The principles of literary criticism by i. a. richards analysis of the poem

This slide presentation was reported during our class in Philo of Literature.

1. Principles of Literary Criticism By I. A. Richards

2. About the Author Ivor Armstrong Richards was born in Sandbach , England, on February 26, 1893. He received his formal education at Magdalene College of Cambridge University, where he received the degree of M.A. He became a teaching Fellow of Magdalene in 1926 and has also held positions as visiting professor at Tsing Hua University, Peking, from 1929 to 1930, visiting lecturer at Harvard in 1931, and Director of The Orthological Institute of China from 1936 to 1938.

3. Richards as a Critic I.A. Richards influenced both sides of the Atlantic(Europe and America) with his valuable works in literature. He is considered one of the pioneers of New Criticism. As an iconoclast he denounced the old criticism where critics were supposed to follow a set of rules and regulations. According to him Criticism is not mere application of set of rules and intuition. He is widely read not only in literature but also in philosophy, psychology, aesthetics, the fine arts and the broad principles of the various sciences. Some critics think, Coleridge is the only great critic with whom he may be compared.

4. Works of I. A. Richards The Meaning of Meaning 1923 The Principles of Literary Criticism 1924 The Practical Criticism , 1929 Science and Poetry Coleridge on Imagination Mencius of the Mind The Philosophy of Rhetoric Speculative Instruments

5. Techniques and Principles I.A. Richards was a devoted supporter of a close textual and verbal study and analysis of a work of art. His approach is pragmatic and empirical While preparing his book The Practical Criticism , he says “I have set three aims before me in constructing this book”, “to introduce a new kind of documentation to those who are interested in the contemporary state culture whether as critics, as philosophers, as teachers, as psychologists, or merely as curious persons.” “to provide a new technique for those who wish to discover for themselves what they think and feel about poetry, and why should like or dislike it.” “to prepare way for educational methods more efficient than those who use now in developing discrimination and the power to understand what we hear and read.”

6. Qualities of a Critic He should grasp a strong control over words and the effect they produce. He should be a learned person and be able to distinguish experiences from one another. He must be a sound judge of values and have an adequate knowledge of psychology. He should focus the implicit meaning through the window of explicit wordings. The critic is expected to understand and expand the context of a poem so that the poem may become intelligible and its full value may be grasped.

7. The Analysis of a Poem The critic is throughout judging of experiences, of states of mind; but too often he is needlessly ignorant of the general psychological form of the experiences with which he is concerned. He has no clear ideas of as to the elements present or as to their relative importance. Thus, an outline or schema of the mental events which make up the experience of ‘looking at ‘a picture or reading’ a poem can be of great assistance.

8. The Analysis of a Poem   The Diagrammatic Representation of the Events which Take Place when We Read a Poem

9. The Analysis of a Poem In the whole reactions to a poem or to a single line of it, their free images are the point at which two readings are most likely to differ. The stimulations from the reading of the poem find an immense hierarchy of systems. The effect of grasping the literal sense of a word is immensely increased and widened when it is reinforced by fresh stimulation from tied images and it is through these that most of the emotional effects are produced

10. The Analysis of a Poem a poet writes to communicate, and language is the means of that communication. Language is made of words, and hence a study of words is all important if we are to understand the meaning of a work of art.

11. The Analysis of a Poem Words carry four kinds of meaning, or to be more precise, the total meaning of a word depends upon four factors. These are: S ense Feelings Tones Intention

12. The Analysis of a Poem S ense S omething that is communicated by the plain literal meanings of the words. Feelings When we say something, we have a feeling about it, “emotions, attitudes, will, desire, pleasure, unpleased and the rest.” Words express “these feelings, these nuances of interest.” Tones T he writer’s attitude to his readers which is a relation between them. The writer chooses his words and arranges them keeping in mind the kind of readers likely to read his work. Tones it has an object; it is the writer’s aim which may be conscious or unconscious. It refers to the emphasis, shapes the arrangement, or draws attention to something of importance.

13. The Context The context in which a word has been used is all important. Words have different meanings in different contexts . “ a context is a set of entities ( things/events ) related in a certain way.”-Richards

14. The Context Words are symbols or signs and they deliver their full meaning only in a particular context. Meaning is dependent on context, but the context may not always be apparent and easily perceptible. Literary compositions are characterized by rich complexity in which certain links are suppressed for concentration of effective and forceful expression.

15. The Context Sense and feeling have a mutual dependence. “The sound of a word has much to do with the feeling it evokes”. The feeling may arise from the meaning and be governed by it. While the meaning arises from the feelings evoked. Sense and feeling may be related because of the context.

16. The Context A complete poem influences a single word or phrase contained in it either through the feelings or through the sense. Hence Richards argues we need one careful reading to find the meaning and another to grasp feeling.

17. The Value of Metaphor A metaphor is a shift, a carrying over of a word from its normal use to a new use. There may be of two kinds: Sense metaphors-the shift is due to a similarity or analogy between the original object an the new one. Examples: I am feeling blue Blinking lights He faded off to sleep The Value of a Metaphor

18. The Value of Metaphor 2. Emotive Metaphors- the shift is due to a similarity between the feelings, the emotive situation and the normal situation arouse. Examples: He is in low spirits It is spine-chilling He is boiling The Value of a Metaphor

19. The Value of Metaphor “Metaphor is a semi-surreptitious method by which a greater variety of elements can be brought into the fabric of the experience”-Richards The Value of a Metaphor The metaphorical meaning arises from the inter- relations of sense, tone, feeling and intention.

20. The Value of Metaphor The Poetic Truth Richard formulated a systematic and complete theory of poetry and discussed in his book Principles of Literary Criticism the theory of language and the emotive. David Daiches says, “ Richards conducts this investigation in order to come to some clear can about what imaginative literature is-how it employs language, how is use of language differs from the scientific spec use of language and what is its special function and value.”

21. The Value of Metaphor The Poetic Truth When language is used for scientific purposes, it is matter of fact and requires undistorted references and absence of fiction, whereas when language is used for emotive ends, it may be true or false.

22. The Value of Metaphor The Poetic Truth In the scientific language , the references should be correct and the references should be logical. In the emotive use of language , any truth or logical arrangement is not necessary-it may work as an obstacle. The attitude due to references should have their emotional interconnection and this has often no connection with logical relations to the facts referred to.

23. The Value of Metaphor The Poetic Truth Poetic Truth is different from scientific truth. It is a matter of emotional belief rather than intellectual belief. It is not a matter of verification, but of attitudes and emotional reaction. “it is evident that the bulk of poetry consists of statement which only the very foolish would think of attempting to verify . They are not the kind of things which can be verified.”- Richards

24. The Value of Metaphor Generalization Richards believes that sometimes the impulses of man respond to a situation in such an organized way that the mind has a unique experience. Poetry is the representation of this experience, this organized and happy play of impulses and a true reader ought to feel the same in his own self.

25. The Value of Metaphor Generalization The poet, says Richards, does not tell the literal truth about the real world, but suggests attitudes which represent a proper balance of the nervous system and which are absorbed by the properly qualified reader.

26. The Value of Metaphor Generalization The main function of art is to enable human mind to organize itself more quickly and completely than it could do otherwise. In short, art (poetry) is a means whereby we can gain emotional balance, mental equilibrium, peace and rest.

27. The Value of Metaphor Generalization Emotions make experiences, and emotions are better realized and expressed through poetry. The poet does all this with the help of words. Misunderstanding and under-estimation of poetry is mainly due to over estimation of the thought in it.

28. The Value of Metaphor Generalization “It is never what a poem says which matters, but what it is. The poet is not writing as a scientist. He uses these words because the interest which the situation calls into play combine to bring them, just in this form, into his consciousness as a means of ordering, controlling, and consolidating the whole experience .” -Richards

29. The Value of Metaphor