Literary Analysis Theory

1.     Mimetic Theory

Definition

Mimetic theory is one of ancient theories in literature. The word mimetic itself derived from Greek word mimesis which means imitation. The theory of mimetic is very important in literature which the use is knowing how the literary work imitates life. The function of mimetic theory is conveying and teaching readers about positive moral value. 

Analysis

Sometime now past in the Autumnal Tide, 

When Phoebus wanted but one hour to bed, 

The trees all richly clad, yet void of pride,                   Stanza 1

Were gilded o’re by his rich golden head. 

Their leaves and fruits seem’d painted but was true 

Of green, of red, of yellow, mixed hew, 

Rapt were my senses at this delectable view. 

I wist not what to wish, yet sure thought I, 

If so much excellence abide below, 

How excellent is he that dwells on high?              Stanza 2

Whose power and beauty by his works we know. 

Sure he is goodness, wisdom, glory, light, 

That hath this under world so richly dight. 

More Heaven than Earth was here, no winter and no night. (Contemplation poem)

On the first stanza, the writer use mimetic theory which imitates the beautiful of world. On the second stanza, the writer praise the creator of the beautiful of nature.

2.     Pragmatic Theory

Definition

Pragmatic theory is kind of ancient literary theory which emphasis on the relation between the reader and a work. The literary work which has been constructed is treated to achieve certain effects on the audience. Effects may be for the aesthetic pleasure, instruction or any kind of emotion. Pragmatic criticism is concerned, first and foremost, with the ethical impact any literary text has upon an audience.

Analysis

O Time the fatal wrack of mortal things, 

That draws oblivions curtains over kings, 

Their sumptuous monuments, men know them not, 

Their names without a Record are forgot,                   (Stanza 33)

Their parts, their ports, their pomp’s all laid in th’ dust. 

Nor wit, nor gold, nor buildings scape times rust; 

But he whose name is grav’d in the white stone 

Shall last and shine when all of these are gone. (Contemplation Poem)

That stanza of contemplation poem has many pragmatic for reader. The author wrote such constructed complex meaning about time. There will be intended meaning on this stanza that can be taken as lesson.

3.     Expressive Theory

Definition

Expressive theory is one of classical theories in literature that kind of German movement of painting. Later it extended its admission to literary art too. Expressive criticism treats a literary work primarily in relation to the author. It defines poetry as an expression, or overflow, or utterance of feeling, or as the products of poet’s feelings. The theory tends to judge the work by its sincerity to the poets’ vision or the state of mind.

Analysis

I heard the merry grasshopper then sing, 

The black clad Cricket bear a second part.                                 (Stanza 9)

They kept one tune and played on the same string, 

Seeming to glory in their little Art.          

Shall creatures abject thus their voices raise? 

And in their kind resound their maker’s praise: 

Whilst I, as mute, can warble forth no higher layes.      (Contemplation Poem)

In that stanza, the author express her feeling that she is sad because cannot be like animal which praise to God.

4.     Objective Theory

Definition:

Objective theory is a theory of literature which focusing to the object as the evidence. The analysis of this theory no need for history or any other extrinsic element. The text here is supreme and once this text is produced the writers fizzles out and the only interpretation to be gotten is what can be inferred from the text, the direct message which the text itself has which has to be inferred within the text. to them there is no correspondence between the universe and the work and we cannot know the true nature of either the audience or the author. The only thing left to study is the work.

Analysis:

Once made, there is
one more Immortal
walking and stalking    (Immortal being)
the living and dying

On that stanza, there are alienation such like once-one, walking-stalking, living dying.

5.     Formalism

Definition:

Formalism refers to a style of inquiry that focuses almost exclusively on the features of the literary text only. It excludes the biographical, historical, or intellectual contexts. Formalism, also called Russian Formalism, Russian Russky Formalism, innovative 20th-century Russian school of literary criticism. By focusing on literary form and excluding superfluous contexts, Formalists believed that it would be possible to trace the evolution and development of literary forms, and thus, literature itself.

Analysis:

Roses are red,

Violets are blue;     (Roses are red)

Sugar is sweet,

And so are you.

That poem has a rhyme of ABAB. 

6.     New Criticism

Definition:

New criticism is a formalism development in literary theory. It dominated American literary criticism in twentieth century. Close reading is its way in analyzing literary work. It means that close reading is used for analyzing intrinsic element. It is useful to discover how a work of literature functioned as a self-contained, self-referential as aesthetic object.

Analysis:

Star light, star bright,

First star I see tonight;            (Star Light, Star Bright)

I wish I may, I wish I might,

Have the wish I wish tonight.

            The theme of that poem is hope. It can be seen from the wish which is stated by the author means pray to god.

7.     Structuralism 

Definition:

Structuralist theorists are interested in identifying and analyzing the structures that underlie all cultural phenomena.  They want to understand the "deep structure". Structuralists got the notion that everything could be analyzed in terms of a deep structure from the linguist Ferdinand de Saussure. He came up with this idea that language is a "sign system" made up of unchanging patterns and rules. The structuralists who were influenced by Saussure took that deep structure idea even deeper.

Analysis:

When I was one-and-twenty

       I heard a wise man say,

“Give crowns and pounds and guineas

       But not your heart away;         (When I was one and Twenty)

Give pearls away and rubies

       But keep your fancy free.”

But I was one-and-twenty,

       No use to talk to me.

            That poem is having 7676 rhythm. The theme is arrogant. It can be seen that the author ignore what a wise man said.

8.     Post-structuralism

Definition:

Poststructuralism takes us well beyond the world of New Criticism, which asks us to think about "the text and nothing but the text. Post-Structuralism is a late 20th Century movement in philosophy and literary criticism, which is difficult to summarize but which generally defines itself in its opposition to the popular Structuralism movement which preceded it in 1950s and 1960s in France. Structuralism rejected the phenomenological idea that knowledge could be centred on the human knower, and sought what they considered a more secure foundation for knowledge. A major theory associated with Structuralism was binary opposition. This theory proposed that there are certain theoretical and conceptual opposites, often arranged in a hierarchy, which human logic has given to text. 

Analysis:

The King of France went up the hill

With forty thousand men;                       (The King Of France)

The King of France came down the hill,

And never went up again.

            That poem has a meaning of falling. Came down and never again over there does not only mean lose. It can be mean that the king is dead who does not come up again to the thrown.

9.     Deconstruction

Definition:

Deconstruction as literary analysis, derived mainly from work begun in the 1960s by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida, that questions the fundamental conceptual distinctions, or “oppositions,” in Western philosophy through a close examination of the language and logic of philosophical and literary texts. In the 1970s the term was applied to work by Derrida, Paul de Man, J. Hillis Miller, and Barbara Johnson, among other scholars. In the 1980s it designated more loosely a range of radical theoretical enterprises in diverse areas of the humanities and social sciences.

Analysis:

Go to bed late,

Stay very small.    (Go to Bed Late)

Go to bed early,

Grow very tall.

            Deconstruction as an opposition theory will consider that poem has many meanings. The tall is not only physically tall of body. The word tall in the poem can be tall for luck, goodness, and many other.

10.  Hermeneutic

Definition:

Hermeneutics is the theory and methodology of interpretation, especially the interpretation of biblical texts, wisdom literature, and philosophical texts. Hermeneutics was initially applied to the interpretation, or exegesis, of scripture, and has been later broadened to questions of general interpretation. Hermeneutics is a wider discipline which includes written, verbal, and non-verbal communication. 

Analysis:

Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain,

Who after birth didst by my side remain,

Till snatched from thence by friends, less wise than true,

Who thee abroad, exposed to public view,

Made thee in rags, halting to th’ press to trudge,

Where errors were not lessened (all may judge).

            On that poem, the author stated Thou ill-formed offspring of my feeble brain, Who after birth didst by my side remain, we do not know who is Thou meant by the author. In hermeneutic, we can relate it with the history and biography. The word Thou in the poem refer to the author’s book which is published without permission by her brother-in-law