literary critic

/ˌlɪdəˈrɛri ˌkrɪdɪk/

Other forms: literary critics

Someone who analyzes a work of literature is a literary critic. Skilled literary critics can uncover themes in a book that a casual reader might not notice.

Like a book reviewer, a literary critic's job involves reading something, thinking about it, and writing about what they've read. A literary critic, however, won't usually offer a recommendation or rating — instead, they evaluate the work using historical context, theoretical frameworks, and extremely close attention to language. The layers of meaning in a book, story, or poem can be expertly uncovered by a good literary critic, maybe even inspiring you to read it again!

Definitions of literary critic

1. noun

   a person whose job is to analyze published creative writing
   examples:

   Matthew Arnold

   English poet and literary critic (1822-1888)

   Van Wyck Brooks

   United States literary critic and historian (1886-1963)

   John Anthony Ciardi

   United States poet and critic (1916-1986)

   Jacques Derrida

   French philosopher and critic (born in Algeria); exponent of deconstructionism (1930-2004)

   Herman Northrop Frye

   Canadian literary critic interested in the use of myth and symbolism (1912-1991)

   William Hazlitt

   English essayist and literary critic (1778-1830)

   Henry Louis Mencken

   United States journalist and literary critic (1880-1956)

   Ivor Armstrong Richards

   English literary critic who collaborated with C. K. Ogden and contributed to the development of Basic English (1893-1979)

   Sir Stephen Harold Spender

   English poet and critic (1909-1995)

   Lionel Trilling

   United States literary critic (1905-1975)

   Carl Clinton Van Doren

   United States writer and literary critic (1885-1950)

   Edmund Wilson

   United States literary critic (1895-1972)

   type of:

   critic

   a person who is professionally engaged in the analysis and interpretation of works of art