Quick Facts
French:
“explanation of text”
Related Topics:
Art criticism
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explication de texte, a method of literary criticism involving a detailed examination of each part of a work, such as structure, style, and imagery, and an exposition of the relationship of these parts to each other and to the whole work. The method was originally used to teach literature in France and has since become a tool for use by literary critics in other countries, particularly by practitioners of New Criticism.