PENALOSA, JAMES RYAN S.

Literature 22- A
AB Major in Political Science - III

The Formalistic Approach

The formalistic approach began with Aristotle (384-322 BC), a philosopher of ancient Greece, who in his book The Poetics
attempted to define the form of tragedy.  Aristotle wrote that the tragic hero was an essentially noble individual who, nevertheless,
manifested a flaw in character that caused him or her to fall from a high position to a low position. The flaw in character (hamartia)
was a kind of blindness or lack of insight that resulted from an arrogant pride (hubris).  During the course of the tragic action, the hero
came to a moment of insight-today it might be seen as an epiphany-that Aristotle called anagnorsis. 

Thus the tragic plot moves from blindness to insight.  As an imitation (mimesis) of a serious action, the tragic plot had to be
written in a dignified style.  The effect of the tragedy was supposed to be catharsis or the purging of the emotions of pity and fear.  All
the elements of tragedy went together to produce a formal unity: this is the essence of the formalistic approach.
 

The twentieth century formalistic approach, often referred to as the New Criticism, also assumes that a work of literary art is
an organic unity in which every element contributes to the total meaning of the work.   This approach is as old as literary criticism
itself, but it was developed in the twentieth century by John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974), Allen Tate (1899-1979), T.S. Eliot (1888-
1965), and others.

The formalist critic embraces an objective theory of art and examines plot, characterization, dialogue, and style to show how
these elements contribute to the theme or unity of the literary work.  Moral, historical, psychological, and sociological concerns are
considered extrinsic to criticism and of secondary importance to the examination of craftsmanship and form.   Content and form in a
work constitute a unity, and it is the task of the critic to examine and evaluate the integrity of the work.   Paradox, irony, dynamic
tension, and unity are the primary values of formalist criticism.

             Because it posits an objective theory of art, there are two axioms central to formalist criticism.  One of these is The Intentional
Fallacy which states that an author's intention (plan or purpose) in creating a work of literature is irrelevant in analyzing or evaluating
that work of literature because the meaning and value of a literary work must reside in the text itself, independent of authorial intent.
Another axiom of formalist criticism is The Affective Fallacy which states that the evaluation of a work of art cannot be based solely
on its emotional effects on the audience.

Instead, criticism must concentrate upon the qualities of the work itself that produce such effects.  The formalistic approach
stresses the close reading of the text and insists that all statements about the work be supported by references to the text.   Although it
has been challenged by other approaches recently, the New Criticism is the most influential form of criticism in this century.

Formalism is intrinsic literary criticism because it does not require mastery of any body of knowledge besides literature.   As
an example of how formalistic criticism approaches literary works, consider Shakespeare's Macbeth.  All the elements of the play
form an organic whole.  The imagery of the gradual growth of plants is contrasted with the imagery of leaping over obstacles:
Macbeth is an ambitious character who cannot wait to grow gradually into the full stature of power, but, instead, must grasp
everything immediately.  A related series of clothing images reinforces this point: because Macbeth does not grow gradually, his
clothing does not fit.  At the end of the play, his "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" soliloquy drives home the point as we see,
and pity, a man trapped in the lock-step pace of gradual time.  Formalistic critics would immediately see that the repetition of the word
"tomorrow" and the natural iambic stress on "and" enhance the meaninglessness and frustration that the character feels.   References to
blood and water pervade the play, and blood comes to symbolize the guilt Macbeth feels for murdering Duncan.  Even the drunken
porter's speech provides more than comic relief, for his characterization of alcohol as "an equivocator" is linked to the equivocation of
the witches.  Shakespeare's craftsmanship has formed an aesthetic unity in which every part is connected and in which the whole is
greater than the sum of the parts.

Analysis of "To His Coy Mistress"

By Andrew Marvell
Using the
Formalistic Approach
by
Noah Ward

In the Formalistic Approach you look at the poem and its words without taking the author and the time period into effect.
This poem is a very humorous poem that most guys, especially in modern times, would enjoy. This poem is about a guy who meets
this girl and tries to get laid. There are three stanzas in this poem. In this poem each stanza the guy tries to smooth talk the girl into
having sex. In this poem there is no real setting. It does not say where the two people are talking. The point of view of the poem is first
person. The poem is told through the eyes of the guy doing the talking. That could be considered the setting, because that is the only
information we have.

In the first stanza the guy tries to smooth talk the woman. In this stanza the guy talks about having all the time in the world.
He uses phrases such as Love you ten years before the Flood, an hundred years should go to praise, two hundred to adore each breast,
but thirty thousand to the rest. Each of these phrases uses great imagery to show the amount of time they might have. The guy uses
these phrases to show his "love" for the woman. He says he if they had eternity then he would love her forever; he would dedicate
centuries to different parts of her personality. He talks about how his love for her would never end. It will grow with the times and last
forever. He also talks about how they will go on long walks and talk about their love. This stanza is the dream stanza that women want
to hear. They want a man that would love them forever, go on long walks, and worship them to the fullest. The ironic thing is that in
this poem we see a guy that is the complete opposite of what girls' want, which we see in the later stanzas.

The next stanza starts with the word But. This word plays a big role in this poem. It begins the change in the poem. In the
earlier stanza he was talking about spending eternity with her, then we have this But. Now the poem has changed from a romantic
mood toward a sexual mood. For instance, Time's Winged chariot hurrying near shows us that the whole first stanza was a bunch of
lies. The guy is now changing his whole mind set. Sure he might love her forever, but right now he just wants to fool around with her.
The second stanza begins his transition toward sex. He is trying to smooth talk the girl in the first stanza. He says how he would love
to spend eternity with her and he could dedicate centuries to her. Then we have the word But. This shows that he would like to spend
eternity with her, but they don't have eternity. Time is short. They only have one lifetime to love each other. He says that worms will
have her virginity if they do not hurry and do it. Then he says the phrase, and into ashes all my lust. What he is saying is that they are
going to die soon and with his death will go his love.

The third stanza finishes the transition by beginning with the word Now. He goes from loving her forever to Marvin Gaye's
great song, Let's Get It On. He then says that they are only going to be young for so long. Their love might not last forever. One day
one of them if not both is going to get old and they might not have the same attraction to each other. In this stanza the guy is being
very blunt. He wants it. The guy uses great metaphors in an attempt to get laid. He says that they need to hurry and have sex before the
sun comes up. Throughout this poem he went from loving her for eternity to saying that they need to do it now before the sun comes
up.

Throughout this poem we have seen the impatience of the guy go from having eternity to spend to having only one night of
love for her. He uses great metaphors to try and persuade her to go up to his room. We do not know if he failed or not, but we can
probably guess that he did not.

"A slumber did my spirit seal"

- is a poem written by William Wordsworth in 1798 and published in the 1800 edition of Lyrical Ballads. It is usually included as one
of his Lucy poems, although it is the only of the series not to mention her name. This is considered Wordsworth's crowning
achievement.

Background - During the autumn of 1798, Wordsworth travelled to Germany with his sister Dorothy and fellow poet Samuel Taylor
Coleridge. From October 1798, Wordsworth worked on the first drafts for his "Lucy poems", which included "Strange fits of passion
have I known", "She dwelt among the untrodden ways" and "A slumber". In December 1798, Wordsworth sent copies of "Strange fits"
and "She dwelt" to Coleridge and followed his letter with "A slumber". Eventually, "A slumber", was published in the 1800 edition of
Lyrical Ballads.

Unique amongst Lucy poems, "A slumber" does not directly mention Lucy. The decision by critics to include the poem as part of the
series is based in part on Wordsworth's placing it in close proximity to "Strange fits" and directly after "She dwelt" in the Lyrical
Ballads.

Poem - The Lucy poems falls within a genre of poems that includes Robert Herrick's lamentations on the death of young girls. Written
in spare language, "A slumber..." consists of two stanzas, each four lines. The first is built upon an even, soporific movement in which
figurative language conveys the nebulous image of a girl. The poem begins:

A slumber did my spirit seal;

I had no human fears:
She seemed a thing that could not feel
The touch of earthly years. (lines 1–4)

The second stanza maintains the quiet, even tone of the first, but serves to undermine the former's sense of the eternal by
revealing that Lucy has, by the time of composition, died. The narrator's response to her death lacks bitterness or emptiness; and
instead takes consolation from the fact that she is now beyond life's trials and

No motion has she now, no force;

 She neither hears nor sees;
Rolled round in earth's diurnal course,
With rocks, and stone, and trees.(lines 5–8)

Themes - Lucy is an isolated figure in which the narrator responds to her death. The beginning of the poem, according to
Wordsworth biographer Mary Moorman, depicts a "creative sleep of the senses when the 'soul' and imagination are most alive." This
idea appears in other poems by Wordsworth, including Tintern Abbey. The space between stanza one and stanza two depicts a
transition of Lucy from life into death. The two stanzas also show that Lucy, a being connected intrinsically to nature, dies before she
can attain her own distinct consciousness apart from nature. However, as literary critic Geoffrey Hartman explains, "Growing further
into consciousness means a simultaneous development into death [...] and not growing further also means death (animal tranquillity,
absorption by nature)." The lifeless rocks and stones described in the concluding line convey the finality of Lucy's death. Boris Ford
argues that within the second stanza as "the dead girl is now at last secure beyond question, in inanimate community with the earth's
natural fixtures." Coleridge, in a letter to Thomas Poole, states, "Whether it had any reality I cannot say. Most probably, in some
gloomier moment he had fancied the moment when his sister might die."

Coleridge's reference was to the state of Lucy as dying or dead within the Lucy poems as a whole and to "A slumber" in
particular. Although Lucy cannot be established, it is certain that there is a relationship between the name Lucy and Wordsworth's
sister within Wordsworth's poetry since Wordsworth used the name Lucy in reference to his sister in many poems, including "The
Glow-Worm" and "Nutting". The problem with relating Lucy to Dorothy is in explaining why Dorothy would be presented in a state
of death. Within other Wordsworth poems like The Prelude, Dorothy is presented in a lively state. As such, the poems are most likely
not about Dorothy but just a continuation of a theme in general.

Lucy is presented as character connected to nature who exists in a state between the spiritual and human; similar to a
mythical nymph. However, she represents a state of consciousness and exists within the poem as part of the narrator's consciousness.
The first stanza describes the narrator transcending human fears because his feelings towards immortality connected to Lucy, a feeling
brought up in "Strange fits". These feelings of immortality continue in the second stanza because, though dead, she is separated from
him by death. She is always a being connected to nature, and the narrator slumbers because his understanding of Lucy is not
conscious.

Since Lucy exists on an unconscious level for the narrator, he cannot grasp her until she has died. As such, he experiences the
events as one who is woken from a dream without an understanding of what the dream entailed, and is not able to feel shock at
learning of her death. This is thematically represented in the poem by placing Lucy's death between the two stanzas.

Upon receiving Wordsworth's letter containing a copy of "A slumber", Coleridge described the work as a "sublime epitaph".
Wordsworth's friend Thomas Powell wrote that the poem "stands by itself, and is without title prefixed, yet we are to know, from the
penetration of Mr. Wordsworth's admirers, that it is a sequel to the other deep poems that precede it, and is about one Lucy, who is
dead. From the table of contents, however, we are informed by the author that it is about 'A Slumber;' for this is the actual title which
he has condescended to give it, to put us out of pain as to what it is about."

In 1967, Hartman claims that within the poem, "Wordsworth achieves the most haunting of his elisions of the human as a
mode of being separate from nature." John Mahoney, in 1997, emphasizes the poem's "brilliant alliteration of the opening lines" along
with pointing out that "the utter simplicity masks the profundity of feeling; the delicate naturalness of language hides the range of
implication"