Arnold's Epochs of Expansion and Epochs of Concentration

After reading Contemporary Literary Theory: Its Necessity and Impossibility, I find that I agree with most of what Robert Young says in regards to literary theory. The main point that really struck home with me was when he talked about theorists lacking the ability to connect with a wide audience. He states, “Literary theorists seem to speak and argue with each other in a private language, making little effort to address a wider audience” (Young 165). I could not agree more with this assessment. When we first read about Jacques Derrida and his theory of deconstruction I questioned my intelligence. It may as well have been written in Greek. It has been a very long time since I have encountered something that left me with absolutely nothing after reading it. I tend to agree

The deconstruction school of literary criticism is different from the formalist and new critics, as well as the reader-response

This literary criticism is useful because it illustrates how the arts are connected, in this case, writing and painting. The arts are fluid and can translate between different mediums. The story is considered modern, but the painting is a classic. The character of Sammy is also meant to be relatable, even to future generations. The essay is well researched and soundly written; it is a good example of what a published literary criticism should look like.

Just like everything else in life, art has its critics. Art criticism is the expression used to describe the act of making selective judgments, both positive and negative, about an art piece. Just as art is so diversely expressed and interpreted, those who critique it also have various methods and use various standards when criticizing an art piece. There are many theories critics use to evaluate art but there are three basic theories most commonly put to use by professionals. The three basic theories are: formal theories, contextual theories, and expressive theories. Formal theories focus on the formalities of art. Critics using formal theories pay close attention to the making of a piece, how each section of the art piece works to form a visual experience that may or may not attract the attention of those who come across it. Formalists’ attention is centered on the formal organization rather than the themes, which they deem irrelevant. Contextualists, on the other hand, value the theme and its relevance to the times in which the artwork was created. The contextual theories deal with the context in which an art piece is used; what it symbolizes concerning the culture and values of the environment. Lastly, there are the expressive theories. Expressionists are more concerned with the artist and the personal expression put into the work. Also, because art is a method of communication, expressive theories

question John Berger, critic of art and author of the Ways of Seeing, raised in his essay, and it is

In 1990, the American Philosophical Association defined critical thinking as “purposeful, self-regulatory process that results in reasoned judgment”. Critical thinking can be defined in a number of similar phrases that all seem to focus on the importance of conscious analysis. Our text starts off with the working phases of critical thinking as analyzing thinking, evaluating thinking, and improving thinking. The process of critical thought is cyclical and not linear. Being a “fair-minded critical thinker” is not a permanent attribute, and it must be consistently worked at as applying intellectual standards and elements of reasoning instead of emotion can be difficult. Overall, to be a strong critical thinker you must work toward strong intellectual traits such humility, courage, and integrity to better represent issues and or arguments.

The research method I have demonstrated in this paper is called Pentadic Criticism derived from Kenneth Burke whom made

In the fourth stanza, the speaker unexpectedly begins talking to another party who was previously never mentioned. Up until this point, the reader is led to believe that the speaker is simply philosophizing alone. It is possible that this poem was written during Arnold's honeymoon in 1851, therefore,

poem is not merely a static, decorative creation, but that it is an act of communication between the poet and

Therefore, when someone engaged in narrative criticism approach, he needs to pay attention the text only. Text is mirror here, not window as historical criticism usually does. Again, it opens the readers up to new insights in the text that we may not have seen before, or that we may have unnoticed.

Art criticism, defined as the linguistic exploration of artworks, or talk about art (Feldman, 1970). Art criticism is driven by various individual perceptions, world views, morals, and values. Throughout this essay I will explain my thoughts and feelings about a particular piece of artwork I find fascinating. For this essay I will be focusing on Grant Wood's portrait painting of the American Gothic. The American Gothic painting was created in the 1930s and has become an iconic piece of art as well as in my opinion his greatest work.

Understanding her own purpose in writing, Barrett set out to perfectly portray it to others. This search for clarity in vocabulary is what drove her to create such complicated poetry that, unfortunately, more often than not, perplexed her critical contemporaries. Barrett characterizes her process of writing as being "thought-tied"

Matthew Arnold is one of the many famous and prolific writers from the nineteenth century. Two of his best known works are entitled Dover Beach and The Buried Life. Although the exact date of composition is unknown, clearly they were both written in the early 1850s. The two poems have in common various characteristics, such as the theme and style. The feelings of the speakers of the poem also resemble each other significantly. The poems are concerned with the thoughts and feelings of humans living in an uncertain world. Even though Arnold wrote Dover Beach and The Buried Life around the same time, the

A work of art can capture a moment in a person’s life. When observing art it’s almost like a snapshot of a brief point in time. The artist tries to create this specific point, and within this creates a story or meaning. The art has something to say and the artist wants you to react or take something away from this experience. The reaction is the function of the specific work of art. Whether it’s a favorable or awful reaction, the viewer still walks away changed.

The word New Criticism was appearing on the book, "The New Criticism", written by John Crowe Ransom. In his book, "The New Criticism", Ransom came up with a new formalist current, which emphasized close reading, particularly of poetry, to discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential aesthetic object. It soon became a dominated theory in the middle of 20th century in Anglo-America.( Tyson, 135)