Literary Criticism: A Literary Analysis

When the name “Case Western Reserve University” is mentioned, a myriad of subjects come to mind: research, science, engineering, breakthroughs, and technology, to name a few. In our great university, there seems to be a wider appreciation among students for the sciences than for the humanities -- this does not come as a surprise considering that CWRU is primarily a research university, and faculty and students have been conducting magnificent and ground-breaking scientific research for decades. The science, technology, engineering, and mathematics departments are so nationally recognized and prominently discussed that they often overshadow the humanities departments. However, if I could recommend an elective course to my brilliant science and …show more content…
Although criticism must be pure and honest, like Arnold suggests, his model of literary criticism is far too ideal to be realistic. Every person sees the object differently, and truly, there is no error in that. The greatest aspect of literature is its subjectivity. The most effective model of literary criticism does not simply describe the object, it encourages others to explore the object for …show more content…
Given this maxim, Wilde’s philosophy applies to literary criticism. Art is raw -- it is real, it is unfiltered, and it reveals its own perfection. So, when we perform literary criticism, we are taking the purest form of human emotion and consciousness, and making sense of it to ourselves. Oscar Wilde, in his work The Decay of Lying: An Observation, points out four main doctrines of aesthetics: Firstly, “Art never expresses anything but itself,” secondly, “All bad art comes from returning to Life and Nature, and elevating them into ideals,” thirdly, “Life imitates Art far more than Art imitates Life,” and finally, “ Lying, the telling of beautiful untrue things, is the proper aim of Art (Leitch