HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL LENSES By: Amelia Penniman and Allyson Frese and Justin Norris

DEFINITIONS  Historical:  Reflection of time period  Biographical:  Reflection of self

QUESTIONS ASKED  What is the time period in which the piece was written?  Does the time period affect why it was written?  How does the time period influence the characters’/narrator’s actions… how does it not?  What is the author’s background?  Does conflict in the book correspond with the historical period?  Was the author a part of any significant historical happenings in his/her life?  What cultural aspects of the time could have changed the plot?  What does the work reveal about the author’s life?  How does the author incorporate events from his/her own life in the text?  What historical events are present in the work?

ADVANTAGES  Helps place allusions  Clarifies author’s intent  Gives information about the author  Gives information about the time period  Reader can make comparisons between time periods

DISADVANTAGES  Background information on the author/time period must be known  Can limit the reader’s creativity in analyzing the text  Overanalyzing takes away from the text

USES  The Great Gatsby  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn  The Scarlet Letter  To Kill A Mockingbird  Walden

THE REAL WORLD  English  Analyzing art  Reading historical textbooks  Newspapers  Other forms of media  Politics

APPLYING THE LENS  Where?  How?

Sources    Eng/Literary%20Criticism%20Map.htm Eng/Literary%20Criticism%20Map.htm  Criticism Criticism  ary-criticism-map.html ary-criticism-map.html