Preliminary Class Business
Readings from the New Criticism on our syllabus to date:
- Archibald MacLeish, "Ars Poetica" (1926)
- John Crowe Ransom, from "Wanted: An Ontological Critic" (pp. 279-316 only) from his New Criticism (1941)
- Cleanth Brooks, "The Heresy of Paraphrase" from his The Well Wrought Urn (1947)
- Cleanth Brooks, "Keats's Sylvan Historian" from his Well Wrought Urn (1947)
- John Keats, "Ode on a Grecian Urn" (1819)
- Cleanth Brooks, excerpt from "Irony as a Principle of Structure" (1949)
- W. K. Wimsatt, "The Concrete Universal" (1947), rpt. in his The Verbal Icon (1954)
- W. K. Wimsatt, "The Structure of Romantic Nature Imagery" (1949), rpt. in his The Verbal Icon
1. Evolving Theory of New Criticism
2. Practice of New Criticism
Story of arrival of the New Criticism in the classroom at Yale U., 1938-41
- Cleanth Brooks & Robert Penn Warren, ed., Understanding Poetry (1938)
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- Some Yale English Dept. faculty members in the late 1930's-1940's who are relevant to the story (History of the Department):
- Maynard Mack
- Louis Martz
- John Pope
- Richard Sewald
- Chauncey Brewster Tinker
- W. K. Wimsatt,
- Cleanth Brooks hired at Yale 1947; Robert Penn Warren hired at Yale 1961
Examples of the practical criticism of the New Critics
- Cleanth Brooks, "Keats's Sylvan Historian" from his Well Wrought Urn (1947)
- Cleanth Brooks, excerpt from "Irony as a Principle of Structure" (1949)
- W. K. Wimsatt, "The Structure of Romantic Nature Imagery" (1949)
Example of the heritage of New Critical practice
- A recent "Close Reading" tip sheet reflecting the legacy of New Critical practice (originally from Sierra C., CA)
Example poem for close reading
- Sir Thomas Wyatt, "They Flee From Me" (1557) (instructor's annotated version)