The moralistic approach is a tendency in literary criticism to judge works based on moral rather than formal principles, evaluating works based on their ethical teachings and effects on readers. Literature that encourages virtue is praised, while literature that misguides or corrupts is condemned. Several influential critics throughout history have taken a moralistic approach, including Plato banning poets from his Republic for fear of spreading immorality, and Dr. Johnson attacking Shakespeare for his slipshod treatment of moral values. The humanist movement of the Renaissance also emphasized order, restraint, discipline and the study of classical works to produce cultural rebirth.

1. MORALISTIC APPROACH
Mrs. M. Annalakshmi
Asst. Professor, English

2. A tendency—rather than a recognized school—within
Literary criticism to judge literary works according to
moral rather than formal principles.
– Judging literary works by their ethical teachings and by
their effects on readers.
– Literature that is ethically sound and encourages virtue
is praised
– Literature that misguides and corrupts is condemned.
MORALISTIC APPROACH-INTRODUCTION

3. Plato
Banished poets from Republic for fear that he might
Spread immorality and destabilize the country

4. Horace
Studied how Poetry could be used to promote morality in his
Ars Poetica

5. Sir Philip Sidney
Praised the role of the poet in purifying the
Imagination, which the historian and the philosopher
were capable of.

6. Dr. Johnson
Was a stern upholder of morality and attacked Shakespeare for
his slip shod treatment of moral values.

7. Matthew Arnold
Great poetry is marked by high seriousness and true
Criticism pays attention to what a poem says than to
how it says.

8. Humanists
(order, restraint, discipline)
Major intellectual movement of the Renaissance
– Proponents of humanism believed that a body of learning,
humanistic studies (studia humanitatis), consisting of the study
and imitation of the classical culture of ancient Rome and
Greece, would produce a cultural rebirth after what they saw as the
decadent and “barbarous” learning of the Middle Ages.
– Humanism was characterized by lots of creativity and interest in the
Arts and Humanities brought about by increased scientific
knowledge, a renewed approach to ancient Greek-Latin texts

9. Humanists
Neo Humanists
Renaissance Humanists

10. Neo Humanism
Opposed Naturalism
Opposed Romanticism
Moral earnestness & aesthetic sensitivity

11. 20th Century Critical Movement
Paul Elmer More- Shelburne Essays
Irving Babbit- Literature and the
American College

12. Neo Humanists
Norman Forester
Harry Hayden Clark
G.R. Elliot
Robert Shafer
Frank Jewett Mather
Gorham Munson
Stuart Sherman Pratt

13. Religious Humanism
T.E. Hume
Religion & morality
T.S. Eliot- Christian Humanist
Edmund Fuller
Hyatt Waggoner

14. Traditional concern for the moral
ends of literature
F.R. Levis
Ivory Winters
Marxists- The Social Approach
Allen Tate
John Crowe Ransom

15. THANK YOU