Doing Textual Criticism to Find Liberty Rhetoric
Scholars have several methods of getting information out of texts. This exercise will focus on two ways of looking at writing, using internal criticism and external criticism.
Internal Textual Criticism Versus External Textual Criticism
Internal Criticism focuses on elements within the writing, such as language, imagery, metaphor, storytelling, and other elements which shape the work.
External Textual Criticism focuses on the context in which the writing has been produced, examining such issues as how readers responded to it when it first appeared, how it reflects other works produced before it or around the same time, and the reasons that this particular text emerged in the time, place, and context that it did.
Understanding the difference between Internal and External Textual Criticism can be tricky without concrete examples. But understanding the difference is an important part of being in control of one's critical thinking.
Read this poem which concluded the petition which Lowell Mill workers gave to the manufacturers in 1834. Then look at the examples of internal and external criticism of the text.
Let oppression shrug her shoulders,
And a haughty tyrant frown,
And little upstart Ignorance,
In mockery look down.
Yet I value not the feeble threats
Of Tories in disguise,
While the flag of Independence
O'er our noble nation flies.
Go to Internal Criticism of Text || Go to External Criticism of Text