New Criticism

Question 1

When was NC dominant?

Answer 1

It was dominant from 1930s to 1950s in the US, and it reached its peak in 1940s.
but similar to RF, it might root back to the 1900s / Jokobson and Rene Wellek figures of RF immigrated to America and started a series of discussions.

Question 2

What is the difference between the purpose of RF and NC?

Answer 2

RF’s purpose was to define a scientific method for the study of literature, which was deductive, objective, and aimed at discovering rules and grammar.

In NC, each piece is read as a form of human experience and to reveal some truth that is different from scientific truth. Poetic truth is gained through imagination and intuition(which RF takes for granted).They read literature for its own sake, not to generalise rules about the system.

Question 3

What are the most important features of Poetry based on NC?

Answer 3

Poetic truth (imagination and intuition)
Has an ontological status (an artifact. => Like any other
object in the world, it is an object that is self-sufficient, independent &
autonomous)

oneness or unity (also called
as the organic unity) → all the different details & devices come together to
make one overall structure. [the result of oneness is overall effect (a single,
unified effect) which is being created within the poem]

Question 4

What does this oneness and the unified effect mean in a poetry?

Answer 4

Oneness suggests that form & content are not separable; it isn’t
possible to understand the meaning of a poem through the content if you
don’t first discover the form. Bc the structural elements of the text are interconnected. Everything starts with the text itself & the
literary artistic form which is being created. Once the form is discovered,
we’ll simultaneously discover the content.

Question 5

What are the 7 step methodology to discover the structure?

Answer 5

1. The diction (denotation/connotation/etymology) → e.th starts with the
   discovery of single words. (The way these single words start to interact → in the
   form of some small clusters & later in the form of longer clusters)
2. The way the neighbouring words connect to make units of structure
3. Discovery of the images, symbols, figures of speech, & the way they relate
   to one another within the poem
   Discovering the allusions → whether the poem is allusive or not & if yes, to
   what does it allude
4. Discovery of structural patterns → if a particular rhyme is being used, the
   syntactic patterns, the grammatical patterns, the metrical devices, the tonal
   patterns, etc.
5. The tone of the poet & the overall theme of that piece of poetry, or the
   setting, the dialogues, the POVs, etc.
6. Seeing & analyzing how elements 1 to 5 interact with each other.
7. Discovering the overall intention of the text / the overarching tension [the
   core] of the poem

Question 6

3 Critical terms coined by New Critics?

Answer 6

1. Intentional Fallacy (by Wimsatt & Beardsley) → relates the poem to the author.
   The intention of the author is neither available nor desirable as a standard
   for judging a literary work.
2. Affective Fallacy (by W & B) → relates the poem to the reader.
   The psychological effects of the poem, the readers’ impression of the poem
   [or not], the right measurements for judging the poems.
   There is a difference between what a poem is and what a poem does.
3. Heresy of Paraphrase (by Cleanth Brooks) → The most imp feature of the
   poem is its oneness & organic unity. The meaning of the poem isn’t equal
   to the paraphrased version of the lines of the text. So, by paraphrasing, we
   destroy the oneness of the poetry.