Comparison Between Formalism, Structuralism and New Criticism

Comparison between the Three Schools

Literary criticism is a method of analyzing literature by explaining the literary work to the readers. Over the course of many centuries, humanity has developed many different means of attaining that explanation. This essay will seek to compare and contrast the values and tenets of Formalism, New Criticism and Structuralism.

"New" criticism involves the actual analysis of the words and structure in literature. In high school, most students learned the literary elements that are observed by "new" critics such as paradoxes, ironies, ambiguities, etc. "New" criticism analyzes the use of these literary elements and their effect on the literature. "[It] attempts to be a science of literature." Formalist criticism can be seen as synonomous to new criticism but it highlights narrative conventions like setting, plot, and characterization. Formalist critics analyze these narrative conventions' effects on the structure of literature and how they enhance its meaning. Structuralist criticism is also somewhat synonomous but it has its own focus. Structuralist critics look for the use of signs and symbols in literature and their effects on a work's meaning. Writing involves the use of language which is basically the manipulation of signs and symbols to make meaning. Structuralist critics look for how certain signs and symbols add to the meaning of literature.

Consequently, they exhibit an intrinsic attitude to the study of literary texts. This means that these approaches are not concerned with external references to the text such as historical, politic, social and economic ones. Instead, they focus solely on the study of the text. Thus, the Russian formalists, as the name indicates, were concerned with form, the New Critics were preoccupied with the deep meaning of a text, and the Structuralists concentrated on structures and its rules in the system of language. Thereby, all three approaches incite a careful close reading of the text and dismiss any socio-historical context to the literary work. All schools see that literature is nothing but the use of language. And these are the similarities between such schools.

While differences are: First of all, we have to consider that these theories developed in different times and places, so they asked different questions and