Critical Lenses Review

Critical Lenses

Looking at literature through critical lenses to question and understand

The idea or question is not "the lens," (ie, a thesis statement or work is not "gender"). The reader developed the ideas by looking through the lens, (the thesis was developed by examining the work through a "gender lens").

Looking THROUGH one lens might lead to certain questions or ideas that are different than if one looks through a different lens.

Critical Lenses are a way of looking at art

What a critical lens IS and IS NOT

Reader Response:

Focuses on the reader and his or her experience reading the work rather than the author’s intent or the content

EX: To me, “The Road Not Taken” is about making tough choices.  It reminds me of growing up near Busse Woods and walking around, thinking about making difficult decisions.

Reader Response

Gender Criticism:

Looking at gender roles in a text to determine if the author is supporting or challenging cultural norms

EX: Through the grandmother’s attitude towards her granddaughter's dress, O’Connor shows how gender roles affect the clothing women choose to wear and how others respond to those choices.

Gender Criticism

Marxist Criticism:

Looking at social class and status in a text to determine if the author is supporting or challenging norms, specifically capitalism

EX: “The Road Not Taken” shows how wealth can allow contemplation about decisions that working people do not have the leisure to think about.

Gender Criticism

Marxist Criticism:

Looking at social class and status in a text to determine if the author is supporting or challenging norms, specifically capitalism

EX: “The Road Not Taken” shows how wealth can allow contemplation about decisions that working people do not have the leisure to think about.

Marxist Criticism

Formalism:

Looking at an author's stylistic choices and how these affect a work. This lens examines HOW an author writes.

EX: Robert Frost’s use of rhyme and meter makes his lines of poetry more memorable than if they were written in free verse.

Formalism

Psychoanalytical Criticism:

Looking at symbolic meanings to understand the inner psyche and thoughts of characters or the author.

EX: Frost’s woods suggest that Frost had inner conflicts and the fork in the road is symbolic of his personal struggle to make decisions.

Psychoanalytical Criticism

Historical Criticism:

Looking at context (like the author’s life, the time in history in which the piece was written, author’s intent) to understand a text.

EX: Robert Frost’s life in New England affected the imagery in many of his poems.

HIstorical Criticism

Archetypal Criticism:

Looking at archetypes (something that keeps occurring in literature over time and throughout cultures) and how these affect our understanding of a text

EX: The woods in Robert Frost’s “Road Not Taken” follow the archetype of The Forest: a symbol of the mental journey and obstacles protagonists must face to learn about themselves and their capabilities.

Archetypal Criticism

Multiple Choice

This lens looks at the inner workings of a character's or the author's mind. It might analyze symbols and what they suggest.

• Formalism

• Psychoanalytical

• Gender

• Marxist

Multiple Choice

This lens connects the reader's experiences (including what he or she has read, viewed, or knows) to the text.

• Psychoanalytical

• Gender

• Reader Response

• Historical

Multiple Choice

This lens looks at the author's life and historical context to better understand the text and the author's intentions.

• Psychoanalytical

• Reader Response

• Archetypal

• Historical

Multiple Choice

This lens examines tropes and symbols that are familiar because they have appeared throughout times and cultures to see if they are used in the same way in the text.

• Archetypal

• Gender

• Marxist

• Historical

Multiple Choice

This lens examines how the working class is treated by the ruling/aristocratic class to highlight oppression and bring about equality and social change.

• Marxist

• Gender

• Formalism

• Reader Response