New Criticism focuses on a close reading of the text itself, emphasizing the importance of analyzing the text independently of external contexts (such as historical, biographical, or cultural information). Here’s a breakdown of why each answer choice is correct or incorrect:
"It follows the tradition of Historical Criticism."
This is incorrect. New Criticism explicitly rejects the influence of historical, biographical, and sociological factors on interpreting literature. Instead, it focuses solely on the text itself and its formal elements.
"The main law of New Criticism is that it should be subjective analysis."
This is incorrect. New Criticism emphasizes objective analysis rather than subjective interpretation. The aim is to analyze the text based on its formal elements (like imagery, metaphor, and structure) rather than personal feelings or subjective impressions.
"The distinctive procedure for a New Critic is explication."
This is correct. Explication, or close reading, is a key technique in New Criticism. This involves a detailed, careful analysis of the text's language, structure, and meaning to uncover the complexities within the text itself.
"The distinction between literary genres does play an essential role in New Criticism."
This is incorrect. New Criticism generally downplays the significance of genre distinctions. Instead, it treats each work as a self-contained object to be examined independently of genre conventions.
Thus, option 3 is correct because explication (close reading) is indeed the distinctive and defining procedure in New Criticism.
Year-wise PYQs
