FORMALIST CRITICISM
regards literature as a unique form of human knowledge
that needs to be examined on its own terms. To a
formalist, a poem or story is not primarily a social,
historical, or biographical document; It excludes the
author, the real world, audience or other literature; it is a
literary work that can be understood only by reference to
its intrinsic literary features—that is, those elements
found in the text itself. To analyze a poem or story,
therefore, the formalist critic focuses on the words of the
text rather than facts about the author’s life or the
historical milieu in which it was written. The critic would
pay special attention to the formal features of the text—
READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM
attempts to describe what happens in
the reader’s mind while interpreting a
text. Reader-response critics believe that
no text provides self-contained meaning;
literary texts do not exist independently
of readers’ interpretations. The reader
creates the meaning, not the author or
the work itself.
MIMETIC CRITICISM
seeks to see how well a work
accords with the real world. The
main contention of this approach
is to see how does a piece of
literature accurately portrays the
truth.
GENDER CRITICISM
examines how sexual identity influences the
creation and reception of literary works.
Gender studies began with the feminist
movement. Feminist critics believe that culture
has been so completely dominated by men that
literature is full of unexamined “male-
produced” assumptions. Feminist criticism
concerns with the woman’s role in society as
portrayed through texts. It typically analyzes
the plight of woman as depicted in the story.
SOCIOLOGICAL CRITICISM
examines literature in the cultural, economic,
and political context in which it was written or
received. It explores the relationships between
the artist and society. Sometimes it looks at the
sociological status of the author to evaluate
how the profession of the writer in a particular
milieu affected what was written. Sociological
criticism also analyzes the social content of
literary works—what cultural, economic, or
political values a particular text implicitly or
MYTHOLOGICAL CRITICISM or
ARCHETYPAL CRITICSM
looks for the recurrent universal patterns underlying most
literary works. Mythological criticism is an interdisciplinary
approach that combines the insights of anthropology,
psychology, history, and comparative religion. If psychological
criticism examines the artist as an individual, mythological
criticism explores the artist’s common humanity by tracing
how the individual imagination uses symbols and situations—
consciously or unconsciously—in ways that transcend its own
historical milieu and resemble the mythology of other
cultures or epochs. A central concept in mythological criticism
is the archetype, a symbol, character, situation, or image that
evokes a deep universal response.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM
attempts to explain the behavioral
underpinnings of the characters within the
selection, analyzing the actions and
thoughts committed fall under any of the
identifiable neuroses, whether a
psychological disorder is evident among
them. Aside from the characters, the author
and even the reader may be criticized as
why they exhibit certain behavior during
the actual reading and writing experience.
INTER-TEXTUAL CRITICISM
concerned with comparing the
work in question to other
literature, to get a broader
picture. One may compare a piece
of work to another of the same
author, same literary movement or
same historical background.
HISTORICAL CRITICISM
seeks to understand a literary work by
investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual
context that produced it—a context that necessarily
includes the artist’s biography and milieu. A
historical reading of a literary work begins by
exploring the possible ways in which the meaning
of the text has changed over time. There have been
so many social, cultural, and linguistic changes that
some older texts are incomprehensible without
scholarly assistance. Yet, historical criticism can
even help one better understand modern texts.
BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM
begins with the simple but central
insight that literature is written by
actual people and that understanding an
author’s life can help readers thoroughly
comprehend the work. Anyone who
reads the biography of a writer quickly
sees how much an author’s experience
shapes—both directly and indirectly—
what he or she creates.
MARXIST CRITICISM
concerns with the analysis of the clash of
opposing social classes in society, namely;
the ruling class(bourgeoisie) and the
working class(proletariat) as it shaped the
events that transpired in the story. It
looks into the picture of exploitation of
the weak in the hands of the strong
individuals, to where the poor becomes
poorer and the rich becomes richer.
