A Glossary of The New Criticism Part 1
A Glossary of The New Criticism Part 1
A Glossary of The New Criticism Part 1
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P O E T R Y
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A GLOSSARY OF THE NEW CRITICISM (I)
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P OE T R Y
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A GLOSSARY OF THE NEW CRITICISM (1)
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A GLOSSARY OF THE NEW CRITICISM (I)
the reader, rather than that the poem itself is what is being communi
cated. (cf. paraphrase, heresy of; and distinguish from communica
tion, fallacy of.) "It is not that the poem communicates nothing.
Precisely the contrary. The poem communicates so much and com
municates it so richly and with such delicate qualifications that the
thing communicated is mauled and distorted if we attempt to convey
it by any vehicle less subtle than that of the poem itself." The poet
therefore does not simply communicate ideas to the reader. "To say
that Herrick 'communicates' certain matters to the reader tends to
falsity the real situation ... the poet is a maker, not a communicator.
He explores, consolidates, and 'forms' the total experience that is the
poem." The poem exists as an object. "This experience is com
municable, partially so, at least. If we are willing to use imaginative
understanding, we can come to know the poem as an object - we can
share in the experience. Buit the poet is most truthfully described as
a poietes or maker, not as an expositor or communicator."
complex of meaning. The composition of the poem, consisting of a
logical structure, q.v., and a texture, q.v.
conative. Pert. to the willing element of the poem. cf. cognitive;
attitude.
concentration. ". . . the concentration characteristic of poetry is a
result of a highly organized form. This concentration does not depend
on logical succinctness or on simplicity. Rather it depends on the
functional relationship existing among a number of complex factors,
rhythm, imagery, theme, etc." (Brooks and Warren). Related to
intensity, q.v.
concept. An idea, as contrasted with percept, a sense impression.
concrete universal. A concept, continuous in literary criticism, which
implies the paradoxical union in a poem of the concrete, specific, and
individual, together with the universal and general. The concrete
universal persists among the New Critics, as in Tate's tension, q.v.,
and Ransom's structure-texture, q.v. (Cf. W. K. Wimsatt, Jr., "The
Structure of the 'Concrete Universal' in Literature," PMLA, LXII,
March 1947. However, Wimsatt overlooks the fact that Ransom's
structure-texture concept, which Wimsatt considers a form of the
concrete universal, is directly antithetical to it. See Kenyon Review,
VI, 1944, 121.)
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A GLOSSARY OF THE NEW CRITICISM (I)
tend to oppose the Romantic idea that poetry is emotion, Tate attack
ing Winters' belief that poetry is a technique for dealing with ir
reducible emotions. Eliot sums the matter up when he says, "Not our
feelings, but the pattern which we make of our feelings is the centre
of value," and "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion but an escape
from emotion."
emotive use of language. (Richards) Use of language for the sake
of effects in emotion and attitude produced by the reference it
occasions; contrasted with scientific use of language, i.e., for the sake
of the reference, true or false, which it causes.
exclusion, poetry of. Cf. poetry, Platonic; synthesis, poetry of.
expressive form, fallacy of. The principle whereby the form yields
to the raw material of the poem, the poet relinquishing his formal
obligation to the expression of his content. E.g., according to Winters,
Marianne Moore's (possibly ironic) Reinforcements:
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