Literary Approaches Easy

It examines the ways in which literature (or artifacts, cultural productions) reinforces or undermines the economic, political social and psychological oppression of women.

• Feminist

• Formalist/Structuralist

• Marxism

• Moralist

This theory is well known to students because it dominated the study of literature from the 1930s to the 1970s.

• Feminist

• Formalist/Structuralist

• Marxism

• Moralist

This is a type of literary critique that judges the value of the literature based on its moral lessons or ethical teachings.

• Feminist

• Formalist/Structuralist

• Marxism

• Moralist

It deems it necessary to know about the author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his times in order to truly understand the work(s).

• Marxism

• Reader Response

• Historical

• Feminist

It focuses on the individual reaction and interpretation of a text by the reader as it is proposed that only the reader can give a text sufficient meaning.

• Marxism

• Reader Response

• Historical

• Feminist

She coined Transactional Reader-Response Criticism. She deemed that both the text and the reader are equally needed to form meaning

• Simone de Beauvoir

• Kate Millet

• Alexander Pope

• Louise Rosenblatt

She argued gender is socially constructed as it is performed, taught and reinforced into the concepts of masculinity and femininity.

• Simone de Beauvoir

• Kate Millet

• Alexander Pope

• Louise Rosenblatt

A French poet best known for his controversial volume of poems, Les Fleurs du mal.

• Charles Baudelaire

• Claude Levi-Strauss

• Alexander Pope

• Matthew Arnold

He is considered the “Father of Structuralism.” He developed the idea of studying the language of literary texts by focusing on the words and grammar play. 

• Charles Baudelaire

• John Milton

• Ferdinand de Saussure

• Matthew Arnold

He believes that literature is a supremely important source of moral guidance and spiritual inspiration.

• Charles Baudelaire

• John Milton

• Ferdinand de Saussure

• Matthew Arnold