Read the Question carefully and choose the correct option.
I.A. Richards’s famous experiment with poems and his Cambridge students is detailed in “Practical Criticism : A Study of Literary Judgement’ (1929). Richards was astonished by
1. the poor quality of his students' ‘stock responses
2. the very astute remarks made by his students
3. the non-availability of poems, worthy of class-room attention
4. the success of his experiment
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Detailed Explanation & Answer
I.A. Richards’s experiment in "Practical Criticism: A Study of Literary Judgement" (1929) was designed to assess how students interpreted poetry without any guidance or prior knowledge. The key finding from this experiment was that many students provided poor quality responses to the poems.
Here’s why the correct answer is 1:
1. The poor quality of his students' ‘stock responses’: Richards was surprised and concerned by how poorly his students understood and critiqued the poems. Their responses were often superficial or formulaic, revealing a lack of deep engagement or critical thinking about the texts. This was the main observation that Richards documented and which had a significant impact on his views about literary education.
‘Stock responses’ refer to standardized or formulaic answers that lack originality or depth. In the context of I.A. Richards’s experiment, these are responses to literary texts that follow conventional patterns or clichés rather than offering insightful or nuanced interpretations.
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