English

For this assignment, you will critique about a text of your choice. The text will be chosen in consultation with the instructor and your

classmates, and should be something manageable and appropriate. The Oxford English Dictionary defines a critique as “a piece of written

criticism of a set of ideas, a work of art, etc.” The key term in that definition is “written criticism,” so let’s unpack it a bit more

thoroughly, or, at least, the “criticism” part (I think “written” is obvious enough, here). The OED offers several definitions of criticism,

so let’s investigate all of them:
1. The expression of disapproval of someone or something based on perceived faults or mistakes.
2. The analysis and judgment of the merits and faults of a literary or artistic work.
a. The scholarly investigation of literary or historical texts to determine their origin or intended form.
While we tend to associate criticism with first definition above, this assignment requires you to author a piece of written criticism that

follows definitions 2 and 2a. That is, you will be the critic, and you will be “[judging]…the merits and faults of a literary or artistic

work.” You may do this, either fully or in part, by “[investigating] literary or historical texts to determine their origin or intended

form,” but the primary objective of your critique is to accomplish the work laid out in definition 2.
Critiques are usually written on films, albums, television show episodes, books, plays, and visual art. They are similar to reviews, but

critiques emphasize analysis and information rather than opinion. This is not to say that opinions are not present in critiques; indeed,

every critique is based, to some degree or another, on the subjective tastes and preferences of the critic. However, when you write a

critique, you support your opinions with analysis (of plot, musical talent, writing style, etc.) and frame your analysis with context

(mentions of similar and related texts). Again, the goal of a critique essay is to analyze a text in order to inform another reader or viewer

about the quality of the text under consideration. Your critique should answer the following questions, and you might think of the following

points as a rough outline of how to organize your critique essay:
• Introduction
o What is the text? Who is its creator? When was the text created? Where was it created? Why was it created? How was it created?
• Description paragraph #1
o This paragraph should describe the text in some significant level of detail. If it’s a book, film, television episode, or play you’ll want

to summarize it. If it’s a painting, sculpture, or other visual work of art, you’ll want to describe the appearance. End this paragraph by

pointing to the most important part of the text, and explaining why it is so important.
• Detail paragraph #1
o This paragraph should go into more depth about the most important part of the text that you identified in the previous paragraph. What

questions does this part of the text raise? What other texts does it relate to, either directly or indirectly? How does this moment in the

text relate to the entire text?
• Description paragraph #2
o This paragraph should continue to discuss, in some significant level of detail, the text under consideration. You’ll want to focus on a

different, but still important part of the text, and answer similar questions to the ones to which you responded in description paragraph #1.

Conclude the paragraph by connecting the two important moments, and extrapolating an interpretive or analytical moment from it.
• Detail paragraph #2
o At this point, you’ve walked your reader through the text under consideration and shown them the most important parts. We don’t want to

hear any more about that. This is the part of the essay where you should begin relating the text and the circumstances of its creation to

other texts, and should begin to explain how this text fits into a larger body of work. Compare a novel to other novels, a poem to other

poems by the same poet, etc.
• Context/Opinion paragraph
o By now, you’re moving towards the conclusion of your critique. You’ve provided the reader with a window into the text, and begun to

contextualize it. Now, you want to expand a bit more, and compare the text to other texts with something in common: other works in the same

genre, of the same time and place. You’ll also want to address texts that either influenced your text or were influenced by it.
• Conclusion
o Finally, it’s time for your opinion. Refer back to the description and details that you provided, whenever possible, and put forward an

informed, respectful, and honest evaluation of the text. You might explain your own preferences and reasons for them, or cite other

evaluations or critiques of the text. How might this text be viewed by future critics? Past critics? What should your readers think about it?

Remember to ground your opinion in your analysis and summary, and be respectful.

Length: 1500 words