Literature
Literature just like art, fashion and film, is known to reflect the society. Literature describes the daily life describing its ups and downs in a well-documented medium. Through literature, humans can explore their experiences and use it to search deeply for the meaning of humanity. Literary criticism is a well-informed response that a reader makes as a response to how they feel about a piece of literature. The insights of this article can be better understood by using analytical approaches to describe and evaluate its meaning.
The article “Reading Literature: Decline and fall?” immediately captures the interest of the reader as it gives an insight to the nation’s declining level in literary reading. The articles give an interesting insight on the changes in the reading patterns. It goes a step further and describes the implications for contemporary society and the meanings which various types of reading and literature may have for their audiences. The writer uses literature to make connections and contributions to the daily life of the reader. The literary piece presents new knowledge about the history of reading culture. This stimulates personal change by challenging the reader to be part of the reading community (Iannone, 2005).
“Using a Formalist Approach in Your Critical Essay” is the most widely used approach in literary criticism. This approach focuses on the form and development the literary work has used. Every writer chooses to use a particular literary tool to create a representation of something that exists in their imagination. In order to use this approach certain questions need to be answered; a literary critic has to know what makes the setting so memorable; why the plot is intriguing and if any surprises occur. The critic should go further and answer how the characters were described, contrasted and developed. The critic should explain if figurative language was used to create mood or reveal the theme. The critic should also answer the point of view that was used. Finally, they should answer the literary conventions and forms that contributed to the appeal of the literary work in question.
The setting of the article is particularly memorable. The writer uses both present and historical facts to create a mental picture in the mind of the reader. The plot is intriguing; it triggers deep interest from the reader by making them try and choose to be on one side of the reading culture. The characters used in the literary piece are the American people. The writer shows contrast when he compares how the different races influence the different reading cultures. The writer also uses age difference to show the gap between the different set of readers.
The writer uses figurative language to pass across his message and make his literary work interesting. For example, when he says “The individual is thrown back on himself” this is an idiom taken to mean that an individual is despised (Iannone, 2005). The literary work also contains metaphors, for example, “sensation of desire” (Iannone, 2005). The use of figurative language is very interesting and helps the reader feel as if they share the same experience with the writer. The use of factual statement and description of the work of other authors his work makes the article easy to grasp. This makes the article so appealing. This also helps the reader to get the writers point of view. In the end, the reader appreciates and relates to the literary piece.
References:
Colston, H. L., & Katz, A. N. (2005). Figurative Language Comprehension: Social and Cultural
Habib, R. (2008). A history of literary criticism and theory: From Plato to the present. Malden, Mass: Blackwell Pub.
Iannone, C. (2005). Reading Literature: Decline and fall? Academic Questions, 18(3), 6-15
Influences. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
