ENGLISH 119: LITERARY CRITICISM

Prof. Ma. Cecilia D. Alimen, PhD

mcalimen@usa.edu.ph

TO BE ACCOMPLISHED FOR THE PRELIM

1. Write a 3-page paper on Literary Criticism and the importance of studying it.

2. The literary theories covered for the prelim are biographical, historicism comprising old
historicism and new historicism, and psychoanalytic theory.
3. Read “The Use of Force” by William Carlos Williams and as critics write three questions
each using the different literary lenses:

4. Three questions using biographical theory/literary lenses

a. What are the personal experiences of William Carlos Williams being a doctor himself,
aside from his passion to write?
b. When does the author initiate the use of force in dealing with patients?
c. How does the Author manage to capture the practice in being a doctor in its own
authenticity?

5. Three questions using old historicism theory/literary lenses

6. Three questions using new historicism theory/literary lenses

7. Three questions using psychoanalytic theory/literary lenses

a. What is the rationale behind the use of force to manipulate a stubborn patient like
Mathilda?
b. What is the effect to the young patient who will remember the traumatic experience
and struggle she had with the Doctor and her family?
c. What can be done to further manipulate a patient without the use of force or
intimidation for one to give in during emergencies like these?
IMPORTANCE OF LITERARY CRITICISM

As we observe the human race, we will notice that it is a very interesting

concept. A concept wherein there is a prevailing dynamic connection among
people through a deliberate form of communication. The right to be heard and
the yearning to commune are essential requisite to a person’s human
development. As the famous saying goes, “No man is an Island”, brings about
the need for human interconnection.

Such interconnectedness stems from the very nature of how a human

heart intently manifests a need to be intertwined and entertained all at the same
time. This need is mentioned in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs as it is part of what
makes a human being so unique that it is truly interdependent with a fellow
human being. With how fast paced and demanding the times may be, the human
development has been a priority from past to present.

It is established that the growth of a community in general, comes from a

thriving symbiosis or interconnectedness of the members of the civil society.
Along with that growth, comes the desire for further self expression. The mere
existence of music, art and literature presupposes that the need to express and
allow a necessary feedback becomes a trajectory in human life.

As we can see in today’s modern world, literature has been an effective

tool to communicate and relate certain values that might shape the present and
future leaders of our time. In retrospect, many great leaders are influenced by
books that actually gave them a glimpse to a new worldview, thus forming their
character and intellect. Abraham Lincoln for example, when he was a young boy,
he diligently aimed to read books to enhance his learning. He would walk miles
just to borrow a book and he did it almost every day. Self education has been a
priority for great leaders that effectively improves their way of thinking.

For a human being, literature opens a door that has never been opened
before. It enjoys the privilege of taking a person by the hand and having a
delightful journey into the author’s mind on how he tells a story and provides
narrative in detail with the intent to persuade and conquer our present belief
system. It may also serve as a bridge to a new perspective where one can take
such information as a subjective truth amongst the complexities the world offers.
It serves as an affirmation to current principles we possess and a resolution to
the vagueness we would likely encounter. It may serve its distinct purpose
encompassing the reader’s interpretation and pensive approach to a writer’s
indisputable idiosyncrasies.
 To further seek the importance of literature, one may find it fascinating to
study Literary Criticism.

Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of

literature.

Literary criticism is the evaluation of literary works. This includes the

classification by genre, analysis of structure, and judgement of value.

Literary criticism asks what literature is, what it does, and what it is worth.

Literary criticism is the method used to interpret any given work of

literature. The different schools of literary criticism provide us with lenses which
ultimately reveal important aspects of the literary work.

 The point of criticism is to argue your point of view on a work of literature.

 You don’t have to “criticize” a text (but you can)
 You do have to analyze a text and support your assertions with specific
evidence from experts and the text.
 It’s crucial to go beyond plot development and into more abstract, higher-
level thinking like theme, tone, purpose, etc.
 A critical analysis is an in-depth examination of some aspect of the literary
work
 you may examine any element of the text: character development,
conflicts, narrative point of view, etc.
 Literary critical theories inform us of certain ways to approach big ideas in
the novel.

 Talking about experiences enhances our enjoyment of them

 Talking about experiences involves the search for meaning which
increases our understanding of them
 Because Socrates said so: "The life which is unexamined is not worth
living."

Literary criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text

 its structure
 its context: social, economic, historical
 what is written
 how the text manipulates the reader
 Literary criticism helps us to understand the relationship between authors,
readers, and texts
 The act of literary criticism ultimately enhances the enjoyment of our
reading of the literary work

Literary criticism has two main functions:

1. To analyze, study, and evaluate works of literature.
2. To form general principles for the examination of works of literature.

 The capacity to generalize about phenomena and to develop concepts that

form the basis for interpretation and analysis—in this instance, of a
“literary” text.

 The work itself is placed in the center because all approaches must deal,
to some extent or another, with the text itself.
 Formalism and deconstruction are placed here also because they deal
primarily with the text and not with any of the outside considerations such
as author, the real world, audience, or other literature. Meaning, formalists
argue, is inherent in the text. Because meaning is determinant, all other
considerations are irrelevant.
 Deconstructionists also subject texts to careful, formal analysis;
however, they reach an opposite conclusion: there is no meaning in
language.

 A historical approach relies heavily on the author and his world. In the
historical view, it is important to understand the author and his world in
order to understand his intent and to make sense of his work. In this view,
the work is informed by the author's beliefs, prejudices, time, and history,
and to fully understand the work, we must understand the author and his
age.
 An intertextual approach is concerned with comparing the work in
question to other literature, to get a broader picture.
 Reader-Response is concerned with how the work is viewed by the
audience. In this approach, the reader creates meaning, not the author or
the work.

 Mimetic criticism seeks to see how well a work accords with the real world
(is it accurate? correct? moral? ).
 Then, beyond the real world are approaches dealing with the spiritual and
the symbolic--the images connecting people throughout time and cultures
(archetypes). This is mimetic in a sense too, but the congruency looked
for is not so much with the real world as with something beyond the real
 world--something tying in all the worlds/times/cultures inhabited by
humans.
 The Psychological approach is placed outside these poles because it can
fit in many places, depending how it is applied:
(1) Historical if diagnosing the author himself
(2) Mimetic if considering if characters are acting by "real world" standards
and with recognizable psychological motivations
(3) Archetypal when the idea of the Jungian collective unconscious is
included
(4) Reader-Response when the psychology of the reader--why he sees
what he sees in the text--is examined.