1. Formalism, a.k.a., New Criticism

2. originated in 1920s and 1930s begins with the shape or structure of a work of literature interested in genre, verse or prose, metrical or free verse, etc. Formalists treat a literary work as a self-contained, self-referential object

3. Not interpreted based on a reader's response to it (a.k.a. affective fallacy), author's stated or inferred intention (intentional fallacy), or parallels between the text and historical contexts (author's life, sociopolitical climate, etc.)—these are subjective biases Not interpreted based on a reader's response to it (a.k.a. affective fallacy), author's stated or inferred intention (intentional fallacy), or parallels between the text and historical contexts (author's life, sociopolitical climate, etc.)—these are subjective biases literary work is a finished product, set off from history, biography, and the reading process literary work is a finished product, set off from history, biography, and the reading process form and content cannot be separated; form is meaning form and content cannot be separated; form is meaning

4. literature is primarily symbolic and metaphoric; cannot paraphrase literature literature is a special kind of language irony, paradox, and ambiguity are the measuring sticks of great art criticism can be objective and the "true" meaning of a text can be known objectively—attempt to be scientific

5.  method: Look at tensions, paradoxes, and ambivalences within the text; show how they're resolved and integrated  problems: Every text builds on pretexts; text has no meaning unless someone reads it; also, identifying "great art" is subjective  John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, Cleanth Brooks (Southerners based in Vanderbilt U.) (Southerners based in Vanderbilt U.)