Literary Criticism

1
Literary Criticism

• The New Criticism
• Feminist Criticism

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New Criticism

• A phenomenon of the 1940s 1960s
• The poem should be treated as an independent and
  self sufficient verbal object
• The critic is most interested in metaphors,
  symbols, the verbal artistry of the poem
• The critic has no concern with the authors life,
  the conditions of the works creation, the
  conditions of the readers experience, or any
  political or social causes

3
Feminist Criticism

• A phenomenon of the 1970s and forward
• Developed by feminists who were also professors
• The poem, like any cultural object, both
  expresses and helps create the rules by which the
  culture operates its ideology

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The feminist critics job

• Find and make available to readers the work of
  women writers throughout history
• Investigate the writing of men and women to make
  evident the sexual politics in the work
• Use literature and literary criticism to free
  women from the restraints of patriarchy