4Republic of the Philippines

SULTAN KUDARAT STATE UNIVERSITY

ACCESS, EJC Montilla, 9800 City of Tacurong
Graduate School

Written Report
on
Introduction to Literary Theories and
Modern Criticism Schools of Thought

By

Prinz John T. Alfaro

Denisonde B. Andrino

May 2021
I. Introduction

Literature is beyond any words, phrases, and sentences. It is the

foundation of life; a light to humanity. It makes the world a vast stage that

liberates people from political oppression, social injustice, economic inequality,

and emotional inhibition as reflected in short stories, novels, dramas, essays, and

other literary genres. Indeed, if language is the people’s greatest invention,

literature is the greatest art.

Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, evaluation, and

interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary

theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods.

Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and

have not always been, theorists. The function of literary criticism is to examine

the merits and demerits or defects of a work of art and finally to

evaluate its worth. The chief function of criticism is to enlighten and stimulate

(“Literary Criticism,” n.d.).

Literary theory is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical

reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of

literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean. Literary theory

is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we

attempt to understand literature (Brewton, n.d.).

A very basic way of thinking about literary theory is that these ideas act as

different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture.
These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain

assumptions within that school of theory. The different lenses also allow critics to

focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important (Brizee et al., n.d.)

In this report, we will introduce literary theories and modern criticisms that

can be applied for a meaningful teaching of literature as English language

teachers. Moreover, we will reveal the underlying principles and discover what

literature can mean for a more substantial learning experience.

II. Topic Objectives

This topic aims to:

1. explain literary theories and modern criticism

2. highlight the significance of literary theories and modern criticism in

literature

3. enrich critic’s general purpose to foster reader’s understanding of literary

work

4. express the relationship between author and work

III. Stimulating Activity

Make an acrostic out of the word CRITICISM.

C- R- I- T- I- C- I- S- M-

IV. Content Outline (theories, illustrations, examples)

What is literary criticism?

 Literary criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation, and/or

evaluation of works of literature. Literary criticism is essentially an opinion,

supported by evidence, relating to theme, style, setting or historical or political

context. It usually includes discussion of the work’s content and integrates your

ideas with other insights gained from research. Literary criticism may have a

positive or a negative bias and may be a study of an individual piece of literature

or an author’s body of work (Waidner and Spahr, 2021). Literary criticism is the

reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. It applies, as a term, to any

argumentation about literature, whether or not specific works are analyzed

(Crews, 2014).

The Development of Modern Literary Criticism

Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the

philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods. M. H. Abrams, in his

book The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition,

argues that the development of literary criticism has centered on four

coordinates: the universe, the work, the artist, and the audience (Abrams 6). He

argues that early critical theory focused on the relation of literature to the world,

its tendency to imitate or "mimic" reality [mimesis] (Abrams 8). Through the

influence of Aristotle and Christianity, criticism began to focus on the influence of

literature on the audience, valuing literature which had a positive or "moral"

impact on the reader/listener [pragmatism] (Abrams 14-16). By the 18th century,

criticism had shifted to an emphasis on the creative impulses of the artist;

literature was an "expression" of the artist's imagination and feelings

[romanticism] (Abrams 22-25).

Abrams suggests that modern criticism, in reaction to modernism, has

placed at its center, the work (Abrams 27-8). But influenced by Sassure's

process of difference, the idea that "meaning is always in some sense absent"

(Eagleton 128), the meaning of text began to expand beyond the bounds of the

work itself to encompass Abram's other coordinates of universe, artist, and

audience.

What are the functions of a critic?

1. Introduce us to authors or works of which we were unaware.

2. Convince us that we have undervalued an author or a work because we had

not read them carefully enough.

3. Show us relations between works of different ages and cultures which we

could never have seen for ourselves because we do not know enough and never

shall.

4. Give a “reading” of a work which increases our understanding of it.

5. Throw light upon the process of artistic “Making”.

6. Throw light upon the relation of art to life, science, economics, ethics, religion,

etc.

What is a literary theory?

 Literary theory” is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical

reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of

literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean. Literary theory

is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we

attempt to understand literature. All literary interpretation draws on a basis in

theory but can serve as a justification for very different kinds of critical activity. It

is literary theory that formulates the relationship between author and work;

literary theory develops the significance of race, class, and gender for literary

study, both from the standpoint of the biography of the author and an analysis of

their thematic presence within texts. Literary theory offers varying approaches for

understanding the role of historical context in interpretation as well as the

relevance of linguistic and unconscious elements of the text (Brewton, n.d.).

Literary Theories/Approaches

1. Formalism (New Criticism)

2. Deconstruction

3. Reader-Response Criticism

3. Archetypal (or myth criticism)

4. Marxism

5. Historical Criticism

6. The New Historicism

7. Biographical Criticism

8. Psychological (or Psychoanalytic) Criticism

 9. Feminism

10. Lesbian and Gay Criticism

11. Postcolonialism

12. Structuralism

V. Related Issues and Challenges

There is a lack of awareness and appreciation of the methods needed to

ensure systematic reviews are as free from bias and as reliable as possible:

demonstrated by recent, flawed, high-profile reviews. We call on review authors

to conduct more rigorous reviews, on editors and peer-reviewers to gate-keep

more strictly, and the community of methodologists to better support the broader

research community. Only by working together can we build and maintain a

strong system of rigorous, evidence-informed decision-making in conservation

and environmental management. Here are some issues/problems a literary piece

has encountered.

Lack of relevance – limited stakeholder engagement can produce a review

that is of limited practical use to decision-makers.

Mission creep – reviews that don’t publish their methods in an a priori protocol

can suffer from shifting goals and inclusion criteria.

A lack of transparency/replicability in the review methods may mean that

the review cannot be replicated – a central tenet of the scientific method!

 Selection bias (where included studies are not representative of the

evidence base) and a lack of comprehensiveness (an appropriate search

method) can mean that reviews end up with the wrong evidence for the question

at hand.

The exclusion of grey literature and failure to test for evidence of

publication bias can result in incorrect or misleading conclusions.

Traditional reviews often lack appropriate critical appraisal of included

study validity, treating all evidences as equally valid – we know some researches

are more valid and we need to account for this in the synthesis.

VI. Summary

Literary Criticism: It is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. It

goes beyond just saying that a book is good or bad. It instead analyzes the parts

of the work through several different approaches as a process towards making a

claim about the work.

Reader-Response: A type of criticism which focuses on the reader. It

emphasizes how the reader responds to a work and why. It is not concerned

with the author, history, or anything that draws away from the reader. The name

of the criticism (reader-response) explains it well; it is how the reader responds to

a text.

Questions to think about:

1. What do you think about the work?

 2. How did the work make you feel? What about the work made you feel this

way?

3. Have you had previous experiences with this work or similar works which

would affect your interpretation of it?

Example:

In Edgar Allan Poe’s short story, “A Tell-Tale Heart,” the narrator’s insanity and

actions horrify the reader. The narrator’s insistence that he was sane, his

seeming logic, and his absence of guilt all add to this feeling. The description of

the narrator cutting the body into pieces and hiding them under the floorboards,

along with the description of the thumping heart and “vulture eye” all further serve

to make the reader respond this way.

Mimetic: A type of criticism that focuses on how true to life a work’s characters

are. It deals with how realistic things are. Notice the word “mime” in mimetic, in

other words, it mimes or imitates real life.

Questions to think about:

1. Is it a realistic portrayal of life?

2. Do the characters seem to react in believable ways? Do they have

realistic emotions?

3. If the work and characters do not seem to be realistic, what prevents it and

them from being so?

Example:
In Harper Lee’s To Kill A Mockingbird, Scout could be said to be a realistic

character. At the beginning of the novel she is blind to the flaws of society. She

has her own unique personality caused by both her own personality traits and the

way that Atticus has raised her. Her development from the beginning of the story

to the end truly marks her realism. She is not blind to what goes on around her,

but instead observes it all. What she sees changes the way in which she

perceives those around her and the world as a whole, just as it would any real

person.

Intertextuality: A type of criticism which focuses on one text’s relationship to

another. However, it does not just compare and contrast two works. Instead, it

considers how the works shape our perception of other works.

Questions to think about:

1. Does the work remind you of any other works you have read?

2. What is similar and different about the two works (yes, you can ask this

question, just don’t stop with it)?

3. How does each text shape or create a new understanding of the other

text?

Example:

Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and High School Musical have

similarities. In High School Musical, Troy (like Romeo) must choose between

what he is expected to do and what he wants to do. Troy can play basketball as
all his peers and parents wish (the equivalent to Romeo marrying Rosaline) or he

can do what he really loves and be in the musical (the equivalent to Romeo

marrying Juliet). This helps one to better understand both Romeo’s and Troy’s

motivations and feelings.

Author Intention: A type of criticism which considers the author’s intention to be

the most important factor. When there are two or more possible interpretations

of a text, one must consider what the author’s intention was to determine the

most probable interpretation.

VII. Enrichment Activities

INDEPENDENT PRACTICE

The teacher will assign students to read independently the poem and have

students use the close reading techniques so that they can independently

analyze the poem.

ANALYZE MUSIC

Intrigue even the most reluctant of students by showing them how music

is poetry. Select a popular song that has literature elements you can

analyze, and use this free music analysis sheet to guide discussion.

Don’t forget to listen to music while you work!

PICTURE-INSPIRED POETRY
Students always produce their best work when they use images to

energize their writing. In this post, you can read about thirteen different

ways to use pictures to inspire students to write poetry . Wordless

picture books, old family photographs, political cartoons, famous

paintings, and even hashtags can scaffold the poetry writing process by

appealing to students' interests first. If you'd like to try having your

students write picture-based poetry but don't know where to start, you

can download this free picture-based poetry resource to get started.

Poetry is full of figurative language. To get students brainstorming

before writing their own or analyzing the author's style of an existing

poem, we play Figurative Language Truth or Dare . This game

encourages my students to view poetry and figurative language as fun,

enticing, and thoughtful. After playing truth or dare to refresh their

memories about common poetic language, students feel more confident

when asked to close read a passage, looking specifically at how the

poet uses literary devices to develop his or her ideas and style.
VIII. References

Abrams, M. H. The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical

Tradition. Norton, 1958.

Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. UP Minnesota, 1983.

Crews, Frederick C. “Literary criticism”. Encyclopedia Britannica, 17 Dec. 2014,

https://www.britanicca.com/art/literary-criticism. Accessed 17 May

2021

Brizee, Allen et al. Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism.

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/01/. Accessed 17

May 2021

Wrenn, Chase. “Naturalistic Epistemology”. The Internet Encyclopedia of

Philosophy, ISSN 2161-002, https://www.iep.utm.edu/. Accessed

17 May 2021
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