ENCRIT130

Text-Based Approaches
 FORMALISM
STRUCTURALISM
POST-STRUCTURALISM
STYLISTICS
 FORMALISM

MAIN POINT:

An approach to literary criticism focused

on analysis through of textual form (elements)
and their relationships.
 FORMALISM

Associated Theorists:

Russian Formalism – Vladimir Propp, Roman

Jakobson, Viktor Shlovsky

Anglo-American (New Criticism) – T.S. Eliot, I.A.

Richards
 FORMALISM
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS:

Form
Textual Unity
Metonymy
Irony
Parallelism
 FORMALISM
• Guide Questions:

• What are the most prominent elements of the

piece?
• How does each element contribute to the total
appeal and meaning of the text?
• What is the theme of the piece? How does it
relate to all the elements?
• What are the ironies present in the piece?
Bahay Kubo, kahit munti,
Ang halaman doon ay sari-sari:
Singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani,
Sitaw, bataw, patani,
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa,
At saka meron pa: labanos, mustasa,
Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya;
Sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga.
• Elements:
End Rhymes
Metonymic relationship of the vegetables
representing the farm.
Metonymic relationship of the bahay kubo
representing the simple farm life.
Theme: simple life of a farmer
Ironic relationship between a “munti” nipa hut and
the varied “sari-sari” produce.
Textual Unity:

1. End rhymes establish rigidity and stability of

form—contributing to the theme of stability
in a simple farm.

2. Juxtaposition of “munti” and “sari-sari”.

 STRUCTURALISM

MAIN POINT:

Study of literary text using the principles of

structures of language.
Language is arbitrary, relational, and
constitutive.
 STRUCTURALISM

Associated Theorists:

Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, Jean

Claude Levi-Strauss
 STRUCTURALISM
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS:

Language is…
Arbitrary
Relational
Constitutive
Arbitrary – meaning is based on random or
whimsical assignment or agreement.

Relational – meaning is derived from the word’s

binary opposition

Constitutive – reality does not create words,

words create reality
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS:

Binary Oppositions – meanings are not innate in

words but are derived from the oppositions a
given word.
Genre – variations among the interconnected
and interrelated body of texts available.
Langue – bigger structure of any interrelated
parts of certain system (language)

Parole – specific use of language (words,

sentences, etc.)
Semiotics – the study of signs and sign systems

Signifier - system used to represent a sign

(language)

Signified - the idea/concept being represented

by a sign
CAT
Guide Questions:

• What are the recurring patterns in the piece?

• What genre does the piece belong to? How does the piece
compare to other pieces of the similar structure?
• What are the binary oppositions in the piece? How do they
establish the overall meaning of the words or of the piece
itself?
• How do the words and structures used relate to the whole
piece? How does the whole piece relate to the bigger body
of texts in the world?
Bahay Kubo, kahit munti,
Ang halaman doon ay sari-sari:
Singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani,
Sitaw, bataw, patani,
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa,
At saka meron pa: labanos, mustasa,
Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya;
Sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga.
Analysis:

1. The meaning of bahay-kubo is derived from

the idea that a “bahay” is distinguishable from
other words for dwelling places. “Kubo” is also
distinguishable from other materials that can be
used for building a house.
Analysis:

2. Structurally, the whole piece is just one

complete sentence—suggesting wholeness or
completeness in meaning.
Analysis:

3. The more the piece reveals the plants around

the “bahay-kubo”, the more vivid the image of
the piece becomes.
Analysis:

4. Genre: work song. (Genre is social construct

based on social agreements and how each piece
differs from the others)
 POST-STRUCTURALISM

Main Point:

A reactionary literary theory rooted from the

concepts of structuralism. However, post-
structuralism looks on how language has a
tendency to fail (spillage and slippage).
Associated Theorists:

Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes

Principles of Post-Structuralism:

Binary Opposition
Shifts and Breaks
Omissions
Deconstruction
Textual Disunity
 Binary Oppositions

How one word is defined by it’s difference.

 Shifts and Breaks

Tensions created by changes in tense, mood,

person, and number.
 Omissions

The ideas and meanings NOT being said.

 Deconstruction

The tendency of the meaning to collapse in itself

by process of deconstructing the meaning of a
word.
 Textual Disunity

Saying what is not “say-able”.

Writing what is not “write-able”.
Guide Questions:

• What are the binary oppositions in the piece? How do

they make meanings unstable?
• What are the inconsistencies in the use of the language
in the piece?
• What is being said that cannot be said?
• What is being done that cannot be done?
• What is the character/persona not saying?
• How is the text disunited?
Bahay Kubo, kahit munti,
Ang halaman doon ay sari-sari:
Singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani,
Sitaw, bataw, patani,
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa,
At saka meron pa: labanos, mustasa,
Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya;
Sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga.
Binary Oppositions:

The meaning of bahay is created by its

difference with other dwelling places.

But, what a bahay on it’s own is also defined as

ANY place you can dwell on. How much of is
needed for a bahay to be a bahay?
Shifts and Breaks:

The repeated use of “at” and “at saka” entails

that the train of thought is incomplete as the
text progresses.

The text is called “bahay kubo” but the main

content does not talk about bahay kubo.
Omission:

Where are all the other vegetables? Is it only a

bahay kubo that is capable of having vegetables
around its perimeter?

Halaman is not limited to vegetables. Where are

all the other plants? I thought the halaman is
“sari-sari”. It’s not as varied as it sounds.
Deconstruction

The meaning of the song collapses because the

meaning of the words used are all unstable.
Textual Disunity

If the “bahay kubo” is indeed “munti”, how come it

can cater that many vegetables?

It the plants are really varied, why is it only talking

about vegetables?

Isn’t tomato a fruit?

l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
liness
 STYLISTICS

Main Point:

• A branch of applied linguistics concerned with

the styles of text.
• Linguistic study of literature.
 STYLISTICS

Associated Theorists:

Roman Jakobson, Charles Bally, M.A.K. Halliday

 STYLISTICS
IMPORTANT CONCEPTS:

Foregrounding
Deviation
Parallelism
Intertextuality
Foregrounding

The feature of the text that surfaces among the

others.
Deviation

Foregrounding by explicitly using deviant

linguistic structures.
“Kokocrunch, the chocolatiest”

“The spaghettiest”

“Our creamiest just got creamier”

Parallelism

Repetition legitimizes.
Repetition legitimizes.
Repetition legitimizes.
Repetition legitimizes.
Intertextuality

Allusions
Pop-Culture References
Memes
Apostrophe
Paranomasia
Bahay Kubo, kahit munti,
Ang halaman doon ay sari-sari:
Singkamas at talong, sigarilyas at mani,
Sitaw, bataw, patani,
Kundol, patola, upo’t kalabasa,
At saka meron pa: labanos, mustasa,
Sibuyas, kamatis, bawang at luya;
Sa paligid-ligid ay puno ng linga.
Foregrounding

The repeated use of “at” adds to the rhythmic

element of the piece.