What is New Criticism?

New Criticism is an approach to literature which was
developed by a group of American critics, most of who taught at southern universities
during the years following the First World War. The New Critics wanted to avoid
impressionistic criticism, which risked being shallow and arbitrary, and social/
historical approaches which might easily be subsumed by other disciplines. Thus, they
attempted to systematize the study of literature, to develop an approach which was
centred on the rigorous study of the text itself. They were given their name by John
Crowe Ransom, who describes the new American formalists in The New
Criticism (1941).

New Criticism is distinctly
formalist in character. It stresses close attention to the internal characteristics of
the text itself, and it discourages the use of external evidence to explain the work.
The method of New Criticism is foremost a close reading, concentrating on such formal
aspects as rhythm, meter, theme, imagery, metaphor, etc. The interpretation of a text
shows that these aspects serve to support the structure of meaning within the
text.

The aesthetic qualities praised by the New Critics
were largely inherited from the critical writings of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Coleridge
was the first to elaborate on a concept of the poem as a unified, organic whole which
reconciled its internal conflicts and achieved some final balance or harm. The New
Critics privileged poetry over other forms of literary expression because the saw the
poem as the purest exemplification of the literary values which they upheld. However,
the techniques of close reading and structural analysis of texts have also been applied
to fiction, drama, and other literary forms. These techniques remain the dominant
critical approach in many modern literature
courses.

The New Critics privileged poetry over
other forms of literary expression because the saw the poem as the purest
exemplification of the literary values which they upheld. However, the techniques of
close reading and structural analysis of texts have also been applied to fiction, drama,
and other literary forms. These techniques remain the dominant critical approach in many
modern literature courses.