The Tension Theory In New Criticism Of Britain And America

In contemporary western literary and artistic theories,the British and American new criticism as a genre has long faded out of people's vision,but the methodological guidance it left us still cannot be underestimated.Tension is the criterion for new criticism theorists to judge the pros and cons of poetry,and it is the general term for the dialectical structure in poetry,It is also a comprehensive summary of the new critical theory.Therefore,new criticism is also called "tension poetics".The theory of tension well reflects that the new criticism is based on literary works,takes the method of close reading as the principle,pays attention to the critical features of text language and composition,provides an effective method for literary appreciation,and still has great applicability and strong vitality in today's criticism circle."New Criticism" as its name indicates,it is mainly a school of criticism.Compared with theoretical interpretation,the members of the New Criticism pay more attention to the practice of criticism,and most of their theoretical opinions are hidden in the specific practice of criticism,and so is the tension theory.Since Retreat introduced tension into the literary field,there have been few systematic and comprehensive reviews of the new criticism tension theory.It is of great significance to summarize the theory.This paper aims to make a comprehensive analysis of the formation background,theoretical constitution,contribution,limitation and development of the new critical tension theory,so as to establish a complete system of the new critical tension theory.The writing of this article includes three parts: introduction,main text and conclusion.The introduction includes the research review,research purpose and significance of this topic.The text is divided into three chapters.The first chapter summarizes the background of the new criticism tension theory,which is discussed from two aspects: reality and theory.On the practical level,the tension theory is inseparable from the current social background,literature,and criticism.On the theoretical level,The tension theory was influenced by Elliot,Ransom,Richards,and Empson.The second chapter systematically sorts out the theoretical composition of the tension theory of the new criticism party.It first summarizes the theoretical connotation of the tension theory of the new criticism,more specific,this paper analysis of the tension of the new criticism,Tension theory was first put forward by Tate,and after the expansion of the warren and o'connor,Wimsatt's deepening,the practice of the Brooks,eventually form a complete new criticism theory of tension.The third chapter evaluates the new critical tension theory and describes the contributions,limitations and development of the tension theory.The new criticism of tension theory has profound connotation,strong operability and great influence.At the same time,it also has some limitations,such as overstating the role of tension theory,not fully explaining the operation mechanism of tension,and contradictions between theoretical interpretation and practical application of tension.The conclusion summarizes the new critical tension theory,which has four characteristics: polysemy,unity of opposites,integrity and ideological content.