Slide 1 Formalism EH 4301 Spring 2011 Slide 2 And though one may consider a poem as an instance of historical or ethical documentation, the poem itself, if literature is to be studied as literature, remains finally the object for study. A poem should always be treated as an organic system of relationships, and the poetic quality should never be understood as inhering in one or more factors taken in isolation. Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren Understanding Poetry Slide 3 Early part of 20 th century Historical/biographical research dominated literary scholarship Extrinsic analysis of times/life of author Philosophical/moral Valued moral qualities exhibited in text Impressionistic What matters is how we feel or what we personally see in a work Romanticism remnant Concerned with artists feelings and attitudes presented in works
Slide 4 Formalism Declared objective existence of poem Only the poem itself can be objectively evaluated, not the feelings, attitudes, values and beliefs of the author or reader. the text itself Slide 5 Emerged as a powerful force in 1940 s New Critics John Crowe Ransom Robert Penn Warren Cleanth Brooks Alan Tate Andrew Lytle Donald Davidson Slide 6 Emerged as a powerful force in 1940 s I ll Take My Stand (1930) Understanding Poetry: An Anthology for College Students (1938; 1976-4 th ed.) Understanding Fiction (1943; 1956; 1979) Emerged as leading form of textual analysis in American universities through the late 1930s until the early 1970s.
Slide 7 Roots in early 1900s British critics and authors who helped lay foundation of New Criticism: T.S. Eliot I.A. Richards Samuel Taylor Coleridge A literary piece exists in its own way. Slide 8 Eliot The poet does not infuse the poem with his or her personality and emotions, but uses language in such a way as to incorporate within the poem the impersonal feelings and emotions common to all humankind. Poetry is not, then, the freeing of the poet s emotions, but an escape from them. Because the poem is an impersonal formulation of common feelings and emotions, the successful poem unites the poet s impressions and ideas with those common to all humanity, producing a text that is not a mere reflection of the poet s personal feelings. Slide 9 Eliot Good reader of poetry must be instructed in literary technique. Perceives the poem structurally Acquainted with established poetic traditions Must be trained in reading good poetry Elizabethans John Donne Other metaphysical poets
Slide 10 Poor reader Simply expresses his or her personal emotions and reactions to a text Untrained in literary techniques and craftsmanship Slide 11 Poor reader: A poem can mean anything its reader or its author wishes it to mean. Good reader: Only through a detailed structural analysis of a poem can the correct interpretation arise. Slide 12 Objective Correlative Indirect and impersonal theory of the creation of emotions in poetry. The only way of expressing emotion through art is to find an objective correlative a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events which shall be the formula of that particular emotion." When the external facts are presented, they somehow come together (correlate) and immediately evoke emotion.
Slide 13 Assumptions New Criticism The study of imaginative literature is valuable. To study poetry or any literary work is to engage in an aesthetic experience that can lead to truth. Poetic truth involves the use of imagination and intuition (discernable ONLY in poetry) Through examination of the poem itself, we can ascertain truths that cannot be perceived through the language and logic of science. Slide 14 NC begins with defining its object of concern (POEM). Possess its own being; exists like any other object. an artifact; an objective, self-contained, autonomous entity with its own structure Wimsatt: poem becomes a verbal icon THE TEXT ITSELF Slide 15 Objective theory of art Meaning of a poem must not be equated with its author s feelings or stated or implied intentions. Public text to be understood by applying standards of public discourse Intentional fallacy fundamental error of interpretation
Slide 16 Do not deny the poem is somehow related to its author. Eliot used the following analogy: Chemical reactions occur in the presence of a catalyst Catalyst: element that causes, but is not affected by, the reaction Poet s mind is the catalyst for the reaction that yields the poem. Slide 17 NC give little credence to the biographical or contextual history of the poem. If intentional fallacy is correct, biographical data will not help us ascertain a poem s meaning. Although social and political context may indeed help in understanding the poem, its real meaning cannot reside in this extrinsic or outside-the-text information. Slide 18 Reader s emotional response to the text is neither important nor equivalent to its interpretation. Affective fallacy Confuses what a poem is (its meaning) with what it does (the emotions it produces). Leads to impressionistic responses & relativism chaos
Slide 19 Where do we find the poem s meaning? Because it is an artifact or object, meaning must reside within its own structure. Like all objects a poem and its structure can be analyzed scientifically. Through Close Reading, we can ascertain the structure of the poem to see how it operates to achieve its unity and to discover how meaning evolves directly from the poem itself. Slide 20 The poet s chief concern: How meaning is achieved through the various and sometimes conflicting elements operating in the poem itself. Slide 21 Etymology of individual words is important to NC. Word meanings change from one time period to another Critic must research and discover what individual words meant at the time the poem was written.
Slide 22 Literary Language Relies on connotation Implications, associations, suggestions, evocation of meaning, shades of meaning Communicates tone, attitude, and feeling Father: authority, protection, responsibility Scientific language Relies on denotation Father: male parent Slide 23 Slide 24 Chief characteristic of poem: Coherence Organic unity: all parts of a poem are interrelated and interconnected, with each part reflecting and helping to support the poem s central idea. Allows for the harmonization of conflicting ideas, feelings and attitudes, and results in a poem s oneness. Oneness Achieved through Paradox Irony Ambiguity Tension