formalist lens essay

Writing a Formalist Literary Analysis

Using formalism, a critic can show how the various parts of a work are welded together to make an organic whole. This approach examines a text as a self-contained object; it does not, therefore, concern itself with biographical information about the author, historical events outside of the story, or literary allusions, mythological patterns, or psychoanalytical traits of the characters (except those aspects described specifically in the text.)

A formalist critic examines the form of the work as a whole, the form of each individual part of the text (the individual scenes and chapters), the characters, the settings, the tone, the point of view, the diction, and all other elements of the text   which join to make it a single text. After analyzing each part, the critic then describes how they work together to make give meaning (theme) to the text.

Point of View Setting Characters Plot Symbols Theme

A thorough analysis of the text is important to write a good paper here. Remember the judgment you make about a literary work will reflect your own values, biases, and experience; however, you MUST respect the author ' s words and intentions as presented in the text. Do not analyze a work in terms of what you would like to see; analyze it in terms of what you actually observe. Remember to clearly separate your assumptions from the author ' s assumptions.

·     Before you begin to write, re-read your notes, considering which approach seems most appropriate. Write your answers to the following questions in FULL sentences.

o    Did a particular aspect (literary element) of the novel make an impact on me?

o    What relationships between the various parts of the novel (and literary elements) do I see?

o    What lesson (meaning or theme) did the author want me to learn from reading this novel?

·     Write a thesis which clearly and directly states the point you want to make about the novel. Consider this example of a thesis statement:

Example 1 :

Setting in "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty is effective: the descriptions are beautiful.

·     Next underline key words:

Setting in "A Worn Path" by Eudora Welty is effective : the descriptions are beautiful .

·     Answer these questions about the example:

1. Does this thesis limit and focus what the writer has to say about the story?

Definitely not! This thesis (and I use the term loosely) is very vague. The key terms are so general that they fail to provide any focus for the paper. To provide specific examples to support this statement will be very difficult.

2. Can this thesis help to explicate the novel ' s theme?

Again, this statement has no real connection to what the author is saying (the meaning) in the story.

Eudora Welty uses the setting of "A Worn Path," presented in the vivid descriptive phrases of the protagonist ' s strenuous journey through the wild country of Natchez Trace, to connect the reader with Phoenix , both as a character and as a symbol .

1. Does this thesis limit and focus what the writer has to say about this story?

Yes! This paper will be give examples from the text which show how the description of the setting (during this character ' s journey) characterize the protagonist as a person and a symbol. In addition, repetition of the underlined key words will help this writer build coherence in the paper.

2. Can this thesis help to explicate the novel ' s meaning (theme)?

No, at least not directly. While connecting the setting along the journey to the main character will definitely get at the author ' s theme, the theme is not made clear. In fact, though both the character and the symbolism, almost assures this paper will discuss theme, the actual reference to the story ' s theme is missing. However, this thesis would address the assignment response for looking at form (structure) and how the story is built.

Example 3 :

Through Phoenix ' s strenuous journey in the wild country of Natchez Trace, Eudora Welty uses her protagonist to symbolically show the struggle of African-Americans toward equality and integration in the South after the Civil War.

Yes! This paper will give examples from the text showing how the character ' s journey symbolizes the African-Americans struggle for equality and integration. Repetition of the underlined key words will help this writer build coherence in the paper.

Yes! It connects the setting with the symbolic journey to get at the author ' s theme. In fact, looking at the journey, the character and the symbolism almost assures this paper will discuss theme. This thesis would address the assignment response for looking at meaning (theme).

Once you have arrived at the thesis, make a brief outline of the examples (including quotes and paraphrases--and page numbers for each) which will support the thesis you have written.

After preparing an optional outline, complete with examples, begin writing the paper.  Always avoid allowing the quotes and paraphrases from the text to take over the paper. You are the critic, and this paper is YOUR formalist interpretation of the novel. Quote only the words necessary to make your point; avoid long passage of diaglor , etc. Also use the specific quotes and paraphrases as support for YOUR ideas and always interpret them for the reader, by showing how the quoted material connects to the point you are making.  Do not expect a reader to interpret a scene or event from the text in the same way that you have.  Always make the connections for the reader.

What is the point of view? 

Point of view is the viewpoint from which you view the setting, see the action, observe the characters, and hear the conversations. Depending on the powers the author has granted this narrator, you may even be able to see inside a character ' s mind, learning what he or she thinks and feels. (. . .ever wish we all had these powers. . .?)

• In first person point of view, "I" and "we" are used. Sometimes the first person narrator is a participant in the story of the novel; sometimes, he/she is an observer. The reliability of first person narrators should be evaluated on the basis of their involvement in the story).
• In third person point of view, "he," "she," and "they" are used.  Third person narrators may be omniscient (all-knowing), offering editorial comments on or an objective report of the characters and situations. Third person narrators may also be limited omniscient, functioning as a sort of central intelligence, though limited by the fact that they are also a character in the story; hence, they usually cannot see into minds, know the future, etc. A note of caution-- It is important to avoid confusing the narrator with the author in reading fiction.

              Ask yourself the following questions in analyzing point of view:

• How does the author ' s choice of point of view affect the reader ' s understanding and feelings about the story?
• Does the point of view in the novel have a particular use?
• What advantages does the author gain by using this viewpoint?
• What changes in the novel would have to be made if the point of view were changed?
• Does the author ' s choice of point of view reveal or illuminate his/her theme?

What is the setting?

Setting is more than just the place and time a story takes place.  Setting also includes the atmosphere:  the social and cultural context of the story. A novel may have many settings or occur at different times; however, each time and place were selected by the author for a particular reason. As yourself the following questions:

• Does the setting play an important role in revealing any element of the novel?
• What information does the setting give me about a situation or a character?
• What influence does the setting have on the characters or their actions?
• Does the setting contribute to the novel ' s theme?

Who are the characters?

Characters are the lifeblood of every novel, and some characters are more important than others. Characters may be round (more like real life with positive and negative traits) or flat (usually stereotypes that symbolize a certain type of person/place/thing). Characters may also be dynamic (changing and growing as the novel ' s events unfold) or static (those who remain unchanged no matter what happens to them).

         In addition, note the following important character types as you read through the novel:

• the protagonist - the main character around whom the novel ' s action revolves (usually). Don ' t be trapped into thinking this character must be human because he/she/it may not   be .
• the antagonist - the important character with whom the protagonist is locked in conflict. The antagonist may be a person or some other animate life form (or a collection of said life forms), a place, or a thing.
• the foil - a minor character (usually) who is offered as a contrast to point out or emphasize a distinctive characteristic of the protagonist.

Ask yourself the following questions about the important characters of the novel?  

4.         Are the character physically described? How detailed are these descriptions, and who gives them to you? ( a narrator? or another character? reliability?)

5.         How do the character ' s words and actions characterize him/her/it?

6.         What is the character ' s motivation for the decisions and actions he/she/it makes?

7.         Are the character ' s actions believable, given the setting and situations in the novel?

8.         How do the characters, their actions and motivations, contribute to the novel ' s theme?

What are symbols?

Symbols extend beyond one-to-one comparison. Be cautious when looking for symbols. A symbol is a like signpost, used and oftentimes repeated at key junctures, that alludes to a larger meaning than the signpost normally would indicate. Symbols can be public or private.

Public symbols have traditional meanings. The rose which is a well-known symbol of love, and the apple is a religious symbol for forbidden knowledge as in the Adam and Eve story. 

Private symbols can mean anything the author wishes them to mean, and this meaning is only apparent from the way in which they are used in the novel. Sometimes authorial and traditional symbols merge having both the traditional meaning, and one that is more closely related to the novel.

Symbols most often reveal characters to us and/or strongly allude to the theme of a novel. Readers of a novel may not always agree on a particular symbol ' s interpretation or even if a particular item is a symbol, so be careful to offer plenty of supporting evidence and reasoning to back up both your selection and interpretation of any symbol. 

What is Theme?

Theme is the point of the book, the author ' s message to us: the readers. Theme is often complex, and thus, it may be difficult for two people out of ten to interpret the same theme.  Though certain readers may see similar themes, most likely the themes they interpret will be different in some way or another to varying degrees.

Hence, theme is a matter of individual interpretation. However, the interpreter must not be too cavalier in assuming he/she can choose any theme whatsoever.  The theme must logically come from the text; therefore, the theme must be supportable by using specific text examples.  Care should be given to interpreting these specific text examples in the context that they are used in the novel.  Care should also be given to avoid "stretching" or "reaching" too far to make a text example fit into our interpretation of the theme.  In addition, the wise reader/interpreter will avoid associating the author or the author ' s life too closely with the main character or his/her life.

Questions to ask to get to the theme: 1. What lesson does the author want me (the reader) to learn from this book? 2. What lesson does the author want me (the reader) to learn about life?

* Important note -   Be doubly sure to state the theme in an arguable statement.  See the following examples:

  In Way of the Peaceful Warrior , Dan Millman writes about living in the present.  (This statement is not a theme; it announces the topic but does not make an arguable statement about it.)

 In Way of the Peaceful Warrior , Dan Millman concludes that living in the present is the key to unreasonable happiness. (This statement gives us the topic "living in the present" and makes a point about it "is the key unreasonable happiness")

Critical Lenses & "The Things They Carried": Home

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What is a Critical Lens?

Critical literary lenses.

A Critical Literary Lens influences how you look at a work. One way to think about critical lenses is the concept of putting on a pair of glasses; the glasses affect how you view your surroundings. The lens you choose is essentially a new way to focus on the work and is a great tool for analyzing works from different viewpoints. There are many approaches, but here are five common ones.

FORMALIST LENS

A formalist critic examines the form of the work as a whole; how each individual part of the text (the individual scenes and chapters), the characters, the settings, the tone, the point of view, the diction, and all other elements of the text  join together to make it a single text. 

After analyzing each part, the critic then describes how they work together to give meaning (theme) to the text.  This approach examines a text as a self-contained object; it does not, therefore, concern itself with biographical information about the author, historical events outside of the story, or literary allusions, mythological patterns, or psychoanalytical traits of the characters.

Questions to ask:

• What is the setting of the work? What is the basic tone througout?

How is the work’s structure unified? How is the way a story or novel is put together influence the way we read it?

How do various elements of the work reinforce its meaning?

• What recurring patterns (repeated or related words, images, etc.) can you find? What is the effect of  these patterns or motifs?
• How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
• How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the work’s meaning?

Explore More:

Formalism/New Criticism

Sources related to The Things They Carried :

BIOGRAPHICAL LENS

Biographical :, a biographical approach takes the stance that the author and their history are important to the meaning of a text .  these critics look at when and where the text was written, and try to understand the social, political or cultural influence of the time period and its effect on the author.  they research the author’s life and times  and relate that information to the work.  biographical theory suggests that the work is a reflection of the author’s experience or feelings..

• In what ways does the book reflect the experiences or feelings of the author and the time that he or she lived in
• What is the background of the author? How does this affect their world-view? What role does this world-view have in the text?
• How might characters in the book reflect the lives of real people who lived during the time period or events in the book? How are their perspectives represented or examined in the book?

Biographical Criticism

The databases below are the most useful for this specific project. For our other databases, visit the library online databases . Need passwords? Email the library .

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Historical lens, historical:.

A Historical lens analyzes a work in its historical context. This lens seeks to understand the time period, social and political context of the time, and how the events of the time affect the author and the characters of the text.

• What time period was the work written, and what time period is the literary work taking place in? Is there a connection?
• Were major historical events taking place? What were they? How does the text reflect this?
• Are the characters a product of their time? 
• Are any of the characters a voice for change? What message is the author trying to convey through them?

New Historicism, Cultural Studies

• Tim O'Brien's "Bad" Vietnam War: The Things They Carried & Its Historical Perspective
• Decades Later, a Family of ‘Boat People’ Find Their Rescuers

FEMINIST LENS

​​​​​​ feminist/gender:.

This lens xamines how gender roles and/or sexuality are characterized in the work. This approach is not limited to issues involving women.  

• What is the author's gender identification? How do they connect with the text?
• Are there traditional gender roles? Do characters follow these roles? How would they view a character that did not follow traditional roles?
• Are women minor characters in the text or do they take on a prominent role? What roles do they have? Does it relate back to the gender of the author?
• How does the author define gender roles?
• What role does society/culture play in gender roles/sexuality within the text?
• Would an LGBTQIA character be accepted in the text? Why or why not?

Feminist Criticism

Gender Studies and Queer Theory

PSYCHOLOGICAL LENS

Character/psychological:.

Based originally on the theories of Freud, the psychological lens looks at how a character's behaviors are influenced by their unconscious thoughts and fears. When using this criticism focus on the subconscious and how it affects and influences the conscious mind. Often, this theory is applied to the author and what the text is telling us about their psychology; however, it can be applied to characters as well.

• What does the text reveal about the author? What message is the author trying to relay? 
• What attitudes appear in the text? How do they change or progress through the piece?
• What kinds of family dynamics are happening in the work? 
• Perhaps a character shows signs of mental repression, what events have influenced this? How does it affect their daily life? How does it affect relationships with family and/or friends?

Psychoanalytic Criticism

• Soldiers, Psychiatrists, and Combat Trauma

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46 Understanding Literary Theory

Dr. Karen Palmer

The next step in your writing journey is to choose a literary lens, also known as a critical lens or critical theory, through which to view your story.

Literary studies have been around long enough that like-minded readers and scholars have gravitated toward basic common positions as they engage in dialogue with each other. As a result, there are a number of widely-recognized critical approaches to literature, from formalists (who focus on how an author employs strategies and devices for a particular effect) to psychoanalytical critics (who explore texts to better understand humans’ psychological structure and their typical responses to particular experiences). As you consider a poem or story, you might choose one of these approaches, called literary theories, as the general lens through which to examine that work.

Imagine putting on a pair of 3D glasses in a movie theater—suddenly things start popping out at you. Though the film hasn’t changed, the way you see it has. Think of applying a literary theory to a text as putting on a pair of 3D glasses that help certain themes to pop out at you and amplify the meaning of the story.

Though there are many different literary theories, we will look at just six: Formalist or New Criticism, Marxist Criticism, Feminist Criticism, Psychological Criticism, New Historical Criticism, and Environmental/Eco Criticism.

Formalist Criticism

Also known as New Criticism, aesthetic criticism, or textual criticism, this theory first emerged in the 1920s at Vanderbilt University as a response to the emphasis placed on using biographical and historical context when analyzing literature at that time.  It was largely influenced by TS Eliot, who emphasized the high place of art as art, the emotion expressed in art, and the form, close reading, and appreciation of order within a text.

This approach considers a literary work as an entity separate from its author and its historical context. The formalist explores a work as a mechanic would explore an engine. The mechanic would assume that the engine’s parts and function can be studied without any understanding of the maker’s life and/or the history of the period in which the engine exists. Similarly, to assess a poem’s impact and understand its meaning, a scholar might “take it apart,” considering its separate elements—the form, line length, rhythm, rhyme scheme, figurative language, and diction—and how those pieces make up the effect of and shape the meaning of the whole. The purpose of this type of criticism is to investigate every detail for connection to the whole–how do all the parts affect each other and fit together?

A formalist criticism will focus on form , diction , and unity in the work of literature.

Form grows out of the work’s recurrences, repetitions, relationships, and motifs.  According to formalism, what a work means depends on how it is said.  Look at how events of plot are recounted, the effect of the story’s point of view, foreshadowing, and progressions in nature that suggest meaning.

Diction looks closely at the word choices the author makes.  Pay attention to denotation vs connotation. Denotation is simply what a word means, while connotation conveys a certain feeling about the word. For example, thin and skinny are both words that imply a slim figure. However, skinny often has a negative connotation. Another thing to look for is the etymology or history of a word. Pay attention to allusions to other words and symbols. Sometimes, a character’s diction will tell readers something important about the person.

Unity refers to how all the aspects of a work fit together in significant ways that create a whole.  Pay attention to imagery, irony, and paradox.

The point is to look at how the various elements of the text work together to create a theme.

A sample thesis:

In “Everyday Use,” the author unveils how family dynamics can influence decisions through point of view, diction, and imagery.

Marxist Criticism

Karl Marx was a 19th century German philosopher who believed that inequitable economic relationships were the source of class conflict.  Marxism was meant to be a set of social, economic, and political ideas that would change the world.

The main principle of Marxist criticism is that, to explain any context, you have to look at both material (economic) and historical situations.  It is based on the idea that the bourgeoisie (wealthy) and the proletariat (working class) are involved in a constant class struggle. The main goal is to explain a text by looking at the ways economics influences the characters.

It is important to note that Marxist criticism is not a promotion of socialist government, but rather a close study of how invisible economic forces underpin, and often undermine, authentic human relationships.

Some things to think about:

• Commodification–Explains how things are valued for power to impress or resale value rather than for their usefulness.
• Materialism vs spirituality: The belief that the material world is reality and that, if you look at the relationship among socio-economic classes, you will find insight into society.
• Class conflict:  The idea that the bourgeoisie controls the proletariat by determining what is of value in society.
• Art, literature, and ideas point out injustice of society.

By looking at the short story, “A&P” by John Updike, through a Marxist lens, the coming-of-age story of a young man working at a supermarket north of Boston transforms into a tale about repression, class conflict, and consumerism in a capitalistic society.

Feminist Criticism

Feminism is based on the assumption that culture is fundamentally patriarchal and that there is an imbalance of power that marginalizes women and their work.  Feminist theory began to be applied to literature in the 60s.  The goal is to find misogyny (negative attitudes about women) in the text.

It’s important to note that there are many kinds of feminism, but there are similarities among them.  For example, though we often think of Christianity as one religion, there are over 30,000 different denominations. They are all different, but have the same roots. Likewise, though all feminisms are rooted in the idea that women deserve to be treated equally to men, there are many different types of feminism.

Feminists look for ways to define the female experience, expose patriarchy, and save women from being the “other.” Using this approach, one examines a literary work for insight into why and how women are subjected to oppression and, sometimes, how they subvert the forces that oppress them.

Expanding on feminist criticism, gender studies explore literature for increased understanding of socially defined gender identity and behavior and its impact on the individual and on society. It includes study of sexual orientation and how non-heterosexual identities are treated by mainstream ideology, a dynamic sometimes reflected in, sometimes critiqued by, literary works.

Things to think about:

1)  Studies of difference–assume gender determines everything.  How are men and women depicted differently?

2) Power:  views of labor and economics, ie  who holds the power in the text?

3) What roles do women play?

A Sample Thesis:

“The Day it Happened” reveals a new perspective by showing women as being powerful and men being quite pathetic in unmistakable and also subtle ways.

Psychological Criticism

Psychological criticism attempts to explain growth, development, and the structure of human personality as demonstrated in a text. Based on the theories of Freud and others, this approach examines a text for signs and symbols of the subconscious processes, both of the characters and of humans in general.

There are two basic types of psychological criticism based on the work of Freud and Jung.

The focus of this type of criticism is the idea that the unconscious plays a major role in what we do, feel, and say.  Based on Freud’s Tripartite Psyche, characters are analyzed based on their subconscious, namely the id, ego, and superego, in an attempt to discover why they make the decisions they do.

• Id: psychic energy, hunger for pleasure.  Lawless, asocial, amoral.  No thought to consequences, morality, ethics, etc.
• Ego: Reality–changes desires by postponing action or diverting it into a socially acceptable form.
• Superego: Sense of guilt/conscience.

Jungian or Archetypal

This approach focuses on common figures and story-lines that reveal patterns in human behavior and psychology.  Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell, key figures in the development of this approach, found that in the many stories they collected from cultures all over the world, these figures and story lines emerged over and over again. Their conclusion was that these figures and story lines are etched into the human psyche (or subconscious), and as we recreate them in our stories, our audiences recognize them as symbolic of their own experience. Jung believed that we all have a personal consciousness, a personal unconsciousness, and a collective unconsciousness , which enables us to identify with universal symbols he calls archetypes.

Common Archetypes

Well-known archetypal characters are the hero, the outcast, the scapegoat, the Earth mother, the temptress, the mother, the mentor, and the devil figure.

Some common archetypal story lines are the journey, the quest, the fall, initiation, and death and rebirth.

Common image archetypes include Colors (red= passion, green=life, blue = holiness, light vs dark); Numbers (3=religion, 4=seasons, elements, 7=whole/complete); Water (creation, birth, flowing water=passage of time); Gardens (paradise/innocence); Circles (wholeness/union); Sun (passage of time)

Sample Thesis Statement:

In “A Rose for Emily,” William Faulkner uses archetypes, foreshadowing, timeline disruption, and unknowing to portray the danger of loneliness, and the lengths humans will go to feel a connection.

New Historical Criticism

The New Historical approach seeks to illuminate a text’s original meaning by uncovering details of the text’s historical context.

Modifying the historical approach, the new historicist assumes that material factors interact with each other. While this approach seeks to understand a text through its cultural context, it also attempts to discover through the literary work insight into intellectual history. For example, a new historicist might consider Frederick Douglass’s Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass as a product shaped not only by Douglass’s experience as a U.S. slave, but also by Douglass’s challenge of finding a publisher (most of whom were white), and by his primarily Christian readership. These factors, according to the new historicist, would interact to shape the text and its meanings.

New Historical critics are concerned with social and cultural forces that create or threaten a community.  To them, culture  is the beliefs, institutions, arts, and behaviors of a particular people in time. They believe that history is subjectively set down–it’s colored by the cultural context of the recorder.  There is no single true history/worldview.  The main point is to look at how the text reveals and comments on the different voices of the culture it depicts.

Ideas to consider in a text:

1)  What were the formative experiences, significant people, texts, religious influences, political stance, and social class in the author’s life?

2)  What were the major events, controversies, people of the time?  Who represented the power bases?  Who opposed power and influence?

3)  What voices do you meet in the text?  Which ones are powerful?  What are the social rules observed?  Is the text critical/supportive of them?  What does the text imply about the culture it depicts?

Sample Thesis:

In the short story “Marriage is A Private Affair,” by Chinua Achebe, the author’s own experiences, historical time period, and culture illuminate the struggles of the main character.

Environmental/Eco Criticism

Ecocriticism investigates what a text says about nature or the environment. It is particularly effective for looking at texts with a man vs nature type of conflict, but, like any of the literary theories, can be applied to any text. Because ecocriticism is relatively new and still developing, it is often referred to by different names, including American Studies, regionalism, and pastoralism.

An ecocritic might look at the perception of wilderness in a text or the way nature is portrayed.  They might also look at the differences in the ways humans and/or animals are portrayed in a text. They might question anthropocentrism (the idea that humans are central and nature exists to serve us).

In this video, Patrick Howard explains Ecocriticism:

Step 4: Choose a Literary Lens

Attributions:

• Content created by Dr. Karen Palmer. Licensed under CC BY NC SA .
• Content adapted from Writing and Literature , licensed under CC BY SA .

The Worry Free Writer Copyright © 2020 by Dr. Karen Palmer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Writing a “Lens” Essay

This handout provides suggestions for writing papers or responses that ask you to analyze a text through the lens of a critical or theoretical secondary source.

Generally, the lens should reveal something about the original or “target” text that may not be otherwise apparent. Alternatively, your analysis may call the validity of the arguments of the lens piece into question, extend the arguments of the lens text, or provoke some other reevaluation of the two texts. Either way, you will be generating a critical “dialogue between texts.”

Reading the Texts

Since you will eventually want to hone in on points of commonality and discord between the two texts, the order and manner in which you read them is crucial.

First, read the lens text to identify the author’s core arguments and vocabulary. Since theoretical or critical texts tend to be dense and complex, it may be helpful to develop an outline of the author’s primary points. According the to Brandeis Writing Program Handbook, a valuable lens essay will “grapple with central ideas” of the lens text, rather than dealing with isolated quotes that may or may not be indicative of the author’s argument as a whole. As such, it’s important to make sure you truly understand and can articulate the author’s main points before proceeding to the target text.

Next, quickly read the target text to develop a general idea of its content. Then, ask yourself: Where do I see general points of agreement or disagreement between the two texts? Which of the lens text’s main arguments could be applied to the target text? It may be easier to focus on one or two of the lens text’s central arguments. 

With these ideas in mind, go back and read the target text carefully, through the theoretical lens, asking yourself the following questions: What are the main components of the lens text and what are their complementary parts in the target text? How can I apply the lens author’s theoretical vocabulary or logic to instances in the target text? Are there instances where the lens text’s arguments don’t or can’t apply? Why is this? It is helpful to keep a careful, written record of page numbers, quotes, and your thoughts and reactions as you read.

Since this type of paper deals with a complex synthesis of multiple sources, it is especially important to have a clear plan of action before you begin writing. It may help to group quotes or events by subject matter, by theme, or by whether they support, contradict, or otherwise modify the arguments in the lens text. Hopefully, common themes, ideas, and arguments will begin to emerge and you can start drafting!

Writing the Introduction and Thesis

As your paper concerns the complex interactions between multiple texts, it is important to explain what you will be doing the introduction. Make sure to clearly introduce the lens text and its specific arguments you will be employing or evaluating. Then introduce the target text and its specific themes or events you will be addressing in your analysis. 

These introductions of texts and themes should lead into some kind of thesis statement. Though there are no set guidelines or conventions for what this thesis should look like, make sure it states the points of interaction you will be discussing, and explains what your critical or theoretical analysis of the target text reveals about the texts.

Writing the Body

The body is where you apply specific arguments from the lens text to specific quotes or instances in the target text. In each case, make sure to discuss what the lens text reveals about the target text (or vice versa). Use the lens text’s vocabulary and logical framework to examine the target text, but make sure to be clear about where ideas in the paper are coming from (the lens text, the target text, your own interpretation etc.) so the reader doesn’t become confused.

By engaging in this type of analysis, you are “entering an academic conversation” and inserting your own ideas. As this is certainly easier said than done, Gerald Graff and Cathy Birkenstein’s concept of “Templates” may prove useful. In their book, They Say, I Say, the authors lay out numerous templates to help writers engage in unfamiliar forms of critical academic discourse. They encourage students to use the templates in any capacity they find useful, be it filling them in verbatim, modifying and extending them, or using them as an analytical entry point, then discarding them completely.

Here I modify their basic template (They say ________. I say ________.), to create lens essay-specific templates to help you get started:

The author of the lens text lays out a helpful framework for understanding instances of ________ in the target text. Indeed, in the target text, one sees ________, which could be considered an example of ________ by the lens author’s definition. Therefore, we see a point of commonality concerning ________. This similarity reveals ________.

According to the lens text _______ tends to occur in situations where _______. By the lens author’s definition, ________ in the target text could be considered an instance of _______. However, this parallel is imperfect because _______. As such, we become aware of ________.

One sees ________ in the target text, which calls the lens author’s argument that ________ into question because ________.

If the author of the lens text is correct that ________, one would expect to see ________ in the target text. However, ________ actually takes place, revealing a critical point of disagreement. This discord suggests that ________. This issue is important because ________.

Wrapping Things up and Drawing Conclusions

By this point in your essay, you should be drawing conclusions regarding what your lens analysis reveals about the texts in questions, or the broader issues the texts address. Make sure to explain why these discoveries are important for the discipline in which you are writing. In other words, what was the point of carrying out your analysis in the first place? Happy lens writing!

Brandeis UWS Writing Handbook, 70.

UWS Handbook, 76.

Birkenstein, Cathy and Gerald Graff, They Say, I Say. (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007), 2-3.

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Secrets to Literature Lenses for Textual Analysis

June 30, 2022 //  by  Lindsay Ann //   1 Comment

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We all want our English students to have deeper, more meaningful discussions about their reading , and literature lenses provide a framework for textual analysis. Teaching students to think about texts through the literary criticism lenses helps students to do this independent of our constant scaffolding and guidance. 

That’s what we call a win win in the teaching biz. 

Today I’m going to dive into how bringing literary criticism and the idea of reading through the critical lenses associated with literary criticism can help deepen the experiences of your student readers.

 Let’s jump in! 

What is Literary Criticism?

Okay, so what is literary criticism anyway?

You may remember this term from those ginormous Norton Anthologies we had to read in college (or “back in the day” as my students so kindly refer to it…🙃). Simply put, literary criticism is the reader’s text-based interpretation of an author’s deeper meaning in a work of fiction. Literary criticism is the way we analyze, evaluate, judge, and talk about literature.

At its most sophisticated , literary criticism is the way you discussed The Grapes of Wrath in your American Lit. survey course, and at its most practical , literary criticism is the way you share your frustrations about the gratuitous descriptions of nature in Where the Crawdads Sing over a cold glass of Pinot with your book club gals. 

Literary criticism is what we hope students do as they read their independent reading books, book club books, and study whole class texts. We want learners to pick up on the nuanced way the author creates the theme or the way that the setting impacts the behavior of the characters or the use of dialogue to create the mood and to do all of this by citing examples from the text to support how their thinking was shaped, all of this discussion is literary criticism .

Types of Literature Lenses

Literary lenses allow readers to focus on particular elements of a text when reading. When readers put on these figurative critical lenses, they can hone in on patterns that emerge.

It’s sort of like when you’re watching an episode of House Hunters and are absolutely ready to throw the remote at the wall because no matter what a house looks like, the prospective buyers can’t get past the fact that the walls are painted gray. They can only see through the lens of not wanting to have to paint the whole house (and hey, who really can blame them?) because that’s what they’re choosing to focus on . 

Similarly, readers make the choice to read through certain lenses in order to see things from a certain perspective .

This allows us to ignore other moves happening in a work of literature and really zero-in on specified elements . These elements are dictated by the type of literary lens a reader is choosing to read through. 

There are many different literary lenses, but they can be categorized into four main types:

• Traditional literary criticism 
• Sociological criticism 
• Psychological criticism 
• Criticism of specific ideas/ways of thinking

It often helps to read through multiple lenses and we usually do this pretty naturally.

For example, it can be difficult to extrapolate the sociological and psychological lenses. Oftentimes a character may behave in a way because of how their society has influenced their psychological thought patterns, and so looking at a text from multiple perspectives allows the reader a richer reading experience .

Sometimes we read through certain lenses based on our prior experiences (e.g., text to text, text to self, text to world connections) which is known as “reader response theory,” but readers can also be trained to view a text through the different types of literary lenses. 

Literary Lenses List

Use this handy-dandy literary lenses list (say that four times fast) to help you plan mini-lessons on how to intentionally read through the literature lenses. 

• Gender/queer theory 
• Moral criticism 
• Formalism/new criticism 
• Historical/biographical/cultural
• Eco-criticism 
• Structural/semiotic
• Affliction/disability
• Aestheticism 
• Reader response/personal mirrors

Critical Lenses for Poetry Analysis

Poetry makes for quick and easy but meaningful scaffolding when teaching students to read through literature lenses. Take a look at this excerpt from “Oil” by Fatima Asghar :

I’m young & no one around knows where my parents are from.  A map on our wall & I circle all the places I want to be. My auntie, not-blood but could be, runs the oil through my scalp.  Her fingers play the strands of my hair. The house smells like badam.  My uncle, not-blood but could be, soaks them in a bowl of water.  My auntie says my people might be Afghani. I draw a ship on the map. I write Afghani under its hull. I count all the oceans, blood & not-blood, all the people I could be, the whole map, my mirror.

This short excerpt can be read through a multitude of literature lenses, but perhaps the three that students would most easily identify are Formalism, Feminism, Historical/Biographical/Cultural.

Encourage students to start with the lenses they feel most comfortable with or feel the most obvious when they read. 

When reading this excerpt through the Feminist lens, encourage students to answer these questions as they read:

• How are female roles portrayed? 
• How do women and men behave? Is this in accordance with socially accepted gender norms or does it seem to contradict those norms?
• Is the narrator male or female? What helps you to determine this? 

When reading this excerpt through the Historical/Biographical/Cultural lens, encourage students to answer these questions as they read: 

• How do the events in the text reflect the time period in which this text was written?
• Can you identify any important “shifts” or cultural changes?
• What words standout as representations of a particular time in history, significant to the author’s life experiences, or culturally significant?

When reading this excerpt through the Formalist lens, encourage students to answer these questions as they read:

• How does the structure of the text contribute to the meaning?
• How does the author use imagery to develop the reader’s understanding?
• What connections between details can you make? Why do you suppose the author chose to include those details?

Getting students to feel confident applying the literature lenses as they read will require a great deal of modeling and the gradual release model may feel slower than ever, but hang in there!

Poetry reading and analysis allows you to model reading through one lens to start then layering on another and another until eventually you can take off the training wheels!

Challenge students to ask themselves questions associated with the literature lenses every time they read! 

AP Literature Lenses

The Advanced Placement (AP) Literature and Composition course exists to challenge students to see literature as a pursuit to better understand humanity. The College Board asserts that students should understand how literature shapes and is shaped by society.

Using AP literature lenses gives students an anchor of sorts to connect themselves to while they explore these complex ideas in rich literary works. 

Each FRQ on the AP Lit. test requires students to demonstrate a deep understanding of a passage or a complete work. This understanding moves well beyond the DOK 1 questions and demands them to assert their understanding of how an author used literary techniques and devices to shape meaning and reveal a truth, assumption, or behavior essential to the human experience.

In order to do that, students would benefit greatly from routine experience practicing reading texts using AP literature lenses . 

A fun way I’ve seen an AP teacher teach this idea is having students study the lenses independently and then in “literature lens groups,” they’re tasked with identifying and analyzing ideas through their assigned lenses as the class watches Shrek . I love how accessible the teacher made this abstract concept, even more an advanced course! 

There are so many ways to introduce literature lenses into your classroom. Children’s books are a particularly fun way to engage the gradual release of responsibility for student readers. My high schoolers always think it’s cheesy to be reading The Giving Tree until we start having in-depth discussions about the elements of feminist critical theory represented in the book and then their minds are blown. 

Another great way to practice reading using literature lenses in the classroom is to use hexagonal thinking . You know I’m a huge fan of this retrieval and connection strategy, and it can be a real challenge for students to connect together elements of an assigned or self-selected text to represent elements of one or more of the literature lenses. 

As you can tell, my mind is absolutely racing with possibilities for bringing in this concept to my classroom. Have you done anything like this in your classrooms? I’d love to hear more in the comment section below! 

About Lindsay Ann

Lindsay has been teaching high school English in the burbs of Chicago for 19 years. She is passionate about helping English teachers find balance in their lives and teaching practice through practical feedback strategies and student-led learning strategies. She also geeks out about literary analysis, inquiry-based learning, and classroom technology integration. When Lindsay is not teaching, she enjoys playing with her two kids, running, and getting lost in a good book.

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23 Approaches to Literary Analysis

Approaches to literary analysis.

Since the 1960s, a number of schools or approaches to literary analysis have emerged in the academy. Some of the sources you discover may seem to obviously derive from one of the following traditions. Others may be indirectly influenced by one or more of these approaches:

Formalist, or New Critic, analysis prioritizes close reading based solely on the text itself, its language, structure, symbols, and themes, and eschews interpretation based on the influence of outside information (such as personal history of the author, for example).

New Historicist

New Historicist analysis values the particulars of the time period and location in which the author created the text, as well as any influencing circumstances of the author’s life.

Psychoanalytic

Psychoanalytic, or psycholinguistic, analysis emphasizes the interpretation of characters’ mental and emotional states, narrative point-of-view, the unconscious potency of symbol and imagery, and/or the psychological implications of linguistic pattern, tone, and word usage.

Feminist analysis examines the text through the lens of women’s experience and may also consider factors in the publishing or critical reception of the work when influenced by gender norms.

Marxist analysis addresses the text as a material product of the society from which it emerged, with particular attention to socio-economic issues.

Queer analysis reads the text with strong consideration of “queer” identity and/or “queering” of characters, actions, and/or speech; for example, the cross-dressing and gender switching that occurs in some of Shakespeare’s plays can take on more significance than mere dramatic convention.

Reader-Response

Reader-Response analysis seeks to reveal the activity of the reader as contributing to — even completing — the meaning of the text by applying his or her own experiences, perspectives and cultural values; this approach is not done personally, but in consideration of “the reader” as a type or a social category.

Today, many literary scholars engage in the practice of  intersectionality  , that is the attention to the complexity of how cultural views and traditions often fall into more than one category. For example, while we might gain a great deal by interpreting a short story through a psychoanalytic lens, focusing only on this approach may foreclose the possibilities for our analysis to become as deeply grounded in formalist analysis, or may offer only a passing look at historical issues.

Analytical writers should not base their essays on a particular approach simply for the sake of following that school of thought, but rather to further their understanding of, and appreciation for, the literature in question, as well as the clarity of the interpretation offered. Often hybrid approaches, approaches than combine aspects of two or more of these analytical traditions, are very successful, so long as the thesis remains focused and the support specific and well-documented. As ever, consult with your professor about the specifics of your analytical project and the particular expectations he or she may have for a given assignment.  (1)

Literature for the Humanities Copyright © by Lumen Learning is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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The Formalist Approach

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Formalism may be defined as a critical approach in which the text under discussion is considered primarily as a structure of words. That is, the main focus is on the arrangement of language, rather than on the implications of the words, or on the biographical and historical relevance of the work in question. A strictly formalist critic would, for example, approach The Great Gatsby as a structure of words, ignoring the details of Fitzgerald’s life and the social and historical contexts of the novel. However, formalism, or the concept of strict literary formalism, has often been attacked by individual literary critics or schools of criticism on the grounds that it reduces the text to nothing more than a series of words, thereby limiting its meaning and power. It is true that the Russian Formalists in the early years of the century attempted to examine the text in this way, but Western formalist approaches have tended to be much less theoretical. In practice, such critics have been very responsible to the meaning and themes of the work in question, rather than adopting a linguistic approach. For example, from the 1930s onwards, a movement in Britain and America, loosely called the ‘New Criticism’ began to dominate critical activity and teaching methods.

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Matterson, S. (1990). The Formalist Approach. In: The Great Gatsby. The Critics Debate. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-20768-8_2

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• Science & Math
• Sociology & Philosophy
• Law & Politics
• Formalism: Literary Perspective
• What is Formalism?
• Formalists focus on literary elements such as plot, character, setting, diction, imagery, structure, and point of view
• Literary works are studied as independent systems with interdependent parts
• Biographical information and historical data are subordinate/not as vital to the formalist perspective
• For Formalists, the proper concern is with the work itself, and the central meaning is discovered only through the text
• It matters most how the work comes to mean what it does and how the resources of the language are used by the writer to convey the meaning

Two Pillars of Formalist Criticism

• 1) “that a literary work exists independent of any particular reader-that is, that a literary work exists outside of any reader’s re-creation of it in the act of reading
• 2) that the greatest literary works are “universal”, their wholeness and aesthetic harmony transcending the specific particularities they describe” (DiYanni 2161).

Analyzing a text through the Formalist perspective

• The primary method of formalism is a close reading of the text, with an emphasis on metaphor/simile/irony or the patterns of image and action.
• In longer works, the formal analysis should focus on a close reading of key passages (opening and closing passages of a novel, or a climactic moment in the action)
• One consistent feature of formalist criticism is the emphasis on tension and ambiguity
• Tension- the way elements of a text’s language reflect conflict and opposition
• Ambiguity- the way texts remain open to more than a single, unified, definitive interpretation

A Checklist of Formalist Critical Questions

• How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where does it go next? How does it end? What is the work’s plot? How is its plot related to its structure?
• What is the relationship of each part of the work to the work as a whole? How are the parts related to one another?
• Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the narrator, speaker, or character revealed to the readers? How do we come to know and understand this figure?
• Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how do they relate to one another?
• What are the time and places of the work- it’s setting? How is the setting related to what we know of the characters and their actions? To what extent is the setting symbolic?
• What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or otherwise create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what images, similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their function? What meanings do they convey?

Works Cited

• DiYanni, Robert. Literature: Reading Fiction, Poetry and Drama. McGraw-Hill: New York. 2007. pg 2161-2163.

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In literature, formalism is a school of literary criticism and theory. It’s concerned more with the structure of the text than it is with any outside influence on the author.

Formalism does not consider the author’s personal history, cultural influences, and the actual content in the work itself. Instead, it focuses on the form and genre of the writing. For example, formalism is concerned with the use of grammar and syntax , and meter in poetry.

Formalism pronunciation: for-muhl-ehh-zum

Explore Formalism

• 1 Definition of Formalism
• 2 Characteristics of Formalism
• 3 Russian Formalism
• 4 Formalism in Visual Arts
• 6 Related Literary Terms
• 7 Other Resources

Definition of Formalism

Formalism is a form of literary criticism that focuses on a text’s use of structure. It would analyze the use of grammar, word choice, syntax, and how all the elements work together. With formalism, one does not spend any time concerned with the author’s influences, what the work might say about the contemporary moment in history.

Characteristics of Formalism

• Focus on a literary work’s formal elements.
• Analysis of grammar, word, choice, syntax.
• Disregard to cultural or historical influences

Russian Formalism

An important type of formalism that relates directly to the work of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language. It was founded in 1916 in St. Petersburg. The formalist advocated for several basic ideas around literature. They included:

• Wanting to produce a “science of literature.” It would be independent and factual.
• Linguistics is a foundational element.
• Literature is considered to be autonomous from external conditions.
• Defamiliarization and plot /story distinction are important elements. The former refers to how literary language is different from ordinary language, and plot/story refers to the way that events of a work are separated out.

Formalism was not a movement that worked well after the Russian Revolution. Many writers did not like the Formalist approach, stating that there was no way to truly separate form from content and culture. The Formalists were at one point accused of being political after one writer, Shklovksy, wrote about how art was “always free of life” and never reflected in “the color of the flag.”

Formalism in Visual Arts

Formalism in the world of visual arts is the study of any kind of art through analysis. One might use comparisons to determine how successful the visual elements of a work of art are. One might study the use of color, line, shape, texture, and more. These things are usually emphasized over the content and meaning. Formalism is far less interested in the context and what the artist is trying to accomplish.

Formalism is an important approach to literary analysis. It is still used today. Understanding the Formalist approach will help you, as a reader and a writer, better visualize what it is about writing that makes it successful and unsuccessful.

The goal is to understand a text through the formal elements the writer used. Formalism ignores the cultural influences that might’ve changed the way a writer did something.

True formalism is when someone truly does not consider the outside influences on a text when they’re analyzing it. It’s very hard to successfully do this as it requires you not to consider your own outside influences as well.

Related Literary Terms

• Realism : a literary movement that portrays everyday life exactly how it is.
• Imagism : a literary movement of the early 20th century. The proponents were interested in the use of precise imagery and clear language.
• Acmeism : a literary movement that emerged in the early 1910s in Russia. The movement is also referred to as the Guild of Poets.
• Aestheticism : a literary and artistic movement in the 18th and 19th centuries that focused on the importance of beauty.
• Literary Modernism : originated in the late 19th and 20th centuries. It was mainly focused on Europe and North America.

Other Resources

• Listen: What is Formalism?
• Watch: Realism vs. Formalism

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FORMALISM (also known as NEW CRITICISM) A Basic Approach to Reading and Understanding Literature

Formalist theory has dominated the American literary scene for most of the twentieth century, and it has retained its great influence in many academic quarters. Its practitioners advocate methodical and systematic readings of texts. The major premises of New Criticism include: "art for art's sake," "content = form," and "texts exist in and for themselves." These premises lead to the development of reading strategies that isolate and objectify the overt structures of texts as well as authorial techniques and language usage. With these isolated and objective readings, New Criticism aims to classify, categorize, and catalog works according to their formal attributes. Along the way, New Criticism wants to pull out and discuss any universal truths that literary works might hold concerning the human condition. These truths are considered by New Critics to be static, enduring, and applicable to all humanity. Leading new critics include I.A. Richards, Cleanth Brooks, Northrop Frye, John Crowe Ransom, T.S. Eliot, and Roman Jacobsen. These thinkers consider literature to be a language game in which communication becomes semi-transparent. They reject Impressionism, moral tones, and philological studies, and believe that written works should work mostly on the intellect. The rise of New Criticism coincides with that of modern literature, probably because of the popularity of the "art for art's sake" maxim. Formalists value poetry rich in ambiguity, irony, and intention, and want to make literary criticism a science. This last projection introduces the concept of expert readers into interpretive theory. Current theorists tend to criticize Formalism for this and other symptoms of narrow-mindedness; still, they cannot deny that New Criticism has left a lasting impression on American literary scholarship. Its terminology continues as the basis for most literary education in the United States, and other critical approaches to reading and critiquing literature depend upon readers' familiarity with these terms to articulate their findings.

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Introduction to Formalism

Back to: Literary Theory in English Literature

Formalism is a branch of literary theory and criticism which deals with the structures of text . It means that external agents outside of the text are not taken into consideration. All the things about culture, politics, and the author’s intent or societal influences are excluded from formalism.

The focus in formalism is only on the text and the contents within the text such as grammar, syntax, signs, literary tropes , etc. Formalism also brings attention to structural tendencies within a text or across texts such as genre and categories. Formalism is based on an analysis of a text rather than a discussion on issues more distant to the text.

So Formalism is based on the technical purity of a text. Formalism is divided into two branches Russian Formalism and New Criticism. Formalism also argued that a text is an autonomous entity liberated from the intention of the author.

Russian Formalism was a school of literary criticism in Russia from 1910 to 1930. Some prominent scholars of Russian Formalism were Viktor Shklovsky, Yuri Tynianov, Vladimir Propp, Boris Eichenbaum, Roman Jakobson, Boris Tomashevsky and Grigory Gukovsky. Russian Formalism brought the idea of scientific analysis of poetry. Russian Formalism alludes to the work of the Society for the Study of Poetic Language (OPOYAZ), 1916 in St. Petersburg by Boris Eichenbaum, Viktor Shklovsky and Yury Tynyanov.

New Criticism – New Criticism is an American Literary theory in the 20 th century. Its philosophy was taken from John Crowe Ransom’s The New Criticism , 1941. New Criticism talked about the closed-reading approach.

The closed-reading approach was a method developed by I.A. Richards in which only words on-page were analyzed very closely in a text. It argued that a text should be very closely read and analyzed without referring to external materials and issues such as cultural, political, and economic and others. New Criticism did not deal with cultural, political or social issues around a text. It dealt only with the textual world.   

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The Old Clock Shop on an Idyllic Japanese Island

There are only 1,600 inhabitants of Osaki-Shimojima island, and at least five generations of the Matsuura family have sold them clocks and watches.

A view of the Seto Inland Sea from Mitarai, a historic district on the island of Osaki-Shimojima in Japan. The district has been home to the Shinko Clock Shop for generations. Credit...

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Text by Vivian Morelli

Photographs by Andrew Faulk

Reporting from Kure, Japan

• Published Aug. 8, 2024 Updated Aug. 9, 2024, 10:48 a.m. ET

Time flows slowly on the island of Osaki-Shimojima, part of an archipelago off the southern coast of Japan’s main island, Honshu. Elderly fishermen pass the days on its stone embankments, trying to catch fish in the Seto Inland Sea. Some of the wooden buildings have stood along the narrow alleys of the island’s historical district of Mitarai for 250 years; most have roofs of the same traditional clay tiles, called kawara.

One of those buildings houses the Shinko Clock Shop, widely believed to be among the oldest clock and watch shops in Japan — although no one, not even the owners, knows precisely when it began to sell timepieces

“We cannot confirm accurately whether it’s the oldest, but it’s likely one of the oldest,” said Mitsushi Matsuura, 45, the fifth generation of his family to sell clocks.

Based on the dates on a local grave marker and some family documents, the Matsuuras say they believe the shop was established in the late 1700s to sell rice and other foodstuffs, then started to sell clocks sometime during the Meiji era (1868-1912).

Now, Mr. Matsuura and his father, Keiichi, 79, handle sales and repairs, with family members taking on the accounting and other tasks.

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