painting, sculpture, and music form the subjects of three chapters. Another important chapter deals with the availability of the poet’s experience.”—_The Criterion, London_. “Mr. Richards is an entertaining writer, whose work avoids easily the tedium of a technical treatise.”—_The British Journal of Psychology_. Transcriber’s Note: This eBook was created from a 1928 edition, scans of which are available from the Internet Archive. Tildes (~) indicate words that were set in Fraktur script in the original text. New original cover art included with this eBook is granted to the public domain. International Library of Psychology Philosophy and Scientific Method PRINCIPLES OF LITERARY CRITICISM BY I. A. RICHARDS FELLOW OF MAGDALENE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE NEW YORK HARCOURT, BRACE AND COMPANY LONDON: KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH, TRUBNER & CO. LTD. PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN BY LUND HUMPHRIES LONDON · BRADFORD CONTENTS I. THE CHAOS OF CRITICAL THEORIES II. THE PHANTOM ÆSTHETIC STATE III. THE LANGUAGE OF CRITICISM IV. COMMUNICATION AND THE ARTIST V. THE CRITICS’ CONCERN WITH VALUE VI. VALUE AS AN ULTIMATE IDEA VII. A PSYCHOLOGICAL THEORY OF VALUE VIII. ART AND MORALS IX. ACTUAL AND POSSIBLE MISAPPREHENSIONS X. POETRY FOR POETRY’S SAKE XI. A SKETCH FOR A PSYCHOLOGY XII. PLEASURE XIII. EMOTION AND THE CŒNESTHESIA XIV. MEMORY XV. ATTITUDES XVI. THE ANALYSIS OF A POEM XVII. RHYTHM AND METRE XVIII. ON LOOKING AT A PICTURE XIX. SCULPTURE AND THE CONSTRUCTION OF FORM XX. THE _IMPASSE_ OF MUSICAL THEORY XXI. A THEORY OF COMMUNICATION XXII. THE AVAILABILITY OF THE POET’S EXPERIENCE XXIII. TOLSTOY’S INFECTION THEORY XXIV. THE NORMALITY OF THE ARTIST XXV. BADNESS IN POETRY XXVI. JUDGMENT AND DIVERGENT READINGS XXVII. LEVELS OF RESPONSE AND THE WIDTH OF APPEAL XXVIII. THE ALLUSIVENESS OF MODERN POETRY XXIX. PERMANENCE AS A CRITERION XXX. THE DEFINITION OF A POEM XXXI. ART, PLAY, AND CIVILISATION XXXII. THE IMAGINATION XXXIII. TRUTH AND REVELATION THEORIES XXXIV. THE TWO USES OF LANGUAGE XXXV. POETRY AND BELIEFS APPENDIX A ON VALUE APPENDIX B ON MR. ELIOT’S POETRY PREFACE A book is a machine to think with, but it need not, therefore, usurp the functions either of the bellows or the locomotive. This book might better be compared to a loom on which it is proposed to re-weave some ravelled parts of our civilisation. What is most important about it, the interconnection of its several points of view, might have been exhibited, though not with equal clarity, in a pamphlet or in a two-volume work. Few of the separate items are original. One does not expect novel cards when playing so traditional a game; it is the hand which matters. I have chosen to present it here on the smallest scale which would allow me to fit together the various positions adopted into a whole of some firmness. The elaborations and expansions which suggest themselves have been constantly cut short at the point at which I thought that the reader would be able to see for himself how they would continue. The danger of this procedure, which otherwise has great advantages both for him and for me, is that the different parts of a connected account such as this mutually illumine one another. The writer, who has, or should have, the whole position in his mind throughout, may overlook sources of obscurity for the reader, due to the serial form of the exposition. This I have endeavoured to prevent by means of numerous cross-references, forwards and backwards. But some further explanation of the structure of the book is due to the reader. At sundry points—notably in Chapters VI, VII, and XI-XV—its progress appears to be interrupted by lengthy excursions into theory of value,...