1. "Literary criticism” refers to the act of interpreting and studying literature.

2. The purpose of the literary criticism is to provide an interpretation

to a certain literary work. It helps us to understand and create a connection
between the readers and the writers, through their perception of the given work.
It also allows them to form their own critical analysis and understanding.
It does not only provides enjoyment upon reading, but it also pushes us to examine
the value of the work through the message that it gives to us, as readers.

3. Types of Literary Critism

1. Formalism - Formalism may be defined as a critical approach in which the text under
discussion is considered primarily as a structure of words.
2. Marxism - Marxist criticism places a literary work within the context of class and
assumptions about class.
3. Feminism - Feminist literary criticism recognizes that literature both reflects and
shapes stereotypes and other cultural assumptions.
4. Psychoanalytic - adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later
theorists to interpret texts.
5. cultural Criticism - is another critical lens through which any text can be viewed. This
form of criticism examines how different religions, ethnicities, class identifications,
political beliefs, and views affect the ways in which texts are created and interpreted.
6. Structuralism - meaning resides in the structure of language, not in art nor in the
reader's mind. Ate interpret a text or part of a text by taking its language apart.
7. Post- structuralism - it is reader centered theories of meaning.
8. Archetypal - It determine the form and function of literary works that a text meaning is
shaped by cultural and psychological needs.