Why Use Literary Criticism?
Reading how other people have evaluated a book, short story, play or poem can help you define your own views. • Maybe they see aspects of the work that you didn’t notice. • Maybe they give historical background that explains why the work was written the way it was. • Maybe you will disagree with then and it will hep you focus your opinion. Criticism doesn’t substitute for reading the original work because it won’t give a detailed plot summary. but it can help you understand the point of a story and identify the significant parts. Many critical sources discuss an author’s overall writing and may not even mention the specific work you have read. this is especially true for poems and short stories. This sort of criticism can still be very useful if you apply the overall interpretation of an author to your particular work.
