In this part of the activity, you will evaluate your three critiques of the poem. You will first need to recall what you learned about intentional and affective fallacies in this unit. W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley coined both terms. The term intentional fallacy refers to the idea that an author’s purpose or intention in writing a work of literature has no importance in appreciating or critiquing that work. The term affective fallacy refers to the idea that how a work affects a reader or what emotions it arouses in the reader have no importance in appreciating or critiquing that work. Read this Knowledge Article to learn more about New Criticism and the affective and intentional fallacies.

Evaluate your response to part A. Explain the disadvantages of emphasizing background information, such as historical context when critiquing a poem. Be sure to include examples from your analyses.