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New
Criticism emerged in literature in the first half of twentieth century, which
believed in objectivity, that is, literary criticism should be free from
subjectivity and emotionalism. According to New Criticism, the literary work
constituted an independent world of its own with its own internal laws that
needed to be recognized and understood. It
had its own identity, moral centre and significance, irrespective of the
authorial intention.
Prior to
this, literary criticism was devoted to the casual explanation of the texts.
Critics paid more attention to the author’s life, his immediate social and
cultural environment and his statements on the work. However, New Criticism
reacts against this extrinsic approach. They shifted the attention from the
author to the text. They believed in the supremacy and autonomy of the words on
the text. Also, they stressed on the literary work as a mode of communication
between the artist and the reader. The
function of critic according to New Criticism is to understand and judge the
text unaffected by international fallacy.
John Crowe Ramson in his book The New
Criticism (1941) says,
Discussion of The New Criticism must
start with Mr. Richards. The New Criticism very nearly began with him.
I.A.Richards proposed a psychological theory of
art in his book Principles of Literary Criticism (1924).
According to him the two pillars upon which theory of criticism must rest are
an account of value and communication.
In Practical Criticism (1929) he analyses the
different mistakes of interpretation and evaluation. He believes that the meaning of the
text grew out of interplay of sense, feeling, tone and attitude.
In Tradition and Individual Talent (1919) T.S.Eliot
emphasizes the need for critical thinking. He refutes the concept of poetry as
an expression of emotion and lays stress on impersonality. He also discusses
the tools like comparison and analysis in The Function of Criticism,
which has been widely used by most New Critics
F.R.Leavis in Introduction from Revaluation (1936) emphasized
his lack of interest in abstract principles and recommended a purely empirical
textual approach to literary criticism.
John
Crowe Ramson makes a
strong plea for the development of literary criticism in Criticism Inc.
(1937). According to him the New Criticism
concept should be a collaborative effort in the elucidation and evaluation of
literary texts. He suggests literary criticism to be systematic and to be dealt
by only professionals.
In his book The
Well Wrought Urn (1947) Cleanth Brooks takes representative
poems of different ages as illustrations of the operation of the paradox.
He believes in judging poem in its totality as a poem. Poetry is not an
abstract statement about experience according to him; it is itself an
experience.
W.K.Wimsatt in his essays The International Fallacy and The
Affective Fallacy analyses devices like meter, euphony, rhyme, elements
of style and their relationship with meaning. While the former insists that no
poem can be judged by reference to poet’s intentions; the latter one is an
attack on the attempt to judge a poem by the effect it has on the reader.
The other
critics who gave their contribution in this field are Allen Tate,
R.P.blackmur, Yvor Winters Kenneth Burke, R.P.Warren etc.
Hence, New
Criticism developed a new perspective to judge literature. This resulted in
revaluation. The Metaphysical Poets have gained reputation, while Milton,
Spenser and the Victorian poets have been devalued. Shakespeare benefited the
most from New Criticism.
Though New Criticism
gave tremendous contribution to poetry by critical essays, the fiction lagged
behind. It is not justified for the study of fiction.
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