New criticism focuses on close analysis of the text, rather than historical and biographical context. Advantages include coherent conclusions and focus on the literature itself, while disadvantages include missing vital details and ignoring the author’s life and subjective interpretation.
New criticism is a type of literary criticism that focuses primarily on an extremely careful and analytical reading of the text. This is opposed to the many older types of literary criticism, whose focus is the historical and social context in which the piece was written and biographical information about the author. Some of the advantages of the new criticism are that it is so closely based on the text that it invites coherent conclusions, and that analyzes focus primarily on the literature itself instead of sometimes extraneous historical and social issues. Disadvantages include that it could miss vital details about the context in which the piece was written, leading to incomplete analysis, and that it could also lead to uninformed conclusions if the author’s life is not sufficiently examined along with the text.
An advantage of the new criticism as a method of literary analysis is that it requires an explanation or careful reading of the text for the purposes of the analysis. A literary work is seen as an entity in its own right. It is examined, analyzed and checked to see what messages, themes and patterns are contained in the text itself. This means that each piece of writing analyzed is vibrant, alive and full of meaning because all analyzes are based entirely on the text itself.
This critique method can notice subtle features that might otherwise go unnoticed. Other types of criticism might focus on just a few elements, such as the psychology and motivation of characters in psychoanalytic literary criticism. The new critic may notice such things as the repetition of certain words, phrases or themes or the effect that the central point of view or conflict has on the work as a whole.
The disadvantages of the new criticism are that it ignores the historical and social context in which the work was written, as well as biographical information about the author. To ignore it is to overlook the fact that what was happening where and when the piece was written can have an important effect on the work. Many critics argue that a piece of literature cannot truly be separated from the context in which it was developed.
It can also be detrimental to serious analyzes of a work to ignore the author’s life and the influence he has on the work, especially since authors often choose topics that are important to them or write works that are unconsciously or consciously autobiographical. The authors’ explicit statements from their speeches or other writings explaining the meanings of their works are also ignored in this form of criticism. It also denies the subjective way in which literature can be read and interpreted. The method can also be overly technical, focusing on the rhyme scheme patterns in a work instead of the general broad meaning, for example. Types of criticism, like reader response, value the subjective experience of individual readers when analyzing a work.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
