By: Keith, Mike, Connor

Historical Literary Criticism

• Literary Criticism- Literary criticism is an attempt to evaluate and understand the creative writing, the literature of an author. Literature includes plays, essays, novels, poetry, and short stories. Literary criticism is a description, analysis, evaluation, or interpretation of a particular literary work or an author's writings as a whole. Literary criticism is usually expressed in the form of a critical essay. In-depth book reviews are also sometimes viewed as literary criticism.

• Historical Criticism- This approach "seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it-a context that necessarily includes the artist's biography and milieu." A key goal for historical critics is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its original readers.

DEFINITIONS

Theory Background

• The historical side of literary criticism uses the Authors background like their life experiences and his or her surrounding world. This is generally shown by the author’s piece of literature showing some significant connections to the author themselves.

Pros

• Demands close reading of the text which helps the reader better understand what is being read

• Notices repetition of words, phrases, and themes

• Makes the reader understand why the piece of literature was written the was it was

Cons

• In order to analyze the reading, the reader must first have further knowledge about the author and their life.

Poem Criticism

• “My Father and the Fig Tree” by Naomi Shihab Nye

• The author’s personality and background is shown through this poem because it reveals her religious background through telling a story about her father.

Poem Criticism

• “Identity Card” by Mahmoud Darwish• In his poem “Identity Card” he reveals much

about himself. He says that he is Arab, has eight children and a couple other things about his personal background.

• His writing is also one-sided or biased because he is a strict Muslim.

Works Cited• "Critical Approaches To Literature." Home.olemiss.edu. Ole Miss. Web. 01

Dec. 2011. <http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/200/litcrit.txt>.

• Google Images

• Kids, Kids For. "Literary Criticism." 42explore: Thematic Pathfinders for All Ages. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. <http://www.42explore.com/litcrit.htm>.

• "Literary Criticism." Dictionary.reference.com. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literary%20criti>.

• "What Are the Pros and Cons of New Criticism?" WiseGEEK: Clear Answers for Common Questions. Web. 04 Dec. 2011. <http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-new-criticism.htm>.