The Birth of New Criticism: Conflict and Conciliation in the Early Work of William Empson, I.A. Richards, Robert Graves, and Laura Riding

410 Pages·2014·6.038 MB·English

by  Donald J. Childs

the birth of new criticism
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The Birth of New Criticism
Conflict and Conciliation in
the Early Work of William Empson,
I.A. Richards, Laura Riding,
and Robert Graves
donald j. childs
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca
• •
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© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2013
isbn 978-0-7735-4211-2 (cloth)
isbn 978-0-7735-8923-0 (epdf)
isbn 978-0-7735-8924-7 (epub)
Legal deposit fourth quarter 2013
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper that is 100% ancient forest free
(100% post-consumer recycled), processed chlorine free
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Canadian
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through the Awards to
Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by the Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the Canada
Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the
financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book
Fund for our publishing activities.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
texChilds, Donald J., author
The Birth of New Criticism: conflict and conciliation in the early work
of William Empson, I.A. Richards, Laura Riding, and Robert Graves /
Donald J. Childs.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
ISBN 978-0-7735-4211-2 (bound). – ISBN 978-0-7735-8923-0 (epdf). –
ISBN 978-0-7735-8924-7 (epub)
1. New Criticism – History.  2. Empson, William, 1906–1984 – Criticism
and interpretation.  3. Richards, I. A. (Ivor Armstrong), 1893–1979 –
Criticism and interpretation.  4. Riding, Laura, 1901–1991 – Criticism
and interpretation.  5. Graves, Robert, 1895–1985 – Criticism and
interpretation.  I. Title.
pn98.n4C45 2013 801'.95 c2013-906405-2
c2013-906406-0
This book was typeset by Interscript in 10.5/13 Sabon.
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In memory of
Frederick James Luxton (1926–2010)
Donald Childs (1928–2011)
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 3
1 An Old Anxiety about Influence 34
2 A Question of Conflict 56
3 Mediating The Poetic Mind: “as many meanings as possible” 74
4 The Limits of Poetic Consciousness 85
5 Models of Practically Ambiguous Criticism 106
6 Defence of Poetic Analysis 123
7 The Ambiguous Grammar of Romantic Psychology 135
8 Associations 157
9 Taxonomies of Types 173
10 Remembering Graves in Revision 178
11 Richards and the Graves(t) Danger 190
12 How Graves Shapes Richards’s Principles 206
13 Conflict Theory in Science and Poetry 234
14 Riding Corrects Richards (and Graves) 242
15 Asserting the Poem’s Autonomy contra Richards 258
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viii Contents
16 From Slow Reading to Close Reading: Escaping the Stock
Response 270
17 Taking New Stock of Stock Responses 284
18 Poetry, Interpretation, and Education 299
19 Anthology Culture, Self-Reliance, and Self-Development 313
20 Slow Wit, Slow Close Reading, and Paraphrase 329
Notes 341
Index 391
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Acknowledgments
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, through
the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program, using funds provided by
the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Part
of the chapter “New Criticism,” from Encyclopedia of Contemporary
Literary Theory: Approaches, Scholars, Terms, edited by Irene R.
Makaryk © University of Toronto Press, 1993, is reprinted with per-
mission of the publisher.
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