FORMALIST

APPROACH
CRITIQUING A LITERARY TEXT
USING FORMALIST APPROACH
 PICTURE ME OUT!
Direction: Identify the jumbled
letters using the picture that is
shown.
NOTE
TONE
 Of YOU

PIOTN OF WIVE
 Of YOU

POINT OF VIEW
RETSRACHAC
CHARACTERS
TESTING
SETTING
P TOPL
P PLOT
It is the author’s message to the
readers.

MHETE
It is the author’s message to the
readers.

THEME
At the end of the lesson, the students will be able to;

1. Define Literary Criticism.

2. Identify the key points of Formalist Approach.

3. Use Formalist Approach in critiquing a Literary

Selection.
VOCAB-YOU-LARRY
 The word ‘formalism’ derived from the word
‘form’ or structure. The ‘ism’ is a belief or an
approach of looking at things.
Literary Criticism is the evaluation, analysis,
description, or interpretation of literary works.
VOCAB-YOU-LARRY
Critique (noun) is a detailed evaluation
or analysis of a literary piece.
Critic is a person who judges, evaluates,
or analyzes a literary piece.
KEY POINTS
 It discovers the true meaning of a work by giving
attention to the form or structure, elements and
literary devices operating in it.
 Structure/ form - It scrutinizes the plot
(chronological sequence) and the conflict in a story.
 It studies how the elements work together to form
unity and to give meaning to a text.
How do elements work together?
How does the conflict affect the
characters’ actions?
What do the objects, events,
images or actions symbolize?

It analyzes the work as a whole, the form of
each individual part of the text from the
individual scenes and chapters, the characters,
the settings, the plot, the tone, the point of view,
the theme, and all other literary elements and
devices such as imagery.
 Character - It is a person, animal, being, creature or
anything personified in a story.
 Setting - It is not only the place and time a story takes
place but also includes the atmosphere.
 Plot – The sequence of events of the story.
 Tone - It is the overall emotion conveyed by both the
choices of words, theme, sensory images, symbolism
and the narrator of the story such as suspenseful,
affectionate, happy or sad.
Point of View - It answers the question “Who is telling the
story?”
Types:
1. First person - It uses either of the two pronouns “I” or
“We”. The narrator is a participant in the story relating his
or her own experiences directly or an observer.
2. Second person - The story is told to “You”.
3. Third person - It uses pronouns “They”, “She”, “He”,
“It” or a name.
Theme - It is the author’s message to the readers.
 FORMAT IN CRITIQUING A
LITERARY SELECTION USING
THE “FORMALIST APPROACH”
 (Title of the Literary selection)
(Author)
Characters
(Who are the characters in the selection?)

Setting
(Where and when did the story happen?)
Plot
(What is the sequence of events of the story?)

Tone
(What is the emotion that is being portrayed in
the selection?)
Point of view
(Is the author using a first-, second- or third-
person point of view?)

Theme
(What is the overall message of the selection?)
 Lines from the Text Comments/
Annotations
Highschool students
like us, who are
mostly teenagers,
find many ways to
express ourselves
Sometimes, we like to
express ourselves
through art like those
cool drawings and
paintings we find in
our Visual Arts
classroom or the small
doodles we draw in
our notebooks
However, one of
the simplest ways
we express
ourselves is
through the
clothes we wear.
Hence, I
believe that we
should have a
day for civilian
attire.
THINGS TO REMEMBER
 Always remember that Formalist approach;

 Examines a text exclusively as a self-contained object in

isolation from the world, biographical information about
the author, or the text’s effect on the reader.
 Does not concern the historical events outside of the story,
social, cultural, religious nor political ideas.
 Emphasizes the value of the text as an entity in itself.
IT’S QUIZ TIME.
1. The word ‘formalism’ derived from the word
‘form’ or _________.

2. ______ is a person who judges, evaluates, or

analyzes a literary piece.

3-5. What are the three types of Point of View?

6-10. What are the six things that we need to analyze

when we are using a Formalist approach?
 ASSIGNMENT
Make a Formalist Critique of
A Day in A Country
By Anton Chekhov