Formalism as a
Literary Theory
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Introduction: Setting the Stage
Imagine you walk into a museum. You see a
painting—vivid colors, sharp contrasts, unique
patterns.
Now, instead of asking 'Who painted this?' or
'What was the painter’s life like?', you ask:
👉 'How are the brushstrokes arranged? How do
the colors balance each other? What makes the
painting beautiful on its own terms?'
That’s Formalism in literature.
It tells us: 'Forget about the author’s life, history, or
politics for a moment—look at the text itself. The
form, the language, the structure—that’s where
meaning lives.'
What is Formalism?
• • A 20th-century literary
theory, developed mainly in
Russia (Viktor Shklovsky,
Roman Jakobson, Boris
Eichenbaum) and later in
America (New Critics: Cleanth
Brooks, John Crowe Ransom,
W.K. Wimsatt).
• • Key idea: Literature is special
because of its form and use of
language, not because of the
author’s intention or historical
background.
- Literature is autonomous → It can
be studied on its own.
- Focus on 'literariness' → style,
Formalists say: imagery, sound, rhythm, narrative
techniques.
- 'Close Reading' → analyzing how
words, sentences, metaphors, and
structures work together.
1. Defamiliarization (Ostranenie) – Viktor Shklovsky
- Literature makes the familiar seem strange.
Core - Example: Instead of 'the sun set,' a poet might say 'the
Concepts in sky burned itself into darkness.'
Formalism
2. Literary Devices – metaphor, irony, symbolism, paradox,
rhyme, rhythm.
- Example: Shakespeare’s Sonnet 18 → beauty lies in
metaphor and rhythm.
3. Unity of the Text – a well-woven fabric; every
word contributes.
4. The Intentional Fallacy – don’t ask what the
author intended.
5. The Affective Fallacy – don’t rely only on how
the reader feels.
• It makes reading literature an art
of discovery.
Why
• Encourages looking at patterns,
Formalism is repetitions, contradictions.
Fascinating
• Literature becomes like a puzzle—
solved by analyzing its pieces.
Practical Example 1: Robert Frost
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening:
“Whose woods these are I think I
know. His house is in the village
though…”
- Repetition of sounds
(know/though/snow) creates
musicality.
Formalist
- Rhythm (iambic tetrameter) gives
Reading: hypnotic walking pace.
- Final line 'And miles to go before I
sleep' → Ambiguity comes from
structure and repetition.
Romeo and Juliet:
Practical
Example 2:
Shakespeare “But soft! What light through
yonder window breaks? It is
the east, and Juliet is the sun.”
- Juliet is not literally the sun. The
metaphor creates defamiliarization.
Formalist - Imagery of light vs. darkness is a
Reading: structural device.
- Meaning emerges from poetic devices,
not Shakespeare’s personal life.
• Compare:
• 1. The cat sat on the mat.
• 2. Upon the mat reclined the cat.
Practical
Example 3: A • Formalist View: Both mean the
Simple Line same literally, but the second is
literary because its unusual
arrangement defamiliarizes the
ordinary.
Makes students focus on
the text itself.
Strengths of Provides tools for close
Formalism reading.
Helps appreciate the beauty
of language.
Ignores history, culture, and politics.
Limitations of Sometimes treats literature as a
Formalism 'closed box.'
Doesn’t explain why certain forms
emerged in certain times.
• Formalism sharpens analytical
skills.
• Foundation of many modern
Why Students approaches (Stylistics,
Should Care Structuralism).
• Teaches you to see literature
differently—not as a mirror of
reality, but as crafted art.
Formalism asks us to fall in love
with the text itself.
Conclusion
It whispers: 'Don’t look outside
the window of the poem—look at
the glass, the frame, the colors.’
Reading as a Formalist = decoding sound, rhythm, imagery, and structure.
✨ Final Hook: Neaxt time you pick up a poem, don’t Google the author’s biography.
Instead ask:
- Why this word, not another?
- Why this rhythm, this metaphor?
- What happens if I read it as art, not as a diary?
