English

for Academics Purposes Program (EAPP)

1st Quarter: 2nd Long Test Reviewer

Pointers:
o Forming Opinions
o Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique
o Objective/Balanced Review of a Work of Art, Event or Program
o Read the background of the sculpture “The Blood Compact Monument (Sandugo)
o Familiarize yourself with the TV Series “Ang Probinsyano”

Forming Opinions

Writers don’t tell you everything in a text. They expect you to read between the lines and fill
in some information/opinion for yourself.

Everyday…You are introduced to numerous situations that need careful analysis before you
come up with your own judgment.

Fact
▸ A fact is a statement that can be proven true or false.
▸ A fact is a word from the Latin factum, “something done”—is an event or thing known
to have happened or existed. It is a truth that has been verified from experience or
observation.

Examples:
- Pizza is a type of food.
- California is a large state.
- Mount St. Helens erupted in 1980.

Opinion
▸ is what someone thinks, feels or believes.
 ▸ An opinion—from Latin word opinion, “to believe”—is a judgment or belief not
founded on a certainty or proof. It may be prevailing or popular feeling or a public
opinion. It is always believed that opinions differ from person to person.

Examples:
- Pepperoni pizza is delicious.
- California is the best state.
- Everyone should visit Mount St. Helens.

Remember:
▸ To form an intelligent judgment, a reader must know the difference between the fact
and opinion; must understand that intelligent decisions are based on facts and not
opinions.

Critical Approaches in Writing a Critique
▸ A critique is a careful analysis of an argument to determine what is said, how well the points
are made, what assumptions underlie the argument, what issues are overlooked, and what
implications are drawn from such observations. It is a systematic, yet personal response and
evaluation of what you read.
▸ It is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically evaluates a work or
concept.







Different Approaches in Writing a Critique

1. Formalism emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning, focusing on literary
elements and how they work to create meaning.
- Focus on the elements, structure and principles that govern a certain text, artworks, movie, book,
poems, etc.
o Poem (meter, figurative devices, imagery, theme)
o Books/stories (setting, characters, plot)
o Movies (sound effects, transition, shots)
o Artistic expression (lines, colors, shapes, rhythm, texture, sound)

In the field of literary criticism, a formalist approach is one that studies a text as a text and nothing
more. For example, a formalist reading of a poem would focus on its rhythms, rhymes, cadences,
and structure. ... The text is a living, breathing thing, critics say, and its meaning shifts over time.

2. Gender Criticism: This approach “examines how sexual identity influences the creation and
reception of literary works.” Originally an offshoot of feminist movements, gender criticism today
includes a number of approaches, including the so-called “masculinist” approach recently advocated
by poet Robert Bly. The bulk of gender criticism, however, is feminist and takes as a central precept
that the patriarchal attitudes that have dominated western thought have resulted, consciously or
unconsciously, in literature “full of unexamined ‘male-produced’ assumptions.”

o For example, Rape Culture reinforces a male’s privilege in society – we tell women that they
need to dress modestly, to never walk alone at night, and to be careful of what they say for
fear of rape all the while forgiving men’s verbal transgressions or dismissing their violent
actions as “boys will be boys.”

3. Feminism emphasizes on the roles, positions, and influences of women within literary texts.
o Focus on how women are portrayed in a certain literary work, in arts, in commercials, in
movie, etc.
o Are women viewed as inferior beings in the movie? How were they portrayed?
o What aspect of the painting mirrors the patriarchal ideology in our society?

4. Historical: Historical Criticism posits that every literary work is the product of its time and its
world.
o Focus on the era and significant events that happened during the time the
text/movie/book/art/poem was produced.
o How did Juan Luna’s ‘Spoliarium’ depict the happenings during the time it was painted?
o How did Victor Hugo show the hardships and triumph during the French revolution, in his
work, ‘Les Miserables’?

5. Reader-Response Criticism: This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that “literature” exists
not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical text and the mind of
a reader. It attempts “to describe what happens in the reader’s mind while interpreting a text” and
reflects that reading, like writing, is a creative process.
o What emotion did you experience after reading the poem?
o What is your interpretation of the painting?

6. Structuralism focused on how human behavior is determined by social, cultural and psychological
structures. It tended to offer a single unified approach to human life that would embrace all
disciplines. The essence of structuralism is the belief that “things cannot be understood in isolation,
they have to be seen in the context of larger structures which contain them. For example, the
structuralist analysis of Donne’s poem, Good Morrow, demands more focus on the relevant genre, the
concept of courtly love, rather than on the close reading of the formal elements of the text.

7. Sociological focuses on man’s relationship to others in society, politics, religion, and business.

8. Biographical Criticism emphasizes the importance of the author’s life and background into
account when analyzing a text.
o Focus on the life and background of the writer/artist and connect it to the subject of your review
or critic.
o How did the life of Dr. Jose Rizal affect his written works?
o How did Pablo Picasso’s life experiences shape his painting style?



9. Marxist Criticism emphasizes on how power, politics, and money play a role in
literary texts and amongst literary societies and characters.
o Focus on how class, power, race and economic status affect the content and theme of a
certain work.
o In what way did the story/movie reflect the socio-economic status of the characters?

Guide Questions in each Critique

Formalism Approach

o How are the various parts of the work interconnected?
o How is the work structured? What techniques, styles, media were used in the work? Are they
effective in portraying the purpose?
o How does the author's choice of point of view affect the reader's understanding and feelings
about the text?
o Does the work enhance understanding of key ideas? Does the work engage or fail to engage)
with key concepts or other works in its discipline?
o What types of evidence or persuasion are used? Has evidence been interpreted fairly?
o What lesson does the author want me (the reader) to learn about life?

Feminism Approach
o How is the life of women portrayed in the work?
o Is the form and content of the work influenced by the writer’s gender?
o Does the work challenge or affirm traditional views of women?
o What does the work say about women's creativity?
o What does the work reveal about the actions of patriarchy?
o How do the images of women in the work reflect patriarchal social forces that have impeded
women’s efforts to achieve full equality with men?
o What marital expectations are imposed in the work? What effect do these expectations have?
o What role does the work play in terms of women's history and tradition?




Historical Approach

o How does it reflect the time in which it was written?
o How accurately does the story depict the time in which it is set?
o What literary or historical influences helped to shape the form and content of the work?
o How does the story reflect the attitudes and beliefs of the time in which it was written or set?
(Consider beliefs and attitudes related to race, religion, politics, gender, society, philosophy,
etc.)
o What other literary works may have influenced the writer?
o What historical events or movements might have influenced this writer?
o How would characters and events in this story have been viewed by the writer’s
contemporaries?
o Does the story reveal or contradict the prevailing values of the time in which it was written?
Does it provide an opposing view of the period’s prevailing values?
o How important is it the historical context (the works and the reader’s) to interpreting the
work?

Sociological Approach

o What is the relationship between the characters and their society?
o Does the story address societal issues, such as race, gender, and class?
o How do social forces shape the power relationships between groups or classes of people
in the story? Who has the power, and who doesn’t? Why?
o How does the story reflect the Great American Dream?
o How does the story reflect urban, rural, or suburban values?
o What does the work say about economic or social power? Who has it and who doesn’t?
Any Marxist leanings evident?
o Does the story address issue of economic exploitation? What role does money play?
o How do economic conditions determine the direction of the characters’ lives?
o Does the work challenge or affirm the social order it depicts?
o Can the protagonist’s struggle be seen as symbolic of a larger class struggle?
o How does the microcosm (small world) of the story reflect the macrocosm (large world)
of the society in which it was composed?
 o Do any of the characters correspond to types of government, such as a dictatorship,
democracy, communism, socialism, fascism, etc.? What attitudes toward these political
structures/systems are expressed in the work?

Objective/Balanced Review or Critique of a Work of Art, An

Event or a Program

A. What is balanced/objective review or criticism?

o It is a system of interpreting, judging, and assessing a person, thing, or any work of art
not influenced by feelings or opinions in considering and presenting facts.
o It is a systematic way of considering the truthfulness of a piece of work.

B. To have balanced/objective review of any piece of work, the following are considered:

1. Description. Pure description of the object, piece of work, art, event, etc. It answers the questions:
a. artwork - "What do you see?" (Description constitutes form of art, medium, size and scale,

elements or general shapes, color, texture of surface, and context of object).

b. piece of writing - "What do you see?" (form, structure, choice of words, length, genre, etc)

2. Analysis. Determining what the features suggest and deciding why the artist or writers used such

features to convey specific ideas. It answers the questions:

a. artwork - "How did the artist do it?"

b. piece of writing-"How did the writer write it?"

The analysis constitutes the following: determination of subject matter, analysis of the principles of

design or composition, use of symbol and other elements, portrayal of movement and how it is
achieved, effect of particular medium, relationships of each part of the composition to the whole and

to each other part, and reaction to object.

3. Interpretation. Establishing the broader context for this type of art. It answers the questions:

a. artwork - "Why did the artist create it and what does it mean?

b. piece of writing - "Why did the writer create it and what does it mean?

Remember: You shouldn’t make your interpretation too arbitrary! Provide evidence and point out

what exactly influenced your understanding of the artwork.

Here are the elements that you can include in your interpretation:

o How does this art object make you feel?

o What do you think of when you’re looking at the artwork?

o What did the artist want to tell you as a viewer?

o What do you think about the title of the work? Does it influence your interpretation?

o If you can’t understand a painting or a sculpture, don’t hurry to give a negative response

to it. Think of other critics who have provided a positive evaluation of the examined

artwork. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have your opinion! All you need is to find a good

way to express it.

E.g., in this painting, the artist wanted to show us the king’s personality and achievements.

o The interpretation constitutes: (a) Main idea (overall meaning of the work), (b)

Interpretive Statement (Can I express what I think the artwork is about in one sentence),

and (c) Evidence (What evidence inside or outside the artwork supports my

interpretation?).

4. Judgment. Judging a piece of work means giving it rank in relation to other works and of course

considering a very important aspect of the visual arts; its originality. It answers the questions “Is it a

good artwork?” Is it a good composition?

Here are some points that can help you write your judgment:

o How do you think: is the work successful or not?

o Does this art object seem original or not?

o What do you feel when looking at this piece of artwork?

o Go back to your first impression. Has anything changed? What did you learn?

o If nothing changed, explain your first reaction to the work.

o What have you learned from this work that you might apply to your own artwork or your

thinking?

In judging the piece of work, there must be:

(a) Criteria (What criteria do I think are most appropriate for judging the artwork or writing?),

(b) Evidence (What evidence inside or outside the artwork or piece of writing relate to each

criterion?)’ and

(c) Judgment (Based on the criteria and evidence, what is my judgment about the quality of the

artwork or piece of writing?).

E.g., the artwork successfully conveys the atmosphere of a battle through its composition and color

scheme. Learning about its backstory helped me to appreciate the painting even more.

C. How to Critique Different Art Forms

o As you can imagine, all kinds of masterpieces are subject to art criticism. For example,

you can choose to write about paintings, drawings, sculptures, or even buildings. And,

naturally, all these forms of art have their specific features!

o These tips will provide you with an art critique template for anything, be it an oil painting

or a cathedral.

1. Painting Critique. Paint is a medium that emphasizes light, colors, and space.

For example:

What school of painting does it belong to? Is it typical or unusual for this particular school?

E.g., Monet’s Water Lilies is a typical Impressionist painting.

Describe the way the artist applies paint. Are there broad paint strokes, small points of color, or just

a smooth surface? What effect does it help to achieve?

E.g., Van Gogh’s broad-brush strokes help to create a sense of motion.

Describe how the light is depicted. Where does the light come from? Is there a strong value contrast?

In what way does the shadow function? What, in your opinion, does it evoke?

E.g., strong contrast makes the central figures stand out.

Speak about the handling of space in the picture. Does it look flat or three-dimensional? What kind of

perspective is used? (e.g., one-point perspective, or bird’s eye view?)

2. Sculpture Critique. Similarly, many specific factors influence the overall impression of a
sculpture.
Here are some things to pay attention to:

Say if the material gives a particular texture to the statue. Is the surface smooth, or is it uneven?

E.g., Rodin’s sculpture has an unusual earthy texture.
The surrounding space is just as important as the sculpture itself. Describe the place (in the museum, in
a park, in front of a building) where it is situated. What does it add to the sculpture?

E.g., the statue appears to walk along the road.
Speak about the color of the sculpture. Is it painted? Does it rely on natural lights and shadows?

E.g., the statue is white. A museum floodlight lights it from above, creating expressive shadows.
Describe the composition of the sculpture. What does it look like when you approach it? Did the
sculptor provide any instructions on how to position it?

E.g., the statue is enormous and can be viewed from all sides.

3. Architecture Critique. You can write art critiques on architecture, too!
Just bear in mind the following points:

What architectural style does it belong to?
E.g., the cathedral is a typical Gothic building.
Was it built with a purpose? Did a specific person request it?
E.g., the Palace of Versailles was requested by Louis IV as a symbol of his monarchy.
Did one architect complete the building, or were there any alterations? Why were they made?
E.g., the spire was added to the cathedral much later. It became the integral part of its image.
What do the exterior and the interior look like? What effect do they produce? Is there a contrast
between them?
E.g., the building has a high ceiling painted like the sky. It also makes the organ music sound louder.
Are there statues or paintings on the walls? Discuss them as well!
E.g., statues on the cathedral’s facade illustrate scenes from the Bible.


4. Photography Critique. Analyzing a photograph is a lot like critiquing a painting.
Still, there are some unique features to consider:

How does the photographer use focus? Is any part of the image blurry? What effect does it produce?
E.g., the background is out-of-focus, which has a dreamy effect.
Is the picture monochrome? If yes, describe its tone, contrast, and shadows. If no, describe the use of
color.
E.g., the picture is in black and white, with stark contrasts.
If it’s a photo of a face, pay extra attention to the emotion it expresses. If it’s dynamic, discuss the
sense of motion.