Literary theory refers to an assumption or system of assumptions,accepted principles, and rules of procedure based on particular body of knowledge, devised to analyze, predict, or otherwise explain the nature or behavior of literature, including description, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of literary works. It deals with different dimensions of literature as a collection of texts through which authors evoke more or less fictitious worlds for the inagination of readers.We can look at any work of literature by passing special attention to one of several aspects: its language and structure; its intended purpose; the information and worldview it conveys; or its effect on an audience; or any other aspect including our personal reflections. In other words, literary theory refers to the system of reading, understanding and judging of literary works. First critical approach to literature appears in the writing of the classical Greek philosopher,Plato. In the following paragraphs, attempts have been made to divide the theories into four groups as suggested by M.H. Abrams in his The Mirror and the Lamp (1953), and Hazard Adams in his Critical Theory Since Plato (1990).

    M.H.Abrams, in his seminal book, The Mirror and the Lamp,provides us an insight to grasp the literary theories since Plato. According to him, we can divide the theories into four divisions and study them as mimetic, pragmatic, expressive and objective. This division is made by viewing the dominance or emphasis the theories make either to the world or to the readers or to the text itself.

    The mimetic theories evaluate a literary work of art in terms of imitation which is the most ancient way of judging any work of art in relation to reality. For this purpose, all these theories treat a work of art as photographic reproduction i.e. art's truth to life, poetic truth etc. This approach unquestionably started from Plato and then Aristotle, and runs through many theorists of Renaissance and Neoclassicism up to some modern theorists as well.

    Pragmatic theories, on the other hand, emphasize the reader's relation to the work. This approach can be seen in the writing of Plato,but a great surge of interest to the poetic effect of literature to the readers occurred among the Roman critics notably Horace and Longinus. Later, in the Renaissance time, Sidney showed similar interests by saying "poesie should teach and delight". Similarly, in the Middle Ages and also in 18th century Neoclassical Age, a strongly moralistic and didactic criticism shared the same doctrine with aesthetic modes also,that emphasized the effect of literary work on the reader.

    Similarly, Expressive theories, the third mode of Abram's orientation, came with Romanticism in 18th and 19th century Europe with its roots in Rousseau's writing. The idea that the writers has personalities to express remained at the center, as most of the creations were authorial. The criticism included intire biography and gave a relative look to the writings.

    Ultimately the Objective theories, emerging principally from aesthetic speculation derived from Kant treat any work of art as in some way autonomous. T.S. Eliot and T.E. Hulme furthered this idea that work of art has an internal relation that gives birth to the work to be a poetic work. It is represented by a phrase "Poetry for poetry;Sake" which was used as a title for a well known essay by A.C. Beardsley. This idea developed along with two independent lines: one of Russian Formalism (Shklovsky, Eichenbaum, Jakobson) and other of American New Critics (Ransom, Brooks, Blackmur, Wimsatt and Beardsley). Both of these modes attacked imitation, authorial intention and readers' response in analyzing literary works. They emphasized on the text as the primary issue of criticism.

    Hazard Adams, in the "Introduction" to Critical Theory since Plato says that Abram's classification that we discussed above appears finally ineffectual because of the following two reasons: one is that the division with the simple taxonomy is less effective because we cannot always define the theories along the eras. And the second is that the orientation fails to grasp all brands of literary theories as it lacks a sound philosophical emphasis in different eras. He provides a fourfold model of orientation: Ontological, Epistemological, Linguistic and Politico-Cultural theories.

Introduction on Mimetic Theory    Mimesis, the Greek word of imitation, has been a center term in aesthetic and literary theory since Plato. Read More...

Introduction on Pragmatic Theory    The second in Abram’s fourfold division is pragmatic mode. The theories of this mode emphasize the reader’s relation to the work. Read More...

Introduction on Expressive Theory     Formerly “Expressionism” is a German movement in painting but later on, it extended its access to other literary arts too. Read More...

Introduction on Objective Theory     The method the reader must use is "close analysis." The reader must look at the words, the syntax, the images, the structure (usually, "the argument"). Read More...

Introduction on Epistemological Theory    Epistemology is the study of the nature, origin, and limits of human knowledge. The name is derived from the Greek episteme (“knowledge”) and logos (“reason”), and.. Read More...

Introduction on Linguistic Theory (Russian Formalism)    The aim of Formalistic criticism is the discovery and explanation of “form” in a literary work. Read More...