New+Criticism

=New Critical Theory=

**Overview**
Merriam-Webster defines New Criticism as "an analytic literary criticism that is marked by concentration on the language, imagery, and emotional or intellectual tensions in literary works."

New Criticism is a theory of literature, its term coined in 1941 though the work //The New Criticism// by John Crowe Ransom. Its followers believed in an objective existence, that only the poem itself is able to be objectively evaluated. The thoughts, values, emotions, or biography of the author, nor the history during which it was written, are thought to be important or any use in figuring out the meaning of the piece. New Critics focus on close readings of the work, and they believe that with the text and the text only can the correct meaning be found. They also believe that relativism, the belief that a poem can have multiple meanings of interpretation, is a mistake and an error in judgment. Superior poetry, which is what is strived for, is created through paradox, irony, and ambiguity all working together to create a oneness in the text. (Bressler 54-59)

**Terms**
A few key terms used in New Critical analyses are:


 * **Affective fallacy** – a mistake in interpretation that confuses what a poem is (meaning) with what it does (Bressler 58)
 * **Intentional fallacy** – belief that a poem’s meaning is nothing more than an expression of the private experiences or intentions of its author (Bressler 57)
 * **Objective correlation** – a set of objects, a situation, a chain of events, or reactions that can effectively awaken in the reader the emotional response the author desires without being a direct statement of that emotion (Bressler 56)
 * **Objective theory of art** – meaning of a poem must not be equated with its author’s feelings or stated or implied intentions (Bressler 57)
 * **Ontological critic** – one who recognizes a poem is a concrete entity (Bressler 53)
 * **Organic unity** – all parts of a poem are necessarily interrelated, with each part reflecting and helping to support the poem’s central idea (Bressler 59)
 * **Poem** – a work of art; used because the theory works best with poetry (Bressler 57)
 * **Relativism** – the belief that a poem has innumerable valid interpretations (Bressler 58)
 * **Superior poetry** – paradox + irony + ambiguity (Bressler 59)

**Process**
In Bressler’s section of New Criticism in the fifth edition of Literary Criticism, he outlines the process a critic following the styles of New Criticism must follow.

The steps

(Bressler 62)

**Conclusion**
Because of New Criticism’s focus on the text and text alone, and for its straightforward way of finding a text's meaning through the use of close readings, it has become one of the most commonly used theory in classrooms. New Criticism has come under scrutiny though, for there are those that think that examination of the author and other influencing factors can lend itself to different meanings and broader ideas (Bressler 64). New Criticism focuses on text and definitions so it would be handy to keep a dictionary within reach while critiquing a text using the New Critical approach. New Critical theorists feel that there are limited meanings and a limited number of resources are needed to develop a text's meaning.

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