Introduction
Literary criticism is always possible when fictional theories are used. Most works of literature are understood well when the theories are used in explaining fundamental dynamics. Several theories have been developed to evaluate and interpret literary works, such as structuralism, formalism, deconstruction, and poststructuralism. The models usually have certain similarities, and they also differ in several ways (Bertens 1). The report aims to compare and contrast the formalism and structuralism as critical aspects of evaluating various works of art. The two theories focus on the structure of a specific text. Understanding the variations of the two theories is important in enhancing the understanding of different forms of art.
Most of the theories of literary analysis were coined many years ago. For instance, formalism was the primary tool which was used to analyze literature from the 1940s to the 1960s (Bertens 17). Currently, critics consider it as old fashioned since it tends to be autonomous and closed, implying; everything needed to comprehend the work is within the text. The theory is also referred to as intrinsic or objective because the reader does not require external sources to comprehend the literary text. The use of external sources is critical in understanding any literature work. For instance, the author’s biography is an essential external material needed to comprehend what inspired them to develop a theme and the setting of the text. Although the theory is considered old fashioned, its value cannot be entirely discounted. It focuses on literary devices such as, irony, simile, paradox, metaphors, and ambiguity.
Structuralism is different from the latter since it focuses on examining the structure of the text. Structuralism is the method of interpreting and analyzing cognition, human behavior, culture, and experience (Bertens 25). It majorly targets relations of contrast between features in the conceptual system. Structuralism reveals the relevance of all aspect and how meaningful they are depending on the language system of the people. The approach describes language as anything ranging from signaling to any other form of communication but does not describe it as speech or words. In analyzing a text, structuralism finds patterns of the phonemes and those of the language’s pronunciation. It focuses on the shared aims in a text and its genre. It also majors on going past the abstract ideologies or feature of a text to examine it deeply.
These theories share two main commonalities; both focus on the formal characteristics of a text, although structuralism does this differently compared to formalism. Both theories do not consent to the use of biographical evaluations in analyzing the text. They both seek to find fundamental elements in the text and make them explicit. Formalism puts the writer out of the picture and focuses only on the text for the analysis. Similarly, structuralism does not consider the author since the critics establish whether smaller units like language and plot are common in the entire literature and its genres.
The theories have more differences than similarities to consider when making comparison between them. Formalism focuses more on details of the text as compared to structuralism. Whereas structuralism goes underneath to look at less-abstract ideologies such as plot structures, formalism focuses on the use of irony in work. Structuralism is not restricted in critical analysis since they search for profound ideas from different works of a similar genre. At the same time, formalism only deals with a single work and does not outsource any information. Formalists look for meaning by looking at ambiguity and tensions, whereas structuralism does not discover meaning within a text but rather focuses on finding the shared ideas in literature.
Analysis of the poem The Howl by Allen Ginsberg
The Howl describes issues affecting the youth staying in urban areas in America in the mid-20th century. The poem describes issues of madness and their causes and consequences to the youths (Ginsberg 1). The persona is an observer of the madness trait, and he perceives and describes the actions clearly. At first glance, the poem looks vast and disorganized, however, it is not. The poem, is divided into three main sections. The author introduces his primary agenda in the first section and then expounds it deeper in the other two segments.
The opening of The Howl depicts the setting of the âbest mindsâ which reveals an urban setup, appealing to other urban areas with desperate vitality. There was a lot of music, vibrant quality and scholarly scenes in the urban areas, which led to the beats in the towns. Self-destruction and frustration of the âbest mindsâ in America are termed as the people of the Beat Generation. The poem reflects what America’s culture and politics had to do to those who did not conform to it between 1940 and 1950. The dominant culture within the time destroyed the generation and made it mad. The generation remained vulnerable, and thus the poet was inspired. The stimulation laid the critical foundation of her writing.
Ginsberg uses strong diction to describe the abolition of life and its implications through the human understanding of ideas such as eternity, time and self. The mess-up phrasing and extreme emotions in the poem correspond to the minds of the people described. The author uses many verbs, for instance, screaming, vomiting, cowered, broke and sank to violent, and gives the poem a hysterical tone which illuminates on the lives of the troubled (Ginsberg 34). The poem is titled “The Howl” which is symbolic to the cry of sorrow and emotion. The style of writing used by Ginsberg can be considered obscene and exaggerated. Allen’s work is essential since it challenges mainstream society values and chooses the oppressed with a masculine repression agenda.
Imagery is utilized in the poem to communicate the critical themes of the author. The poet states; “the oppressed were seeking the visionary Indian angelsâ (Ginsberg 48). Visionary has been used figuratively to imply the subjects were hallucinating and could look and notice angels who did not exist. The angels were a symbol of extreme beauty which was perceived by the oppressed. In conclusion, no good people existed because the subjects were just visionaries. The imagination of the Indian angels creates an important visual image. The oppressed lit their cigarettes in the boxcars, hence revealing smoking as a common habit which was embraced (Ginsberg 44). The described generation did not care about the impact of their deeds to those around them. Thus, imagery embraces figurative language and gives clarity to literary works such as poems.
Conclusion
Structuralism is more useful in analyzing poems, while formalism is essential in the analysis of texts. Despite the two theories sharing some similarities, they have numerous differences. Structuralisms deal with objective ideas which are easy to deal with since they deeply examine literature genres. Therefore, structuralism is better than formalism in the study of literature. However, it is important to understand the other literary theories used in the analysis of artistic work to choose the most appropriate one in every circumstance.
Works Cited
Bertens, Hans. Literary Theory: The Basics. Routledge, 2017.
Ginsberg, Allen. “Howl”. Poetry Foundation.