Make your own free website on  Critical Approaches to Literature
(with brief explanations)  1. The formalist approach: literary
analysis: what the work means (theme) and how it conveys its
meaning (style); the relation of theme to style. Good work is
one that is interesting because it conveys meaning in an
interesting way, an intriguing way to say the "same old thing"
(Pope: "True wit is Nature to advantage dressed. . .")  2. The
humanist/ethical approach: the effect the work has on the
audience/ reader. The larger function of literature is to teach
morality and to probe philosophical issues. Literature should
instruct and delight "Good" work has a positive, enriching,
impact on the reader; "bad" work has negative, dulling, impact.
Examples: Christian humanist, Marxist, feminist, "moral crusader
" (censorship)  3. The historical approach: the relationship of
the work to history. The impact of the work on history and the
importance of historical knowledge in understanding a work. How
history and literature in