Approaches to Criticism

Approaches to Literary Criticism

A good soldier is adept in critiquing
A good soldier is adept in
critiquing life and reinvent
situations to connect service,
family and God together.
Without these series of
interconnected abilities, the
union of mind, body and
TRUTHS ABOUT LIFE

People who sleep well during the night catches all

the good things that life has to offer during the day.
People who steal naps and dozes horribly are
candidates for bad luck. Though, this is not always
the case, they may have the tendency to cross
highways and bridges that never exist at the
moment.
People who listen to others especially their
teachers will never be lost and will yield positive
results in their chosen endeavor.s
PROHIBITIONS IN THE LEARNING
ENVIRONMENT
SLEEPINGKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
KKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK
Important: No single theory is necessarily
correct or true above any other
Critical approaches usually derive from personal
discretion or applicability
Some approaches naturally lend themselves to
particular works
LE#6. Select at least three(3) statements. Explain the meaning of each
proverb/folk speech. Give a sample situation from youexperiences,readings

and other life stories .

Types of Traditional Approaches
Textual-linguistic
Not precisely a method of criticism but important tool in
literary analysis
Correct meaning of words in their historical context.
Authenticity of text
Reader may assume text has come down unchanged
Poes original verse from To Helen
To the beauty of fair Greece
And the grandeur of old Rome.

Revision:
To the glory that was Greece
And the grandeur that was Rome.
Types of Traditional
Historical-biographical
Reflection of authors life and times or the life and times
of the characters in the work.
The Jungle, Poe, Oliver Twist
Additional approaches
Expressive, which sees literature as a source of unique
knowledge deriving from the artists imagination and therefore
glorifies self-expression as the true function of art
Impressionist is what the critic feels in presence of a work of art

Poets have from earliest times been the historians, the

interpreters of contemporary culture, and the prophets of their
people. Remember Emerson and the poet owns the landscape
Moral-philosophical
An approach as old as classical Greek and
Roman critics
The larger function is to teach morality
Critic is not aware of form, figurative language,
other aesthetic considerations, but are
secondary.
The important thing is the moral or philosophical
teaching.
All great literature teaches in the larger sense
Less likely to err on side of over-interpretation
Formalistic approach
The object of formalistic criticism is to find the key to the structure
and meaning of the literary work
We search for form which is necessary for real understanding
A unifying pattern is the pattern that as modern critics say, informs
or shapes the work inwardly and gives its parts a relevance to the
whole
Suggests that the reader see what is in the poem, novel, or the play
rather than to consider what is outside it.
First step in explaining the literary work is to discover what the
words actually mean in their full denotative and connotative value.
Find point of view used by author
Principle by which content and form inseparable
Imagery, tone, meters, rhymes, etc
Psychological approach
Most controversial, most abused, for the most
part the least appreciated
Abuses and Misunderstandings:
Aristotle used it to define tragedy
Psychoanalytic theories of Sigmund Freud and followers
mistrust from abuses because sexual in nature
Freuds theories

Emphasis on unconscious aspects of the

human psyche
Most actions are motivated by psychic
forces over which we have limited control
Most of the individuals mental processes
are unconscious
All human behavior is motivated ultimately
by sexuality
Freud

Concerning child psychology

Infancy and childhood a period of intense
sexual experience
Mythological and Archetypal approaches

Myth critic seeks out those mysterious artifacts

built into certain literary forms which elicit
dramatic and universal human reactions.
To discover how it is that certain works of
literature, image a kind of reality to which
readers give response
A close connection between mythological
criticism and the psychological approach: both
are concerned with the motives underlying
human behavior
Archetype cont.
Psychology tends to be experimental and diagnostic; its is related to
biological sciences
Mythology tends to be speculative and philosophic; its affinities are
with religion, anthropology, and cultural history
Mythology is wider in scope
Psychoanalysis attempts to disclose about the individual personality,
the study reveals about the mind and character of the people.
Myths are symbolic projections of a peoples hopes, values, fears,
and aspirations.
The common misconception of the term, myths are merely primitive
fictions, illusions, or opinions based on false reasoning
Mythology encompasses more than grade-school stories about the
Greek and Roman deities or clever fables invented for the
amusement of children.
Myths do not meet our current standards of factual reality, they
reflect a more profound reality. Metaphoric truth.
Cont.
Myth is fundamental, the dramatic
representation of our deepest instinctual life, of
primary awareness of man in the universe,
capable of many configurations, upon which all
particular opinions and attitudes depend.Mark
Schorer
Myth is to be defined as a complex of stories
some no doubt fact, and some fantasywhich,
for various reasons, human beings regard as
demonstrations of the inner meaning of the
universe and of human life.
Archetypes
Similar motifs and themes may be found among many
different mythologies.
Images that widely separated have a common meaning
or, tend to elicit comparable psychological responses
and to serve similar cultural functions.
Universal symbols
The myth critic is interested more in pre-history and the
biographies of gods.
Form concentrated on the shape of the work itself.
The myth critic probes the inner spirit which gives that
form its vitality, its enduring appeal.
archetypes

This approach is relatively new and poorly

understood:
Proper interpretive tools become available
through the development of such
disciplines as anthropology, psychology,
and cultural history.
Cont.
As with psychological approach, the reader must
take care that his enthusiasm for a new-found
interpretive key does not tempt him to discard
other valuable critical instruments or to try to
open all literary doors with this single key.
Myth critic tends to forget that literature is more
than a vehicle for archetypes and ritual patterns.
He runs the risk of being distracted from the
essential experience of the artifact itself; he
forgets that literature is above all else, art.
Jungian psychology and its archetypal
insights
Primary contribution to myth criticism is his theory of
racial memory and archetypes.
Beneath the personal unconsciousprimeval, collective
unconscious shared in the psychic inheritance of all
members of the human family.
Jung believed: Mind is not born as a tabula rosa (clean
slate). Like the body, it has its pre-established individual
definiteness; namely forms of behaviour. They become
manifest in the ever-recurring patterns of psychic
functioning.
Myth-forming structural elements are ever-present in
the unconscious psyche; he refers to the manifestations
of these elements as motifs primordial images, or
archetypes.
Jung cont.

Theorized that myths do not derive from

external factors such as the seasonal or
solar cycle but are the projections of
innate psychic phenomena.
Myths are the means by which archetypes
become manifest
Archetypes reveal themselves in dreams;
dreams are personalized myths/myths are
personalized dreams.
Jung cont.

Personal unconscious is private to the

individualexperiences which have been
forgotten, suppressed, repressed, ignored.
Includes fantasies and dreams
Joseph Campbell
Four functions of myth:
1. Mystical/spiritual
Faith is believing in something when there is no reason
to or when there is no scientific explanation.
2. Scientific function: This explains the physical
workings of nature and natural phenomena according to
the scientific understanding of the time.
3. Sociological function: Supports and validates social
order of the society in which the myth took place. It
conservatively defends the status quo.
4. Pedagogical/Instruction: Shows how one should live
ones daily life; rules to live by.
The Archetype of the hero
Part I: Departure
The Call to Adventure
Refusal of the callnot always
Supernatural aidbenefit of wisdom of others, cant
succeed entirely by self, the force which is within.
Crossing the first thresholdseparation from home,
present comforts of home
Belly of the whaledeath experiencedeath of old self.
The whale is the unconscious unknown fears. Usually
there is a mentor or wise person somewhere in here.
Part II: Initiation

The road of trials: the adventureto

prove status
Meeting with the goddess/womannot
enslaved to lustavoiding temptations
Atonement with the fathermust in course
of journey to adulthood be on same level
Apotheosistransformation
The Ultimate Boonrewardsometimes
physical sometimes knowledge
Part III: The Return

Refusal of the returnnot always, but

must return to society and responsibility
Magic Flightsign of favor
Common Archetypes
Golden Age or Gardenearly man
Loss of innocencethe fall--childhood
The flooddestructive but cleansing; renewal
The heromodel for us; standard to judge our lives by; of man but apart
Wise old man/wizardhelpful to man
Tricksterachieves goal by cunning; not always good
Metamorphosistransformation into something else
GiantsNeanderthals
DragonsWestern world=greed; Eastern world=wealth and wisdom
Snake/serpentknowledge and immortality
Tree/tree of lifesymbol of connection of all levels from underground to heavens
Christs cross
God teacherbridge between man and God; brings gift to man but with
consequences
Demon godnot in all
Woman: Maiden/Wife/Mother
Magic Objects: rings, staves, swords, etc.
Sociological Criticism
Examines literature in the cultural, economic,
and political context in which it is written or
received
Art not created in a vacuum
Relationship between author and society
Social status of author
Social content of a work (values presented)
Role of audience in shaping literature
Sociological contd
Marxist criticism
Economic and political elements of art
Explores ideological content of literature
Content determines form; therefore all art is political
DANGER: imposing critics politics on work in question
can sway evaluation based on how closely (or not) the
work endorses ideology
VALUE: illuminates political and economic dimensions
of literature that other approaches may overlook
Gender Criticism
Examines how sexual identity influences the
creation and reception of literary works
Began with feminist movement
Influenced by sociology, psychology, and
anthropology
Feminist critics see a world saturated with male-
produced assumptions
Seek to correct imbalance by battling patriarchal
attitudes
Gender contd
Feminist criticism analyzes how an authors
gender influences ideas
Also, how sexual identity influences reader
Reader sees text through eyes of his or her sex
Examination of social forces responsible for
gender inequality
Gender contd

Gender criticism expands beyond original

feminist perspective
Different sexual orientations
Mens movement
Not rejection of feminism, but a contemporary
rediscovery of masculinity
Historical Criticism

Investigation of social, cultural, and intellectual

contexts that produced the work
Necessarily includes authors biography and milieu
Impact and meaning on original audience (as
opposed to todays)
How a texts meaning has changed over time
Connotations of words, images (1940, America)
CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!

YOU HAVE LISTENED WELL. HOPE YOU

WILL SLEEP WELL COMMENCING THIS
TAPS.
LE N0 4. INSTRUCTIONS:
1.CITE/MENTION A LITERARY PIECE IN
FILIPINO.
2. EXPLAIN IN FIVE (5) SENTENCES WHAT
THE PIECE IS ALL ABOUT.

3. WHAT APPROACH/APPROACHES ARE

YOU GOING TO USED IN THE ANAYSIS?
WHY DID YOU CHOSE THIS? JUSTIFY YOUR
ANSWER.