BSEE 38 LITERARY CRITICIM
literature.
FORMALISM
▪ Formalism is a branch of literary theory and
criticism which deals with the structures of
text.
▪ It means that external agents outside of the
text are not taken into consideration. All the
things about culture, politics, and the
author’s intent or societal influences are
excluded from formalism.
▪ The focus in formalism is only on the text
and the contents within the text such as
grammar, syntax, signs, literary tropes, etc.
It also brings attention to structural
tendencies within a text or across texts such
as genre and categories.
▪ Formalism is based on an analysis of a text
rather than a discussion on issues more
distant to the text.
▪ Formalism rose to prominence in the early
twentieth century.
▪ Formalist critics use individual parts of the
text, the characters, the settings, the tone,
the point of view, the diction, and all other
elements of the text to give meaning to the
text in a more literal way.
Formalism Literary Theory: Characteristics
STRENGTHS OF FORMALISM
▪ The key characteristic of formalist
criticism is an emphasis on form over
the subject matter.
▪ The goal of formalism was to create a
scientific way of reading and
interpreting literature based on
linguistic components and literary
techniques.
▪ Formalism outlined a distinction
between literary language and the
language of everyday interaction.
WEAKNESSES OF FORMALISM
▪ Similarly, formalists attempted to
establish that literature is detached
from material history and social
context.
▪ The formalists believed it was equally or
more important to focus on the
structural components of a work of
▪ The formalist literary theorists placed
importance on how language operates
within a text irrespective of authorship
and content.
IMPORTANCE OF FORMALISM APPROACH
IN LITERARY CRITICISM
▪ Most important aspect of a work of
art is its form, the way it is made and
its purely visual aspects rather than
its narrative content or its
relationship to the visible world.
▪ Proclaimed the unity of form and
content by emphasizing that in a
literary work the former cannot
properly be understood when
separated from the latter and vice
versa.
▪ Researching, reading, and writing
works of literary criticism will help
you to make better sense of the
work, form judgments about
literature, study ideas from different
points of view, and determine on an
individual level whether a literary
work is worth reading.
▪ Makes a Science of Literary Criticism
▪ Viable Method enables a Professional
▪ Discipline
▪ Developing "Close-Reading" skills means we
read it word by word and we believe that this
word has a relationship with one another.
▪ Basis for other language-centered theories
▪ Great for analyzing poetry
▪ Well-known approach
▪ Readily applied informally.
▪ Not compatible with all types of text
▪ Ignore the aspects of Historical Aspects,
Psychological, Gender Aspects, Moral Aspects.
▪ Similarity of conclusion because it is only after
the form.