicism acknowledges not only that a work of literature is
influenced by its author's times and circumstances, but that the critic's response to that
work is also influenced by his environment, beliefs, and prejudices.
From the description of the new historicism theory, we can say that new historicism refers
to the analysis of literature while taking a keen interest in the sociocultural and historical
events that are involved in building literary work as it assumes that every piece of literature
is as a result of a historical event that created it.
New historicism basically takes into account that literary work or rather any literature work
has time, place and thus a historical event as its key components and that these key
elements can actually be deciphered from the literary text following keen analysis of the
text even if these elements are not clearly depicted by a writer in his or her work.
New historicism deals with textuality of history, that is, the fact that history is built and
fictionalized and the history of the literary text is without a doubt found within the
sociocultural and political conditions surrounding its conception and interpretation as
stated by Louis Montrose.
New historicism despite its opposition to the ideas put forth by post structuralism, it is
basically similar to poststructuralist since it also defies the of a common human nature
shared by the author, literary characters and readers and instead takes into account the
view that these key players surrounding a text have diverse identities.
 Some of the key assumptions of new historicism which were given by Harold Aram Veeser
in “The New Historicism include:

 Each act that is expressed is as a result of a network of material

practices.
 Every act of uncovering, analyzing and opposition actually uses ways
that it condemns and hence may conform to that which it exposes. 
Literary and non-literary texts circulate inseparably.
There is no social boundary whether imagined or archived that gives access to universally
unalterable truths nor portrays the unchangeable nature of human.
An analytical or rather critical means and a language good enough to describe culture
under capitalism participate in the economy is described.

How new historicism came to be?

New historicism came to be in the 1980’s quickly taking over the then known and widely
appreciated phenomena of New Criticism and with its advancement has greatly influenced
the way in which literature is looked at. New historicism came into play with analysis of the
works William Shakespeare, a renowned literature writer mostly dealing with poetry
among other excellent literary works in the 1980’s.
The word new historicism was coined by Stephen Greenblatt, a critic and English professor
at the University of California, Berkeley. Stephen coined the word when he put together a
bunch of essays and with some form of desperation to bring out the introduction, Stephen
said that the essays presented a phenomenon which he referred to as the new historicism.
Greenblatt is well known for his books studies of the Renaissance which made him one of
the key players in the establishment of new historicism. He inspired a great number of
scholars who were particularly interested in Renaissance studies and the anecdotal
approach of literature.
Other prominent players in the conception of new historicism include; Lynn Hunt and
Michel Foucault, who also taught at UC Berkeley as it rose as a postmodern approach to
history.
Michael Foucault is a key figure in the new historicism. His interest in issues such as
ideologies, power, epistemology and subjectivity have gone a long way in influencing critics
not only in literal studies but also in other disciplines.
His readiness to evaluate and openly discuss somewhat controversial disciplines such as
medicine, criminology, sexuality and governance coupled with his questioning of the
principle of specialization has led to other critics examining interdisciplinary connections
even where the disciplines have never been taught to be connected and as a consequence
never really examined together.
 This interesting approach to literature analysis taking a keen interest in the finer details
especially with regards to the cultural, social and a little bit of the political scenes
influencing the context of the text under study caught the attention of many historical
critics and scholars working at the time of its production.
Thus, its spread like wildfire transcending socio-cultural and historical boundaries. The
quick adoption of the New Historicism gave rise to someother phenomena including the
“new new historicism.”
Historical criticism seeks to comprehend the social and cultural dynamics that surround
literature work by answering questions such as:

 The time that the text was written.

 The person who wrote the literature.

 The events that happened at the time the literaturewas being written.

 How the literature has evolved with time to the form in which it is present today.

 What message did it carry to the very first audience of the literature and what did it
mean to the readers.
Most importantly, historical criticism seeks to answer the question that is more often than
not evaded referred to as “authorial intent”. This describes what the author intended for the
text to mean at his or her time and place.

Who is a Historicist?
A historicist, from the definition of new historicism, could be defined as a person who
analyzes any form of literature taking into consideration the cultural, social and historical
events that make up the core content of the text.
Some elements that are worth noting about historicist include:

 Their keen interest in recovering lost histories, which is a characteristic shared by

new historicist and cultural materialists.

 Unlike cultural materialists, new historicists tend to shift their attention to the high
class or rather those individuals up the social hierarchy.
 Have a key interest in governance, culture, past and present events among other
institutions.

 Hold the perception that each and every cultural event is key in making history and
should be considered for historical analysis.
  View literature as more than just a work of art or rather an artefact as do the new
criticists and also do not hold the view of liberal humanists who believe that
literature has timeless significance and universally valuable.
New historicists goal is to simultaneously comprehend literature through its historical and
cultural context while analyzing the cultural and intellectual history portrayed by the
literature.
Have an interest in questions of economy which include; circulation, negotiation, profit and
exchange and how some of the activities, in and including literary work, which appears to
be above the market are in fact driven and wholly influenced by the forces of demand and
supply (determinants of market value).
In conclusion, New Historicism is generally a literature analysis tool which focuses on
interpreting the social, cultural and political factors which affected the author thus
influencing the context in which the writer wrote the text.
These factors are distinct to a specific time and place hence the overall and strong influence
of history in literature and vice versa. With this guide you are now equipped in all angles
concerning new historicism and so you should be able to pass it on to other generations.
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