english literary

• Parts of a critique (critical analysis):

  1. Introduction

  2. Summary

  3. Analysis

  4. Conclusion
• Literary criticism (critical approaches) includes:

  • "Lenses": different perspectives for analyzing or interpreting a text
• Structuralist/Formalist Approach:

  • True meaning determined by analyzing literary elements and understanding how they work together
  • Focuses on literary elements, devices, structure without outside influence
• Structuralism:

  • Assumes literary works have underlying universal structures
  • Focuses on universal patterns, elements, motifs, and themes
• Formalism:

  • Aims to appreciate the value of a literary work for its own properties without outside influence
  • Focuses on formal elements like figures of speech and the writer's choice of words
• Historical Approach:

  • Involves understanding historical and cultural conditions influencing the production of a literary work
• Historicism:

  • Investigates the meaning of a literary work by considering the author's life and times, historical setting, and intentions
• Moralist Approach:

  • Studies literature from a moral/intellectual perspective to convey lessons or messages for readers to lead a better life and improve their understanding of the world
• Feminist Approach:

  • Focuses on female representation in literature, highlighting female points of view, concerns, and values to increase sensitivity towards gender equality
• Reader-Response Approach:

  • Argues that the meaning of a text depends on the reader's response, making the reader the creator of meaning influenced by their purpose, concerns, needs, and experiences
• Marxist Approach:

  • Examines the relationship of a literary product to the economic and social reality of its time and place, including class stratification, class relations, and dominant ideology
• Marxism:

  • Focuses on how the economic system and social class oppress the poor and promote the interests of the dominant rich, highlighting the conflict between the poor and rich
• • Literature: any written work, classified as fiction or non-fiction, poetry or prose, and further into major forms like novel, short story, or drama
• Class stratification

  • certain tasks are more valuable than others
• Class relations- authority relationship based on property ownership
• Dominant ideology- rich vs poor issues