This document discusses 10 different critical approaches that can be used when analyzing literature: formalist, biographical, mythological, historical, psychological, deconstruction, reader-response, sociological, feminist, and postcolonial. Each approach is explained, including key principles and examples of how it can be applied when critiquing a text. The purpose of understanding these different lenses is to help students more deeply analyze and appreciate literary works.

1. CRITICAL APPROACHES
IN WRITING A CRITIQUE
Presented by: 11-ABM
Week 6

2. As Rubina (2015) mentioned, critical approaches, sometimes called lenses,
are different perspectives we can consider when looking at a piece or
several literature pieces. These various critical approaches can help
students understand and appreciate the beauty of literature and come
up with a profound interpretation of the text.
These various approaches will also help learners write academic papers
like reaction paper, critique paper, and other paper reviews. Such
methods, in addition to helping us understand literature, provide us
answers to those questions like what do we read, why du we read, and
how do we read?
Background information
CRITICAL APPROACHES:

3. Types of Critical Approaches
1. Formalist Criticism/Formalistic Approach
A formalistic approach analyses a text-only, taking into
account its characteristics for example, rhymes, cadences,
literary devices in an
independent way, not trying to impose their influence on
what the text means. Formalists are usually based on a
text's truth since they want to research the text, not what
others are talking about it. (Rubino 2015)

4. Things to remember about Formalist
Criticism/Formalistic Approach
a. A text is an independent and completely separate
entity.
b. Examine texts from the perspective of their time,
social environment, and the writers' history.
c. Uses near text readings and analyzes the impact of
literary elements and techniques on the text

5. Example: How to analyze using Formalist Criticism
-A student analyzed the poem of Joyce Kilmer
"Tree," focusing on the writer's image, rhyming,
and figurative.
1.
2. - A student analyzed a novel using the
elements of the fiction.

6. Biographical criticism uses details about the personal life of
an author to examine the works of the author. It relies upon
the author's autobiographies, correspondence, and other
primary materials and is a historical critique. (Sarade 2016)
Sarade (2016) also mentioned that those undertaking
biographical research analyze incidents carefully in the
writers' lives, and seek to classify events, situations,objects,
structures, individuals found in historical sources novels.
Types of Critical Approaches
2. Biographical Approach/Biographical Criticism

7. Three Principles of Biographical Criticism
(Rubino 2015):
A. Understanding an author's background can
help readers interpret a text.
B. Understanding an author's difficulties
in creating that text can help readers
appreciate a text.
C. Studying the way authors apply and modify
their own life experiences in their works can
help readers understand the author

8. Advantages of Biographical Approach (Sarade 2106)
Works well for some, which are
political or biographical.
A
B
It is also necessary to take a historical
approach to place allusions in their proper
classical, political, or biblical background.

9. Disadvantages of Biographical Approach
New Critics refer to the belief of the
historical/biographical criticism that the significance or
importance of work can be decided by the author's
intention as "intentional fallacy."
A
B
They argue that this approach tends to reduce
art to the level of history and make it subjective
rather than universal (to the times).

10. Types of Critical Approaches
3. Mythological Approach/Mythological Criticism
This approach is quite confusing because others thought that
this all about mythology. Mythological criticism looks at the
"absolute" elements of human life as they occur in cultures.
Mythological criticism examines how imagination uses myths,
representations of various cultures, and periods. A central
concept of mythological analysis is an archetype in which
symbols and characters are studied to find a deepe
meaning (Persad 2012).

11. Example: How to analyze using
Biographical Approach
A student analyzed the great novels of Jose
Rizal using Rizal's biography as the basis of
interpreting the novels. The details on the life of
Jose Rizal will give insights to the learners in
understanding the two novels. Thus, they can
interpret the novel accurately and adequately.

12. Example of symbols used in Mythological
Criticism
In using this approach, the meaning of the
colors is the following:
Red-blood, sacrifice
Green - growth, fertility, death, decay
Blue- religious feeling, highly positive
Black- darkness, chaos, mystery
White- purity, innocence light

13. Types of Critical Approaches
4. New Historicism or Historical Approach
It was stated by Millikan (2011) that the historical approach
includes examining the events and circumstances preceding the
work's composition, in particular the author's life, and using the
results to describe the literary work.
The historical approach to literature simply means that the critic
- the person attempting to understand any literature work-looks
beyond the literature itself to the broader historical and cultural
events that could influence the author whose work is being
considered.

14. Two Principles of Historical Criticism (Rubino 2015)
Gives enough context information to
help readers understand how the text
was viewed at the time.
1.
2.
Examines how literary texts represent
the thoughts, values, and attitudes of
their time of development.

15. Holliday (2020) interprets this Anglo-Saxon poem Beowulf,
written sometime between 700 and 800 AD. He finds that the
poet refers to pagan gods and practices, as well as Christianity.
Scholars try to precisely understand how and why the Anglo-
Saxon people were converted from paganism to Christianity to
explain this mixture of religions in literature. They look beyond
Beowulf's text to see what events contributed to the shift from
paganism to Christianity and, more importantly, to the
literary critic, the nature of that change.
Example of Historical Criticism

16. Types of Critical Approaches
5. Psychological Criticism/Approach
Psychological criticism, also known as Psychoanalytic Criticism,
interprets an unintended message from an author. The research
relies on the author's biographical circumstances. The main goal
is to examine the unconscious elements within a literary text
based on the context of the author (Miss 2017). Moreover, it was
also added by Rubing (2015) that psychological/psychoanalytic
criticism draws on Sigmund Freud's work. The text is viewed as a
representation of the mind and personality of theauthor.

17. Two Principles of Psychological
Criticism (Rubino 2015)
A. Views literature
characters as a
representation of the
author.
B. Uses an in-depth study
of character to consider
the character's ulterior
motives.
Result 1

18. George (2011) used the Psychological Approach in analyzing and
interpreting one of the poems of Emily Dickinson entitled
"There is a Certain Slant of Light." He mentioned that with
Freud's theories in mind, he might conclude that dickinson got
sexual pleasure from pain. The traumatic effects on an author
will manifest themselves in their fiction. Say, for example, the
mother of Emily Dickinson had killed herself in front of her, the
painful experience would affect the writing of the author, and it
could view her poetry with that in mind.
Example of Psychological Criticism

19. Types of Critical Approaches
6. Deconstruction Criticism/Approach
Deconstruction requires the close reading of texts to demonstrate
that every given text has irreconcilably conflicting interpretations,
rather than a single, coherent whole. (Mambrol 2016). It was
explained by Rubino, (2015) that deconstructionist criticism argues
that since no word has a single meaning, there is no single meaning
of any text. All texts are numerous and are real significances when
the reader interprets words differently than the writer intended.
Simply put, the very nature of language and usage, no text, can
have a fixed, coherent meaning.

20. Two Principles of Deconstruction Criticism
(Rubino 2015)
B. Everything and
anything can be
relative to you.
Result 1
A. Most literary criticism focuses on
constructing a broader meaning
out of the text. However, the
deconstructionist analysis focuses on
the DECONSTRUCTION (or breaking
down) of the meaning within a text by
various readers.

21. Example of Deconstruction Criticism
An example of deconstruction is
reading a novel twice, 20 years apart,
and seeing how it has a different
meaning each time.

22. Types of Critical Approaches
7. Reader - Response Criticism/Approach
Delaboyde (n.d.) explained that the Reader-Response criticism
that originated in the 1970s centered on seeking sense in the
act of reading itself and exploring how individual readers or
readers' groups interpret a text. Such critics pose theoretical
questions about how the reader joins the author, "to support
the meaning of the text." It can also discuss the significance of
the sequence of meanings that the reader undergoes in
reading.

23. Types of Critical Approaches
Also, Rubino (2015) mentioned that Reader-response criticism
claims that the meaning of a text depends on a reader's
response. He also added that this type of criticism focuses on
the act of reading and how it affects readers' perceptions of a
text, text as an EXPERIENCE, not an object, and the text is a
living thing that exists in the reader's imagination. Rubino
(2015) also stressed that to fully understand reader- response
criticism is to know this formula: READER + READING
SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING

24. Two Principles of Reader-Response
Criticism (Rubino 2015)
B. Readers from various
periods, cultures, and
locations may have
different interpretation of
the same text.
Result 1
A. Interpretation of a person
will possibly change over time
because they have more
interactions to carry the text
with them.

25. Example of Reader-Response Criticism
Reader-response indicates that the reader's position is vital
to interpreting a text, for the literary work only comes alive
in the reading experience. For example, in Frankenstein
(1818) by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, the monster does not
exist, as it were until the reader reads Frankenstein and
revives it to life, becoming a co-creator of the book.
Therefore, a reading response's object is to analyze, clarify,
and defend your reaction to a document. (Eidenmuller n.d.)

26. Types of Critical Approaches
8. Sociological Criticism/Approach
It is a kind of critique that can involve social debate, social
interaction, and historical effect. It also reveals the artist's
interaction with the world they live in because it influences the
artist. (Layug 2013). It was Rubino (2015) who stated that
Sociological criticism claims that when interpreting a text, social
factors need to be taken into account. He also added that this
criticism focuses on a society's principles and values and how
they are expressed in a text and focuses on economic, political,
and cultural problems inside a textbook.

27. Major Principle of Sociological
Criticism (Rubino 2015)
A. Literature reflects the society
which created it

28. An author from the working class may have a different
viewpoint from that of a middle-class author. Therefore, the
sociological approach explores the nature of a literary work
and discusses its views on society. The sociological approach
may include looking at both the past and the present day. For
example, a sociological approach might include examining the
culture of past literary works and looking at today's society by
asking what a literary text may teach us about today's world.
(Bruce 2016)
Example of Sociological Criticism

29. Types of Critical Approaches
9. Feministic Criticism/Approach
As mentioned by Napikoski (2020), feminist literary critique (also
known as feminist critique) is the literary analysis of feminism,
feminist theory, and feminist politics. Moreover, the writer also
added that feminist literary critic resists traditional assumptions
while reading a text. In addition to questioning assumptions that
were considered normative, feminist literary criticism explicitly
promotes the incorporation of women's literary expertise and
recognizing women's experiences.

30. Types of Critical Approaches
Rubino (2015) emphasized that feminist critique
focuses on women's roles, positions, and influences
within literary texts. He also added that western
culture is patriarchal. Patriarchal ideals pervade
literature. Most literature has been gender-based
throughout the time (because men have written the
most lasting literature).

31. First is examining the female writers and their place in the
history of literature. The second is recognition by both male
and female authors of the portrayal of female characters in
novels. The third and most crucial element of Gynocriticism (a
female framework for analyzing women's literature) is the
discovery and exploration of an amount of literature written by
women; Gynocriticism aims to fit a literary tradition of women.
(O'Connor, n.d.)
Example: How to analyze using Feminist
Approach

32. Types of Critical Approaches
10. Postcolonial Criticism
Postcolonial criticism is a new type of literary criticism that is
emerging. It is a kind of cultural critique that focuses on literary
texts produced in places that were once under the influence of
colonial European/Western rule. (Rubino 2015).
The postcolonial theory looks at the power, economics, politics,
religion, and culture and how those elements work concerning
colonial hegemony (western colonizers who control the
colonized).

34. Types of Critical Approaches
Rubino, (2015) mentioned that this type of criticism
seeks to break down the false stereotypes and
misconceptions about the non-Western world that
Western culture has produced. In non-Western,
colonized societies, colonialism is both aggressive
and destructive by nature, which informs and
affects the art production.