Depending on what type of critical reading you are doing, you gain a new lens with which to view the text. For example, if I were going to read a poem with a Marxist critical view, I would look at the text for examples of class divides, stratification, and the influence of wealth or power. If I were to read the same poem with the critical lens of gender studies, I would look for allusions to gender, typical gender roles and stereotypes, or references to inanimate objects being referred to as masculine or feminine. Looking at texts critically can help you understand what the author originally meant in the work, but also what is implied in the work but not directly stated. Critical thinking helps you understand the text in many different ways and learn to think about things from many different perspectives.

Critical thinking in writing plays a similar role. There are so many things that you can say in a text, without directly stating them. An understand of different types of literary criticism can help you make sure you mean what you say, but also what you imply. For example, if you were writing a love poem, an understanding of basic imagery might be important. Understanding that feminine imagery is typically moon references, being fair, being white, etc. Male imagery is typically the opposite-ruddy, bright, dark, sun-like imagery. Understanding basic terminology or tenants of many different types of literary criticisms can help you use allusion and language in a way that others will understand and that will give your writing deeper meaning. You must first know the rules in order to break them.

I hope this helps!