Critical Lenses

Question 1

Questions that deal with literary craft.

Answer 1

Formalist

Question 2

Questions that deal with placing a text within a recognizable category or type.

Answer 2

Genre

Question 3

Questions that deal with issues of power.

Answer 3

Political

Question 4

Questions that deal with basic issues of life (meaning/purpose/values/principles/etc).

Answer 4

Philosophical

Question 5

Questions that deal with the human mind and human behavior.

Answer 5

Psychological

Question 6

Questions that deal with recognizable types, patterns and mythic elements that give literature a
deeper resonance.

Answer 6

Archetypal

Question 7

Questions that deal with issues of right and wrong (moral judgments).

Answer 7

Moral

Question 8

Questions that deal with the relationship between the text and the author’s life.

Answer 8

Biographical

Question 9

Questions that deal with the relationship between the text and time in which it was written or set.

Answer 9

Historical

Question 10

Can be understood in contrast to preceding critical/artistic movements.

Answer 10

Postmodernist/Deconstructionist