A pre-critical response to all literature can be loosely defined as the raw, emotional initial reaction to the play. The feeling of confusion, disgust, dispassion or pure joy can follow any reading. On the other hand, a critical response is a critical evaluation or, more precisely, an intellectual response to a piece of literature. Critically thinking about a piece of literature involves taking the work and breaking it down into different parts, helping to understand the work and its specific parts in relation to the work as a whole. However, this is easier said than done. Being able to think critically about a text requires a broad knowledge of literature and a keen sense of pattern recognition, and each form carries its own difficulties when it comes to breaking down the text. Large texts make it more difficult to look back for evidence, and sometimes, when reading with one mindset, key themes and ideas can go unnoticed. Poems, on the other hand, can be vague and extremely difficult to make out. Poets rely on figurative language to make sense of seemingly random word choices in the right context, and having a broad knowledge of literature becomes essential when reading poetry, as one never knows when an allusion can make all the difference. Anthony Hecht's poem The Dover Bitch provides a good example of how figurative language and knowledge of a previous literary work can interfere with a person's precritical and critical response, creating a situation in which the he experience of the poem as an emotional and intellectual work of art is almost non-existent. Bitch is a parody of Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold. At Dover Beach the speaker stands on the English coast and speaks to a woman supposedly sitting at the back of a table......in the middle of a paper......the kind of a parody can further complicate matters. the process of obtaining a precritical response even more. Because a parody is essentially an extended allusion and recognizing the connection is further evidence of critical thinking. It is this characteristic of parody that makes the chances of having a full and unfettered experience of parody poetry a rare feat. Works Cited Arnold, Matthew. “Dover Beach.” 1973. The Norton Introduction to Literature. By Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 916-17. Print.Hecht, Anthony. “The female dog of Dover.” 1973. The Norton Introduction to Literature. By Alison Booth and Kelly J. Mays. 10th ed. New York: WW Norton & Company, Inc., 2010. 1229. “Parody” print. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., February 9, 2011. Web. February 13. 2011. .