Literary Criticism:)

 Literary Criticism:)

 Literary criticism is thought to have existed as long as literature in its purest form. Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus, Sir Philip Sidney, Dr. Samuel Johnson, William Wordsworth, S.T Coleridge, John Dryden, Edgar Allan Poe, Matthew Arnold, T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Jean Paul Sartre, and many other intellectuals addressed the main issues in the realm of criticism, including (but not limited to) aesthetic, historical, philosophical, psychological, social, anthropological, and cultural insights in their respective fields. It basically addresses the overall nature of a literary work with specific reference to its language, form, and content. A literary analysis in simple words, revolves around analyzing the language, themes, literary forms, art of characterization and the other related dimensions , viewed on the basis of a theoretical or methodological stance. It is important to mention that a theoretical or methodological framework is not necessary to analyze or critique a work of art.

TWO MAIN APPROACHES TO LITERARY CRITICISM

1. SMOLC: (SYSTEMATIC MODE OF LITERARY CRITIQUE)

2. AMOLC: (ARBITRARY MODE OF LITERARY CRITIQUE)

1. SMOLC: (SYSTEMATIC MODE OF LITERARY CRITIQUE)

In order to critique a literary text through SMOLC, a reader is required to concentrate on its three main fundamentals mentioned as follows:

1)      Introductory Foundation

2)      Compositional Foundation

                                i.            Linguistic Dimension

                              ii.            Form-based Dimension

                            iii.            Content-based Dimension 

3)      Appraising Foundation

                                i.            Theoretical Substructure (Optional)

                              ii.            Methodological Substructure (Optional)

                            iii.            Evaluative dimension (Compulsory)