Class Assignment ( Assigned By Prof Dr Sohail Ansari)

By: Zameer Ali Zardari

Q:  Denial of influences external to the writer is beneficial as it does not prejudice analysis; however a writer is molded into the cauldron of time. Examine formalistic approach in the light of above statement.

Formalist Criticism: 

 This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.” All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text’s content to shape its effects upon readers.

My Comment on this Assignment:

The formalistic approach to criticize any literary piece deals with the analysis of the written piece only on its basis of forms, style ,vocabulary and figures of speech like metaphors, simile and hyperbole etc, in this approach the critic has nothing to do with writer , the only thing he has to consider the written piece of literature in front of him, because if he keeps personality in his mind, he may have confliction, prejudice, hatred for that person and he may also have total different ideology and concepts as compared to the writer. In this sense it is a fine approach to criticize any literary piece of the writer, but in order to understand the essence and themes of mastery piece it is necessary to see his personality in accordance with time/era/age, because writer has the potential and actual talent to produce but it is his personality or situations of society that molds him to write any piece of literature as Hudson states that literature is expression of personality. According to French epigram “art is life seen through temperament”. it means that literary art is an expression of life through the temperament of the writer and literature mirrors this temperament . the mirror the writer hold to the world is the mirror of his own personality and individuality and hence it is also necessary to criticize any piece of literature according to personality contemporary to age, for example a literature is written for any specific calamity, the grieves, sorrows in the literature cannot be felt and analyzed sitting in a drawing room and taking a cup of tea.