Scribd
Upload
25 views2 pages

New Criticism Notes

New criticism focuses on intrinsic features of a text through close reading without consideration of external contexts like the author or time period. The approach looks for symbols, paradoxes, ambiguities, and tensions within a text and seeks to find patterns and themes to achieve a unified interpretation backed by evidence from the text itself.

Uploaded by

Michelene Himunchul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
25 views2 pages

New Criticism Notes

New criticism focuses on intrinsic features of a text through close reading without consideration of external contexts like the author or time period. The approach looks for symbols, paradoxes, ambiguities, and tensions within a text and seeks to find patterns and themes to achieve a unified interpretation backed by evidence from the text itself.

Uploaded by

Michelene Himunchul
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 2

New Criticism Notes

*New criticism focuses on intrinsic features


*Literary criticism started in the 1930’s. Up until this, people were mostly concerned with the beauty
of literature-the aesthetic tradition (people paid attention to the form e.g. iambic pentameter.) Certain
forms were considered beautiful and that meant that the poem or work would reach the audience or
have a better impact on the audience.
*New Criticism is a rejection of the aesthetic tradition- in the 1930’s, science was becoming
increasingly important, and new critics wanted to think about literature from a more scientific
perspective.
PRINCIPLES OF NEW CRITICISM:
*Close reading- they focus on close reading of the text. This was the idea that the text stands in
isolation meaning the author, historical context, time are irrelevant. This is a more scientific approach
because it got rid of beauty- that didn’t matter. But what did matter was what the text was saying and
how we knew that that is what the text was saying.
New criticism starts with looking for symbols- new critics believed that all texts have symbols i.e.
ideas that aren’t literal (use of figurative language like metaphors etc). They believed that symbols
could almost always have more than one possible meaning and that led to the next step- paradox if a
symbol has two separate meanings, that creates a paradox because a symbol can’t have two
contradictory meanings. New critics believed that all texts were inherently contradictory- there were
parts that didn’t agree with one another. Paradox leads to ambiguity- if there are contradictions, there
are going to be things that are unclear and confusing in the text. Ambiguity leads to tension- there are
competing ideas and meanings that require interpretation. New critics believe that tension is where
interpretation lives. In order to make sense of the tension, new critics believe that sometimes, we
interpret certain things ironically but not always. The whole GOAL is to look for a pattern i.e. certain
things that come up over and over again (are certain types of ambiguity in the text? Certain types of
tensions? Does it seem like 2 ideas are constantly butting up against one another?)THAT is where we
get our theme- the patterns will lead to unity- a final unified theme for the text as a whole. This is the
goal of New Criticism.
1) Identify symbols
2) Identify paradox
3) Identify ambiguity
4) Make sense of the tension and ambiguity what is does for the text
The role of the author in new criticism is also important- For centuries the ultimate authority on a text
was the author whatever meaning there was of a text came from the author since they knew what they
intended to create when creating a work. NEW CRITICS REJECTED THIS CALLING IT AN
INTENTIONAL FALLACY
Intentional fallacy: Believing that the author's intentions define the meanings of a literary work is
committing the intentional fallacy, according to the New Critics. This fallacy assumes that the
author’s intended meaning is the only valid interpretation of a literary work. New Critics rejected this
notion, emphasizing that a text’s meaning should be derived from the text itself, independent of the
author’s intentions. THE TEXT ITSEL FIS THE AUTHORITY-AS LONG AS YOUR
INTERPRETATION IS BACKED UP BY THE TEXT, IT IS CORRECT.
LOOK AT THIS EXAMPLE TO CLARIFY NEW CRITICISM

You might also like