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What are the different types of literary criticism?

Historical-biographical criticism
Historical-biographical criticism, sometimes referred to as traditional criticism, draws on an
author’s biography to better understand and analyze a text. All matters of biography, including
geography, race, class, gender, historical moment, and so on, can provide relevant information
to the critic engaging in this kind of criticism.

Moral-philosophical criticism
Moral-philosophical criticism operates under the assumption that literature performs a certain
ethical or moral role in society. With this in mind, moral-philosophical criticism analyzes texts
based on their ethical merits and is typically written within the framework of a prevailing school
of thought.

New criticism
New criticism engages solely with what the author has put on a page. It disregards outside
context and emotional response and instead places an emphasis on form, structure, and the
words themselves.

Reader-response criticism
Reader-response criticism is exactly what it sounds like: criticism based on the reader’s
response to the text. This approach asserts that a reader’s initial reaction is valuable information
for evaluation. While this approach is the most subjective, the critic is still required to
substantiate their reaction using the text itself.

Criticism can also be anchored in broader fields of study, such as feminism, Marxism, and
postcolonialism. Some common forms of literary criticism rooted in theory are:

Feminist criticism: understands a text through the lens of feminism and gender roles.

Sociological criticism: considers the political and social viewpoint of the author or characters
within the text.

Psychoanalytical criticism: uses the psychological state of characters to interpret and analyze a
text’s meaning.

Queer theory: analyzes a text through the angle of gender and sexuality.
Critical race theory: understands a text through the intersectional dimensions of race and
culture.

Critical disability theory: understands a text through the lens of disability and analyzes societal
structures that uphold ableism.

Texts on English Literary Criticism

In the western tradition the earliest literary theorists were the ancient Greek philosophers: Plato
(427 BC-387 BC) and Aristotle (384 BC-322 BC). It was Plato who first raised some basic
questions about literary works that still dominate the world of literary criticism. Some of these
questions are: what is fictional representa-tion? How does it differ from the real world? Can
fiction tell the truth? If so, what is the nature of fictional truth? How does the reader or audience
affect the artistic texts? And how in turn does a text or artwork influence the audiences'
response? Who decides, and on what grounds which texts are good and worth canonizing?
Should good literature be defined in technical and aesthetic terms? Or should we judge artworks
on social and political context, as discourses embedded in ideological systems?' About fictional
presentation in general, Plato commented that literature should be judged by ethical and
political standards. In his early career Plato wrote poetry, but coming in contact with his great
master Socrates he destroyed his poems, and concentrated on philosophy. In Chapter X of his
famous work Republic Plato obviously condemned poetry, and took up the cudgels on behalf of
philosophy. He used his famous concept mimesis in order to explain the imitative nature of art
that is far removed from reality. In fact Plato sensed some danger about the nature of poetic art,
and his notion about the poets was that poets are divinely inspired and they speak out by virtue
of some impulse of a mysterious, non rational kind, coming from some supernatural force,
outside their own personality. However Plato's pupil Aristotle took a different stand, and in his
Poetics he refuted Plato's charges though indirectly and without referring to his master's name.

That Aristotle is a better critic than Plato can be understood from his arguments put forward in
Poetics. Aristotle makes full use of the terminology and doctrines used by Plato, develops or
confutes them, and propounds theories of his own. By interpreting Plato's term mimesis,
Aristotle shows that poetry has a pleasing effect and it is morally and intellectually useful for
society. In Poetics Aristotle scrutinizes creative art of various kinds to suggest the appropriate
standard. In connection with tragedy Aristotle says that tragedy at the end produces cathartic
effects on our minds. Catharsis, Aristotle says, has not only a pleasing effect on our minds but
also purges our minds and helps us to be better citizens. Thus, Aristotle highlights the moral
and ethical effects of literature. In fact, Aristotle's Poetics is the best repository of criticism of
Greek literature and it is equally an important work of antiquity for studying any literature in the
world.

To begin with English literary criticism, it can be said that before the Renaissance period, there
was virtually no literary criticism. The theories of Plato and Aristotle, whose works became
available in translation, were used by the English literary circle to evaluate literary works. The
earliest significant critic in English is Philip Sidney (1554 - 1586), who was provoked to
write his canonical work “An Apology for Poetry” that was posthumously published in
[Link] work is considered to be the first systematic literary criticism in English.
Obviously, though Aristotle occupied much of Sidney's attitude in evaluating English
literary works, he was definitely original on several points. With scholarly arguments
Sidney refers to the antiquity of poetry to prove that poetry is the earliest branch of
knowledge from which other branches have taken their birth. He also refutes the puritan
critics' charges one by one and establishes the superiority of poetry over most other branches of
knowledge including history and philosophy. To refute the charge that 'poetry is the mother of
lies', Sidney says, like other branches of learning, mathematics and astronomy for
example, poetry does not confirm anything; so poets cannot be called liars. Again, poetry
does not make people effeminate because none of the categories of poetry (such as the heroic,
the lyric etc) has any harmful effect. About Plato's banishment of poets from his ideal
Republic® Sidney says that Plato himself wrote in poetic language and he was a great
lover of poetry; what Plato hated most was the abuse of poetry. To refute a charge like
'poetry is nothing but rhyming and versing' Sidney says that only rhyming and versing
cannot make a poem, as simply wearing a lawyer's gown cannot make one a lawyer.
Sidney clarifies his argument saying that rhyming and versing are the ornaments of
poetry, and not the fundamental elements of it. The main function of poetry is to teach
and delight. Sidney, however, goes on criticising contemporary poetry and dramas on the
yardstick of Aristotle's theory. He disapproves of those contemporary tragedies that
failed to fulfil the rules laid down by Aristotle. Sidney also finds faults with many
contemporary comedies which produced laughter instead of delight.

English literary criticism tended to come out of the rigid rules of the classic masters from
Dryden's criticism. While writing An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668), Dryden had some
questions in his mind, such as: what are the merits and demerits of English writing of the
time? What are the influences for English writing? Can the English writing during that
time be compared favourably or not to the writers of antiquity? Are French dramas and
verses superior to English? What is the value of the three unities? Are these unities
consistently applied by the ancients? By the French? By the English? If not, why not?
Should these conventions be an over-riding consideration? What is, or is not, the value
of rhyme in verse and drama? What is its place if any? What about the place of verse in
drama? Very technically Dryden discusses all such aspects by engaging some
characters in conversation. Rather than attempting to create a new set of 'rules' for
drama, comedy, or verse, Dryden's motive has been to review the existing, generally
accepted conventions and decide in what respects they are being followed, or whether
they should be followed at all by English writers. Fur-thermore, through the use of the
four-way dialogue, Dryden has been able to provide some insights into the prevailing
notions of the day. °

Dryden's liberal classicism is evident from his flexible attitude towards the rules of the
ancients. He applauses Shake. speare on the ground of his real worth as a writer who
possessed i more comprehensive soul' than others. In the Preface of this work Dryden
wrote, his purpose was chiefly to vindicate the honour of our English writers, from the
censure of those who unjustly prefer the French before them.'
In post-Restoration period Alexander Pope (1668-1744) domi. nates the English literary
scene. He was a poet, translator and lit erary critic. As a critic he follows the rules of the
ancient masters.
He wrote the critical essay An Essay on Criticism (1711) in verse form right in the fashion
of Horace's Ars Poetica." Pope was hardly twenty-one when he published this essay. The
poem is said to be a response to an ongoing debate on the question of whether poetry
should be natural, or written according to predetermined artificial rules inherited from the
classical past. The poem begins with a discussion of the standard rules that govern
poetry by which a critic passes judgement. Pope comments on the classical authors who
dealt with such standards, and the authority that he believed should be accredited to
them. He discusses the laws to which a critic should adhere to while critiquing poetry,
and points out that critics serve an important function in aiding poets with their works, as
opposed to the practice of attacking them.

The eighteenth century English literary criticism was highly influenced by Dr. Samuel
Johnson (1709-1784), the most important figure of the age.? As an editor of
Shakespeare's plays Johnson criticises Shakespeare in his Preface to Shakespeare. It is
to be. noted that Dryden had, to some extent, a liberal attitude towards the observance of
ancient rules, but he left the choice for the readers to judge Samuel Johnson was bold
enough to justify the defiance of unities as well as mingling of tragic and comic elements
in one play? He praises Shakespeare's plays on the ground of reality. He states that
Shakespeare's plays are 'just representations of general nature'. By nature, Johnson
means the observation of reality, and the existence of good and evil, joy and sorrow, love
and hatred etc.
He defends Shakespeare's mingling of tragic and comic elements on such ground of
reality because life is neither full of tragedy nor comedy, it is a mixture of the both.
Regarding unities there were charges against Shakespeare because Shakespeare did not
maintain the classical doctrine rigidly. According to Aristotle, the dramatic unities-
unities of time, place and action—are necessary for making the drama credible. (As far as
unity of action is concerned, Shakespeare is good at it. Johnson says that the other two
unities are the matter of imagination, and are subservient to the mind since the audience
does not confound stage action with reality. He states: '... the truth is that the spectators
are always in their senses, and know, from the first Act to the last, that the stage is only a
stage the players only players...the delight proceeds from our consciousness of fiction. If
we thought murders and treasons real they would please no more.
According to Johnson, the idea of unity of place
and time is contradictory in terms of reason and rationality. Such violations, says
Johnson, is positive for 'the comprehensive genius of Shakespeare.' However, he also
finds faults with Shakespeare on some other grounds. On the whole, what Johnson had
said in the Preface became important criticism in literary studies.
Towards the closing years of the eighteenth century, a big change took place not only in
the style and manner of writing po-ems, but also in the field of English literary criticism.