LITERARY

APPROACHES
LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Identify the different elements in the selection;

Construct a literary critique using formalist

approach; and
Recognize the importance of using literary
devices in poetry.
WANT BIG IMPACT?
USE BIG IMAGE.

3
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
INTRODUCTION
TO
LITERARY
CRITICISM
LITERARY CRITICISM
It is the comparison, analysis,
interpretation, and/or
evaluation of works of
literature.
LITERARY CRITICISM
This is essentially an opinion,
supported by evidence, relating
to the theme, style, setting, or
historical or political context.
LITERARY CRITICISM
It usually includes a discussion
of the work’s content and
integrates your ideas with other
insights gained from research.
LITERARY CRITICISM
 LITERARY
CRITICISM
FORMALIST MARXIST

MORALIST HISTORICAL

FEMINIST READER-RESPONSE
FORMALIST
CRITICISM
FORMALISM
• It is focused on how the elements of
a certain text work together to
develop a certain effect.
FORMALISM
• It asserts that the key to
understanding is through the text
itself.
FORMALISM
• It describes the critical position that the
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.
FORMALISM
• It helps the readers to fully
comprehend the text without
referring to outside elements (like
who wrote the text, when it was
written, and connecting from that
information to the meaning of the
text.)
FORMALISM
 LITERATURE

POETRY PROSE
ELEMENTS OF
PROSE
 PROSE
is the art of rhythmical composition,
written or spoken, for exciting
pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or
elevated thoughts
 PROSE
An ordinary language that
follows regular grammatical
conventions and does not contain
a formal metrical structure.
 PROSE
1. Biography 6. Fable
2. Autobiography 7. Parable
3. Folktale 8. Novel
4. Myth 9. Short Story
5. Legend 10. Essay
 CHARACTERS
people or inanimate beings that carry
the action of the story.
 SETTING
time and location where the story
takes place.
 PLOT
series of events in the story.
 It is composed of a series of
events that build on the conflict
and increase the tension,
sending the story racing to a
dramatic climax.

ON
It is the background
information on the

TI
characters and setting

AC
explained at the beginning

NG
of the story.

SI
RI
EXPOSITION
 CLIMAX It is the most exciting part of the story.
FA

It occurs right after the

climax, when the main It is when you learn what
LL

problem of the story happens to the characters

IN

resolves. after the conflict is

G

resolved.
AC
T IO
N

RESOLUTION
 CONFLICT
The problem that occurs between the
characters and various factors in the
story.
 THEME
central idea of the story.
 POINT OF VIEW
mode of narration to let readers hear
and see what takes place in a story.
 TONE
author’s attitude toward a subject.
 MOOD
emotions a selection arouses in a
reader.
 STYLE
the technique of the author in writing
(word choices, sentence structure,
dialogue, literary devices).
 A Sample Guide Question for PROSE
Analysis Using Formalism
• What is the point of view?
a. How does the author's choice of point of view affect
the reader's understanding and feelings about the
story?
b. Does the point of view in the novel have a particular
use?
c. What advantages does the author gain by using this
viewpoint?
d. What changes in the novel would have to be made if
the point of view were changed?
e. Does the author's choice of point of view reveal or
illuminate his/her theme?
 A Sample Guide Question for PROSE
Analysis Using Formalism

2. What is the setting?

a. Does the setting play an important role in revealing
any element of the novel?
b. What information does the setting give me about a
situation or a character?
c. What influence does the setting have on the characters
or their actions?
d. Does the setting contribute to the novel's theme?
 A Sample Guide Question for PROSE
Analysis Using Formalism
3. Who are the characters?
a. Are the characters physically described? How detailed are these
descriptions, and who gives them to you? (a narrator? or another
character? reliability?)
b. How do the character's words and actions characterize him/her/it?
c. What is the character's motivation for the decisions and actions
he/she/it makes?
d. Are the character's actions believable, given the setting and situations
in the novel?
e. How do the characters, their actions, and motivations, contribute to the
novel's theme?
 A Sample Guide Question for PROSE
Analysis Using Formalism

4. What is the Theme?

a. What lesson does the author want me
(the reader) to learn from this book?
What lesson does the author want me (the
reader) to learn about life?
POETRY
 POETRY
is the art of rhythmical composition,
written or spoken, for exciting
pleasure by beautiful, imaginative, or
elevated thoughts
ELEMENTS OF
POETRY
 LINES
• group of words arranged into a
row that ends for a reason.
 STANZA
• is a series of lines grouped
together and separated by an
empty line from other stanzas.
 FORM
is the overall structure or pattern of
the poem.

LYRIC DESCRIPTIVE

NARRATIVE
 FORM
LYRIC POETRY
• short, highly musical verse
that conveys powerful
feelings.
 FORM
NARRATIVE POETRY
• tells stories through verse.
 FORM
DESCRIPTIVE POETRY
• mainly describes the world, a
person, or an object.
 RHYME
is a repetition of similar sounds
most often at the end of each line.
C
D
C
D
 RHYTHM
recurrence of stressed and
unstressed sounds in the poem.
 METER
is a unit of rhythm or the pattern of
beats.
Here are some examples of the various
meters.

iambic pentameter (5 iambs, 10 syllables)

That time | of year | thou mayst | in me | behold

trochaic tetrameter (4 trochees, 8 syllables)

In an iamb, the first syllable is
unstressed (short) and the second
is stressed (long).

a-BOVE
be-HOLD
iambic pentameter (5 iambs,
10 syllables)

That time | of year | thou

mayst | in me | behold
In a trochee, you stress the first
syllable and unstress the second
(so DUM-da), as in the name
Adam.
DOC-tor
PLA-net
trochaic tetrameter (4
trochees, 8 syllables)

Tell me | not in | mournful |

numbers
 PERSONA
is the person speaking in the poem.
(not necessarily the author)
 ADDRESSEE
is to whom the poem is dedicated.
(not necessarily the reader)
 SOUND
DEVICES
are used to stress sounds and create
musical and dramatic effects.
 SOUND
DEVICES
ALLITERATION CONSONANCE

ASSONANCE ONOMATOPOEIA
 SOUND
DEVICES
ALLITERATION
• repetition of initial consonant sounds
in two or more words.
ALLITERATION
• repetition of initial consonant
sounds in two or more words.

Peter Piper picked a peck of

pickled peppers.
 SOUND
DEVICES
ASSONANCE
• repetition of initial vowel sounds in
two or more words.
 ASSONANCE
• repetition of initial vowel sounds
in two or more words.

"The rain in Spain stays mainly on

the plain."
 SOUND
DEVICES
CONSONANCE
• repetition of consonant sounds in
two or more words.
 CONSONANCE
• repetition of consonant sounds in
two or more words.

Mike likes his new bike.

 SOUND
DEVICES
ONOMATOPOEIA
• words that imitate the natural
sounds of things.
ONOMATOPOEIA

The sack fell into the river with a

splash.
 LITERATURE
Imagery Symbolism
a literary device used in poetry,
a literary device that uses
novels, and other writing that uses
vivid description that appeals to a symbols, be they words,
readers’ senses to create an image people, marks, locations,
or idea in their head. Through or abstract ideas to
language, imagery does not only represent something
paint a picture, but aims to portray
beyond the literal
the sensational and emotional
experience within text.  meaning.
 LITERATURE
POETRY PROSE
• stanza FORM • paragraph
• figurative • ordinary language
language LANGUAGE

• to the emotion APPEAL • to the intellect

• stir the imagination • to convince, inform,
AIM reflect
A Sample Guide Question for Poetry Analysis
Using Formalism
1. Identify the variety of elements in the
selection.
a. Who is the persona?
b. Who is the addressee?
c. What is the tone of the persona?
d. What is the mood of the text?
e. What literary devices are used by the
author?
A Sample Guide Question for Poetry Analysis
Using Formalism
2. Determine how elements work together in
developing the theme.
a. What is the theme of the poem?
b. How did the change in the tone contribute
to the theme?
c. How did the imageries help you to
understand the theme?
d. How did the other literary devices help you
to identify the theme?
A Sample Guide Question for Poetry Analysis
Using Formalism
3. Assess the overall artistic value of the
text.
a. What part of the text struck you the
most?
b. Does the text leave a strong impression
on me?
c. What elements in the text worked or did
not work?
Let’s try this:
Read “The Road Not Taken”
by Robert Frost
76
 APPLICATION:
Read the poem ‘The Road Not Taken’ by Robert Frost and
answer the following questions:
• Who is the persona and addressee in the poem?
• Choose an imagery present in the poem and explain its
meaning.
• What is the theme of the poem?
• How did the imageries help you to understand the theme?
• Which other elements of the poem helped you in
identifying the theme?
 ASSESSMENT:

• Identify the lines which show imagery in the poem.

• Enumerate the elements used in this poem.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
THE ROAD NOT TAKEN
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
QUESTIONS?