Q3 M4 LITERARY CRITICISM NOTES

Literary Criticism

Literary Criticism is the interpretation, analysis, classification, and ultimately, the judgment of literary works. Literary
works can be a poem, a short story, etc. There are many methods or approaches in critiquing a literary work, and one of
them is formalism or structuralism.

Formalism or Structuralism approach seeks out meaning for any work of literature by giving attention to the form or
structure. It is the study of the text without taking into account any outside influence like the text’s historical,
biographical, and cultural context. Each literary work has its own form or structure. The structure refers to the way it is
presented to the reader.

POETIC ELEMENTS/STRUCTURES

A. Stanza – a group of lines in a poem

Stanzas of 2 lines are called a couplet

3 lines are called a tercet

4 lines are called a quatrain

5 lines are called a cinquain

6 lines are called a sestet

7 lines are called a septet

8 lines are called an octave

B. Line – individual line in a poem; it does not have to complete a sentence or thought

C. Meter – patterns of stressed and unstressed syllables

D. Rhyme scheme – the pattern of rhymes at the end of the lines

Whose woods these are think I know, (a)

His house is in the village though; (a)

He will not see me stopping here (b)

To watch his woods fill up with snow. (a)

E. Figure of Speech – word or phrase that possesses a separate meaning from its literal definition. Some of the most
commonly used figures of speech are:

Simile – an expressed comparison between two unlike objects, the comparison being made using words like, as,
similar to, resembles.

Metaphor – like the simile, it expresses comparison, but without the use of like, similar to, or as. It equates the
two things compared.

Personification – is attributing human traits or traits of other living things to inanimate objects

Apostrophe – words are addressed to a person or thing that is absent yet as if present or to a personified idea,
such as death, truth, or nature.

Irony – conveys the exact opposite meaning of what is literally being said

Hyperbole – exaggeration of words to create impressiveness or for aesthetic purposes

F. Sound Devices – elements of literature that emphasize sound

Rhyme – the occurrence of the same sounds in words at the end of matching lines of poetry

Rhythm – the recurrence of accented and unaccented syllables in a regular or nearly regular pattern which gives
the poem a sense of rhythm

Alliteration – the repetition of a consonant sound, usually at the beginning of two or more words in a line of
verse or in a sentence.
 Assonance – the repetition in lines of verse of the same vowel sound accompanied by unlike consonant sounds,
sometimes used in place of rhyme

Repetition – word, line, or entire statement is repeated for emphasis

Trees
by Joyce Kilmer
1 I think that I shall never see
2 A poem lovely as a tree.

3 A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed

4 Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

5 A tree that looks at God all day,

6 And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

7 A tree that may in Summer wear

8 A nest of robins in her hair;

9 Upon whose bosom snow has lain;

10 Who intimately lives with rain.

11 Poems are made by fools like me,

12 But only God can make a tree.

To help you understand and appreciate the poem, do the following:

First, read through the poem silently, quickly. Note the words you don’t seem to understand.

Next, read the poem out load and slowly. Make sure that your stressing and phrasing are correct.

Now, read the poem again for its substance. Have the unfamiliar words gained meaning through context?

Look up in the dictionary the words which you still cannot understand.

READER – RESPONSE

Reader-response approach in literary criticism focuses on the reader (or “audience”) and their experience of a literary
work, in contrast to other approaches that focus attention primarily on the author or the content and form of the work.
The text is influenced by the reader’s understanding and perception. The reader has an active role in shaping the text.

Readers are encouraged to critically evaluate and interpret the text on the basis of their personal experience, previous
knowledge and opinion.

Guide questions in interpreting texts: reader-response

● What does the text have to do with you, personally, and with your life (past, present or future)?

● How much does the text agree or clash with your view of the world, and what you consider right and wrong?

● How did you learn, and to what extent were your views and opinions challenged or changed by this text, if at all?

● How well does it address things that you, personally, care about and consider important to the world?

● Critique the text.

● How well did you enjoy the text (or not) as entertainment or as a work of art?

● To sum up, what is your overall reaction to the text?

SENSORY IMAGERY

In analyzing any literary work, there are also different approaches. Below is an analogy on the difference between these
two approaches.

Sensory imagery is another literary device writers employ to engage a reader’s mind to create mental pictures, with the
use of descriptive language. It explores the five human senses, namely:

1. Sight – visual – appeals to the sense of seeing

Examples: a host of golden daffodils, flickering fireflies

2. Sound – auditory – appeals to the sense of hearing

Examples: the squeak of spinning wheels, the tolling of the bells

3. Smell – olfactory – appeals to the sense of smelling

Examples: cherry blossoms filled the air, acrid fumes of burning wax

4. Touch – tactile – appeals to the sense of feeling

Examples: the piercing rays of the noon day sun,

the baby’s breath was warm on my face

5. Taste – gustatory – appeals to the sense of taste

Examples: mouth-watering chicken joy, the tang of salt spray from the sea

In looking at the mango fruit, a formalist would think:

● What shape and diameter is the mango fruit?

While a reader-response theorist would ask:

● What does the mango taste like?

● What does the mango remind us of?