This document provides an agenda and content for an EWRT 1C class on literary theory and feminist criticism. It begins with an overview of intrinsic and extrinsic literary theories. It then discusses feminist criticism, noting its focus on exposing patriarchal influences and misogyny in literature. The document outlines the three waves of feminism and objectives of feminist criticism. It also analyzes Andrew Marvell's poem "To His Coy Mistress" from a feminist perspective.

1. EWRT 1C Class 10

2. Agenda
 Literary Theory: The Extrinsic Lens
 Feminist Criticism
 Change Teams
 Andrew Marvell “To His Coy Mistress”
 Group Activity: Using Feminist Criticism

3. Intrinsic Theories
 The intrinsically inclined literary theory isolates a work
of literature from its external reality. The supporters of
this classification see a text of literature as having no
relationship, either intended or implied, with the
external world. They assert that a work exists in its
own world. The critical theorists in this category are
the Formalists (The New Critics), Structuralists, and
Post-structuralists or the Deconstructionists.

4. Categorizing Literary
Theories
 In his book, An Essay on Criticism (1966) Graham
Hough distinguishes two categories of literary
theories. The first category—the intrinsic theories—is
concerned with the moral nature of literature. Theories
in this category primarily emphasize the total essence
of literature. The second is what he describes as the
extrinsic theories, which talk about the formal nature
of literature and more specifically what it is.

5. The Extrinsic Theories
 The extrinsically inspired literary theories tend to associate a
literary piece with its external world. We see a departure
from the isolationist philosophy of the intrinsic critics.
Extrinsic criticism generally asserts that a work of literature
is both a representation of the age and a reflection of the
world in which it operates. Extrinsic theories value a text of
literature as a product of the external world: the creator’s
vision, imagination, and understanding. In this kind of
criticism, the artist is said to be inside of the literary
production, creating characters to carry out his mission.
Some modern literary theories in this category are
Psychoanalytical, Marxist, Feminist and Post-colonialist
criticism.

6.  Feminist criticism is concerned with “the ways in which
literature (and other cultural productions) reinforce or
undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological
oppression of women" (Tyson). This school of theory looks at
how aspects of our culture are inherently patriarchal (male
dominated) and “this critique strives to expose the explicit and
implicit misogyny in males writing about women" (Richter
1346). This misogyny, Tyson reminds us, can extend into
diverse areas of our culture: "Perhaps the most chilling
example [...] is found in the world of modern medicine, where
drugs prescribed for both sexes often have been tested on
male subjects only" (83).
Feminist Theory and Criticism

7. The objectives of feminist criticism
include the following:
 To uncover and develop a female tradition of writing
 To interpret symbolism of women’s writing so that it will be
lost or ignored by the male point of view.
 To rediscover old texts
 To analyze women writers and their writing’s from a female
perspective
 To increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and
style.

8. Feminist criticism has, in many ways,
followed what some theorists call the
three waves of feminism:

9. First Wave Feminism
 Ran from late 1700s-early
1900's: writers like Mary
Wollstonecraft (A
Vindication of the Rights of
Women, 1792) highlight the
inequalities between the
sexes. Activists like Susan
B. Anthony and Victoria
Woodhull contribute to the
women's suffrage
movement, which leads to
National Universal Suffrage
in 1920 with the passing of
the Nineteenth Amendment

10. Second Wave Feminism
 From early 1960s-late 1970s:
building on more equal working
conditions necessary in America
during World War II, movements
such as the National
Organization for Women (NOW),
formed in 1966, cohere feminist
political activism. Writers like
Simone de Beauvoir (Le
deuxième sexe, 1972) and
Elaine Showalter established the
groundwork for the
dissemination of feminist
theories dove-tailed with the
American Civil Rights movement


11. Third Wave Feminism
 From early 1990s-present: resisting the perceived essentialist (over
generalized, over simplified) ideologies and a white, heterosexual, middle
class focus of second wave feminism, third wave feminism borrows from
post-structural and contemporary gender and race theories to expand on
marginalized populations' experiences. Writers like Alice Walker work to
“reconcile [feminism] with the concerns of the black community [and] the
survival and wholeness of her people, men and women both, and for the
promotion of dialog and community as well as for the valorization of
women and of all the varieties of work women perform" (Tyson 97).

12. Assumptions of New Criticism
 The boundaries between self and other, text and
world are considered firm.
 The critic is/should be a neutral observer.
 The literary work is regarded as a self-enclosed
universe with its own logic. It stands apart from the
world but illuminates the world.
 The literary work should be studied for its distinctively
literary elements, and for how they operate in relation
to each other in the world of the work. The work is
valuable for its own sake, not for any extrinsic
purpose.
http://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~cinichol/271/FeministCriticism.htm

13. Assumptions of Feminist Criticism
 Women are oppressed by patriarchy economically, politically, socially,
and psychologically; patriarchal ideology is the primary means by
which they are kept so
 In every domain where patriarchy reigns, woman is other: she is
marginalized, defined only by her difference from male norms and
values
 All of western civilization is deeply rooted in patriarchal ideology, for
example, in the biblical portrayal of Eve as the origin of sin and death
in the world
 While biology determines our sex (male or female), culture
determines our gender (masculine or feminine)
 All feminist activity, including feminist theory and literary criticism, has
as its ultimate goal to change the world by prompting gender equality
 Gender issues play a part in every aspect of human production and
experience, including the production and experience of literature,
whether we are consciously aware of these issues or not.
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/

14. Your First
Group!
 Get into new
groups of three
or four. (1-2
minutes)
 If you can’t find
a group, please
raise your hand.
 Introduce
yourselves, and
write your
names down on
your point
sheet.

15. In Groups, Discuss
 What is the primary
focus of feminist
criticism and theory?
 How do feminist critics
and theorists regard
the role of women in
literature?
 Intersections of
Feminist and New
Criticism
 QHQs

16. Feminist Theory
What is the primary focus of
Feminist Criticism and theory?
How do feminist critics and
theorists regard the role of
women in literature?
What do you see as
intersections of Feminist and
New Criticism

17. QHQ Feminist Criticism
1. If we have been well aware of patriarchy and its negative
affects on man and women in society, why are we not
completely free of it and why do we still see it in our culture
today?
2. Since we have never been able to completely get rid of
patriarchy, should we just submit to it? Maybe patriarchy is
rooted in out biological instincts and is something that will
always be apart of us.

18. Questions Feminist Critics
Ask about Literary Text
1. What does the work reveal about the operations (economically,
politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy? How are
women portrayed? How do these portrayals relate to the gender
issues of the period in which the novel was written or is set? In other
words, does the work reinforce or undermine patriarchal ideology?
(in the first case, we might say that the text has a patriarchal agenda.
In the second case, we might say that the text has a feminist agenda.
Texts that seem to both reinforce and undermine patriarchal
ideology might be said to be ideologically conflicted.

21. Andrew Marvell (1621-
1678
published a handful of poems in anthologies, a collection of Marvell's work did
not appear until 1681, three years after his death, when his nephew compiled
and found a publisher for Miscellaneous Poems. The circumstances
surrounding the publication of the volume aroused some suspicion: a person
named "Mary Marvell," who claimed to be Marvell's wife, wrote the preface to
the book. "Mary Marvell" was, in fact, Mary Palmer—Marvell's housekeeper—
who posed as Marvell's wife, apparently, in order to keep Marvell's small
estate from the creditors of his business partners. Her ruse, of course, merely
contributes to the mystery that surrounds the life of this great poet.
See more at http://www.poets.org/poet.php/prmPID/304
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), now considered one of the
greatest poets of the seventeenth century, published very
little of his scathing political satire and complex lyric verse
in his lifetime. Although Marvell

22. “To His Coy Mistress”
Andrew Marvell
Had we but world enough, and time,
This coyness, Lady, were no crime.
We would sit down and think which way
To walk and pass our long love's day.
Thou by the Indian Ganges' side
Shouldst rubies find: I by the tide
Of Humber would complain. I would
Love you ten years before the Flood,
And you should, if you please, refuse
Till the conversion of the Jews.
My vegetable love should grow
Vaster than empires, and more slow;
An hundred years should go to praise
Thine eyes and on thy forehead gaze;
Two hundred to adore each breast;
But thirty thousand to the rest;
An age at least to every part,
And the last age should show your heart;
For, Lady, you deserve this state,
Nor would I love at lower rate.

23. But at my back I always hear
Time's wingèd chariot hurrying near;
And yonder all before us lie
Deserts of vast eternity.
Thy beauty shall no more be found,
Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound
My echoing song: then worms shall try
That long preserved virginity,
And your quaint honour turn to dust,
And into ashes all my lust:
The grave's a fine and private place,
But none, I think, do there embrace.
Now therefore, while the youthful hue
Sits on thy skin like morning dew,
And while thy willing soul transpires
At every pore with instant fires,
Now let us sport us while we may,
And now, like amorous birds of prey,
Rather at once our time devour
Than languish in his slow-chapt power.
Let us roll all our strength and all
Our sweetness up into one ball,
And tear our pleasures with rough strife
Thorough the iron gates of life:
Thus, though we cannot make our sun
Stand still, yet we will make him run.

24. In your groups, discuss Andrew Marvell’s
“To His Coy Mistress” and “‘To His Coy
Mistress’: A Feminist Reading”
 Identify and discuss qualities
of Feminist Criticism as it is
applied in the essay about “To
His Coy Mistress.”
 Next, find specific examples
from the essay, the poem, or
the definition/description of
Feminist Criticism that
further support a feminist
reading of the poem.

25. Feminist Reading
1. How are women being portrayed in “To His Coy
Mistress” by Andrew Marvell?
2. What does the feminist reading of “To His Coy Mistress”
reveal about the poem?
3. What does the work say about women?
4. What does this poem suggest about the man’s behavior
toward his mistress? What does this suggest about
women’s role in this time period?

26. 1. Why does the poet feel the need to dehumanize the
female only to be seen as a sexual object and at the
same time remind the woman of how scarce her time of
admiration is?
2. Does objectification originate from human nature or
societal influence?
3. What role does language have in both patriarchy and
feminism?
4. How would a feminist respond to the speaker of this
poem? Would [she] feel that it objectifies women?
5. Does the poem reinforce or undermine gender roles?

27. 1. How does living in a patriarchal society make a woman “not
a person in her own right”?
2. What does the work tell us about patriarchy?
3. How does the poem reflect the patriarchal ideology?
4. Although this poem was created around the 15th or 16th
century, do we still face the same type of patriarchy today in
poetry?
5. Are the poems regarded as the traditional(historically
important to that country) those that encompass ideas of
patriarchy in some way shape or form? If so what does this
say about the particular society?

28. HOMEWORK
 Read: Lois Tyson: Chapter 2
“Psychoanalytic Criticism” pages
11-49
 Reread: Bishop’s “The
Fish”
 Read: Elizabeth Bishop’s
“The Fish”: A
Psychoanalytic Reading
(“Course Readings” and
“theory texts.” Bring copies
of both texts.
 Post #9: What is the
purpose of psychoanalytical
criticism? OR QHQ on the
Tyson reading