What is literary theory?

All theory is a response to Plato

In the Republic Poets can’t be trusted, and are (bad for society, subversive) because they lie.
Types of Theory:
M.H. Abrams, The Mirror and the Lamp
-Mimetic (poem and the universe)
-Pragmatic (poem and the audience)
-Expressive (poem and the poet)
-Objective (the poem itself)
Mimetic
Mimesis-imitation
The best poems capture the higher reality they seek to imitate (imitates the universe most closely)
Pragmatic
Social and/or didactic function of the poem (teach, please, entertain)
Pragmatic theorists establish aesthetic rules to judge (skill(art) of the poet; taste(judgment) of the reader)
Impact of the poem on the reader
Expressive
Relationship between the poem and the poet
Poetry is self-expression (Romantic view)
Captures the inner workings of a poet’s psyche
Poetry has a personal rather than social function
Prophetic rather than didactic purpose
Poetic is a “seer”
Poet and poem are closely linked
Objective
Look at the poem as itself
Internal relationships of the poem as an object (universe, poet, are not as important as the poem itself)
Poem is a self-contained, self-referential artifact (it’s a microcosm-its own little world; has its own observable
laws)
Internal structure
Formalism
Formalism stresses the importance of literary form in determining the meaning of a work.
Biographical, historical, and social questions are irrelevant to the work’s “real” meaning.
Formalists read the text closely, paying attention to organization and structure, verbal nuances, multiple
meanings.
Formalist critics try to reconcile the tensions and oppositions in the text in order to develop a unified reading.
The American formalist movement, called new criticism, was made popular by college instructors. It was seen as a
way for students to work along with an instructor instead of listening to lectures.
Reader-response criticism is a view that opposes formalism. Reader-response critics see a reader’s interaction
with a text as central to its interpretation. They feel a literary work has gaps that a reader must fill in from his or her
own experiences and knowledge. Every reader supplies personal meanings or observations; this makes each readers
response unique.
Differing interpretations by different readers can be seen as different personalities constructing meaning form the
same series of clues. The reader not only “creates” the literary work, but the literature may alter the reader’s
experience and interpretation.