Formalism is a school of literary criticism and literary theory having mainly to do with structural purposes of a particular text. It is the study of a text without taking into account any outside influence.

Later, largely through the work of the structuralist linguist Roman Jakobson, it became influential in the West, notably in Anglo-American New Criticism, which is sometimes called Formalism.

Formalism is a school of literary criticism and theory. It focuses on the structure of a text rather than any outside influence, including the author’s intent.

May 3, 2025 · Also known as rhetorical criticism and New Criticism, formalism constitutes one of the many lenses through which critics view and interpret literature.

In literary criticism, Formalism refers to a style of inquiry that focuses, almost exclusively, on features of the literary text itself, to the exclusion of biographical, historical, or intellectual contexts.

5 days ago · What is Formalism? "Formalism refers to the critical tendency that emerged during the first half of the twentieth century and devoted its attention to concentrating on literature's formal …

May 22, 2025 · Formalism is a critical theory that prioritizes structure, language, and form over context, authorial intent, or social relevance. By looking at literary works as self-contained units, formalism …

May 6, 2025 · Formalism examines how stories are made by the things like words, writing style, and how the story is shaped. It pays more attention to these elements than to history or the background of …

It's an attempt to abstract complex systems to their relevant interacting components, and then create a mathematical formalism that can explain the phenomenon being examined.

The meaning of FORMALISM is the practice or the doctrine of strict adherence to prescribed or external forms (as in religion or art); also : an instance of this.