Principles of Literary Criticism

Ivor Armstrong Richards was one of the founders of modern literary criticism. He enthused a generation of writers and readers and was an influential supporter of the young T.S. Eliot. Principles of Literary Criticism was the text that first established his reputation and pioneered the movement that became known as the 'New Criticism'. Highly controversial when first published, Principles of Literary Criticism remains a work which no one with a serious interest in literature can afford to ignore.

1. The Chaos of Critical Theories, 2. The Phantom Aesthetic State, 3. The Language of Criticism, 4. Communication and the Artist, 5. The Critics' Concern with Value, 6. Value as an Ultimate Idea, 7. A Psychological Theory of Value, 8. Art and Morals, 9. Actual and Possible Misapprehensions, 10. Poetry for Poetry's Sake, 11. A Sketch for a Psychology, 12. Pleasure, 13. Emotion and the Coenesthesia, 14. Memory, 15. Attitudes, 16. The Analysis of a Poem, 17. Rhythm and Metre, 18. On Looking at a Picture, 19. Sculpture and the Construction of Form, 20. The Impasse of Musical Theory, 21. A Theory of Communication, 22. The Availability of the Poet's Experience, 23. Tolstoy's Infection Theory, 24. The Normality of the Artist, 25. Badness in Poetry, 26. Judgement and Divergent Readings, 27. Levels of Response and the Width of Appeal, 28. The Allusiveness of Modern Poetry, 29. Permanence as a Criterion, 30. The Definition of a Poem, 31. Art, Play, and Civilization, 32. The Imagination, 33. Truth and Revelation Theories, 34. The Two Uses of Language, 35. Poetry and Beliefs, Appendix A: On Value, Appendix B: The Poetry of T. S. Eliot, Index

I. A. Richards (1893–1979). One of the most influential literary critics of the twentieth century. He taught at the University of Cambridge from 1922 before moving to Harvard University, where, from 1944, he was Professor of English Literature.