introduction to formalism

1. evdumlao

2. PASAKALYE
literature was
talking about almost
everything except
itself

3. formalism
Russian
formalism
American new
criticism
FORMALISM

4. Literary criticism
as a science
FORMALISM: Russian
formalism

5. Poetic language
vs.
Practical language
FORMALISM: Russian
formalism

6. literature
FORMALISM: Russian
formalism
"organized violence
committed on ordinary
speech.“ --roman jakobson

7. literature
FORMALISM: Russian
formalism
heap of literary devices

8. FORMALISM: Russian
formalism
foregrounding
literary devices
estranging effect

9. FORMALISM: Russian
formalism
defamiliarization

10. FORMALISM: Russian
formalism
Not the
THING
but its
THINGNESS

11. FORMALISM: Russian
formalism
“The purpose of art is to impart the sensation
of things as they are perceived, and not as
they are known. The technique of art is to
make objects ‘unfamiliar’, to make forms
difficult, to increase the difficulty and length
of perception, because the process of
perception, is an aesthetic end in itself and
must be prolonged. Art is a way of
experiencing the artfulness of an object; the
object is not important.
--Viktor Shklovsky

12. FORMALISM: New American Criticism
Literary text is self-contained
and self- referential

13. FORMALISM: New American Criticism
human truth is impenetrable
to science
buried inside connotative language –
metaphor, allusion, symbolism, etc.

14. FORMALISM: New American Criticism
close reading
discover universal
values and human
truths

15. FORMALISM: New American Criticism
values of christianity

16. FORMALISM: New American Criticism
affective fallacy
Intentional fallacy

17. D O V E G L I O N
05 Agosto 1 9 0 8 - 07 Pebrer0 1 9 9 7

18. First, lover, and, last, lover, grammatiq:
Where, rise, the, equitable, stars, the, roses, of, the, Zodiac,
And, rear, the, eucalypt, towns, of, love:
—Anchored, Entire, Angel:
Through, whose, huge, discalced, arable, love,
Bloodblazes, oh, Christ's, gentle, egg: His, terrific, sperm.
comma poem
- fromAnchoredAngel

19. adaptation
 And then suddenly,
A life on which one could
Stand. Now it carried one and
Was conscious of one while it
Carried. A stillness in which
Reality and miracle
- adapted from Letters from Rainer Maria Rilke

20. It is what I never said a
What I’ll always sing – b
It’s not found in days a
It’s what always begins b
In half dark, in half light. c
It’s shining so curved d
Yet rises so tall and tells c
Where the first flower dove d
When God’s hands lost love. e
It’s a great word without sound f
Without echo to reveal e
Where fragrance went down! f
O, but it’s all of it there g
Above my poems on Wreath. g
Lyrics 1 reversed consonance

21. poetika
 artsakist
“Poetry is expertness in language in
form, not in meaning; and the
true meaning of the poem is its
Expressive Force rather than its
content --

22. poetika
the language of poetry being a
mode of action, a transmitter of
energy rather than of
information.”
- The New Doveglion...

23. poetika
“...why have I not written poems or stories
of social significance?

24. poetika
Because I am an artist, and in the kind of art
I believe in and to which I have given my
whole allegiance, there is no place for
anything that has to do with social,
economic or political problems.

25. poetika
The whole function of the poet is
to arouse pleasure in the
beautiful. Propaganda does
something else.”