Irony and paradox in new criticism The document discusses New Criticism, emphasizing close reading and the analysis of literary elements such as paradox, irony, and ambiguity to uncover a text's meaning. S Eliot and I. Because new critics believe that text is a self-contained, autonomous, self-sufficient object and capable to produce meaning. This school of thought revolutionized literary criticism by insisting on the analysis of the text itself, independent of external influences such as the author's biography, historical context, or the reader's emotional response. Jan 19, 2025 · Contribution to New Criticism Brooks’ Irony as a Principle of Structure exemplifies the New Critical focus on close reading and textual autonomy. So the term New Criticism came after a while when writers like T. S. The explicit association of irony with paradox, and of both with literature, is often ascribed to the New Criticism, and more specifically to Cleanth Brooks. In addition to the theme, the New Critics also looked for paradox, ambiguity,irony, and tension to help establish the single best and most unified interpretation of the text. New Critics "may find tension, irony, or paradox in this relation, but they usually resolve it into unity and coherence of meaning" (Biddle 100). Blackmur examines Cleanth Brooks's application of "new criticism" to classic English poems, arguing that Brooks's focus on paradox and irony illuminates the symbolic May 17, 2022 · The term “New Criticism” originated from J. Literary Criticism The Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe is a masterclass in ambiguity, irony, and paradox, central elements of New Critical analysis. This critical approach aims to dissect and understand works of literature solely through the examination of the text itself, independent of the author’s biography, historical context, or reader response. Paradox is the language of ‘sophistry, hard, bright’ and ‘witty’ and not the language of Oct 27, 2021 · The vitality and endurance of Brooks’s career—and the theoretical ambiguity of “New Criticism”—lies in his conviction that literature was an essentially civilizing and moral force, dependent less on doctrine than imaginative discovery through reflective engagement with literature. New Criticism, incorporating Formalism, examines the relationships between a text's ideas and its form, between what a text says and the way it says it. One result of New Criticism was an emphasis on irony. In summary, irony involves a contrast between appearance and reality, while a paradox presents a statement or situation that seems contradictory but may reveal deeper meaning or truth upon reflection. Though he is best known for his collection of essays 'The well wrought urn' (1947) in which the new critical emphasis on irony and paradox find eloquent expression, he was also a scholar of Southern U. Cleanth Brooks (/ ˈkliːænθ / KLEE-anth; [1] October 16, 1906 – May 10, 1994) was an American literary critic and professor. In addition to the theme, the New Critics also looked for paradox, ambiguity, irony, and tension to help establish the single best and most unified interpretation of the text. The New Critics emphasized “close reading” as a way to engage with a text, and paid close attention to the interactions between form and meaning. Like Formalist critics, New Critics focused their attention on the variety and degree of certain literary devices, specifically metaphor, irony, tension, and paradox. A paradox is a remark that seems self-contradictory; yet, actually describes the way things are. Irony refers to “the obvious warping of a statement by the context”, whereas paradox is the tension at the surface of a verse that can lead to apparent contradictions and hypocrisies. Cleanth Brooks, a key figure in New Criticism, championed close reading and the analysis of literary works as self-contained objects. The short story centers around a narrator who insists on his sanity while recounting the calculated murder of an old man, whose "vulture eye" he claims drove him to commit the crime. Aug 18, 2022 · These interpretations result from four types of language devices: paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension. They are intrigued by theme, paradox, ambiguity, irony, and tension because they are all text elements that can be studied within the piece without any discussion of reader or writer. Moreover, these meanings are a product primarily of four kinds of linguistic devices: paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension. ” The meaning of this fragmentary idea, however, is New Critics “mayfind tension, irony, or paradox in this relation, but they usuallyresolve it into unity and coherence of meaning” (Biddle 100). His best-known works, The Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry (1947) and Modern Poetry and Dec 11, 2023 · New Criticism was a prominent literary theory that emerged in the early to mid-20th century, primarily in the United States, emphasising close reading and analysis of literary texts. P. Additionally, it highlights the legacy of New Criticism in shaping literary canonization and its Aug 6, 2020 · That is not to say that philosophers and literary critics haven’t muddied the waters with regard to paradox and irony. Here Aug 15, 2021 · Some writers associated with New Criticism give much importance to irony. Friedrich Schlegel, the German poet, philosopher, and literary critic, declared that “irony is the form of paradox. ). How do paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension work in the text? How do these parts and their collective whole contribute to or not contribute to the aesthetic quality of the work? How does the author resolve apparent contradictions within the work? What does the form of the work say about its content? In addition to the theme, the New Critics also looked for paradox, ambiguity,irony, and tension to help establish the single best and most unified interpretation of the text. For example, when analyzing a poem using New Criticism, the focus should be on the language, metaphors, symbols, and structure rather than on the poet's personal life. Key Figures in New Criticism Apr 26, 2006 · Thus, for New Criticism, the complexity of a text is created by the multiple and often conflicting meanings woven through it. C Ransom’s book “The New Criticism” which was published in 1941. Feb 12, 2015 · As New Criticism sees plot, characters, images, symbols, irony, ambiguity, paradox, language and tension within the text, The Great Gatsby is studied by new critics as the chronicle of Jazz movement in America. In the following essay, R. For these critics, tension implies the conflicts between a word’s denotation and its connotation. Jun 24, 2023 · New Criticism and formalism grew out of an attempt to render literary criticism more “scientific,” that is, to make criticism appear more measurable and thus a tool to analyse literary language through its form rather than its content as had been the critical and philosophical bent of the romantics. Irony is a figure of speech in which the meaning of a text is radically different than the surface meaning of a text. A Richard had become established within the Anglo-American academia. Some New Critics use the word tension to describe the opposition or conflicts in a text. “The language of poetry is the language of paradox” Elucidate with reference to Cleanth Brooks’s essay The Language of Paradox. In New Criticism, irony becomes the master trope because it is essential for the production of paradox and ambiguity. In short, new criticism upholds a clear boundary between a literary text and the rest of the world. Mar 17, 2025 · Formal Elements Matter: Literary devices such as paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension are central to meaning. Note that irony, ambiguity, and paradox are only a few of the poetic figures which a New Critical reading might discover implying thematic connotations implied in a poem, but in the early history of New Criticism, they were the most commonly discovered strategies by which poems resolved their tensions into themes of universal significance. Paradox is what is good and great at the same time. Eliot 3 The art of close reading 4 William Epsom and ambiguity 5 John Crowe Ransom and his successors 6 Overcoming common fallacies 7 Irony, paradox, and the heresy of paraphrase 8 The problems with new criticism 9 New criticism today 10 Further reading on Perlego 11 Bibliography The New Criticism is an American and Trans-Atlantic movement of literary criticism existed roughly between 1920s and 1960s with tremendous success. Aug 19, 2020 · Irony and paradox are two key words in new criticism. Paraphrased meaning destroyed meaning, in their view. His argument reinforces the idea that meaning in literature is not reducible to paraphrase or authorial intention but is instead embedded in the interplay of textual elements. New Criticism views the literary text as a self-contained The interpretation and the words of a text became the same thing. New Criticism attempts to be a science of literature, with a technicalvocabulary, some of which we all had to learn in junior high schoolEnglish classes (third-person, denoument, etc. Mar 18, 2016 · Cleanth Brooks, an eminent New Critic, advocates the centrality of paradox as a way of understanding and interpreting poetry, in his best-known works, The Language of Paradox, The Well Wrought Urn (1947) and Modern Poetry and the Tradition (1939). 3 days ago · Cleanth Brooks, a prominent figure in New Criticism, presented his influential essay "Irony as a Principle of Structure" in 1949. In summary, American New Criticism focuses on close textual analysis and rejects external influences, while Russian Formalism emphasizes the formal aspects of literature and the autonomy of Mar 16, 2016 · New Criticism: An Essay By NASRULLAH MAMBROL on March 16, 2016 • ( 11 ) At a time when literary artists were turning away from society into an introspective preoccupation with ‘art for art’s sake’, a similar movement was initiated in criticism, parallel to the Modernist ethos, by Cambridge professors IA Richards, FR Leavis and William Empson, and by the American Fugitives and Southern Like Formalist critics, New Critics focused their attention on the variety and degree of certain literary devices, specifically metaphor, irony, tension, and paradox. " [7] Irony functions as a presence in the text – the overriding context of the Study with Quizlet and memorize flashcards containing terms like methods of new criticism, what is new criticism, close reading and more. Although paradox and irony as New Critical tools for reading poetry are often conflated, they are independent poetical devices. Abstract : Cleanth Brooks (1906-1994) was one of the most influential and innovative writers in what has come to be known as the new criticism '. Jun 2, 2024 · New Criticism is a literary theory and approach to textual analysis that emerged in the early 20th century. Close reading lends itself to uncovering ironic meanings. New Criticism is synonymous with close reading, so the urn becomes an important symbol for the New Critics: the urn as artistic container of beauty and meaning represents the New Critical enterprise. S writing , particularly the works of William This article discusses the evolution and impact of the New Criticism movement in literary studies. Mar 31, 2020 · [Brooks and New Criticism—see Appendix] A SUMMARY [1800 WORDS] ‘The Language of Paradox’, the first chapter of Cleanth Brooks’ Well-wrought Urn, begins with the famous statement: ‘the language of poetry is the language of paradox’. Brooks, however, used the two terms in a manner that was unconventional, even eccentric. A poem, a play, a novel, a short story is like a “storied urn” or “well-wrought urn,” capable of conveying poetic beauty and truth. 1. This work explores the central role of irony in poetic structure and meaning, emphasizing the importance of close reading and the unity of form and content in literary analysis. Dec 26, 2013 · Cleanth Brooks’s concept of Paradox and Irony and their importance in poetry as discussed in his essay “The Language of Paradox” in The Well Wrought Urn (1947). It critiques the intentional and affective fallacies, arguing for the text's autonomy from authorial intent and reader emotion. A second and more significant cultural function of the New Criticism, I would suggest, was precisely to educate liberal consciousness regarding ambiguity and irony, to teach Americans what they needed to know and what attitude they required in order to act effectively in a Cold War world. Its adherents were emphatic in their advocacy of close reading and attention to texts themselves, and their rejection of criticism based on extra-textual sources, especially biography. . Irony for Brooks is "the obvious warping of a statement by the context" [6] whereas paradox is later glossed as a special kind of qualification that "involves the resolution of opposites. The New Critics also emphasize the importance of irony and paradox, arguing that like ambiguity and complexity, these elements contribute to the depth and richness of a text. He emphasized the importance of paradox, irony, and tension in poetry, arguing that these elements create complex meanings within texts. 2. He is best known for his contributions to New Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the teaching of poetry in American higher education. The New Criticism was a formalist style of literary criticism that emerged in the first half of the 20th century. Irony refers to a statement or incident undermined by the context in which it happens. It viewed texts as self-contained and focused on analyzing elements within the text like irony, ambiguity, and paradox to discover implied themes. To see more figures defined, which you might possibly Jul 26, 2023 · 1 Origins of new criticism and close reading 2 The influence of T. As noted above, they reject the use of information that is outside the text as a means to understand the text. sjowf6 cfm st0 i0 j1qd i2s 8mswjd v3ux3zpy cg9n zj7rx