The Formalist Critics, by Cleanth Brooks - 1513 Words

Cleanth Brooks writes in his essay â€Å"The Formalist Critics† from 1951 about criticism that formalist critics encounter and tries to show these arguments from his point of view and even indicates common ground with other literary critics. Cleanth Brooks argues that we lose the intrinsically obvious points of works of literature if we view the work through the different lenses of literary theory, however we are always viewing the literary work through a subjective lens, since the author and the critic cannot subjectively separate themselves from themselves and in making these points he contradicts himself. Cleanth Brooks starts his essay by listing â€Å"articles of faith I could subscribe to† (Brooks 19) and pointing out statements about†¦show more content†¦The author wants an ambiguous reading of his texts, and those are often the most challenging and enjoyable works. When Brooks writes that the next step is â€Å"evaluation of its object†, the subjective nature of literary criticism becomes apparent. Who criticizes seems to be the first step in a long subjective path and therefore one evaluation might differ from another evaluation completely. Experience in literary works seems to make those evaluations more valuable, however it might move the evaluations always into the same corner, for example, a Marxist critic may preferably tend to look at the classes and conflicts in the work. In his first sentence Brooks shows already the difficulty of providing an objective criticism of a literary work, which he calls an object, therefore a literary critic could evalua te any item. Brooks declares that form is important; â€Å"the primary concern of criticism is with the problem of unity – the kind of whole which the literary work forms or fails to form, and the relation of the various parts to each other in building up this whole† (Brooks 19). He echoes Aristotle’s Poetics who mentions that a â€Å"characteristics of a good plot† is â€Å"A whole is something that has a beginning, a middle, and an end† (Aristotle 26). Yet acclaimed works exist, which do not follow this rather obvious formula, and are still considered great literature, for example Woyzeck, which has no beginning andShow MoreRelatedCritical Examination of Brooks The Formalist Critics1015 Words   |  5 PagesBrooks starts his essay by listing â€Å"articles of faith I could subscribe to† (Brooks 19) and pointing out statements about literary criticism that might go with a formalist criticism. Yet, he questions that list its end, and seems to complain that his that his writings have been largely misunderstood. What his statements have to do with faith in connection with literature is up to the reader, since in one of his articles he specifically mentions, â€Å"literature is not a surrogate for religion† (BrooksRead MoreFormalism : The Rocking Horse Winner, And Annie Dillard s Essay, Living Like Weasels804 Words   |  4 PagesFormalism Gaims Essay Formalism is a style of how content is presented over what is being shown. In Cleanth Brooks, The Formalist Critics, Brooks emphasizes how you should criticize content by the form and structure of the work. Formalism is seen through English in the way literary works are structured. Formalism is reveled in the American government. Formalism is also shown in the structure of filmmaking. In almost any work of art or content, the concept of formalism is applied to everything. InRead MoreDonnes Poetry1769 Words   |  8 PagesWrite a close reading of John Donne’s â€Å"The Relic†. Think about what the poem is about (content), how it is written (form and structure), and why, to what effect (the relation between form and content). You may like to refer to Cleanth Brooks’ essay, â€Å"The Formalists,† for inspiration. This essay will look at the form, structure and content of â€Å"The Relic† in an attempt to offer an explanation as to what the poem is about. It will examine the metaphysical poets, and discuss the techniquesRead MoreAnalysis of The Novel Dubliners by James Joyce Essay1605 Words   |  7 PagesGallaher, who lives his ideal life: He felt acutely the contrast between his own life and his friends and it seemed to him unjust.(p.56). Chandler dreams of transcending Dublin and colonialism through latent poetic genius which would impress English critics(p.51). But he loses all hope in his dream, as a thinly-veiled altercation with Gallaher goads him into reading Byron, which his child confounds(p.59); this incites his heated plea of Stop!(p.59). Chandlers weeping is not caused by contrition atRead MoreFear Oneself : Freud s View On Psychoanalysis Essay1247 Words   |  5 Pagesand how they have progressed but I found that even though Freud’s theory may look into the minds of different characters in other literary works but it doesn’t necessarily resolve their conflicts they would face. Works Cited Cleanth, Brooks. â€Å"The Formalist Critics.† Literary Theory: An Anthology. By Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Blackwell, 1998. 22-27. Print. Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Johanna M. Smith. Frankenstein: Complete, Authoritative Text with BiographicalRead More A Modest Proposal With A New Critical Approach Essay2055 Words   |  9 Pageswill get a lot more out of this proposal after I critically analyze it, and look forward to doing so. The critical approach I decided to research and apply to Jonathon Swifts, A Modest Proposal, is the New Critical approach, otherwise known as the Formalist approach. I began by searching for web pages that would give me a greater understanding of exactly what New Criticism entails. I found quiet a few all having similar explanations, some expanding slightly more on the topic. I discovered that it beganRead MoreLiterary Devices in Pride and Prejudice8198 Words   |  33 Pagescriticism concentrated on the author, and in Britain the text-based ctiticism of the two critics I. A. Richards and Williams Empson, his pupil, rejected that approach in order to concentrate on the literary texts themselves , and how readers were affected by those texts. This approach is often called pr actical Criticism, and it is matched by a similar critical movement in the USA, associated with Cleanth brooks, Rene wellek, Austin Warren and others, called new criticism. New Criticism was based almostRead MoreCleanth Brookss Essay Irony as a Principle of Structure9125 Words   |  37 Pagesof Hegel’s writings is utterly indispensable. Of course we will no longer expect to discover his achievement in his total system. The system as we have it belongs to the past. Even this statement concedes too much for, in my view, a really incisive critic would have to conclude that he had to deal, not with an authentically organic and coherent system, but with a number of overlapping systems. The contradictions in method between the Phenomenology and the system itself are but one instance of this