 Practical Criticism: in its most general sense, what readers have been

doing since the emergence of the first work of literature, be it oral or

written. Today it also includes the practical function of critics.
 Theoretical Criticism: what theoreticians of literature do. In the
west, it is assumed to have begun in the 5th century BCE Athens.
 The performance of Aristophanes’ play, The Frogs in 405 BCE as a part
of a contest dates the beginning. The play was subjected to the
judgement of some kind of an authority who decides the best play,
with respect to certain criteria. The authority here is supposed to have
given a start to the ongoing debate “about the nature and function of
literature”, introducing “the formal study of literary criticism”.
  The Antiquity
 Plato (c. 427 – 347 BCE)
 Works of criticism: Among others, in Ion, Crito and The
Republic he expressed his ideas that “laid the foundation for many […]
of the pivotal issues of philosophy and literature, including concepts of
truth, beauty, and goodness; the nature of reality; the structure of
society; the nature and relations of being (ontology); questions about
how we know what we know (epistemology); and ethics and morality.
 Main concepts: His doctrine of ideas, also known as essences, or
forms. According to it:
 Ultimate reality is spiritual, which he calls The One. It is composed of
“ideal” forms that exist beyond this world and common human
understanding.
 Our physical world is composed of the shadows, replicas, or imitations
of these ideal forms.
 For instance: the idea of a chair precedes the existence of a physical
chair.
 His techniques for discovering truth are logic and reasoning.
 As we have seen, for Plato the ultimate reality is in the world of ideas,
and the physical world is but an imitation of it. So, for poets are the
imitators of the physical world, their practice is based upon imitating
these imitations. Thus, the productions of poets are twice distanced
from the ultimate reality. In addition, poets do not make use of logic
and reason, but use inspiration. As a result, a poet’s craft does not lead
people to the ultimate reality. Just the opposite, it embodies the danger
of setting bad examples before people. This is the reason for Plato’s
famous banishment of poets from the society he prospects. Actually, he
admits them into the state, as long as they “are themselves good and
also honourable in the state”. With this, Plato refers to “poetry’s
function and value in and for his society”, recognising its effect on
citizens. If poets are “mere imitators of reality”, namely, good liars, they
are to be sent to exile from the state. If they sing the praises of loyal
Greeks, they may stay.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The function of poetry
(namely, literature)
 Influence: Plato initiates the still-existing debate on the value,
nature, and worth of literature, and of those who produce works of
literature.
 The catchphrases: Poetry is the imitation of the imitation.
Poetry is twice distanced from the ultimate reality.
 Aristotle (384 – 322 BCE)

 Works of criticism: In Poetics, Aristotle states the general principles

of tragedy, as he saw them at the time, in accordance with his
principles of philosophy.
 Main concepts: Mimesis, which gathers all the arts under the roof
of imitation. In this, Aristotle agrees with Plato. However, as Plato sees
the art of poetry as a potential threat against the order in society, for
Aristotle it may prove helpful in the improvement of society.
 This disagreement has its roots in the differing approaches of these
two philosophers towards the idea of imitation. Against Plato’s idea
that “imitation is two steps removed from the truth or realm of the
ideal”; Aristotle deems “that poetry is more universal, more general
than things as they are” for “ ‘it is not the function of the poet to
relate what happened, but what may happen –what is possible
according to the law of probability or necessity’ ”. Comparing it with
history, Aristotle concludes that poetry is a more philosophical and
therefore higher thing. This is because the historian writes of what
has already happened, whereas the poet writes of what could and
should happen. Aristotle explains it as the tendency of poetry to
express the universal (with respect to universal truth); as history
tends to express the particular (namely, what happened in a
particular case).
 So, for Aristotle, poets do not imitate the physical world as it is, but
create an imitation of it as it should be, and this paves the way that gets
to the ideal as near as possible.
 Comedy versus tragedy: In its most general sense, a comedy
imitates the actions of the ones who are inferior to the audience. It
does not reflect those people’s vices, however, but merely what is
ridiculous, caused by “some error or ugliness that is painless and has
no harmful effects”.
 A tragedy, however, analysed in detail in the Poetics, is defined as:
 “an imitation of a noble and complete action, having the proper
magnitude; it employs a language that has been artistically
enhanced by each of the kinds of linguistic adornment, applied
separately in the various parts of the play; it is presented in
dramatic, not narrative form, and achieves, through the
representation of pitiable and fearful incidents, the catharsis
of such pitiable and fearful incidents”.
 Tragedy is an organic whole, which means that it has a
beginning, a middle and an end; and its parts are all interrelated. The
three unities of time, place and action all serve to this sense of
wholeness.
 Tragic hero is a noble man of a positive character, but he is not
faultless. So, his misfortunes and ultimate downfall are caused by
some error or frailty in his own character. This is what we call his
tragic flaw, or hamartia.
 Catharsis is the aimed emotional effect of a tragedy on its
audience. It is the purgation, or purification of the emotions of the
audience by the end of the play.
 Main area of interest in criticism: Literary form
 Influence: Literary criticism’s concern with the compositional
elements of a work began with Aristotle’s Poetics. It set the standard
with respect to which literary works (especially in drama) are judged
for ages, including the Renaissance and the 18th century.
 The catchphrase: Poetry tends to express the universal, not the
particular.
 Horace (65 – 8 BCE)

 Works of criticism: From Ars Poetica (The Art of Poetry) and a

personal letter it is possible to gain an understanding of his views
with respect to literature.
 Main concepts: In these texts Horace aims to provide a guideline
on how to be a good writer. His advices basically include that poets:
 Should imitate other poets, especially the poets of the past, and
particularly the Greeks.
 Should write about traditional subjects in unique ways
 Should avoid all extremes in subject matter, diction, vocabulary
and style; gaining mastery in these skills by reading and
following the examples of the classical Greek and Roman
authors.
 Should avoid appearing ridiculous and must therefore aim
their sights low, not attempting to be a new Virgil or Homer.
 Literature’s ultimate aim is to be “sweet and useful” (dulce et
utile), and therefore it is the task of the poet to aim for
the both in his works. He should aim to teach and
delight.
 Main area of interest in criticism: Literary taste (namely, the
features that makes a literary work good)
 Influence: His views on literature “became the official
cannon of literary taste during the Middle Ages, the
Renaissance, and partly in the Neoclassic period.
 The catchphrase: Literature’s ultimate aim is to teach
and delight.
 Longinus (lived in the 1st century)

 Work of criticism: On the Sublime

 Main concepts: One cannot accurately judge a literary work, unless
one is exceedingly well-read.
 What is great in a work, Longinus names as sublime. This is an
aspiration for higher, for “something more divine than we”. All readers
possess the innate capacity to recognise it. The harmonious response
of our intellects, emotions and wills to a work of art means that we
have been touched by the sublime.
 The author must possess a great mind and a great soul.
 The text must be composed of dignified and elevated diction,
disposing the reader to high thoughts.
 The reader’s reaction to a work matters only if as the audience they are
learned enough.
 Main area of interest in criticism: Single elements of a text
 Importance: He is the first literary critic to quote in his writings
from a different tradition than his own (from Hebrew). In that he
deserves the title of the first comparative critic in literary history.
 He is also the first critic to define a literary classic.
 His critical method and concepts can be seen as foreshadowing
various schools of literary criticism that emerged in the 20th century
(including New Criticism and reader-oriented criticism).
 Plotinus (204 – 207)

 Works of criticism: He penned 54 treatises, (most probably)

posthumously collected, edited and given the name The Enneads.
 Main concepts: Unity with The One is the goal of humanity, for
humanity exists in other forms of being (such as intelligence, Soul
and Matter) that stem from but are separate from it.
 All particular souls form only one Soul.
 Influence: He is the founder of neo-Platonism.
 Thinkers and authors of the subsequent centuries adopted and
adapted his philosophy into their own systems of thought (from St
Augustine and Boethius in the 4th and 5th centuries to the American
Romantics Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson) .
 The way the West has come to perceive Plato and his works depends
mostly on the writings and teachings of Plotinus.
  The Italians

 The Middle Ages:

 Dante Alighieri (1265 – 1321)

 Works of criticism: Letter to Can Grande della Scala, originally a

letter, in which he explains his literary theory.
 Main concepts: The language spoken by the people (the
vernacular) is an appropriate and beautiful language for writing.
 Allegory and symbolic language, techniques used in religious writings,
can be used in secular works, as well (as he said that he did in The
Divine Comedy).
 Main area of interest in criticism: The proper language for poetry
 Influence: The common tongue became an acceptable means of
expression in literature, thus paving the way for an increase in
audience.
  The Renaissance:

 Giovanni Boccaccio (1313 – 1375)

 Works of criticism: On the Genealogy of the Gods of the Gentiles
(1374), which makes it possible for us to catch a glimpse of the literary
criticism of the period.
 Main concepts: The purpose of poetry is to improve life by
revealing both truth and God.
 Poets are similar to philosophers in that they seek truth through
contemplation rather than reason.
 Poets are equal to theologians in that they seek knowledge about God
himself, and find it in allegory.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The function of poetry
 Influence: His defence of poetry had been effectual throughout the
Renaissance.
 He is frequently quoted by the authors of the subsequent centuries,
such as Chaucer, Spenser, Jonson, Milton and Shelley.
 His defence paved the way for Sidney’s Defense of Poesy.
  The English

 The Renaissance:

 Sir Philip Sidney (1554 – 1586)

 Works of criticism: An Apology for Poetry (originally Defense of

Poesy, 1595) is the definitive formulation of Renaissance literary theory
and the first influential piece of literary criticism in English history.
Sidney’s sources include Plato, Aristotle, Horace and several of his own
contemporary Italian critics.
 Main concepts: Poetry is an art of imitation, as defined by Aristotle
with the concept of mimesis.
 Poetry is not a mindless or immoral activity.
 Poetry’s chief concern is to “teach and delight”.
 Poetry is more valuable than history, law, and philosophy; and it
embodies the truth above all other arts and sciences.
 The unities of time, place and action are elemental in a tragedy.
 Creative poetry is similar to religion for both function through
stirring the emotions of the reader.
 Poets affirm morality, blend truth with symbolism, and give
delight.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The function of poetry
 Influence: The English tradition and history of literary criticism
begins with Sidney.
  The Neoclassical Period (1660 – 1700):

 John Dryden (1631 – 1700)

 Works of criticism: An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668)

 Main concepts: A drama must stick to the three unities.
 The language of a play must observe “proper” speech.
 The violent actions should not be shown onstage, it would be quite
“improper”, and therefore against decorum.
 English drama is better than the French.
 Shakespearean tradition in drama is defended.
 The rhymed verse in drama is more valuable than the blank verse.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The appreciation of literary
works by their audience
 Influence: Dryden develops the study of literature in and of itself,
not with respect to morality or religion.
 He creates a natural, simple prose style which Dryden develops the
study of literature in and of itself, not with respect to morality or
religion.
 He creates a natural, simple prose style which is still effectual on
writing in general, as well as on literary criticism.
 He brings the best insights of various schools of criticism together
(from Greek to French), by making use of these critical perspectives.
 He advocates for the establishing of objective principles of criticism,
at the same time moving the focus of criticism from merely the formal
features of a work, into a more modern issue, namely the appreciation
of the texts by readers and critics.
 The key concepts: concepts such as decorum, politesse (namely,
courteous formality), clarity, order, decorum, elegance,
cleverness, wit are definitive of Dryden’s style, as well as the period
he produces his works.
  The Age of Reason:
 Also called the Augustan Age (after the Roman Emperor Augustus)

 Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719)

 Works of criticism:His essays published in the newspaper he started

with Richard Steele, namely, The Tatler and The Spectator. These
essays were the readings of classical and contemporary literary works.
 Main concepts: Philosophy, through common sense, can mould
the humankind.
 The past critics (the Ancient ones) have already said all there is to
say, thus contemporary criticism must rely on and justify their ideas.
 Greatness of literature (also called the sublime) is not mechanical
superiority, but the potential of a work to display the immensity of life
in a way that transcends imagination.
 The aim of the critics should be to set bridges between common
people and great works of literature and criticism. The means to
do it includes well-written prose and wit.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The value and function of
literature
 Influence: Literature and criticism became a matter of interest for
the common people.
 The catchphrase: “To enliven morality with wit and to temper wit
with morality”.
 Alexander Pope (1688 – 1744)

 Works of criticism: Essay on Criticism (1711), in which he attempted

to codify Neoclassical literary criticism, and therefore addressed
primarily to literary critics.
 Main concepts: The golden age of criticism is the classical age,
the age of Homes, Aristotle, Horace, and Longinus, who discovered
the truth about “unerring nature”.
 A good poet needs to be natural genius, adorned with a knowledge
of classics and an understanding of the rules of poetry; balancing
himself through politeness and grace in terms of style. His emphasis
on defining the boundaries of style makes his literary theory a
rhetoric one.
 The works of such a poet seeks to reaffirm truths or absolutes
already discovered by the classical writers. This makes his theory
of criticism mimetic.
 The task of the critic is to validate and maintain classical values
in the ever-shifting flux of cultural change. Thus, he is the one who
defines and defends good taste and cultural values.
 Main area of interest in criticism: Literary taste
 Importance: Examining his Essay on Criticism, it is possible to gain
an insight into the 18th century thought and literary criticism.
  The Romantics:

 William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)

 Works of criticism: In his preface to the second edition of Lyrical

Ballads (1798), Wordsworth explains the new vision of poetry he
shares with Coleridge, giving us a glimpse of the beginnings of a
radical change in literary theory.
 Main concepts: The subject matter for his poetry is driven from
common life.
 The” proper” language of poetry is as it is really used by people.
 The manner is the natural state of excitement.
 The poets do no longer need to follow a prescribed set of rules, for the
aim is that they freely express their own individualism.
 Readers are to decide in accordance with their own feelings, not
having to base their judgements upon that of others.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The elements and subject
matter of literature
 Influence: Imagination is valued over reason in the composition of
poetry, which resulted in new definitions of poetry and poet, as well
as new judging criteria on behalf of the reader.
 The mimetic and rhetorical theories of the past centuries are shifted
towards expressive theories. Highlighting the individuality of the
artist and carrying readers into a privileged position in the
appreciation of literature.
 The catchphrases: “All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings”.
Poetry takes “its origin from emotion
recollected in tranquillity”
 Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 – 1822)

 Works of criticism: A Defence of Poetry (1821), as an answer to an

attack on Romantic poetry.
 Main concepts: Shelley blends Plato’s concept of the Ideal Forms
with his own understanding, and the result is that poetry is the best
way to reach at these Forms and at the ultimate truth.
 Individual and imagination are defended against the Neoclassicism’s
emphasis on order and reason.
 Plato’s Forms go hand in hand with the Romantic ideal of imagination.
Thus, poetry is less concerned with reason and rationality; and,
more concerned with the spiritual and the transcendental.
 The basic criteria for the judgement of poetry are the imagination
and the emotions; not didactic structural elements.
 Poetry is a teacher and a guide to Truth, and it is embodied in
nature and the individual, not in science, reason, or philosophy.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The function of literature
 Importance: Shelley represents the shift in thought from the Age of
Reason or Neoclassicism to Romanticism, manifesting itself in literary
criticism.
  The 19th Century and the Early 20th Century:

 Hippolyte Adolphe Taine (1828 – 1893)

 Works of criticism: The History of English Literature (1863) that can

be seen as the first example of the approach we today call the
historical approach.
 Main concepts: To study only the text without considering the
author and his/her inner psyche would result in an incomplete
analysis. So, the text and the author should be examined
together.
 The environmental causes that should be taken into consideration
in the process of analysis are:
 Race: authors’ inherited and learned personal characteristics
 Milieu / surroundings: authors’ culture, intellectual concerns
 Moment /epoch: the time period in which the work is written
 Dominant faculty: each author’s individual talent that
differentiates it from others
 Main area of interest in criticism: The meaning of the text
 Influence: The text can now be approached as a literary object that
can be dissected to discover its meaning. Literary works are now
seen as the results of their histories.
 The catchphrase: A work of art is “the result of given causes”.
 Matthew Arnold (1822 – 1888)

 Works of criticism: In his essays “The Study of Poetry” and “The

function of Criticism at the Present Time” Arnold assumes a position
that combines the ancient theories of criticism with the current
emphasis on the objectivity of knowledge.
 Main concepts: Poetry can provide necessary truths, values, and
guidelines for society.
 The best poetry is of a “higher truth and seriousness” than history
– or any other human subject or activity, such as religion, science, and
philosophy.
 Literature reflects the society in which it is written, and for this
reason presents its values and concerns.
 A classic work of literature belongs to the “highest” or “best” class.
 Seriousness goes hand in hand with moral excellence.
 The critic is to be objective, not having an interest in worldly affairs
such as politics, which may breed bias. Thus, paving the way for high
culture will be possible.
 The critic is to refer to the ideas and expressions of the masters of the
antiquity, using them as the chief criterion in the judgement of
poetry.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The function of poetry
 Influence: Arnold’s aim for an objective criticism results in the
opposite direction. Now, the critic is not only an interpreter of literary
texts, but also has a duty as the authority on values, culture, and tastes
of the society.
 Henry James (1843 – 1916)
 Works of criticism: In his essay “The Art of Fiction” (1884), James
states that the English novel “had no air of having a theory, a conviction,
a consciousness of itself behind it – of being the expression of an artistic
faith, the result of choice and comparison”. For this reason, in this essay
he assumes the task of providing the novel with a theory of its own.
 Main concepts: A definition of the novel as: “a personal, a direct
impression of life: that […] constitutes its value, which is greater or less
according to the intensity of the impression”.
 A novel must be interesting.
 Readers do not suspend their disbelief (against what Coleridge claimed)
as they read a literary text. So, a novel must be realistic.
 A work of art is organic, with a life of its own, not a mere collection of
realistic data.
 Third person narration is preferable rather than omniscient narration. It
creates a greater sense of illusion.
 It is the reader who decides the value of a text, not the critics.
 Main area of interest in criticism: Criticism of novel as a genre
 Influence: The genre of novel became a respectable topic for literary
critics.
 His emphasis of realism started a debate which has not concluded yet.
 Mikhail Bakhtin (1895 – 1975)

 Works of criticism: Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Poetics (1929),

Rabelais and His World ([1946] 1968), The Dialogic Imagination: For
Essays by M.M. Bakhtin (posthumously, 1981) and in his essay
“Discourse in the Novel” he applies his ideas to the novel.
 Main concepts: The concept of the dialogic is central to his critical
theory, which proposes that all language is a dialogue in which a
speaker and a listener form a relationship.
 Another key term is heteroglossia (from Russian, literal meaning:
“other or different tongues”), which demonstrates the multiplicity of
languages that operate in any given culture. This term is not limited to
the spoken language, but encompasses a wider scope. It includes all
the forms of social speech that people use in their daily activities. Each
varying act of speech, Bakhtin calls a dialogic utterance.
 The term polyphony, in its most basic sense, proposes that multiple
viewpoints coexist in the body of a single novel. This implies that
there are many truths, not one, and none of which is particularly
certain. The multiplicity of truths, claims Bakhtin, creates a
carnivalistic atmosphere, a sense of joyful relativity. In polyphonic
novels, there exists a carnival sense of the world, a sense of joyful
abandonment where many voices are simultaneously heard.
 Main area of interest in criticism: The language of the text
 Influence: Bakhtin’s ideas have become the starting point for often
conflicting multiplicity of voices in contemporary cultural theory.
  Modern Literary Criticism
 In the 20th century, the tendency among the various new schools
of criticism has been the abandonment of the holistic approach of
the former ages, which investigated, analysed, and interpreted all
elements of the artistic situation. This former tendency has been
replaced, instead, by theories that concentrate on one or more
specific aspects (such as focusing on the text only).