Republic of the Philippines

Department of Education
Regional Office IX, Zamboanga Peninsula

12 Zest for Progress

Z Peal of artnership

English For Academic And

Professional Purpose
Quarter 3 – Module 5
Critical Writing: Literary Criticism

Name of Learner: ___________________________

Grade & Section: ___________________________
Name of School: ___________________________
English for Academic and Profssional Purposes – Grade 11
Alternative Delivery Mode
Quarter 3 – Module 5: Critical Writing: Literary Criticism, First Edition, 2020

Republic Act 8293, section 176 states that: No copyright shall subsist in any work of
the Government of the Philippines. However, prior approval of the government agency or
office wherein the work is created shall be necessary for the exploitation of such work for a
profit. Such agency or office may, among other things, impose as a condition the payment of
royalties.

Borrowed materials (i.e., songs, stories, poems, pictures, photos, brand names,
trademarks, etc.) included in this module are owned by their respective copyright holders.
Every effort has been exerted to locate and seek permission to use these materials from their
respective copyright owners. The publisher and authors do not represent nor claim ownership
over them.

Published by the Department of Education

Secretary: Leonor Magtolis Briones
Undersecretary: Diosdado M. San Antonio

Development Team of the Module

Writer: Karen Joy C. Francisco

Editors/QA: Dhara May T. Ponce

Edna A. Natividad, MAELS

Reviewers: Florenda H. Quinte, PD

Valeria Fides G. Corteza, PhD
Education Program Supervisor-English

Layout Artist: Jovie R. Cruz, MAED

Management Team:
Roy C. Tuballa, EMD.JD.CESO VI
Jay S. Montealto, CESO VI
Norma T. Francisco, DM
Mildred D. Dayao, EdD
Valeria Fides G. Corteza, PhD
Aida Coyme, EdD

Printed
Printedininthe
thePhilippines
Philippinesby ________________________
Department of – Region
EducationRegion
Department Education IX –IXZamboanga Peninsula
Office Address: ____________________________________________
Office Address: Pres. Corazon C. Aquino Regional Government
____________________________________________
Center, Balintawak, Pagadian City, Zamboanga del
Telefax: ____________________________________________
Sur Province 7016
E-mail Address:
Telefax: ____________________________________________
(062) 215-3753, 215-3751, 991-1907, 215-3789
E-mail Address: region9@deped.gov.ph
 What I Need to Know

A very important expository discourse that students must know how to write is the
reaction paper or review, or critique. It is mainly written to communicate a fair assessment of
situations, people, events, and literary and artistic works and performances.
Whether a social commentary, or a critical judgment, it conveys incisive insights into
its analysis of events, its interpretation of the meaning or importance of a work or artifact, or
its appreciation of the moral or aesthetic values reflected in the work or performance.
Writing critically may include the main purpose of the event; the devices and
strategies employed; an evaluation of its success or failure; and an assessment of its
significance and relevance, timeliness or timelessness.
This module is made for you to understand critical writing and other types of literary
criticism that entails the writer to critique the view of other writers and of the writer itself.
In this module, you are expected to;
- Uses appropriate critical writing a critique such as formalism, deconstructivism
etc. (CS_EN11/ 12A-EAPP-Id-f-16)
Learning Objective:
a. Use formal and deconstructive analysis in critiquing the poem.

What I Know

Directions: Choose the letter of the best answer. Write your answer on a separate sheet of
paper.
1. It is an evaluation or analysis of any literary piece of work. These are opinions, aid by
evidences and other literary devices and views from other researchers.
a. Critical Writing c. Literary Analysis
b. Descriptive Writing d. Formal Analysis

2. It aims to evaluate an argument and its value, wherein the writer or the critique
himself can also add his own views about the literary text.
a. Critical Writing c. Literary Analysis
b. Descriptive Writing d. Formal Analysis

3. These are the different perspectives we consider when looking at a piece of literature.
a. Literary Theories c. Critical Writing
b. Critical Approach d. Literary Criticism

4. It emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning, focusing on

literary elements and how they work to create meaning.
a. Formalist c. Critical Approaches
b. Deconstructive d. Literary Analysis
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 5. The setting of a story is…
a. Something concrete that stands for something abstract.
b. The attitude of a writer toward a subject or their audience.
c. The location and time in which the action of a narrative takes place.
d. The atmosphere created by the location, time and actions of the characters in it.

Lesson
Critical Writing: Types of
5 Literary Criticism

Critical Writing explains a researcher's interpretation or argument and then evaluate

the merits of the argument, or give your own alternative interpretation. It includes a critique
of a journal article, or a literature review that identifies the positive and negative of existing
research.

Critique is a genre of academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically

evaluates a work or concept. It is used to carefully analyze a variety of works such as novels,
films, images, poetry, monographs, journal articles, theories, news reports and feature
articles. It uses a formal academic style and has a clear structure. The body of a critique
includes a summary of the work and a detailed evaluation.

Literary Criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation, and/or evaluation of

works of literature. Literary criticism is essentially an opinion, supported by evidence,
relating to theme, style, setting or historical or political context. It usually includes discussion
of the work’s content and integrates your ideas with other insights gained from research.
Literary criticism may have a positive or a negative bias and may be a study of an individual
piece of literature or an author’s body of work

There are different types of literary criticism but in this module we are going to
discuss on the major types of literary criticism. Its definition/description, differences,
comparison and uses.

What’s In
Directions: Read and understand the poem and answer the questions that follow on a
separate sheet of paper.
Snow
By Frederick Seidel

Snow is what it does.

It falls and it stays and it goes.
It melts and it is here somewhere.
We all will get there.

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1. What symbolism is present in the poem?
a. snow b. fall c. melt d. winter

2. What is the rhythmic pattern of the poem?

a. does, goes and somewhere, there c. a, b, b, c
b. 6, 8, 8, and 5 d. a,a and b,b

3. What form of the verb is used in the poem?

a. Present Tense b. Future Tense c. a and b d. Past Tense

4. What type of literary device is employed on these lines of the poem?

(it falls, it stays, it goes) (it melts, it is)
a. Alliteration b. Consonance c. Assonance d. None of the above

5. What is the message of the poem?

a. The poem represents life and death, a cycle, by using snow as a symbol to this two
opposite ideas.
b. The poem depicts the life of a man. A man who lives and dies like it’s a natural
phenomenon.
c. It implies the idea of old age that someday we will get there.
d. Both a and b

6. Who is the speaker of the poem?

a. A skier c. Anyone
b. God d. A child

7. What is the season of snow?

a. Summer c. Fall
b. Autumn d. Winter

What’s New

Directions: Write true if the idea is correct and false if not. Write your answer on a
separate sheet of paper.

_____1. Using deconstructivism criticism a critic can show how the various parts of a
work are welded together to make an organic whole the form of each individual
part of the text, the characters, the settings, the tone, the point of view, the diction,
and all other elements of the text which join to make it a single text.

_____2. Literary criticism only includes the discussion of the work’s content and only
integrates your ideas gained from research.

_____3. Critical writing is subjective.

_____4. Formalistic criticism focuses on the structure of the poem.

3
 _____5. Critique is used to carefully analyze a variety of works such as novels, film,
images, poetry, monographs, journal articles, theories, news reports and feature
articles.

_____6. Critical writing is objective.

_____7. A literary critique that focuses on the binary opposition within the text is called
Deconstructive Criticism.

What Is It
When writing critically or critiquing a poem, writers utilizes the different
literar criticisms. These literary criticisms usually include discussion of the work’s
content and integrates your ideas with other insights gained from research.

Types of Literary Devices

1. Formalism is the analysis that displays how the different parts of a literary piece is put
together to create a whole new paper that forms each individual part of a literary piece.

A formalist critic analyses:

1. How the work is structured or organized (formed)

- How the parts relate to one another and work as a whole
- The language of the literary piece
- Style of the writing
- Literary devices such as imageries, similes, metaphors, ironies, paradox, etc.

2. Deconstructivism critiques the text’s structure, symbols and other disclosed ideas that
serves as a beauty of indistinctive event focus to show how the different ideas within the text
undermine the stability of the literary work.

For Binary Opposition (ex. Good/bad)

- Focus on the oppositions within the text, show how these terms are related.

- Subvert the hierarchization of terms to make the text mean the opposite of what it
originally appeared to mean.

- Observe that both terms of the opposition become mutually intertwined and are
releases from their oppositional conflict into a ‘free play’ of non-hierarchical, non-
stable multitude of meanings.

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 What’s More
ACTIVITY 1
Directions: Read and understand each statement. Identify the literary devices present in each
sentence. The answers can be found on the puzzle below. Write the answers on a separate
sheet of paper.
1. It explains a researcher's interpretation or argument and then evaluates the merits of
the argument, or gives your own alternative interpretation.
Answer: _______________________________

2. It is used to carefully analyze a variety of works such as novels, film, images, poetry,
monographs, journal articles, theories, news reports and feature articles. It uses a
formal academic style and has a clear structure.
Answer: _______________________________

3. It is essentially an opinion, supported by evidence, relating to theme, style, setting or

historical or political context.
Answer: _______________________________

4. This literary criticism is used to show how the parts of the different literary element
relates to one another and work as a whole
Answer: _______________________________
5. A certain type of literary criticism which focus on the oppositions within the text,
show how these terms are related.
Answer: _______________________________

A B L F O R M A L I S M N A T I O N H I M
M L Q E F G A P Q R R B W E R T Y U I S P
N D I F E H N O R Q S O B N M H S T I U I
O E S T D D D N S P T D C F G H J V K L U
P F T H E I C M T O U D T E C B I X D G H
Q E U I B R G L U N V E R T D T H J K L L
R U V J A E A K V M B F D W C U R T Y U N
N Q N C H R O R O L O G I U A L R E P O R
S I W K Z S J J Y L C G R D F G H A J K M
T T X L Y U K I X C D T C V B N H J L G H
U I Y M X A L H Y J R J U F G H H J K L K
V R Z N W S M G Z N F I S R T Y H J K K L
W C A O V I N F O H G L T T Y U I K L O P
X N B P U O O C B G H M I I G H J K L O R
Y O C Q T N E D C F I K O W C T Y U I K O
Z P D R S G N I T I R W L A C I T I R C P
V A D P U O O C B R S G N E I V S N V S M
S D E J A E A K V G U I B R G L U M P B N

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ACTIVITY 2

Fill in the Blank

Directions: Fill in the blank with the information needed for each number from the box
below. Write only the letter of the correct answer on your answer sheet.
Line/ Sentence Formalistic Criticism Deconstructive Criticism
Big baby 1. 2.
‘Such a big baby.’
Passed away. 3. 4.
‘She passed away’
A little thin on top 5. 6.
‘Your hair is a little thin on top.’

a. A healthy infant. d. His hair is thin.

b. A grown up man throwing tantrums like a baby. e. He is bald.
c. The woman walks away. f. The woman died.

ACTIVITY 3
Directions: Identify the literary criticism used in the following. Write Formal if it uses
Formalism and Deconstruct if it’s Deconstructivism on a separate sheet of paper.
Sentence Analysis Literary Criticism
A heart made out of stone. 1.

‘A heart of stone.’ An unforgiving and cruel heart or 2.

attitude.

"Friends, Romans, The speaker is asking the audiences 3.

Countrymen, lend me to listen.
your ears."
Ching Chua gave his Red Rose symbolizes ‘Passion and 4.
wife a red rose. Happiness.’

The snow is coming. Snow represents the weather or 5.

condition which is winter.

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 ACTIVITY 4

Directions: Choose the type of literary criticism used in critiquing each poem. Encircle the
correct answer. Write your answer on a separate sheet of paper.
1.
Untitled by Matsuo Basho
The summer grasses.
All that remains
Of warriors’ dreams.

The first line of the poem expresses what’s left after the fun a ‘summer grass.’ Summer grass
represents the end or remains of lively encounter. But we have to consider that summer is also
the beginning of famine and distress. Therefore, the poems expresses the torment of a soldier
and all that’s left of him
a. Formalism b. Deconstructivism
a. Formalism b. Deconstructivism
2.
Untitled by Matsuo Basho
Sicking on journey,
My dream run about
A desolate field.

The literary piece talks about the speakers’ misfortune in life. The first line of the piece is
‘Sicking on journey’ means that the speaker is ill while traveling. The second line ‘My dream
run about’ is an opportunity or blessing missed or lost by the speaker. Lastly, ‘A desolate field’
a place without proper nurture or maintenance. This negativity is also obvious in the form and
style of the poem. The tense of the verb is not constant, it changes in every line. There is no
existing rhyme nor pattern in the poem which only shows the how unstable the life or mind of
the speaker. With these the poem only shows that the speaker is experiencing a cruel life.

a. Formalism b. Deconstructivism
3.

The words sicking, run about, and desolate represent the kind of life the speaker is
experiencing. These words are unfavorable experiences in life. But in this sense it only shows
how thrilling life can be. Journey, dream and field actually support the idea that life is
fulfilling and enjoyable if a person work hard.

a. Formalism b. Deconstructivism
4.

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 Spring and All
By William Carlos Williams
By the road to the contagious hospital
under the surge of the blue
mottled clouds driven from the
northeast-a cold wind. Beyond, the
waste of broad, muddy fields
brown with dried weeds, standing and fallen

patches of standing water

the scattering of tall trees
…

In William's "Spring and All," two very prominent structural elements, which can be related
to a discussion of subject and theme, are his use of enjambment and closely related line-end
punctuation. Enjambment is used by a poet to carry an idea or expression of a thought from
one live to the next. Williams has only scattered instances in which he does not use
enjambment in "Spring and All," thereby making enjambment a primary structural element.

a. Formal b. Deconstructive

What I Have Learned

Directions: Complete each sentences using the following words provided on the box. Choices
can be used more than once. Write only the letter of the answer on the space provided after
each number.
Today I have learned another type of academic writing similar to a persuasive
writing except that it considers other point of view with his own is called 1.
__________________. With this we also learned about 2. _______________ a genre of
academic writing that briefly summarizes and critically evaluates a work or concept. It is
used to carefully analyse a variety of works such as novels, film, images, poetry,
monographs, journal articles, theories, news reports and feature articles.

To further understand the lesson examples and activities where provided. When
critiquing a poem the different types of 3.__________________ where utilized. It may have a
positive or a negative bias and may be a study of an individual piece of literature or an
author’s body of work. These literary criticism are called 4.________________________ and
5__________________________.
The first literary criticism focuses on the literary 6.__________________, whereas,
putting them together to form a whole new idea is called 7. _____________________. Lastly,

8
8. ________________________ is also introduced in the lesson. It is a technique that focuses
on how the different ideas within the text undermine the stability of the literary work.

a. Formalism c. Literary Criticism e. Critique

b. Deconstructivism d. Critical Writing f. Elements of Literature

What I Can Do

Directions: Analyze the poem below using Formalist and Deconstructive analysis. Answer
the questions that follow by writing the letter on a separate sheet of paper.
Snow
By Frederick Seidel

Snow is what it does.

It falls and it stays and it goes.
It melts and it is here somewhere.
We all will get there.

1. Using Formal analysis, what condition does the word snow symbolize?
a. Winter b. Spring c. Autumn d. Fall
2. What literary device is used in the second and third line?
a. Alliteration b. Consonance c. Assonance d. None of the above
3. Does the poem follows a certain rhythmic pattern? What rhythmic pattern is used in
the text?
a. Yes, the pattern is aabb. (does, goes and somewhere, there)
b. Yes, the pattern is abab. (is, all, is, falls)
c. Yes, the pattern is abbc. (7, 8, 8 and 5)
d. No, there is no pattern since the poem is freestyle.

4. What form/s of the verb is used in the poem?

a. Present tense only. c. Present tense and Past tense
b. Past tense and Future tense d. Present tense and Future tense

5. Are the pronouns and antecedents used in the poem congruent to each other?

a. Yes, the antecedent is ‘Snow’ and its pronoun is ‘it’.

b. Yes, the antecedent is ‘it’ and its pronoun is ‘Snow’.
c. No, the antecedent is ‘Snow’ and it uses the pronoun ‘it’ and ‘we’ wherein snow is
a non-human entity and it is neutral so it shouldn’t use the pronoun “we’’.
d. No, the author didn’t used any of it in his poem.

9
6. With the ideas given from the previous questions, using formal analysis, what analysis
can you make out of these ideas?
a. The word ‘snow’ in the poem symbolizes life. As it supports the second line that
life is actually a cycle that comes and goes. Continuing the third line, it actually
implies that when man dies it remains somewhere. The fourth line end up giving
as a hint that everyone will then ends in the same situation. It is now clear that the
poem depicts the life of a man. A man who lived and died like it’s a natural
phenomenon and this cycle is constant and is in the present and in the future
(tense used).
b. The poem is about the cycle of a snow. Snow occurs during the season of winter,
the end of the year. It shows that when the snow falls on the ground it remains
there and then perish. When the snow falls on the ground it melts there and will
remain on that place. The writer uses the present tense of the verb to show that
the event happens in the present just as how it happens during winter. Since the
poem is freestyle it only show the free flow or the continues flow of snow from
the sky and how each of it should be.

c. The poem reflects that snow (life/man) undergo different changes or stages. It
falls (come), stays (live) and melts (gone/lost), all are happening in the present.
But the last line reminds us that everything will reach a certain point in life.
Therefore, this poem represents life and death, a cycle, by using snow as a symbol
to this two opposite idea. In addition, the rhythmic pattern and parallelism used by
the author shows that this cycle is constant and is in the present and in the future
(tense used).
d. All of the above.

7. Given that Snow symbolizes cold, death and agony. Using binary opposition for
deconstructive analysis, what does the word ‘snow’ represents?
a. White b. Change c. Winter d. Life

8. How does the word ‘snow’ relates to the second and third line?
a. Snow depicts the life of a man wherein the second line supports that life is
actually a cycle that comes and goes. Continuing the third line, it actually
implies that when man dies it remains somewhere.
b. Snow is the main topic of the poem, supported by the second line which shows
what a snow. While the third line explain what happens to the snow the
moment it touches the ground.
c. There is a vague relationship between the snow and the rest of the lines. Since
the first line shows that something is creating snow. And second and third
lines explain what snow is and what happens to the snow after it falls from the
sky.
d. None of the above.

10
 9. Does the last line have any relation to the symbol used in the poem?
a. Yes, Snow happens during the winter which is the last season of the year. The
last line shows that after all the previous season we will then experience
winter which is snow.
b. Yes. Snow represents the life of a man and the last line end up giving as a hint
that everyone will then ends in the same situation.
c. No, Snow is a condition not a place where someone can go to.
d. No, Not all countries or places experience snow so saying that we will all get
there is not true.

10. With the ideas given from the previous questions, using deconstructive analysis,
analyze the analysis made below.
“The word ‘snow’ in the poem symbolizes life. As it supports the second line that life
is actually a cycle that comes and goes. Continuing the third line, it actually implies
that when man dies it remains somewhere. The fourth line end up giving as a hint that
everyone will then ends in the same situation. It is now clear that the poem depicts the
life of a man. A man who lived and died like it’s a natural phenomenon."
a. It is a deconstructive analysis which explains how the parts of each poem is
connected and analyzed as a whole.
b. It is not a deconstructive analysis. It is more on the formal analysis. With the
definition used and how it is connected to the rest of the poem as a whole.
c. The ideas and words are well connected. Binary opposition is used in defining
the symbol used in the text which emphasizes deconstructivism. The symbol is
well connected to the rest of the ideas in the poem.
d. None of the above.

Assessment

Directions: Read the questions and write the letter of the best answer on a separate answer
sheet.

1. Analyze the following text using formal analysis.

“She's a night owl.”
a. The speaker sleeps early.
b. The speaker sleeps late at night.
c. The speaker is awake during the day.
d. The speaker is awake during the night

2. What makes deconstructive criticism different from a formal criticism?

a. It deals with the structure of a literary piece.
b. Historical and author’s background is included.
c. Text is an arbitrary and unstable medium.
d. The text connotation and denotation is analyzed

11
3. The Teacher asks the class to critique a poem by focusing on its text and giving the
opposite representations of the symbols used in it. For example, “snow” represents purity and
modesty but in the poem it symbolizes death and mourning. What technique should the class
use in critiquing their poem?

a. Formal c. a and b
b. Deconstructive d. none of the above

4. What type of literary analysis focuses on the unstableness of the text?

a. Formal c. a and b
b. Deconstructive d. none of the above

5. ‘Spring is around the corner.’ Using deconstructive analysis what does the word
“spring” in the sentence symbolizes?
a. Spring symbolizes death
b. Spring symbolizes love
c. Spring symbolizes joy
d. Spring symbolizes rebirth
6. Analyze the following text using formal analysis.

"How nice!"
a. The speaker is actually telling how bad or awful his situation is.
b. The speaker just simple state the statement without implying anything.
c. The speaker is expressing how good the situation he is into is.
d. None of the above

7. What technique is used in critiquing the poem?

Untitled by Matsuo Basho

The summer grasses.

All that remains
Of warriors’ dreams.
The first line of the poem expresses what’s left after the fun a ‘summer grass.’ Summer grass
represents the end or remains of lively encounter. But we have to consider that summer is
also the beginning of famine and distress. Therefore, the poems expresses the torment of a
soldier and all that’s left of him.
a. Deconstructive c. a and b
b. Formal d. none of the above

12
 13
https://library.leeds.ac.uk/info/1401/academic_skills/105/critical_thinking/5.
“Critical Thinking,” University of Leeds, accessed July 13, 2020,
March 04, 2020, https://libguides.dickinson.edu/criticism.
“Criticism: Literature, Film & Drama: Literature Criticism,” Dickinson, last modifie
References
What I Know What's More What I can
1. a Activity 1 do
2. c
1. Critical writing 1. a
3. a
2. Critique 2. b
4. a
5. c 3. Literary Analysis 3. a
4. Formalism 4. d
5. Deconstructivism 5. c
What’s In Activity 2 6. c
7. d
1. a 1. A 4. F
8. a
2. d 2. B 5. D
9. b
3. c 3. C 6. E
10. c
4. b Activity 3
5. d
1. Formal 4. formal Assessment
6. c
2. Decons 5. formal
7. d
3. Decons 1. B
Activity 4 2. A
Whats New
3. B
1. B 4. D
1. f
2. A 5. A
2. f
3. B 6. C
3. f
4. A 7. A
4. t
5. t
Answer Key
 Development Team of the Module

Writer: Karen Joy C. Francisco

Sibulao National High School
Zamboanga City

Editors/QA: Dhara May T. Ponce

Edna A. Natividad, MAELS

Reviewers: Florenda H. Quinte, PD

Valeria Fides G. Corteza, Ph.D
Education Program Supervisor-English

Layout Artist: Jovie R. Cruz, MAED

Management Team:
Roy C. Tuballa, EMD.JD.CESO VI
Jay S. Montealto, CESO VI
Norma T. Francisco, DM
Mildred D. Dayao, EdD
Valeria Fides G. Corteza, PhD
Aida Coyme, EdD

14