Contexts for Criticism

This revised edition describes the major forms of literary criticism, including historical criticism, formal criticism, reader-response criticism, mimetic criticism and structural criticism. It then applies these to three literary works: Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Chopin's "The Awakening" and Keats's "Ode to a Grecian Urn". Concise introductions to each chapter describe literary criticisms which are then illustrated by six essays. New to this edition are many new essays, new chapters on post-structural criticism and new historicism, and improved representation of feminist criticism, particularly in four of the seven new essays on "The Awakening".
 
This revised edition describes the major forms of literary criticism, including historical criticism, formal criticism, reader-response criticism, mimetic criticism and structural criticism. It then applies these to three literary works: Shakespeare's "Hamlet", Chopin's "The Awakening" and Keats's "Ode to a Grecian Urn". Concise introductions to each chapter describe literary criticisms which are then illustrated by six essays. New to this edition are many new essays, new chapters on post-structural criticism and new historicism, and improved representation of feminist criticism, particularly in four of the seven new essays on "The Awakening".