By: Jim, Matt, Max, and Nick

Formalism: Noun  Strict adherence to, or observance of, prescribed or traditional forms, as in music, poetry, and art.

 Formalists look at specific words and elements to critique in a given piece.  Focus on grammatical, rhetorical, and mechanical structures of written pieces.  Focus on the patterns literary devices establish.  Special attention is paid to any repetition of images and symbols.  Formalists believe that richer vocabulary and vivid descriptions make a good book.

 Formalism began in and flourished in the 1940s.-1950s.  New Criticism flourished in 1941 and got its name from John Crowe Ransom’s novel The New Criticism.  Still widely used today.

 This approach can be performed without much research.  It emphasizes the value of literature apart from its context (in effect makes literature timeless).  Virtually all critical approaches must begin here with formalism.

 The text is seen in isolation.  Formalism ignores the context of work.  It cannot account for illusions.  It tends to reduce literature to little more than a collection of rhetorical, stylistic devices.

 We read ‘My Father and the Fig Tree’ by Naomi Shihab Nye.  We were asked to read this poem with a formalist approach.  This is what we came up with…

 In the second stanza, the author uses imagery to describe the ‘ideal’ fig.  In the first stanza, the author talks about Joha who is a trickster figure in Palestinian folktales.  In the second stanza, the author talks about Allah, Islamic god, and how a fig needs to be so good it would be fit for a god.  The fig tree is a symbol representing the father's love for his home country

 Middle Eastern Literature Packet.  Murfin, Ross, and Supryia M Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. N.p.: n.p., Bedfor St. Martins. Web. 30 Apr  "Formalism." Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com. Web. 01 May