This document discusses different types of criticism: - Constructive criticism aims to improve work and asks "what could be better?" while projected criticism is an emotional reaction. - There are also four main kinds of criticism discussed - formalism focuses on style/form over content, feminist criticism analyzes gender issues, reader response examines the reader's experience, and Marxist criticism views works through economic class lenses. - Each type analyzes different aspects - for example, formalism examines central passages and imagery, while feminist criticism looks at gender roles and patriarchy. The document provides details on what each criticism type focuses on and why those aspects are important.

1. Kinds &
Types
of
Criticism
Prepared by: Genito, Benjiro D.

2. Two Types of Criticism
Criticism is loosely divided into two major types:
• Constructive Criticism
• Projected Criticism

3. Constructive Criticism
- Is the type of criticism a person
seeks if they are trying to
improve themselves and/or the
tasks they are given.
- Asks, “What could I do better?”
- It is well thought out, objective,
and is given by a level-headed
critic. Contains no bias.
- Through constructive criticism,
you learn what ways you can
improve the tasks you are given.

4. Projected Criticism
- Is an emotional, negative
reaction to something you’ve
said or done.
- If a critic rants about something
you’ve done, it’s because what
you’ve written has threatened
them on an emotional level.
- Projected Criticism is simply a
projection of a person’s psyche.
- Is the result of envy, insecurity,
or anger.
- Should be always ignored, but
may prove to be beneficial in
improving your work.

5. Kinds of Criticism
4 Major Kinds of Criticism

6. Formalism
- Is a critical approach, doctrine,
or technique that places heavy
emphasis on style, form, or
technique in art or literature.
- Formalism sees these as more
important than determining
content.
According to: Formal Criticism. (n.d.) -Ologies & -Isms. (2008).
Retrieved September 3 2018
from https://www.thefreedictionary.com/formal+criticism
- Claims that literary works
contain essential properties and
considers each work as an
artform in and of itself.
- States that the key to
understanding a text is through
the text itself.
- The historical context, the
author, or any other external
criteria are not necessary when
interpreting a text.
Taken from: English for Academic and Professional Purposes
Aspects analyzed in Formalism:
• A central passage that sums up
the entirety of the work
• Contributions of rhymes and
rhythms to the meaning of a text
• Unity in the work
• Usage of imagery to develop the
symbols used in a text

7. Why are
these
aspects
analyzed?

8. 1. Central passages are analyzed because they provide insight on
what an author wants to relay in a text; usually, these passages contain
very important information that may summarize thoughts effectively.
2. Rhymes and rhythms are analyzed because they develop points in a
text. They add musicality to a piece or poem, and gives a predictable
pleasure to the audience and adds emotion in a text. Helps give poems a
feel of excitement.
3. Unity in a text is deemed important because it establishes how much
knowledge an author has about his/her work. It also aids in helping the
audience understand how bits and pieces of a text relate to each other.
4. Imagery in a text is valuable because it fleshes out an
Experience or an event described in a text. It appeals to our senses, and
may help a reader visualize an event described in the text.

9. Feminist Criticism
- Aims to understand the nature of
inequality and focus on the
analyzation of gender equality
and the promotion of women’s
rights.
Has 2 distinct variations:
1. “Feminist Critique”
2. “Gynocritics”
Feminist Critique
- Scholars under this school of
thought sought to divorce
literary analysis from abstract
diction-based arguments to
recognize the perceived implicit
misogyny of the story itself.
- Basically, it focuses on the
“woman as a reader – with the
woman as the consumer of
male-produced literature”.
Gynocritics
- Uses a historicist approach to
literature by exposing
exemplary female scholarship in
literature and the way in which
their relation to the gender
structure relayed in their
portrayal of both fiction and
reality in their texts.
- Enlists “the grace of imagination
in a disinterested search for the
essential difference of women’s
writing.”
1. Basically, it is concerned with
the woman as a writer, with the
woman as the producer of
textual meaning.
"Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism". Purdue OWL. Retrieved 1
September.

10. Feminist Criticism
- Focuses on how literature
presents women as subjects of
socio-political, psychological,
and economic oppression.
- Reveals how much of our
culture is patriarchal (Seeing
men as more superior in
society).
Aspects analyzed in when using
Feminism:
• How culture determines Gender
• How gender equality (and lack
thereof) is presented in a text
• How patriarchal ideology is an
overpowering presence
1. Understanding how culture
determines a gender’s role is
essential in understanding a text
through a feminist perspective
because it shows what role a
specific gender possesses in
society. Social stigma, such as
women being naturally weaker
than men, is also analyzed in
this type of criticism.
2. Understanding how gender
equality is presented in a text is
essential in order to assert a stand in
how a specific gender possesses
more rights than another. Misogyny
is a major issue that is analyzed in a
feminist text, with critiques
describing how an author depicts
women as fragile beings who need
protection from people who are
‘superior’ to them.
3. Identifying how patriarchal our
society is may assist Feminist
Critiques understand how society
views the male population as
‘superior’ and through that
understanding, create a critique on
how society can improve their
morals and norms in order to update
how people treat those of an
opposite gender. Feminist critique
is basically pushing for equality
through the proper use of
knowledge.
However, it is valuable to note that
feminism is not created to attack or
belittle the opposite gender; it is a
movement created to push for equal
rights and opportunities for women
to have equal standing with men.

11. Reader Response Criticism
- Is a school of literary work that
focuses on the reader and their
experience when reading a
literary work.
- This school of thought
recognizes the reader as an
active agent who gives ‘real
existence’ to a work and
completes the meaning of a text
through their interpretation.
Cahill M (1996). "'Reader-response criticism and the allegorizing
reader'". Theological Studies. 57 (1): 89–97.
- Is concerned with the viewer’s
reaction as the audience of a
work.
- This approach claims that a
reader cannot be separated from
the understanding of a text.
- Believes that a text does not
have meaning until a reader
reads it and interprets it.
- Believes that readers are active
consumers of the texts given to
them.
Taken from: English for Academic and Professional Purposes
Aspects Analyzed in
Reader Response Criticism:
• Interaction between the reader
and the text to create meaning
• The impact of a reader’s
delivery of sounds and visuals
on enhancing and changing the
meaning of a text.

12. Why are these
Aspects
Analyzed?
A reader and his/her interaction with
the text is valuable to understand
when making a critique that
determines how a text can affect a
reader on an emotional level. It helps
explain how much emotion is
contained within a text.
The impact and delivery of a reader
when reading a text is beneficial in
order to help us understand how a
reader feels about a text (i.e., they feel
the emotion of the text and is able to
relay it orally.)

13. Marxist Criticism
- Is a loose term that describes
literary criticism based on
socialist and dialectic theories.
- Views literary works as
reflections of the social
institutions from which they
originate.
- According to Marxists, even
literature itself is a social
institution and holds a specific
ideological function based on
the background and ideology of
the author.
Taken from: https://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/marxist.crit.html
- Is concerned with differences
between economic classes and
implications of a capitalist
system.
- Attempts to reveal that the
ultimate source of a society’s
experience is the socioeconomic
system.
Taken from: English for Academic and Professional Purposes
Aspects Analyzed in Marxist Criticism:
• Social Class as represented in a text
• Social Class of the writer
• Social Class of the Characters

14. Why are these
Aspects
Analyzed?
The social strata of the characters
in a text are important to analyze
because they show what stand or
position a character has in a story
or text. It determines how they
act and in what regard they hold
themselves in a society.
The Social Classes in texts are
beneficial in the analysis of a text
because it posits the stand of an
author about a specific class in
society, be it positive or negative.
The Social Class of a writer is
considered when creating a
critique because it determines
how the author sees other classes
in society (e.g. The rich
admonishing the lower class, the
poor despising the upper class).
Examples of Texts with Social
Implications:
• Huckleberry Finn
• To Kill A Mockingbird
• Mandela: Long Walk to
Freedom