Psychology and Form: Burke

The application of Freudian psychoanalytical technique began to be practiced in the works of art in the twentieth century; the psychoanalytical approach is basically reader-oriented. The chief aim of this approach is to reveal the true content of a literary work lay relating its elements to the unconscious determinants. Burke, read, Northrop Fry and Carl Jung are among those critics who applied this approach in their criticism to literature. Burke begins by saying that a psycho-analytical critic believes in the principle that a writer builds his from through the effect on audience. He uses his contents as pieces of information, which he places one upon the other in ascending order. The reader moves from one fact to the other.