A Study Of I·A·Richards’ Practical Criticism

Practical Criticism: A Study of Literary Judgement(1929)is an important work of Literary Criticism by I.A.Richards.It presents the critical practice and theory of poetry Criticism that Richards initiated.However,the research of practical criticism in the domestic academic circle focuses on the originality of his close reading practice and his critical methods of introducing psychology and semantics,while neglecting the poetics in practical criticism.However,the practice of close reading takes the theory of literary criticism as the banner,as for in poetry criticism,just kind of psychology and tarski controversial,we can also by investigating the entirety of practical criticism poetics theory to get the answer.The theory of poetic criticism in Practical Criticism is the leading theory of all practices.Practical Criticism embodies Richards’ theory of semantic differentiation and poetic axiology.Therefore this article mainly from the practical criticism of poetic theory,systematically research the practical criticism of poetry theory and the theory of semantic analysis,and to explore the relationship of poetry value and semantic analysis,through investigation,just kind of poetry theory in practical criticism,just kind psychology and tarski,aimed at overall grasp just goodness of the complexity of the poetic theory,and explore its practical characteristics of poetry criticism and meaning.Richards pays special attention to the redemptive value of poetry,which is influenced by Arnold’s cultural values.Richards values the acquisition of experience as much as empiricism,and on this basis he limits experience to the category of poetic experience.In particular,Richards was influenced by British empiricist psychologists represented by Hume.He absorbed Hume’s psychological criteria for beauty and introduced it into the field of poetry research.He introduced the author’s psychological experience and the reader’s psychological experience to the realization of poetic value.The linguistic theory represented by Saussure and Wittgenstein has influenced the semantic analysis of Richards’ expanded text.In short,Richards creatively accepted these theories,introduced them into the field of literary criticism,and created a unique way of literary criticism.The reason why Richards develops practical criticism and summarizes practical criticism theory is that he always takes the realization of poetic value as the foundation.Richards’ poetic axiology is the critical principle and guiding theory in his poetics theory,and poetic value is his ultimate pursuit.Richards believes that the redeeming value of poetry is the core value of poetry,which is both the aesthetic value and the social value of poetry.The realization of poetic value takes the reader’s psychological experience as the standard and takes the process of the author’s psychological experience projected to the reader’s spiritual harmony as the complete realization process of the value.Richards introduced the criteria of psychological criticism into the evaluation of value,which implied his pursuit of literary and artistic value and aesthetic value.Richards believes that the semantic discrimination of poetry is a concrete way to realize the value of poetry.His critical experiments center on the analysis of the linguistic meaning of specific texts.In view of the current situation of readers’ misreading the semantic meaning of poetry,Richards first put forward the theory of concrete text analysis,which mainly analyzes the semantic meaning of poetry.He divided the semantic meaning of poetry into basic meaning and stable meaning,and tried to distinguish the function of each meaning and the complex relationship between meanings.The poetic criticism in Practical Criticism has an important significance of creation and influence.No matter in constructing the critical theory,or in the critical practice level,Richards’ practical criticism shows the distinctive practical characteristics.In the aspect of constructing theory,it reflects the combination of literature and science,which is embodied in the combination of poetic value and critical practice,literary criticism and scientific method.In critical practice,it shows the combination of literary criticism and reading practice.His poetics theory has influenced the poetics of the New Criticism,It provides enlightenment for the development of contemporary Chinese literary theory.Practical Criticism is not only a practical textbook to guide the teaching of literary criticism and reading,but also a banner to call for the reappearance of the value of traditional poetry in the face of the era of excessive information and spiritual crisis.The complexity of Richards’ poetry criticism theory has already made him break away from a specific school or made his theory break away from the barriers of an existing theory.In fact,his criticism has provided a strong demonstration and great inspiration to literary criticism and reading teaching.