THE NEW CRITICISM

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 779, 25 June 1954, Page 14

THE NEW CRITICISM

LITERATURE AND CRITICISM, by BR. My gaa Chatto and Windus, English price SCRUTINY, that dour, ill-mannered, but in so many ways admirable Cambridge periodical that was forge and anvil for Dr. F. R. Leavis and his followers, has lapsed at last: but its soul goes marching on. The New Criticism of which Dr. Leavis is high priest is firmly established across the Atlantic; and in this short book Mr. H. Coombes, an English disciple, provides a popular manual of the Scrutiny method for "teachers of English and senior students in particular." The book has all the moral earnestness, something of the gritty style, but fortunately little of the bad temper of, its chosen exemplars; and it should be really useful to sixth-form and university teachers. Mr. Coombes gives more attention to poetry than prose, and considers many

parallel passages in chapters under the headings Rhythm, Rhyme, Imagery, Poetic Thought, Feeling and Diction. His own judgments are the fashionable ones-Donne and Hopkins provide his touchstones, Shelley and Milton are roughly handled, D. H. Lawrence and George Eliot are revindicated. But there is nothing loose or facile in his argument. Chapter and verse are cited, and a clear demonstration is given of a whole critical method. There is an appendix of well-chosen passages for further criticism. This is a text that will be most stimulating where it provokes most disagreement; it should be particularly suitable for adult education classes.

J.

B.