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The Traditional Approach
Scope & Nature
The traditional approach is the type of criticism •
which dominated the study of literature until the
1930s and is still employed in some classrooms
even today. In this approach the work of art
appeared to be of secondary importance,
something that merely illustrated background.
Such an approach led to the study of literature as
essentially biography, history, or other branch of
learning, rather than as art.
Importance of the
Traditional Method
Literature is primarily art, and it is necessary to assert
that art does not exist in a vacuum. It is a creation by
someone at some time in history, and it is intended to
speak to other human beings about some idea or issue
that has human relevance. Any work of art for that
matter will always be more meaningful to
knowledgeable people than to uninformed ones, for the
former will bring all their information, experience, and
feeling to contemplate the work, and they will be
moved and impressed by its beauty, by its unique kind
of knowledge, and even by its nonaesthetic values.
Therefore, the validity of the traditional method is
asserted.
Types of Traditional
Approaches
 The Historical/ biographical
 The Moral/ philosophical
I. Historical/Biographical
Approach
Definition The basic tenets of this approach are
clearly articulated in the writings of the 19th
century French critic H.A. Taine. This approach
sees a literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as
a reflection of its author's life and times or the
life and times of the characters in the work. It is
true that "almost every literary work is attended
by a host of outside circumstances which, once
we expose and explore them, suffuse it with
additional meaning".
Advantages:
This approach works well for some works-like those
of Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and Milton-which are obviously political in nature. One must
know Milton was blind, for instance, for "On His
Blindness" to have any meaning. And one must
know something about the Exclusion Bill Crisis to
appreciate John Dryden's "Absalom and
Acidophil." It also is necessary to take a
historical approach in order to place allusions in
there proper classical, political, or biblical
background.
Cont’d
One of the most important reasons that history and
biography are helpful is that knowledge of the
past gives readers a way to understand the
language, ideas, and purposes of literature more
deeply and clearly. For example, such knowledge
can make a reader aware of social trends and
convictions that would have influenced a writer's
attitudes and tastes. It can clarify allusions to
local and historical events and explain special
uses of individual words and expressions. In
short, it can show us why certain artists wrote as
they did. It can even identify differences between
contemporaries.
Disadvantages:
New Critics refer to the historical / •
biographical critic's belief that the
meaning or value of a work may be
determined by the author's intention as
"the intentional fallacy." They believe
that this approach tends to reduce art to
the level of biography and make it
relative (to the times) rather than
universal.
Historical Approach
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examines the work of literature in its sociological context
critic must consider both the intellectual as well as the social
environment at the time the work was written
who wrote it, why, and when
literary work as a reflection of its author’s life and times or the life and
times of the characters in the work
sociological context can be subdivided into two categories:
biographical context
– reflection of author’s life
– it is believed that the critic gains further insight into a work by
understanding how a writer’s life affects his/her work
historical context
– critics analyze influence of historical situation on writing
historical novel is better understood when either its milieu or that of its
author is understood – these books are in a real sense about these
historic events
* satire ridicules contemporary situations and persons
Historical events help shape a work
Central Historical Questions:
 What specific historical events were happening
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when the work was being composed? (See
timelines in history or literature texts.)
What historical events does the work deal with?
In what ways did history affect the writer's
outlook?
In what ways did history affect the style?
language? content?
In what ways and for what reasons did the writer
alter historical events?
Geographical:
Settings limit and define what writers can produce
Central Geographical Questions:
 Which geographical features in the text are actual?
 What aspects of the geography are essential to the
story? And which are nonessential?
 To what extent has the geography limited the kind of
story that can happen?
 In what ways has the writer altered the geography to
suit his or her purposes? Has the writer made any
geographical errors?
Cont’d
 Political:
Prevailing Political conditions often modify
a literary work
Central Political Questions:
 What political events are significant in the text?
 What political events were occurring at the time the text was
written? (See timelines in history or literature texts.)
 What political events were occurring at the time the text was
written?
 What political beliefs does the author seem to have? And how
are those beliefs shown?
 What political beliefs does the author seem to dislike? How
can you tell?
Philosophical and Religious:
The religious and ethical climate
influences writers and their texts.
Central Philosophical/Religious Questions:
 What religious or ethical beliefs does the text deal with
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directly? Are any religions or philosophies mentioned
specifically in the text?
What religious or ethical beliefs or philosophies does
the author seem to favor? How can you tell?
What religious or ethical beliefs or philosophies does
the author seem to disfavor? How can you tell?
What behaviors do the characters display that the
author wants us to think are “right”? How can you
tell?
What behavior is “wrong”? How can you tell?
Social conditions and notions of the origins
and cultures of humanity affect literature.
Central Sociological/Anthropological
Questions:
 What sort of society does the author describe?
(How is it set up? What rules are there? What
happens to people who break them? Who
enforces the rules?)
 What does the writer seem to like or dislike about
this society?
 What changes do you think the writer would like
to make in the society? And how can you tell?
 What sorts of pressures does the society put on
its members? How do the members respond to
this pressure?
Opposition to the Traditional
Approach:
The enemies to the traditional approach
to literary analysis have argued that it
has tended to be somewhat deficient
in imagination and has neglected the
newer sciences, such as psychology
and anthropology and that it has been
too content with a commonsense
interpretation of material.
To sum up
The traditional approach has performed one
valuable service : it has preserved scholarly
discipline and balance in literary criticism. This
does not mean to favor traditional criticism over
predominantly aesthetic interpretive approaches.
But any knowledge or insight (with special
reference to scholarly disciplines like history,
philosophy, theology, sociology, art, and music)
that can help to explain or clarify a literary work
ought to be given the fullest possible chance to
do so. Indeed, in some sense, these approaches
represent a necessary first step that precedes
most other approaches.
Cont’d
However, for many reasons, the social approach, as
it has been traditionally practiced, has waned in
importance over the past few years. Certainly the
influence of the new critics diminished its role.
The reluctance of readers to judge the worth of a
work by its social relevance, their desire to value
it for its aesthetic qualities, and their aversion to
studying society rather than literature caused
people to turn away from this perspective to
others that serve them in different ways.
Recommended Web Sites
 When you are interested in doing historical-
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biographical research, you will find research
quickly by doing an Internet search on the literary
time period and/ or the author's name. In addition,
the following Web sites are particularly helpful for
this kind of study.
http://www.ipl.org/ref/litcrit/
The Internet Public Library online literary criticism
site. An excellent source for all types of criticism,
but especially for the historical-biographical study.
http://www.ipl.org/ref/litcrit/guide.html
Another part of the Internet Public Library site.