FORMALISTIC
APPROACH
o A formalistic approach to literature, once
called New Criticism, involves a close
reading of the text.
o Formalistic critics believe that all information
essential to the interpretation of a work must
be found within the work itself; there is no
need to bring in outside information about
the history, politics, or society of the time, or
about the author's life.
Formalistic critics spend much time analyzing
irony, paradox, imagery, and metaphor. They
are also interested in the work’s setting,
characters, symbols, and point of view.
New Criticism is directed against the
prevailing concern of critics with the
lives and psychology of authors, with
social background, and with literary
history.
As the name suggests, formalism
is concerned primarily with form.
Rather than INTERPRETING what
a text means, the formalist
ANALYZES how that that meaning
is communicated.
Formalists assert that each work
is a separate entity—not
dependent upon the author’s
life, the culture in which it was
created, or any other category to
which it belongs.
THREE MAIN AREAS OF STUDY:
1. Form and Unity
2. Diction
3. Incongruities Or
Inconsistencies
FORM AND UNITY
oCadence
—how the words, phrases, and sentences sound. When a
character or a narrator is speaking, the sound of what is
being said, or how it is being said, can give clues as to
who the character is and why he or she is in the work.
Cadence also includes an examination of the formal and
informal language patterns used by the author:
• rhythm or meter, • rhyme, • sound devices like
alliteration, onomatopoeia, etc.
FORM AND UNITY
o Repetition and recurrences
—The author’s using the same word, phrase, or concept
repeatedly is always a clue to its importance, as are
instances of the same event happening more than once in
a story. Formalists also note how the context of the motif
or recurring event changes with each repetition, or how
the motif or event itself changes.
FORM AND UNITY
Structures
—the story arc and character arcs are of great
interest to formalists:
• how and when is the conflict introduced?
• what events constitute the “rising action”?
• how does one plot event lead to the next?
• how do various character arcs interact with one
another and with the main plot?
FORM AND UNITY
Relationships
—By looking carefully at the connections among the
people in the story, and among the various plotlines, one
can understand the meaning of a work. The author puts
each character into the story for a reason. The reader’s
job is to find that reason. Likewise, every plotline has a
purpose.
DICTION
1.Denotation
2.Etymology
3.Connotation
4.Ambiguity
5.Symbols
6.Allusions
DICTION
1. Denotation—Establishing the literal, dictionary definitions of the
words used by the author is vital to understanding a text. If a reader
does not know what the words mean, he or she can have no idea
what the text is saying.
-Formalists will often consult a dictionary for the definitions even of
words they think they know.
2. Etymology—the study of a word’s origin and the evolution of its
meaning and use are especially helpful when one is studying an old text in
which the words might mean something quite different from what they
mean today.
- A close study of words also helps a reader understand why the author
uses a particular word rather than a synonym.
DICTION
3. Connotation—The formalist will also pay close attention to how
the context of the piece may alter the meaning of a particular word
or phrase.
4. Ambiguity—Just as the formalist asserts that a lack of form is a
form; an author’s intent might be to keep the meaning of a text
obscure or to suggest multiple interpretations.
- The formalist will not simply note the fact of the ambiguity,
however; the formalist will examine why the author may have chosen
to be ambiguous and how he or she achieved the ambiguity.
DICTION
5. Symbols—Again, the formalist will not be as concerned with the
fact that the author is using symbolism, or even what the symbols
mean.
-The formalist will be most concerned with how the symbol works and
what it contributes to the overall effect and meaning of the work.
6. Allusions—Although, strictly speaking, the formalist restricts his or
her study to an examination of the text alone, the author’s intentional
reference to works, persons, or events beyond the text is an important
technique the formalist must take into account.
- There is a reason the author is leading his or her reader outside of
the text. Studying the allusion is the only way to reveal that reason.
INCONGRUITIES /INCONSISTENCIES
1.Irony and paradox
2.Violation of convention
3.Internal violations and variations
INCONGRUITIES
1. Irony and paradox
—Formalist critics do not look for perfect unity.
Instead, they look for tension and conflict. Irony
and paradox are very important—irony being the
use of a word or a statement that is the opposite of
what is intended or expected, and paradox being
the existence of two contradictory truths. This
tension is what drives the work.
INCONGRUITIES
2. Violation of convention—While the formalist will not
be overly concerned with the classification of a work, he
or she will pay attention when an author intentionally
violates a work’s classification:
• obviously satiric elements in a self-professed tragedy
• ironic or cynical observations in a Romance
INCONGRUITIES
• Internal violations and variations
—The formalist will pay close attention to instances of an
author’s departing from his or her own established
structures or forms:
• anachronisms
• disruptions to the internal chronology of the work
• shifts in narrative voice, point of view, etc.
• atypical actions by one or more characters
POINTS OF VIEW AND PROCEDURES THAT ARE
HELD IN COMMON BY MOST NEW CRITICS
• A poem should be treated as primarily poetry
and should be regarded as an independent and
self-sufficient object.
• The distinctive procedure of the New Critic is
explication or close reading: The detailed and
subtle analysis of the complex interrelations and
ambiguities of the components within a work.
POINTS OF VIEW AND PROCEDURES THAT ARE
HELD IN COMMON BY MOST NEW CRITICS
• The principles of New Criticism are basically verbal.
That is, literature is conceived to be a special kind of
language whose attributes are defined by systematic
opposition to the language of science and of practical
and logical discourse. The key concepts of this criticism
deal with the meanings and interactions of words,
figures of speech, and symbols.
• The distinction between literary genres is not essential.
TERMS USED IN NEW CRITICISM
• Tension - the integral unity of the poem which results from the
resolution of opposites, often in irony or paradox
• Intentional fallacy - the belief that the meaning or value of a
work may be determined by the author’s intention
• Affective fallacy - the belief that the meaning or value of a work
may be determined by its affect on the reader
• External form - rhyme scheme, meter, stanza form, etc.
• Objective correlative - originated by T.S. Eliot, this term refers
to a collection of objects, situations, or events that instantly
evoke a particular emotion.
• Advantages: This approach can be
performed without much research, and it
emphasizes the value of literature apart
from its context (in effect makes literature
timeless). Virtually all critical approaches
must begin here.
• Disadvantages: The text is seen in
isolation. Formalism ignores the context of
the work. It cannot account for allusions. It
tends to reduce literature to little more than
a collection of rhetorical devices.
A CHECKLIST OF FORMALISTIC
CRITICAL QUESTIONS:
• How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin?
Where does it go next? How does it end? What is the work’s
plot? How is its plot related to its structure?
• What is the relationship of each part of the work to the work as a
whole? How are the parts related to one another?
• Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the
narrator, speaker, or character revealed to readers? How do we
come to know and understand this figure?
• Who are the major and minor characters, what do they
represent, and how do they relate to one another?
A CHECKLIST OF FORMALISTIC
CRITICAL QUESTIONS:
o What kind of language does the author use to describe,
narrate, explain, or otherwise create the world of the literary
work? More specifically, what images, similes, metaphors,
symbols appear in the work? What is their function? What
meanings do they convey?
o Does the work exhibit the characteristics of a particular form,
or does it have a unique form?
o In what manner is this story told? Chronologically? Via
flashbacks?
o Is there closure in the narrative? Is the reader left guessing?
"Poetry is the human soul entire, squeezed like a
lemon or a lime, drop by drop, into atomic words."
-Langston Hughes
POETIC DEVICES
A POET IS LIMITED in the materials he can use in creating his works:
all he has are words to express his ideas and feelings. These words
need to be precisely right on several levels at once:
• they must sound right to the listener even as they delight his ear
• they must have a meaning which might have been unanticipated, but
seems to be the perfectly right one
• they must be arranged in a relationship and placed on the page in
ways that are at once easy to follow and assist the reader in
understanding
• they must probe the depths of human thought, emotion, and
empathy, while appearing simple, self-contained, and unpretentious
POETIC DEVICES
The SOUNDS of words
The MEANINGs of words
Arranging the words
The IMAGES of words
THE SOUNDS OF WORDS
• Words or portions of words can be clustered or
juxtaposed to achieve specific kinds of effects when we
hear them. The sounds that result can strike us as
clever and pleasing, even soothing. Others we dislike
and strive to avoid.
THE MEANINGS OF WORDS
Most words convey several meanings or shades of
meaning at the same time. It is the poet’s job to find
words which, when used in relation to other words in the
poem, will carry the precise intention of thought. Often,
some of the more significant words may carry several
layers or “depths” of meaning at once.
Arranging the words
• Words follow each other in a sequence determined by the poet.
In order to discuss the arrangements that result, certain terms
have been applied to various aspects of that arrangement
process. Although in some ways these sequences seem
arbitrary and mechanical, in another sense they help to
determine the nature of the poem. These various ways of
organizing words have been identified.
THE IMAGES OF WORDS
• A poet uses words more consciously than any other writer.
Although poetry often deals with deep human emotions or
philosophical thought, people generally don’t respond very
strongly to abstract words, even the words describing such
emotions and thoughts.
• The poet, then, must embed within his work those words which
do carry strong visual and sensory impact, words which are
fresh and spontaneous but vividly descriptive.
• He must carefully pick and choose words that are just right. It is
better to show the reader than to merely tell him.
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES FOR
TEACHING POETRY
POETIC NEWS - This introductory activity deals with
important poetic devices. Students look for them in
news items and then try to re-write a story in the news
with some of these devices. This is a different way of
introducing these literary forms.
NATURE AND THE POET - Frost is widely taught
throughout the world. This higher level worksheet
focuses on his use of nature. This activity guides the
student into a basic understanding of this aspect of
poetry.
SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES FOR
TEACHING POETRY
THE BEAT OF LOVE - This activity deals with love and poetic
descriptions of women. The students are asked to find a song lyric
and relate it to the poems included.
ART AND POETRY - Poets often respond to art in their poems. This
activity deals with the connection between art and literature.
EVERYDAY LIFE AND LANGUAGE AS POETRY - Poetry is often
written about very mundane experiences. This activity has the
student look at poetry as an express of the common place. The
students try to create a poem of this type and this will bring them
closer to poetry in general.
