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It explains how performance, reading, and oral delivery shape character portrayal and require self-conscious critical judgment. The handbook traces criticism’s historical roots from archaic Greece through classical, Hellenistic, and early Roman transitions, then highlights early Athenian contests and major philosophical influences such as Plato.",{"@graph":69,"@context":114},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/an-easy-handbook-on-literary-criticism/318040/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/an-easy-handbook-on-literary-criticism/318040.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Lucas Martin","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-09-21","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":8},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What role did ancient Athens play in the earliest forms of criticism?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"The handbook describes contests during festivals for Dionysus, where official judgments determined which author produced the best drama, and it cites Aristophanes’ The Frogs as an example of literary-critical discussion for large audiences.","Answer","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":116,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":118,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":120,"site_id":62},318040,1789997585,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":123},{"doc_id":120,"user_id":124,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":125,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":126,"file_id":127,"file_url":128,"file_type":129,"file_size":130,"view_count":8,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":131,"language":132,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":133,"faqs":134,"seo_title":135,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":136,"read_time":137},8796095360427,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_994ba38a5ba835b3df7d355c54d3ed8d","AN EASY HANDBOOK ON LITERARY CRITICISM  \nBy  \nHima J. Babu Aparna Krishnan Sethulakshmi A.  \nUnder the supervision of Kalyani Vallath  \nBackground  \nThe term “Criticism” is derived from the ancient Greek term “Krites” which means “to judge”. The first type of criticism probably occurred during the process ofpoetic creation itself: in composing his poetry, a poet would have made certain“judgements” about the themes and techniques to be used in his work, about what his audience would approve, and about his own relationship to his predecessors in the oral or literary tradition. Hence this creative act itself was also a critical act involving inspiration, selfassessment, reflection, and judgement.  \nThe performance of a written text effectively involves an interpretation of it, which affects the way audience perceives ofits various elements and character portrayals. For example, our conventional perception ofthe Shakespearean character ofthe Jewish moneylender Shylock (The Merchant ofVenice) as greedy, domineering and vindictive in the written text can be inverted when we see him kneeling, surrounded by self-righteous Christian adversaries in one ofthe play’s performances. Reading out loud or performing a poem or play can be done in a variety of ways, with vastly differing effects. In each case, the performance must be done self-consciously and be informed by critical judgement.  \nIn this sense, literary criticism goes far back into archaic Greece, beginning around 800 years before the birth of Christ. This is the era ofthe epic poets Homer and Hesiod, and ofthe lyric poets Archilochus, Ibycus, Alcacus, and Sappho. What we call the“classical” period emerges around 500 BC, the period ofthe great dramatists Euripides, Aeschylus, and Sophocles, and the philosophers Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The Hellenistic period followed suit, diffusing Greek culture through Mediterranean and Middle East, which was aided by the conquests ofAlexander the Great. The city ofAlexandria became a center of learning, with the establishment of an enormous library and museum. The renowned philosophers like Callimachus, Apollonius Rhodius and Zenodotus enriched human knowledge with their writings on poetry and grammar during this period.  \nThe Hellenistic period ended with the Battle ofActium in 31 BC, when Octavius Caesar annexed Alexander ’s empire, and came to be revered as Augustus Caesar, the first Roman emperor. During the span ofa thousand years, philosophers laid down the basic concepts and terms that would shape literary criticism as it evolved all the way to our present times. These include the concept of“mimesis”; beauty and its connection with truth; organic unity, functions of literature; definition of figures of speech; the notion of a “canon” of literary works etc.  \nThe first recorded instances of criticism go back to dramatic events in ancient Athens, during a festival ofthe Greek god for wine and fertility, Dionysus, which were organized as contests, requiring an official judgement as to which author had produced the best drama. A striking literary– critical discussion occurs in Aristophanes ’ play The Frogs,(perf. 405 BC) , suggesting that literary criticism is used to entertain and amuse a large audience of several thousand people. Poetry, for them, was an important element in the educational process, it was a forum for the discussion of larger issues. Here Aristophanes discusses the relative merits ofAeschylus & Euripides.  \nPolitical and Historical Contexts  \nClassical period in Athens in the fifth century BC witnessed a thriving city-state, with a direct, highly exclusive democratic system in operation that favoured a few thousand adult male citizens and excluded the rest ofthe community, like women, the lower sections and slaves. This system resulted in class conflict as well as different forms of government; struggles which shaped the philosophies of both Plato and Aristotle. Her triumph over Persia in two invasions of Greece pr","cbCaionHr2tbVlf8","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaionHr2tbVlf8","pdf",695976,43,"English","# Background\n## Political and Historical Contexts\n## Plato (428 BC - 347 BC)","[{\"question\":\"What role did ancient Athens play in the earliest forms of criticism?\",\"answer\":\"The handbook describes contests during festivals for Dionysus, where official judgments determined which author produced the best drama, and it cites Aristophanes’ The Frogs as an example of literary-critical discussion for large audiences.\"}]","AN EASY HANDBOOK ON LITERARY CRITICISM | PDF",1789939363,66]