What was Cleanth Brooks’s perspective regarding the study of literature?
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Answer: B. Critics should develop universal readings of texts.
Explanation
Cleanth Brooks believed critics should focus entirely on internal elements rather than external history. His approach treated the literary text as an autonomous object containing universal aesthetic truths. He argued that close reading reveals complex patterns and paradoxes inherent within the text. Cleanth Brooks was a foundational figure associated with the American literary movement known as New Criticism. New Criticism dominated academic literary studies in the mid-twentieth century through rigorous close reading techniques. The movement sought to elevate literary analysis by stripping away biographical and historical distractions.
This perspective encourages readers to evaluate literature based on its intrinsic artistic merit alone. Students often use this method when analyzing poems without needing prior historical background knowledge. It remains influential in classrooms where independent textual interpretation and critical thinking are emphasized. Examining historical information describes the historicist approach rather than New Critical close reading. Attempting to paraphrase poems was explicitly warned against by Brooks as literary heresy. Looking at biographical details aligns with biographical criticism rather than intrinsic text evaluation.
- Subject
- English
- Category
- English Literature
- Topic
- —
- Difficulty
- medium
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