Lit terms

Question 1

Formalist Criticism (New criticism)

Answer 1

The only evidence worth considering is that of intrinsic (within the work itself). They seek to understand how an author or poet employs figures of speech, symbolism, and narrative frames in an artistic unity of effect. They say that a work of literature must stand or fall on its own merits.

Question 2

Biographical Criticism

Answer 2

Study of the events in the life of the author to determine how they may have influenced the author’s work.

Question 3

Historical Criticism

Answer 3

Examine the social and intellectual milieu in which the author wrote. Consider the politics and social movements prevalent during the time period of creation.

Question 4

Feminist Criticism

Answer 4

Investigate how a work tends to serve or to challenge a patriarchal view of society. Maintain that literature should be analyzed with the goal of explaining how to text reveals important insights about sex roles and society’s structure. Focus on social relationships, like pattern of thought, behavior, values, and power between sexes.

Question 5

Reader Response Theory

Answer 5

Literary text is not separate and closed-off, rather its meaning is completed when the individual reader comes in contact with it and in the course of reading constructs a new version of what the text is saying. Reading is ultimately a personal and idiosyncratic activity. Not a literary lens because it champions the right of having a perception.