Formalism (New Criticism)

Question 1

Developed as a reaction against ongoing theories (extrinsic approach)

Answer 1

Formalism

Question 2

“words on the page”

Answer 2

Formalism

Question 3

a literary text is autonomous from outside forces and its form and language are enough to understand the meaning of a text

Question 4

Proponents of New Criticism

Answer 4

John Crowe Ransom
Robert Penn Warren
Allen Tate
Cleanth Brooks

Question 5

A collection of objects, situations or events that evoke a particular emotion. eg. sun - hope

Answer 5

Objective correlative

Question 5

Elements are examined to understand the text; “close reading”

Answer 5

New criticism

Question 5

The integral unity of the poem which
results from the resolution of opposites, often in
irony or paradox.

Answer 5

Tension

Question 6

The rhyme scheme, meter, stanza
form, etc.

Answer 6

External Form

Question 7

The whole that is produced by various
structural elements working together. i.e. motifs, point of view, structure

Answer 7

Form

Question 8

How a word or phrase creates meaning that
no other word or phrase could. i.e. denotations,
connotations, allusions, ambiguity, symbols.

Answer 8

Diction

Question 8

How all aspects of a work fit together in
significant ways that create a whole. i.e. image,
tension, irony, paradox, ambiguity

Answer 8

Unity

Question 8

Basic Tenets

Answer 8

1. The primary concern of criticism is with the problem of
   (organic) unity - the kind of whole which the literary work forms or fails to form, and the relation of the various parts to each other in building up the whole.
2. Form and content are
   nseparable.
3. Form is meaning.
4. Literature is ultimately metaphorical and symbolic.
5. Literature is “not a surrogate for religion.