Analytical Approaches to Literary Work

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You have the option of choosing from among several analysis focuses, theories or styles. I have modeled your response upon the Response analysis method, and refer you to what some Web-based resources have to say about this method below.

According to http://www.ehow.com/about_5385205_different-approaches-literary-criticism.html, response analysis is mostly concerned with the response the reader has towards the work, and the interaction between the work and the reader, as noted from the reference: Reader-Response Criticism is about interpreting a piece of literature not solely on the merits of the piece of literature but rather as an interaction between the reader and the piece of literature. The reader's reaction, how the piece affects the reader, is taken into consideration when interpreting a piece. Essentially what this theory means is that the text itself has meaning and the interaction between the reader and the text also carries meaning. The interpretation in Reader-Response Criticism lies between the intersection of these two sets of meaning when evaluating a text.

This reference: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-reader-response-criticism.htm, also says about response criticism (or analysis): Whereas many discuss literary works objectively, absolutely and with respect to how the author developed the ideas on the page, reader response criticism focuses on the reader and how she or he receives the literary work. In a sense, this moves the text from existing on its own - on, for example, the physical pages of a book - and instead assumes that the text exists only when it is read. This theory makes literary works more like performance art where the reader's act of reading and interpreting the text is the performance. Critical theorists continue to develop this approach, considering the nature of the reader and what he or she brings to the text, along with the different "lenses" through which the text can be viewed.

You also have the choice of works to review. I chose to model for you the last choice, viewed from this Web site: http://poetryoutloud.org/poem/184167
Constantly Risking Absurdity (#15) By Lawrence Ferlinghetti
Constantly risking absurdity
and death
whenever he performs
above the heads
of his audience
the poet like an acrobat
climbs on rime
to a high wire of his own making
and balancing on eyebeams
above a sea of faces
paces his way
to the other side of day
performing entrechats
and sleight-of-foot tricks
and other high theatrics
and all without mistaking
any thing
for what it may not be

For he's the ...