English Literature / Unit 19 ENL 1810 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Close Reading and the New Criticism
Captions available
The idea
The New Criticism, named from John Crowe Ransom's nineteen forty-one book, emphasized close reading of the poem as a self-contained object. Wimsatt and Beardsley called judging a poem by its author's intention "the intentional fallacy," and Cleanth Brooks attacked "the heresy of paraphrase."
In practice
The text alone, read closely.
Where people slip
The exam's reading questions use this method.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
Unlocks
- Nothing yet depends on this.
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