Practical and New Criticism

New Criticism is the development of the Practical Criticism approach by American

critics and poets. R. C. Murfin, R. C and S. M. Ray describe what New Criticism is
within The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. ‘The foundations of the
New Criticism were laid in books and essays written during the 1920s and 1930s by
I. A. Richards (Practical Criticism [1929]), William Empson (Seven Types of
Ambiguity [1930]), and T. S. Eliot ("The Function of Criticism" [1933]).’ New Criticism
regards literature as an independent item.

*Stylistics explores how readers interact with the language of text in order to explain how we
understand and are affected by text when we read them.

*Grew up in the 2nd half of the 20th century as a logical extension of ‘movement’ within Literary
Criticism to concentrate on studying texts rather than authors. This approach is called Practical
Criticism.

*As Practical Criticism dawned in Britain a new movement also rouse in United States and called New
Criticism

Practical Criticism New Criticism

Originated in Britain Originated in United States

Focuses on psychological aspects in a reader Focused exclusively on the description of

interacting with a literary piece literary works as independent aesthetic object

Focuses on formal aspects

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Emphasis on the language of the text rather
than its author
Assumes that what critics needed was
accounts of important works of literature bases
on the intuitional reading outcomes of trained
and aesthetically sensitive critics
Critics did not analyse the language of texts but
rather paid very close attention to the language
of the text when they read them and them
described how they understood them and were
they affected by them
Advocates “claim and quote” approach to
criticism
Emphasis on the aesthetic structure of the work
Pay attention to the internal characteristics of
the text itself and dissuades external evidence
Uses 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.
Same