Master Reference: All Major Critical Movements at a Glance
| Period | Movement | Key Figures | Core Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ancient (BCE-200 CE) | Classical (Western) | Plato, Aristotle, Horace, Longinus | Mimesis, Catharsis, Dulce et Utile, Sublime |
| Ancient India (200 BCE-1100 CE) | Classical (Indian) | Bharata, Anandavardhana, Mammata, Abhinavagupta | Rasa, Dhvani, Alamkara |
| Medieval (500-1500) | Medieval Criticism | Augustine, Dante, Boccaccio | Allegory, Biblical interpretation, Christian morality |
| Renaissance (1500-1650) | Renaissance Criticism | Sidney, Spenser | Defense of poetry, Golden world, Vernacular |
| Neoclassical (1660-1798) | Neoclassicism | Dryden, Pope, Johnson | Rules, Reason, Imitation, Decorum |
| Romantic (1798-1832) | Romanticism | Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley | Imagination, Emotion, Nature, Originality |
| Victorian (1832-1901) | Victorian Criticism | Arnold, Ruskin, Pater | Culture, Morality vs. Aestheticism |
| Early 20th (1915-1960) | Formalism, New Criticism | Shklovsky, Brooks, Empson | Form, Close reading, Text autonomy |
| Mid 20th (1950-1980) | Structuralism | Saussure, Barthes, Jakobson | Langue/parole, Codes, Signs |
| Late 20th (1960-2000) | Post-Structuralism, Theory | Derrida, Foucault, Lacan | Deconstruction, Power, Unconscious |
| Late 20th (1970-Present) | Political Criticisms | Marxist, Feminist, Postcolonial critics | Ideology, Gender, Empire |
| Contemporary (1980-Present) | New Approaches | New Historicism, Reader-Response, Cultural Studies, Ecocriticism | Context, Audience, Culture, Environment |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Russian Formalism (1915-1930) | What makes literature literary? | Analyze devices, defamiliarization, fabula/syuzhet | Ostranenie, Literariness, Device |
| New Criticism (1930-1960) | What does close reading reveal? | Close reading; analyze paradox, irony, ambiguity | Intentional/Affective Fallacy, Heresy of Paraphrase, Organic Unity |
| Structuralism (1950-1970) | What underlying structures govern meaning? | Identify codes, conventions, binary oppositions | Langue/Parole, Signifier/Signified, Codes |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deconstruction (1960-1990) | How does text undermine itself? | Find aporias, contradictions, undecidability | Différance, Logocentrism, Trace, Aporia |
| Post-Structuralism (1960-1990) | How is meaning deferred, plural? | Challenge stable structures, show indeterminacy | Death of Author, Writerly/Readerly, Intertextuality |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Freudian (1900+) | What unconscious desires does text express? | Analyze symbols, dreams, repressions, Oedipal themes | Id/Ego/Superego, Oedipus Complex, Dream-work, Repression |
| Lacanian (1950+) | How does language structure unconscious? | Analyze lack, desire, mirror stage, Symbolic order | Imaginary/Symbolic/Real, Mirror Stage, Objet petit a |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marxist Criticism (1930+) | How does text reflect/reproduce ideology? | Analyze class, base/superstructure, alienation | Base/Superstructure, Ideology, Hegemony, Class Struggle |
| Cultural Materialism (1980+) | How do texts participate in material history? | Historicize; analyze power, dissent | Containment/Subversion, Material Conditions |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Images of Women (1960-70) | How are women represented? | Critique sexist representations, expose patriarchy | Patriarchy, Stereotype, Misrepresentation |
| Gynocriticism (1970-80) | What is women's literary tradition? | Study women writers, female experience | Women's Writing, Female Tradition, Anxiety of Authorship |
| Gender Theory (1990+) | How is gender constructed? | Analyze gender performativity, queer readings | Performativity, Gender Trouble, Écriture Féminine |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Postcolonial Criticism (1978+) | How does literature relate to imperialism? | Analyze Orientalism, subaltern voices, hybridity | Orientalism, Subaltern, Hybridity, Mimicry, Third Space |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reader-Response (1960-1980) | How does reader create meaning? | Analyze reading process, gaps, interpretive communities | Implied Reader, Gaps, Interpretive Communities, Horizon of Expectations |
| Reception Theory (1960-1980) | How have texts been received historically? | Study historical receptions, changing horizons | Horizon of Expectations, Aesthetic Distance |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| New Historicism (1980-1990) | How do texts participate in history? | Juxtapose literary and non-literary texts; anecdotes | Historicity of Texts/Textuality of History, Self-Fashioning, Social Energy |
| Approach | Key Question | Method | Key Terms |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cultural Studies (1960+) | How does culture produce meaning/power? | Study all cultural forms; analyze ideology, resistance | Encoding/Decoding, Hegemony, Subculture, Popular Culture |
| Ecocriticism (1990+) | How does literature relate to environment? | Analyze nature representations, ecocentric vs. anthropocentric | Ecocentrism, Wilderness, Environmental Justice, Anthropocene |
| Binary/Concept | Theorist | Explanation |
|---|---|---|
| Mimesis | Plato vs. Aristotle | Plato: imitation = third remove; Aristotle: creative representation of universals |
| Form vs. Content | Formalists | Formalists: form determines meaning; Content = motivation for form |
| Langue vs. Parole | Saussure | Language system vs. individual speech acts |
| Signifier vs. Signified | Saussure | Sound-image vs. concept; arbitrary relationship |
| Synchronic vs. Diachronic | Saussure | Single moment vs. historical evolution |
| Fabula vs. Syuzhet | Formalists | Story (chronological events) vs. Plot (narrative arrangement) |
| Metaphor vs. Metonymy | Jakobson | Similarity vs. contiguity; poetry vs. prose |
| Imagination vs. Fancy | Coleridge | Synthetic/creative vs. associative/mechanical |
| Primary vs. Secondary Imagination | Coleridge | Universal perception vs. poetic creativity |
| Writerly vs. Readerly | Barthes | Active/open vs. passive/closed texts |
| Différance | Derrida | Difference + deferral; meaning never fully present |
| Logocentrism | Derrida | Western privileging of speech, presence, logos |
| Imaginary/Symbolic/Real | Lacan | Three orders of experience; Symbolic = language/law |
| Base vs. Superstructure | Marx | Economic base vs. cultural superstructure |
| Hegemony | Gramsci | Consent-based rule; common sense = hegemonic |
| Anthropocentrism vs. Ecocentrism | Ecocriticism | Human-centered vs. ecology-centered worldview |
| Phrase | Critic | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| "Poetry thrice removed from reality" | Plato | Art = imitation of imitation |
| "Poetry more philosophical than history" | Aristotle | Poetry shows universals, history particulars |
| "Dulce et Utile" | Horace | Poetry should delight AND instruct |
| "Echo of a great soul" | Longinus | Definition of the Sublime |
| "Golden world vs. Brazen world" | Sidney | Poet creates ideal world superior to nature |
| "Poet nothing affirms, therefore never lieth" | Sidney | Poetry = fiction, not factual claims |
| "Just and lively image of human nature" | Dryden | Definition of a play |
| "I admire him, but I love Shakespeare" | Dryden | Jonson vs. Shakespeare (Art vs. Nature) |
| "A little learning is a dangerous thing" | Pope | Shallow knowledge worse than ignorance |
| "To err is human, to forgive divine" | Pope | Humanity's fallibility |
| "The sound must seem an echo to the sense" | Pope | Form should match content |
| "Nothing can please many, and please long, but just representations of general nature" | Johnson | Shakespeare's universality = greatness |
| "Heterogeneous ideas yoked by violence together" | Johnson | Critique of Metaphysical wit |
| "Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" | Wordsworth | Definition of poetry (part 1) |
| "Emotion recollected in tranquillity" | Wordsworth | Definition of poetry (part 2) |
| "A man speaking to men" | Wordsworth | Poet = representative human, not superior being |
| "Living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception" | Coleridge | Primary Imagination |
| "Willing suspension of disbelief" | Coleridge | Poetic faith; reader accepts fiction |
| "Best words in best order" | Coleridge | Definition of poetry |
| "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" | Shelley | Poets shape culture, values |
| "Mind in creation is as a fading coal" | Shelley | Inspiration fleeting, involuntary |
| "Negative Capability" | Keats | Being in uncertainties without forcing reason |
| "Disinterested endeavour to learn and propagate the best" | Arnold | Definition of criticism |
| "See the object as in itself it really is" | Arnold | Objectivity ideal |
| "High seriousness" | Arnold | Essential quality of greatest poetry |
| "Sweetness and Light" | Arnold | Culture = Beauty + Intelligence |
| "Burn always with this hard, gem-like flame" | Pater | Aesthetic ideal - intense experience |
| "Experience itself is the end" | Pater | Process over product |
| "Defamiliarization / Ostranenie" | Shklovsky | Making familiar strange to renew perception |
| "Heresy of Paraphrase" | Cleanth Brooks | Can't separate meaning from form |
| "Intentional Fallacy" | Wimsatt & Beardsley | Judging by author's intention = error |
| "Affective Fallacy" | Wimsatt & Beardsley | Judging by reader's response = error |
| "In language there are only differences" | Saussure | Meaning = differential, not intrinsic |
| "Death of the Author" | Barthes | Author not origin of meaning; reader produces it |
| "There is nothing outside the text" | Derrida | Everything is textual, intertextual |
| "The unconscious is structured like a language" | Lacan | Linguistic turn in psychoanalysis |
| "Always historicize!" | Jameson | Opening imperative of The Political Unconscious |
| "One is not born, but rather becomes, a woman" | Beauvoir | Gender = social construction |
| "Gender is performative" | Butler | Gender = repeated acts, not essence |
| "Historicity of texts and textuality of history" | Montrose | New Historicism's motto |
| "Culture is ordinary" | Williams | Culture = everyday life, not elite |
| Exam Focus | Priority Topics | Key Skills |
|---|---|---|
| MCQ Identification | • Famous phrases & quotes • Dates and periods • Key works and critics • Movements and schools | Memorize quotes with critics Know chronology Distinguish similar concepts |
| Concept Questions | • Core theoretical terms • Binaries and distinctions • Methods and approaches | Understand definitions Compare/contrast concepts Know applications |
| Critic-Specific | • Major works and dates • Key arguments • Famous formulations | Link critic to concepts Know signature ideas Memorize key works |
| Application | • How to apply each approach • Typical questions each asks • Methods and techniques | Practice applying theories Understand practical use Know what each reveals |
| Often Confused | Distinction |
|---|---|
| Formalism vs. New Criticism | Russian Formalism (1915-30, Russia) vs. New Criticism (1930-60, USA/UK); both focus on text but different methods |
| Structuralism vs. Post-Structuralism | Structuralism = stable structures; Post-Structuralism = unstable, deferred meaning |
| Fabula vs. Syuzhet | Story (events in chronological order) vs. Plot (how story is told/arranged) |
| Langue vs. Parole | Language system (abstract) vs. individual speech acts (concrete) |
| Signifier vs. Signified | Sound-image vs. concept (NOT word vs. thing) |
| Imagination vs. Fancy | Coleridge: Synthetic/unifying vs. Associative/mechanical |
| Primary vs. Secondary Imagination | Universal perception vs. Poetic creativity |
| Catharsis vs. Rasa | Aristotle's purgation vs. Indian aesthetic bliss/tasting |
| New Historicism vs. Old Historicism | Texts/contexts mutual vs. History as background; History as text vs. objective facts |
| Cultural Materialism vs. New Historicism | UK/political vs. USA/apolitical; resistance possible vs. containment |
| Gynocriticism vs. Feminist Criticism | Study women writers specifically vs. Feminist readings of any text |
| Gender vs. Sex | Butler: BOTH culturally constructed (sex NOT natural) |