Principles of Literary Criticism

Summary

Principles of Literary Criticism is I. A. Richards's attempt to give criticism a systematic foundation. Richards, a young Cambridge lecturer trained in philosophy rather than literature, first published it in London in 1924 in the International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method; the stored text is a 1928 New York printing. He opens with the chaos of critical theories, observing that the great critics from Aristotle onward have left, in his words, an almost empty garner of a few conjectures, a supply of admonitions and many acute isolated observations, and that criticism lacks a clear account of what a poem is and why it matters. Richards argues that the critic must answer two questions: what gives an experience value, and how can experiences be communicated. For the first he offers a psychological theory of value. Human impulses may be divided into appetencies and aversions, and anything is valuable which satisfies an appetency without frustrating some equal or more important one. The most valuable states of mind, he writes, involve the widest and most comprehensive co-ordination of activities with the least conflict and waste. On this view art matters because it records and communicates such well-ordered experiences, so that the arts are a storehouse of recorded values. For the second question he develops a theory of communication. He sketches the psychology of reading a poem, from the visual sensation of printed words through images, references, emotions and attitudes, and he treats rhythm and metre, painting, sculpture and music in the same terms. He discusses the normality of the artist, the reasons for badness in poetry, divergent readings, stock responses, and Tolstoy's infection theory of art. Late chapters distinguish two uses of language. A statement may be used scientifically, for the sake of the true or false reference it causes, or emotively, for the sake of the effects in emotion and attitude produced by that reference. Richards argues that most statements in poetry are not meant to be verified, and that poetry should be judged by the attitudes it organizes rather than by the truth of the beliefs it seems to assert. These ideas, together with his companion book Practical Criticism, shaped the close reading of the New Critics, though his psychological theory of value has been widely disputed.

Plot or Argument

• I-IV. The state of criticism

  Critical theory is in chaos; aesthetics avoids value; the language of criticism hides confusion; a theory of communication is needed.

• V-IX. Value and morals

  Criticism cannot avoid value; Richards proposes a psychological theory in which value is the satisfaction of impulses with least frustration, and relates art to morals.

• X-XV. Psychology of experience

  After rejecting 'poetry for poetry's sake' as a separate realm, Richards sketches a psychology of impulses, pleasure, emotion, memory and attitudes.

• XVI-XX. The analysis of a poem and the other arts

  The qualifications of a good critic; the events of reading; rhythm and metre; painting, sculpture and music.

• XXI-XXXI. Communication and judgment

  How experience is communicated, the normality of the artist, badness in poetry, divergent readings, levels of response, permanence and the definition of a poem.

• XXXII-XXXV. Imagination, truth and belief

  Six senses of imagination; truth and revelation theories; the scientific and emotive uses of language; poetry and beliefs.

Lessons

• Why value matters in criticism

  Richards insists that critics cannot avoid questions of value; to judge a poem is to say something about what is good for human minds. Christian readers will agree that art is never value-free, while testing his psychological account of the good against Scripture's.

  • Why does Richards say criticism must face the question of value?
  • How does he define what is valuable?
  • What would a Christian add to or change in his definition?

• Two uses of language

  Richards distinguishes the scientific use of language, which aims at true reference, from the emotive use, which aims at effects in feeling and attitude. Students can use the distinction while weighing whether poetry, and especially religious poetry, can also tell the truth.

  • What is the difference between the scientific and emotive uses of language?
  • Does Richards think a poem's statements must be true?
  • Can a psalm be both emotive and true?

• The qualifications of a good critic

  Richards says a good critic must experience a work without eccentricity, distinguish experiences finely, and be a sound judge of values. These are habits of attention and judgment any student can practise.

  • What three qualifications does Richards list?
  • Which do you find hardest?
  • How can a reader grow in sound judgment?

Context

Richards wrote at Cambridge in the early 1920s, when English was a new university subject and when psychology seemed to promise a scientific account of the mind. With C. K. Ogden he had published The Meaning of Meaning in 1923.

Composition

The book was first published in London in 1924 by Kegan Paul in the International Library of Psychology, Philosophy and Scientific Method. Richards added two appendices, on value and on T. S. Eliot's poetry, in the second edition and made minor improvements in the third. The stored text is a 1928 Harcourt, Brace printing; its later preface and the appendices are omitted.

Reception

The book made Richards one of the most influential critics of his generation. His attention to the reader's experience of the words on the page, developed further in Practical Criticism (1929), helped found the New Criticism, while his theory of value and his separation of poetry from belief drew lasting objections.

Comparisons

• Practical Criticism

  Richards's companion volume applies the theory to readers' actual responses to unsigned poems.

• The Sacred Wood

  Eliot also wanted criticism to be analytical, but grounded it in tradition rather than psychology.

• Poetics

  Richards quotes Aristotle among the critics whose conjectures he finds insufficient as a theory.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The list of famous critical sayings in Chapter I and Richards's verdict on them.
• The definition of value in terms of appetencies and aversions.
• The three qualifications of a good critic in Chapter XVI.
• The scientific and emotive uses of language in Chapter XXXIV.
• The claim in Chapter XXXV that poetry's statements are not meant to be verified.

Key terms and names

Impulse

Richards's general term for the mental activities, appetencies and aversions, that make up experience.

Appetency

A seeking after something; Richards defines the valuable as what satisfies an appetency.

Scientific use of language

Using a statement for the sake of the true or false reference it causes.

Emotive use of language

Using a statement for the sake of the effects in emotion and attitude produced by its reference.

Stock response

A ready-made reaction a reader brings to a poem instead of attending to what it says.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension Why does Richards call existing critical theory a chaos?
2. Comprehension How does Richards define value?
3. Interpretation Why does Richards think psychology can help criticism?
4. Interpretation What does Richards mean by saying poetry's statements need not be verified?
5. Interpretation How do the three qualifications of a good critic fit together?
6. Big Question Can poetry tell us the truth, or does it only shape our feelings and attitudes?

Faith Connections

• Philippians 4:8 (Scripture)

  Whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely; Paul joins truth and beauty where Richards separates poetry's emotive power from its truth.

• Psalm 19:1-4 (Scripture)

  The heavens declare the glory of God; a poem that is both emotive and a claim about reality tests Richards's two uses of language.

• Augustine, On Christian Doctrine, Book IV (Great Conversation)

  Augustine's account of eloquence that teaches, delights and moves offers a classical alternative to Richards's split between reference and emotion.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Criticism needs a theory of value and a theory of communication; value lies in the fullest ordering of impulses, art communicates such ordered experience, and poetry works through emotive rather than scientific language.

Rhetorical device: definition and division. In Chapter XXXIV Richards divides language into two uses, scientific and emotive, and builds his account of poetic belief on the division.

Debate: Resolved: that a poem should be judged by the attitudes it produces rather than by the truth of what it says.

Memory Work

There are two totally distinct uses of language.

The qualifications of a good critic are three.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Explain Richards's two uses of language and evaluate whether the distinction holds for a poem you know well.

Comparison with The Sacred Wood: Compare Richards's psychological approach to criticism with Eliot's appeal to tradition. Which gives a better account of what a critic does?

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Collect five sentences from a science textbook and five lines of poetry; sort them by Richards's scientific and emotive uses, and discuss any that will not sort cleanly.

• Essay

  Richards argues that poetry should not be judged by the truth of its statements. Defend or challenge this using a poem of faith.

• Dialogue

  Write a conversation between Richards and a medieval poet about whether a poem can teach truth.

Further Reading

• Practical Criticism, I. A. Richards

• The Meaning of Meaning, C. K. Ogden and I. A. Richards

• Poetics, Aristotle