Understanding Formalism: A Simple Guide

Formalism is a method of analyzing literature that focuses only on the text itself. Instead of
looking at the author's life, history, or social context, formalism looks closely at how the text
is written. This approach has many names like New Criticism, aesthetic criticism, or textual
criticism. It became popular in the United States in the 1930s and stayed influential for
many decades.

Historical Background

Formalism developed as a reaction to older methods of literary study that focused on the
author’s biography or historical events. In the early 20th century, critics often treated
poems or stories as documents of history or reflections of the writer's personal life.
Formalists wanted to change this. They believed that a work of literature should be studied
as a complete, unified object. Every part of the text matters, and its structure helps us
understand its meaning.

This way of thinking has roots in Romantic ideas, especially those of Samuel Taylor
Coleridge. He believed that the form of a poem was not just its shape but something that
grows from within, like a living organism. The poem's meaning and structure are connected.

In the 1920s, a group of critics at Vanderbilt University, including John Crowe Ransom,
Robert Penn Warren, and Cleanth Brooks, started promoting formalist ideas. They were
influenced by writers like T. S. Eliot, who believed art should be appreciated for its own
sake. Eliot introduced the idea of the "objective correlative," which means that emotions in
art are best shown through specific images or situations. Formalists also adopted
techniques from I. A. Richards and William Empson, who encouraged detailed analysis of
poems.

Books like Understanding Poetry and Understanding Fiction by Brooks and Warren became
widely used in colleges. These works encouraged students to study the internal workings of
literature. Over time, this method became a standard way of reading and teaching literature
in the U.S. and the U.K.

Russian Formalism

Russian Formalism, though similar in name, developed separately in the 1920s in Moscow
and St. Petersburg. While American formalists focused on unity and meaning, Russian
formalists treated literature like a science of language and structure. Influenced by
Ferdinand de Saussure, they believed literature should be studied for its form, not its
content.

They introduced ideas like:

- Defamiliarization: making ordinary things seem new and strange to capture the reader’s
attention.
- Story vs. Plot: the story (fabula) is the sequence of events, while the plot (sjuzhet) is how
the story is presented in the text. For example, a detective story may start with the murder
(plot) even though the murder happens later in the timeline (story).

Russian formalists believed that literature used special language that made it different from
everyday speech. They avoided biography and politics, which led to conflict with the Soviet
government. Many of them moved to Prague or later met with American New Critics,
sharing ideas.

Mikhail Bakhtin

Mikhail Bakhtin was a Russian thinker who is often mentioned alongside the formalists, but
he had his own views. He studied literature, philosophy, religion, and culture. While
formalists focused only on form, Bakhtin argued that language is always social and involves
interaction.

Key concepts from Bakhtin:

- Dialogism: All language is a conversation. Even when we think silently, we respond to past
voices and anticipate future replies. Literature, too, is part of a dialogue with other works.
- Unfinalizability: People and meanings are never complete. Just as we keep changing, so do
characters and their meanings.
- Heteroglossia: We use many kinds of language in daily life (e.g., texting vs. formal speech).
In literature, this mix of voices creates richness.
- Polyphony: In a novel like Dostoevsky's, different characters have their own unique voices
and ideas. No single character or the author dominates the truth.
- Carnival: Literature, especially novels, can turn society upside down, just like a festival
where rules are suspended. It mocks authority and celebrates freedom.

Reading as a Formalist

To read as a formalist means focusing only on the text. You don’t worry about the author's
life or historical setting. Instead, you look at how the text is built. This includes:
- Word choice (diction)
- Patterns and repetitions
- Form (how the parts fit together)
- Symbols and images
- Unity (how everything works as a whole)

Let’s take James Joyce’s short story "Araby" as an example. A formalist would notice:
- The story moves in a straight line (chronological order).
- Light and dark images appear again and again.
- Words like "blind" and "prison" suggest restriction.
- The bazaar (Araby) seems magical at first but ends up being ordinary, creating irony.

Form
Form is how a work is organized. It includes structure, rhyme, point of view, and narrative
technique. But form is not just surface-level. It's how the work grows from within, making
all its parts meaningful.

Example: In a story, if the narrator is a child, we see the world through limited
understanding. That shapes how we interpret the events.

Questions to ask:
- Does the work follow a traditional structure or break the rules?
- What is the effect of using a certain point of view?
- Do repeated words or sounds create a pattern?
- How does the ending (denouement) affect the whole?

Diction

Diction means word choice. Formalists pay close attention to the meanings, both direct and
implied. A single word can carry many shades of meaning.

Example: The word "buckle" in Hopkins' poem "The Windhover" can mean bend, fasten, or
collapse. Each meaning adds to the poem.

Formalists also look at:

- Allusions to other works
- Ambiguity (multiple meanings)
- Symbols (things that stand for more than themselves)

Example: In "Araby," the boy's journey through darkness becomes a symbol for his
emotional journey.

Unity

A text has unity when all its parts work together to create meaning. Patterns of images,
symbols, sounds, and narration all contribute.

Formalists look for:

- Extended metaphors
- Contradictions (paradox)
- Opposites (irony)
- Multiple meanings (ambiguity)

Example: In "Araby," the boy sees Mangan's sister as holy and sensual. This paradox adds to
the story’s depth.

What Formalists Avoid

Formalists avoid several common mistakes:

- Paraphrase: You can’t sum up a poem or story in simpler words without losing its richness.
- Intentional fallacy: Don’t guess what the author meant to do; focus on what the text does.
- Biographical criticism: Don’t rely on the author's life.
- Affective fallacy: Don’t judge a work by how it makes you feel emotionally.

Conclusion

Formalism teaches us to become close readers who pay attention to every word and
structure in a literary work. By focusing on form, diction, and unity, we discover how a text
works as a piece of art. It may not tell us about history or the author’s life, but it reveals the
power of literature to speak through its own language and shape.