FORMALISM

A Literary Theory

MA. CLARISSE G. DOMAGTOY

Discussant
What is Formalism?
Formalism emerged primarily and particularly
out of the work of Roman Jacobson, Boris
Eichenbaum, and Viktor Shklovsky.
Roman Jacobson
He was a Russian-American linguist and literary theorist. A pioneer of structural
linguistics, Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of the
twentieth century.
Boris Eichenbaum
He was a Russian and Soviet literary scholar and historian of Russian literature.
He is a representative of Russian formalism.

Viktor Shklovsky
He was a Russian and Soviet literary theorist, critic, writer, and pamphleteer. He is
one of the major figures associated with Russian formalism. Viktor Shklovsky's
Theory of Prose was published in 1925.
Formalist movement began in England with the
publication of I.A. Rechards’ Practical Criticism
(1929).
Americans critics such as John Crowe Ransom,
Robert Penn Warren, and Cleanth Brooks
adapted formalism.
John Crowe Ransom
An American educator, scholar, literary critic, poet, essayist and editor. He is considered to be a
founder of the New Criticism school of literary criticism. As a faculty member at Kenyon
College, he was the first editor of the widely regarded Kenyon Review.

Robert Penn Warren

An American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New
Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He
founded the literary journal The Southern Review with Cleanth Brooks in 1935.

Cleanth Brooks
An American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his contributions to New
Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American
higher education.
Formalism seeks out
meaning from a work by
giving attention to the form
or structure of a work and
literary devices operating in
it.
It regards literature as “a
unique form of human
knowledge that needs to be
examined on its own
terms”.
Examples: ● all elements of a text is important
such as style, structure, imagery, tone
etc...
● elements of the story or poem such
as characters, setting, tone, point of
view, diction and other elements.
● form is the key not the content
● how elements work together.
In examining a text through Paris
formalism, the social, 30%

cultural, historical and 70%

political realities inside the 50%

text is neglected. Bordeaux

60% 75% 20%

Poètes Écrivains Romanciers

 In formalism, we are like judging a book by its
cover.

Because in --- its form and

formalism, the structure.
one that is
being
examined is
the text itself...
Now, let’s take a
look at these
examples....
Sonnet 18: Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
BY WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
Now, let us interpret
the poem using
formalism.
BASED ON THE STRUCTURE
Like a usual sonnet, Sonnet 18
comprises three quatrains in
iambic pentameter ending in a
heroic couplet, following a
rhyming scheme of abab cdcd efef
gg.
 Quatrains is a stanza of lines, especially one
having alternate ryhmes.
Sonnet 18
Iambic Pentameter is a style of writing in
poetry where each line is five feet long. Each
foot contains two syllables, one is stressed
and second is unstressed.

Ex. “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s

day?” - Shakespeare

(Shall+I) (com+pare) (thee+to) (a+sum)

(mer’s+day)
 Repetition (“more lovely and more
temperate”, “every fair from fair”)
Sonnet 18
Anaphora (lines 6 and 7, lines 10 and
11, lines 13 and 14) are used heavily
throughout the sonnet.

Ex. And often...

And every...
Nor lose...
Nor shall...
So long...
So long...
 Contrast are emphasized by
antitheses, “more temperate/rough
Sonnet 18 winds” and the last word of lines 5
and 6, opposing “shines” with
“dimmed”.

Alliteration is lightly used which

makes it more effective when it
does appear, “chance, or nature’s
changing course”, used at the end
of the octave.
The Road Not Taken Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
BY ROBERT FROST And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;

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,

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.

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.
Metaphor a literary device that compares two
things directly without using “like” or “as”
(road and yellow wood).

Simile a literary device that compares two

things using “as” and “like”

ex. “as just as fair” (2nd stanza)

Assonance is the repetition of the vowel sound across
words within the lines of the poem.

ex. “somewhere ages and ages”

Personification a poetic device where animals, plants

or even inanimate objects, are given human
qualities.

ex. “because it was grassy and wanted wear”

Stanza

 fixed number of lines

 each stanza has five verses or lines

Rhyme Pattern: ABAAB

 TIPS IN INTERPRETING A POEM USING
FORMALISM
DO’s DON’Ts
Determine the form, structure, and devices Check the biographical, social, and
used in the text. historical background of the author to
unlock the meaning of the text.
 FORMALISM PROS AND CONS
PROS CONS
Gives a better understanding of the writer’s Time consuming based on the text size
techniques in writing, e.g. literary devices, figure and writing style of the author.
of speech, etc.

Works best when applied to poetry and short Context is ignored and text is analyzed
story fiction. in a very technical way because it is
more of structure.

Emphasizes the value of the text instead of its Not compatible with all types of text
context.
Can be done without much research as Ignores other aspects such as historical,
structure is the only focus. psychological and gender aspects

Well-known approach Similarity of conclusions because it is only

after of the form.

Develops close-reading skills because you

need to look into the literary devices.
 THANK YOU
FOR
LISTENING! :)