Literary Criticism

Literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation

of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed
by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its
methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely
related, literary critics are not always, and have not always
been, theorists.
Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a
separate field of inquiry from literary theory, or conversely
from book reviewing, is a matter of some controversy. For
example, the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and
Criticism draws no distinction between literary theory and
literary criticism, and almost always uses the terms together
to describe the same concept. Some critics consider literary
criticism a practical application of literary theory, because
criticism always deals directly with particular literary works,
while theory may be more general or abstract.

Types of Literary Criticism
Sociological criticism: Like historical
criticism, sociological criticism examines
literature in the cultural, economic, and
political context in which it is written or
received. This type of criticism may analyze
the social content of a literary workthe
cultural, economic, or political values a
particular text implicitly or explicitly
expresses.
Reader-response criticism: This type of criticism
attempts to describe what happens in the
readers mind while interpreting a text. A
reader-response critic might also explore the
impact of a particular text on his or her own
ideas or values. For example, one might reflect
on how a particular character seems admirable
or unlikable and why. One might reflect on how
ones religious, culture, or social values affect
readings. It also overlaps with gender criticism in
exploring how men and women may read the
same text with different assumptions.
Gender criticism: This type of criticism examines
how sexual identity influences the creation and
reception of literary works. Gender studies
originated during the feminist movement, when
critics began investigating the unexamined
assumptions around gender in a piece of
literature. Feminist critics explored how an
authors gender mightconsciously or
unconsciouslyaffect his or her writing. These
critics may also explore how images of men or
women in literature might reflect or reject the
social norms around gender in a particular
society.
Mythological criticism: Mythological critics explore the
universal patterns underlying a literary work. This type
of criticism draws on the insights of anthropology,
history, psychology, and comparative religion to explore
how a text uses myths and symbols drawn from
different cultures and epochs. A central concept in
mythological criticism is the archetype, a symbol,
character, situation, or image that evokes a deep
universal response. For example, critic Joseph
Campbell, in his books like The Hero with a Thousand
Faces, demonstrates how similar mythic characters and
situations, like the heros journey, appear in virtually
every culture.
Biographical criticism: Biographical critics
explore how understanding an authors life
can help readers more thoroughly
comprehend the literary work. Note:
biographical critics are not concerned with
simply describing the authors life but
instead with interpreting the literary work
using the insights provided by knowledge
of the authors life.
New Historicism: New historicist
critics look at the impact of the
politics, ideologies, and social customs
of the authors world on the themes,
images, and characterizations of a text.
This type of critic considers the
historical events or conditions during
which the work was written.
Psychoanalytic criticism: This type
of criticism views the themes,
conflicts, and characterizations of a
work primarily as a reflection of
the needs, emotions, states of
mind, or subconscious desires of
the author.
Formalist criticism: Formalist
critics look closely at the work
itself, analyzing the various
elements of the work as a way of
explicating or interpreting a text.
Literary Devices
Two kinds of Literary Devices
Literary Elements have an inherent existence
in literary piece and are extensively employed
by writers to develop a literary piece e.g. plot,
setting, narrative structure, characters, mood,
theme, moral etc. Writers simply cannot
create his desired work without including
Literary Elements in a thoroughly professional
manner.
Literary Techniques, on the contrary, are
structures usually a word s or phrases in
literary texts that writers employ to achieve
not merely artistic ends but also readers a
greater understanding and appreciation of
their literary works. Examples are: metaphor,
simile, alliteration, hyperbole, allegory etc. In
contrast to Literary Elements, Literary
Techniques are not unavoidable aspect of
literary works.
Common Literary Elements

Plot: It is the logical sequence of events that develops a story.
Setting: It refers to the time and place in which a story takes place.
Protagonist: It is the main character of story, novel or a play e.g.
Hamlet in the play Hamlet
Antagonist: It is the character in conflict with the Protagonist e.g.
Claudius in the play Hamlet
Narrator: A person who tells the story.
Narrative method: The manner in which a narrative is presented
comprising plot and setting.
Dialogue: Where characters of a narrative speak to one another.
Conflict. It is n issue in a narrative around which the whole story
revolves.
Mood: A general atmosphere of a narrative.
Theme: It is central idea or concept of a story.
Common Literary Techniques
1. Imagery: It is the use of figurative language to create
visual representations of actions, objects and ideas in
our mind in such a way that they appeal to our physical
senses.

For example:

The room was dark and gloomy. -The words dark and
gloomy are visual images.
The river was roaring in the mountains. The word
roaring appeals to our sense of hearing.
2. Simile and Metaphor: Both compare two
distinct objects and draws similarity between
them. The difference is that Simile uses as or
like and Metaphor does not.

For example:

My love is like a red red rose (Simile)
He is an old fox very cunning. (Metaphor)
3. Hyperbole: It is deliberate exaggeration of
actions and ideas for the sake of emphasis.

For example:

Your bag weighs a ton!
I have got a million issues to look after!
4. Personification: It gives a thing, an idea or
an animal human qualities.

For example:

The flowers are dancing beside the lake.
Have you see my new car? She is a real
beauty!
5. Alliteration: It refers to the same consonant
sounds in words coming together.

For example:

Better butter always makes the batter better.
She sells seashells at seashore
6. Allegory: It is a literary technique in which an abstract
idea is given a form of characters, actions or events.

For example:

Animal Farm, written by George Orwell, is an example
allegory using the actions of animals on a farm to represent
the overthrow of the last of the Russian Tsar Nicholas II and
the Communist Revolution of Russia before WW II. In
addition, the actions of the animals on the farm are used to
expose the greed and corruption of the Revolution.
7. Irony: It is use of the words in such a way in
which the intended meaning is completely
opposite to their literal meaning.

For example:

The bread is soft as a stone.
So nice of you to break my new PSP!
Function of Literary Devices


In general, the literary devices are a collection of universal
artistic structures that are so typical of all works of
literature frequently employed by the writers to give
meanings and a logical framework to their works through
language. When such works are read by readers, they
ultimately recognize and appreciate them. Because of their
universality, they also allow the readers to compare a work
of one writer to that of the other to determine its worth.
They not only beautify the piece of literature but also give
deeper meanings to it, testing the very understanding of
the readers along with providing them enjoyment of
reading. Besides, they help motivating readers imagination
to visualize the characters and scenes more clearly.
Approaches in Literary Criticism
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. Biographical
criticism is often associated with Historical-
Biographical criticism, a critical method that
"sees a literary work chiefly, if not exclusively,
as a reflection of its author's life and times".
Historical criticism, also known as the
historical-critical method or higher criticism, is
a branch of literary criticism that investigates
the origins of ancient text in order to
understand "the world behind the text".
Humanism is a group of philosophies and ethical perspectives
which emphasize the value and agency of human beings,
individually and collectively, and generally prefers individual
thought and evidence (rationalism, empiricism) over established
doctrine or faith (fideism). The term humanism can be ambiguously
diverse, and there has been a persistent confusion between several
related uses of the term because different intellectual movements
have identified with it over time. In philosophy and social science,
humanism refers to a perspective that affirms some notion of a
"human nature" (contrasted with anti-humanism). In modern times,
many humanist movements have become strongly aligned with
secularism, with the term Humanism often used as a byword for
non-theistic beliefs about ideas such as meaning and purpose;
however, many early humanists, such as Ulrich von Hutten, a strong
supporter of Martin Luther and the Reformation, were religious.
Romantic criticism, then, is characterized by
the neglect of the neo-classical rules which
were based upon the theories of the ancient
masters such as Aristotle and Horace. Instead
of judging the work of art in terms of the rules
of the ancients, the impressions of the work of
art produces should be the standard by which
is judged. A deep concern with imagination
which was controlled by Neo-classicism is
another characteristic of romantic criticism.
literary realism is written from an objective
perspective that simply and clearly represents
the subject matter of the story, even at the
expense of a well-made plot. Nineteenth-
century realist writers addressed social,
economic, and political concerns through their
depictions of various aspects of life during
that time, and they strove to accurately
represent contemporary culture and people
from every echelon of society.
Formalism is a school of literary criticism and
literary theory having mainly to do with
structural purposes of a particular text. It is
the study of a text without taking into account
any outside influence. Formalism rejects (or
sometimes simply "brackets," i.e., ignores for
the purpose of analysis) notions of culture or
societal influence, authorship, and content,
and instead focuses on modes, genres,
discourse, and forms.
Existentialism is a term applied to the work of a
number of 19th- and 20th-century philosophers who,
despite profound doctrinal differences, generally held
that the focus of philosophical thought should be to
deal with the conditions of existence of the individual
person and their emotions, actions, responsibilities,
and thoughts. The early 19th century philosopher
Sren Kierkegaard, posthumously regarded as the
father of existentialism, maintained that the individual
is solely responsible for giving his own life meaning and
living that life passionately and sincerely, in spite of
many existential obstacles and distractions including
despair, angst, absurdity, alienation, and boredom.
Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist
theory, or by the politics of feminism more broadly. Its history has
been broad and varied, from classic works of nineteenth-century
women authors such as George Eliot and Margaret Fuller to cutting-
edge theoretical work in women's studies and gender studies by
"third-wave" authors. In the most general and simple terms,
feminist literary criticism before the 1970sin the first and second
waves of feminismwas concerned with the politics of women's
authorship and the representation of women's condition within
literature, this includes the depiction of fictional female characters.
In addition feminist criticism was further concerned with the
exclusion of women from the literary canon, and Lois Tyson
suggests this is because the views of women authors are often not
considered to be universal ones.
Naturalism was a literary movement taking place
from the 1880s to 1940s that used detailed
realism to suggest that social conditions,
heredity, and environment had inescapable force
in shaping human character. It was depicted as a
literary movement that seeks to replicate a
believable everyday reality, as opposed to such
movements as Romanticism or Surrealism, in
which subjects may receive highly symbolic,
idealistic, or even supernatural treatment.
Sociological Criticism is literary criticism directed
to understanding (or placing) literature in its
larger social context; it codifies the literary
strategies that are employed to represent social
constructs through a sociological methodology.
Sociological criticism analyzes both how the
social functions in literature and how literature
works in society. This form of literary criticism
was introduced by Kenneth Burke, a 20th-century
literary and critical theorist, whose article
"Literature As Equipment for Living" outlines the
specification and significance of such a critique.