[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"doc-seo-318627-105":3,"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":85,"doc-detail-318627-en":135},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"ok",{"site_id":7,"language":8,"slug":9,"title":10,"keywords":11,"description":12,"schema_data":13,"social_meta":78,"head_meta":80,"extra_data":82,"updated_unix":84},105,"en","formalism-introduction","FORMALISM - Introduction","","An introduction to Formalism as a school of literary criticism explains “close reading” as the method of understanding texts through language, sound, rhythm, and stylistic devices rather than author biography or historical and cultural context. It describes how Russian Formalists viewed literature as a system to analyze and classify, likening their work to scientific study. The text also motivates readers and theorists by linking Formalism to later movements such as Structuralism, Deconstruction, and related concepts.",{"@graph":14,"@context":77},[15,34,56],{"@type":16,"itemListElement":17},"BreadcrumbList",[18,23,27,31],{"item":19,"name":20,"@type":21,"position":22},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",1,{"item":24,"name":25,"@type":21,"position":26},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/","Document",2,{"item":28,"name":29,"@type":21,"position":30},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/","Literature",3,{"item":32,"name":10,"@type":21,"position":33},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/formalism-introduction/318627/",4,{"url":32,"name":10,"@type":35,"image":36,"author":41,"headline":10,"publisher":44,"fileFormat":47,"inLanguage":8,"description":12,"dateModified":48,"datePublished":49,"encodingFormat":47,"isAccessibleForFree":50,"interactionStatistic":51},"DigitalDocument",{"url":37,"@type":38,"width":39,"height":40},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/formalism-introduction/318627.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":42,"@type":43},"Maeve","Person",{"url":19,"name":45,"@type":46},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-21","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":52,"interactionType":53,"userInteractionCount":55},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":54},"ViewAction",11,{"@type":57,"mainEntity":58},"FAQPage",[59,65,69,73],{"name":60,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":62},"What is Formalism primarily focused on?","Question",{"text":63,"@type":64},"Formalism focuses on the literary work itself, especially its language, rather than historical context, cultural background, or the author.","Answer",{"name":66,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":67},"How does “close reading” relate to Formalism?",{"text":68,"@type":64},"Close reading means examining a poem or passage closely—its rhythm, word choice, rhyme, and style—to understand how the text creates effects.",{"name":70,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":71},"Why should readers care about Formalism?",{"text":72,"@type":64},"It provides a framework for explaining how writers use words to produce strong emotional reactions, instead of treating the effect as a mystery.",{"name":74,"@type":61,"acceptedAnswer":75},"Which later theories were influenced by Formalism?",{"text":76,"@type":64},"The text links Formalism to the development of Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Deconstruction, and notes additional influence on how people analyze literature today.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":32,"og:type":79,"og:title":10,"og:site_name":45,"og:description":12},"article",{"robots":81,"canonical":32},"index,follow",{"doc_id":83,"site_id":7},318627,1790735649,{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":87},"success",[88,92,95,99,104,109,114,119,124,127,131],{"id":22,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":89,"show_sort_weight":90,"slug":91},"Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":26,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":29,"show_sort_weight":93,"slug":94},80,"literature",{"id":33,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":96,"show_sort_weight":97,"slug":98},"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":100,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":101,"show_sort_weight":102,"slug":103},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":105,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":106,"show_sort_weight":107,"slug":108},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":110,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":111,"show_sort_weight":112,"slug":113},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":115,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":116,"show_sort_weight":117,"slug":118},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":120,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":121,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":123},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":122,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":125,"show_sort_weight":122,"slug":126},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":128,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":129,"show_sort_weight":128,"slug":130},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":132,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":25,"category_name":133,"show_sort_weight":100,"slug":134},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":86,"data":136},{"doc_id":83,"user_id":137,"nickname":42,"user_avatar":138,"doc_module":4,"category_id":26,"category_name":29,"doc_title":10,"doc_description":12,"doc_content":139,"file_id":140,"file_url":141,"file_type":142,"file_size":143,"view_count":55,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":22,"is_downloadable":22,"audit_status":22,"page_count":144,"language":145,"language_code":8,"site_id":7,"html_lang":8,"table_of_contents":146,"faqs":147,"seo_title":148,"seo_description":12,"update_tm":149,"read_time":150},5909877438554,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/5600025385ad2bf12a7?_k=1778553567797529272","1  \nFORMALISM  \nINTRODUCTION  \nSo let's start at the pinnacle of poetic creation:  \nRow, row, row your boat Gently down the stream. Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily Life is but a dream.  \nPretty profound, huh? So when we Shmoopers read this premodern lyric, we might notice a few more things than we did when we sang it in a circle of other five-year-olds. We might notice the repetition of words in the first and third lines. We might notice the cute little rhyme of \"stream\" and \"dream\" (and the non-rhyme of \"boat\" and \"merrily\"—come on, what about a ferry-lee?) . We might notice the existential philosophizing behind the final words. We might just be caught up in the watery current—that is, the fluid rhythm, of those stressed syllables.  \nAre you noticing the type of things we're noticing? Yeah, they all have to do with the words, the rhyme, the rhythm—basically, the sound and the style of the poem/little children's ditty. And that's what Formalism's all about—after all, it's right in the name: formalism.  \nOkay, let's back up a second. If we've ever taken an English class, chances are we've had to do \"close reading\" at one time or another. You know—the teacher makes you look really, really closely at a  \n2  \npoem or some sentence in a book and goes: \"Why is the author using this image?\" \"What's the rhythm in these lines?\" \"Is there foreshadowing here?\" You know, the typical \"Row, row, row your boat\" stuff—and that's when we scratch our heads and go, huh?  \nClose reading sure ain't easy, whether you're looking at a children's ditty or Charles Dickens. But it's become a staple of the teaching of literature. And that's largely thanks to these Russian dudes known as the \"Formalists,\" who lived and worked at the turn of the 20th century in Russia. They, as you might guess, started a movement in literary criticism called \"Formalism. \"  \nSo. Let's get into the nitty gritty. Formalists aren't interested in the historical context of a literary work. They're not interested in its \"philosophical\" or \"cultural\" background. Heck, they're not even interested in its author. All they care about, and all they focus on, is the literary work itself.  \nAnd that's because they believe that if we really want to understand a work of literature, we just need to look at it really closely, and specifically at its language . Who cares what Shakespeare's childhood was like, or the intricacies of court politics of Elizabethan England? Does that tell us anything about his plays? Um, nothing useful, the Formalists would say, and then start extolling the virtues of iambiac pentameter. Basically, according to the Formalists, we just need to dig deep, way deep, into the text itself.  \nThese guys weren't playing around, either. They thought of themselves as scientistsof literature. That's right, as in, their job was to \"discover\" and \"classify\" all of the important laws and elements that govern literary texts (in the way that scientists\"discover\" and \"classify\" laws of nature) . Sure, that part may sound far-fetched to us now, but the Formalists were so influential that alot of their ideas still impact the way we study literature today.  \nWhy Should Readers Care?  \nWe've all had the experience (or at least we hope we've all had it) of reading something and being blown away by it. We're reading a scene in a novel, or a few lines of poetry, and it's so good our jaw  \n3  \ndrops. Or we find a single tear coursing down our cheek. Or we're laughing so hard at something a character in a book says that the other people in the library start giving us dirty looks.  \nAnd then we look up and wonder, how can they do that? How can an author, using some words on a page, make us react in this way? It seems like a total mystery. Writers must just be these supernatural creatures with superhuman powers. How else can we explain all the unbelievable things they do with words?  \nIf you want to penetrate that mystery, then Formalism is just the theoretical school for you. Formalists ","cbCaipak3Ts2raKw","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaipak3Ts2raKw","pdf",277228,35,"English","# Introduction\n## Why Should Readers Care?\n## Why Should Theorists Care?\n## Formalism Buzzwords\n### Defamiliarization","[{\"question\":\"What is Formalism primarily focused on?\",\"answer\":\"Formalism focuses on the literary work itself, especially its language, rather than historical context, cultural background, or the author.\"},{\"question\":\"How does “close reading” relate to Formalism?\",\"answer\":\"Close reading means examining a poem or passage closely—its rhythm, word choice, rhyme, and style—to understand how the text creates effects.\"},{\"question\":\"Why should readers care about Formalism?\",\"answer\":\"It provides a framework for explaining how writers use words to produce strong emotional reactions, instead of treating the effect as a mystery.\"},{\"question\":\"Which later theories were influenced by Formalism?\",\"answer\":\"The text links Formalism to the development of Structuralism, Poststructuralism, and Deconstruction, and notes additional influence on how people analyze literature today.\"}]","FORMALISM - Introduction | PDF",1789940799,54]