What is

literary
criticism?
“ Is a general evaluation of an
author’s work. There are 8
major types of literary
criticism and on of these is
the BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM
 What is
BIOGRAPHICAL
CRITICISM?
“ is a form of literary criticism
which analyzes a writer's biography
to show the relationship between the
author's life and their works of
literature.
Uses details about the author’s
works to understand the work of
the author.
it is important to know about a writer's
life, politics, and preoccupations. As long
as biographical criticism enhances, rather
than limits, our understanding of a text, it
functions as a useful lens through which to
study literature.

6
Renaissanc 19th 20th
e period century century
 Jackson J. Benson
describes the form as a "'recognition of 'otherness'—
that there is an author who is different in personality
and background from the reader—appears to be a simple-
minded proposition. Yet as a basic prerequisite to the
understanding and evaluation of a literary text it is
often ignored even by the most sophisticated literary
critics. The exploration of otherness is what literary
biography and biographical criticism can do best,
discovering an author as a unique individual, a discovery
that puts a burden on us to reach out to recognize that
uniqueness before we can fully comprehend an author's
writings.'"
8
 Walt Whitman
Wrote the Walt Whitman and New Biographical
Criticism which contains the relationship
of the authors biographies and their work.

9
George Alexander Kennedy
notes that in the Hellenistic age, "The works of authors
were read as sources of information about their lives,
personalities and interests. Some of this material was
then used by other commentators and critics to explain
passages in their works. The process became a circular
one in that, though Peripatetic biographers utilized
external evidence where available, they had little to go
on and quarried the texts for hints".

10
✘ Jackson J. Benson
✘ Walt Whitman
✘ George Alexander

11
If
By Rudyard Kipling
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
If you can keep your head when all about you
And lose, and start again at your beginnings,
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
And never breathe a word about your loss:
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
you,
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on!"
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
If you can talk with crowds and keep your
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
virtue,
Or walk with Kings - nor lose the common touch,
If you can dream - and not make dreams your
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt
master;
you,
If you can think - and not make thoughts your
If all men count with you, but none too much:
aim,
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
With sixty seconds' worth of distance run,
And treat those two impostors just the same:
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,
If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken
And - which is more - you'll be a Man, my son!
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to,
broken,
And stoop and build'em up with worn-out tools; 12
If
By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you

Are losing theirs and blaming it on you;
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt
you,
But make allowance for their doubting too:
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies,
Or being hated don't give way to hating,
And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
13
14
“
✘ If
✘ By Rudyard Kipling

✘ If you can keep your head when

all about you
✘ Are losing theirs and blaming it
on you;
15
16
 How do you criticize a
piece biographically?
✘ What aspects of the author’s personal life are relevant to
this story?
✘ Which of the author’s stated beliefs are reflected in the
work?
✘ Does the writer challenge or support the values of her
contemporaries?
✘ What seem to be the author’s major concerns? Do they reflect
any of the writer’s personal experiences?
✘ Do any of the events in the story correspond to events
experienced by the author?
✘ Do any of the characters in the story correspond to real
people?

17