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2) Literary Criticism

Literary criticism is the examination and analysis of literature. It involves carefully studying elements of a text such as character, setting, plot, and theme. There are several approaches to literary criticism, including formalism which focuses on the technical and formal aspects of a text, feminism which analyzes how literature portrays women, and Marxism which examines literature through the lens of social classes and power structures. Marxist theory in particular looks at the three main social classes of bourgeois, capitalists/landowners, and proletariat.

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62 views26 pages

2) Literary Criticism

Literary criticism is the examination and analysis of literature. It involves carefully studying elements of a text such as character, setting, plot, and theme. There are several approaches to literary criticism, including formalism which focuses on the technical and formal aspects of a text, feminism which analyzes how literature portrays women, and Marxism which examines literature through the lens of social classes and power structures. Marxist theory in particular looks at the three main social classes of bourgeois, capitalists/landowners, and proletariat.

Uploaded by

Artchie Burca
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LITERARY

CRITICISM
Literary Criticism
defined…
 It carefully examines a
text, or one element of a
text, such as character,
setting, plot or theme of a
story.
Literary criticism (or literary
studies) is the study, evaluation,
and interpretation of literature.
Modern literary criticism is often
influenced by literary theory, which
is the philosophical discussion of
literature's goals and methods.
LITERARY THEORIES
1. Formalism
 It compels readers to judge
the artistic merit of
literature by examining its
formal elements, like
form and technical skill.
What to focus on?
 The form of the literary text
(language, diction, expression,
and punctuation.)
FIRE AND ICE BY ROBERT
FROST
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
It is consisted of nine (9) lines &
one (1) stanza.
Meter
Every line in "Fire and Ice" is
iambic (meaning it follows an
unstressed-stressed, or da DUM,
syllable pattern).
Rhyme Scheme
"Fire and Ice" has a tight-knit rhyme scheme.
In fact, there are no end words in the poem that
are not rhymed. The scheme runs as follows:

ABAABCBCB
2. Feminism
 It is concerned with "the ways in
which literature (and other
cultural productions) reinforce
or undermine the economic,
political, social, and
psychological oppression of
women".
What to focus on?
 The woman. (Their dialogues,
personalities, beliefs, strengths
and weaknesses, etc.)
EVE PANDORA

DELILAH
THE STORY
OF
PERSEPHONE
According to Greek Mythology, Persephone, the
queen of the underworld, was the daughter of Zeus
and Demeter, the goddess of harvest and fertility.
She was also called Kore, which means "maiden"
and grew up to be a lovely girl attracting the
attention of many gods. However, Demeter had an
obsessed love for her only daughter and kept all
men away from her.
The most persisting suitor of Persephone was Hades, the
god of the Underworld. He was a hard, middle-aged
man, living in the dark, among the shadows of the Dead.
But his heart softened when he saw Persephone and was
amazed by her youth, beauty and freshness. When he
asked Demeter to marry her daughter, Demeter got
furious and said there wasn't the slightest chance for that
to happen. Hades was heart-broken and decided to get
Persephone no matter what.
One day, while the young girl was playing and picking
flowers along with her friends in a valley, she beheld the
most enchanting narcissus she had ever seen. As she
stooped down to pick the flower, the earth beneath her
feet suddenly cleaved open and through the gap Hades
himself came out on his chariot with black horses. Hades
grabbed the lovely maiden before she could scream for
help and descended into his underworld kingdom while
the gap in the earth closed after them.
A distraught and heartbroken Demeter wandered the earth
looking for her daughter until her good friend Hecate, goddess
of wilderness and childbirth, advised her to seek for the help of
Helios, the all-seeing Sun god, in order to find her daughter.
Helios felt sorry for Demeter, who was crying and pleading him
to help her. Thus she revealed her that Persephone had been
kidnapped by Hades. When she heard that, Demeter got angry
and wanted to take revenge but Helios suggested that it was not
such a bad thing for Persephone to be the wife of Hades and
queen of the dead.
Thus the lovely maiden Persephone became
the rightful wife of Hades and Queen of the
Underworld. During the six months that
Persephone spent in the Underworld, her
mother was sad and not in the mood to deal
with harvest. Thus she would leave the
Earth to decline.
3. Marxism
 Socialist thinker Karl Marx
established this branch of literary
theory alongside Marxism, his
political and sociological
ideology. Marxist theory examines
literature along the lines of class
relations and socialist ideals.
According to Karl Marx, there are three (3) social
classes in society:

1. Bourgeois
2. The Capitalists or Landowners
3. The Proletariat
What to focus on?
 The social classes present in the
literary text.
 The society
 The division of Power
NOLI ME
TANGERE

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