MODULE 1

Introduction to Literary Criticism

Course Title: Literary Criticism

Course Code: EL 117

Name: .
Course and Year:
Date and Time Allotment:

GUIDED QUESTIONS
Instruction: Answer the following questions briefly.
1. What is/are the difference/s between literary criticism and literary theory?
 Well literary criticism it is a practice of judging or commenting to a quality of a literary works while
the literary theory organizing ideas and speculating like the doing of as a critic. Literary Criticism is
more formal than Literary Theory.
2. What are the elements of literary work? What are their concerns about literature? 
 The elements of a Literary work are the following: plot, setting, character, point-of-view, theme,
tone. The concerns of this elements for example a novel, the novel consists of hundreds of pages
not only hundreds it can be thousands , with the help of this elements you can analyze the passage
or break the whole novel into a small parts or the so called elements of literary works.
ACTIVITY
Instruction: Assess your literary criticism skill/knowledge. Put a checkmark if you were able to meet the
listed qualities below and put (x) if not. Don’t forget to write your justification in the last column.  

QUALITIES OF A CRITIC Check mark (/) Reasons/Justification

or cross mark
(X)
1. He must be someone widely read. / As an education student it is required
that you’re widely reader.

2.  He must rise above all prejudices,
personal, religious, national, political or
literary so as to be objective. 
3. He must have imaginative sympathy – be
sensitive and humane
/ Sometimes I am bias, but I also
consider the other side of the story.
/ I am also very sensitive to a certain
topic.

4. He/she must be someone of rare X Sometimes I do not.

sensibility – have a rare and unique sense of
judgment.
5. The critic must get at the mind of the / We need to put ourselves in to the
 author. authors shoes.

              

Instruction: Answer the assessment task below. Scoring criteria are presented below for your guide in
constructing your answers. Write your answer in yellow paper then attach it to this module. 
1. Summarize the importance of literary criticism.  

Readers advance/deepen arguments by producing different, often contradicting approaches through literary
criticism. Literary criticism helps readers develop new perspectives and formulate ideas about literary texts.
We can knowingly explore the questions that help define our humanity, critique our culture, evaluate our
actions, or simply increase our appreciation and enjoyment of both a literary work and life itself through
literary criticism.