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New Criticism and Its Application on Jake Allsop's Gossip

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New Criticism and Its Application on Jake Allsop's Gossip
Essay of ‘New Criticism’ Approach and its Application on Jake Allsop’s “Gossip”

Aditya Rizky Ramatio
Yuni Astuti
Edwin Yogi Andrean
Laksmi Nuraningsih
Literary Criticism
Wednesday, 13.00 – 14.40 p.m.

‘New Criticism’

Upon close examination of these discussion questions, a distinct pattern or methodology quickly becomes evident. This interpretative model begins with a close analysis of the poem’s individual words, including both denotative and connotative meanings, and then move to a discussion of possible allusions within the text. The critic’s sharp eye also notes any symbols, either public or private, used by the poet. The poem’s overall meaning or form, then, depends solely on the text in front of the reader. No library research, no studying of the author’s life and times, and no other extraneous information is needed, for the poem itself contains all necessary information to discover its meaning. This method of analysis become the dominant school of thought during the first two thirds of the twentieth century in most high school and college literature classes, English departments, and English and American scholarship. Known as New Criticism, this approach to literary analysis provides the reader with the formula for arriving at the correct interpretation of a text using only the text itself. Using New Criticism’s clearly articulated methodology, any intelligent reader, say the New Critics, can uncover a text’s hitherto hidden meaning. New Criticism’s theoretical ideas, terminology, and critical methods are, more often than not, disparaged by present-day critics, who themselves are introducing new ideas concerning literary theory. Despite its current unpopularity, New Criticism stands as one of the most important English-speaking contributions to literary critical analysis. Some scholarly English journals have enabled New Criticism to enrich theoretical and practical criticism while helping generation of readers to become close readers of texts.

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