Formalist Literary

Criticism
History
1920s and 1930s one
school of Formalist
literary criticism
developed called
New Criticism. It is
still the major form of
literary criticism
applied to analysing
texts in secondary
schools.
Definition
a form of literary criticism in which
the text is viewed as a complete,
isolated unit. Meaning is found by
studying one or more key elements.
Formalism attempts to treat each
work as its own distinct piece, free
from its environment, era, and
even author.
Explanation
It focuses on the elements of fiction and
emphasizes how these elements work together to
create, in a work of quality, a coherent whole:
unity of plot, theme, and character, through use
of tone, point of view, imagery, purposeful action,
dialogue, and description.
 Explanation
Formalism attempts to treat each
work as its own distinct piece, free
from its environment, era, and even
author.
Key Elements
Language
Imagery
Point of View
Plot Structure
Character
Development
and Motivation
Strengths
Reader does not need any additional knowledge
other than whats provided in the text for
interpreting the work.
Weaknesses
It ignores the authors intentions
It assumes that good literature is coherent
and that a text that is not coherent by its
standards is not good literature.
it divorces literature from its larger cultural
context
it assumes that readers can refrain from
investing emotionally in their reading and
can/should respond objectively to texts