"The New Critical Canon"

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the qualities required by T. S. Eliot, F. R. Leavis and Matthew Arnold, among others, for literary texts to be included in "The New Critical Canon", which they claimed represented 'the backbone of literary culture and tradition.' It compares and contrasts Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" with "Leisure" by W. H. Davies, exploring the extent to which the two poems fulfil the necessary criteria and whether or not Davies' exclusion from the "Canon" was justified, with reference to I. A. Richard's "Four Kinds of Meaning".

From the Paper:

"Richards describes 'tone' as the speaker's 'attitude to his listener... in automatic or deliberate recognition of his relation to them.' Throughout his piece, Davies speaks in third person plural, stating that 'We have no time' (l. 2, l. 14), including the reader in the guilt he feels in not making time to properly appreciate 'Beauty' (l. 9) and her 'dance' (l. 10). Interestingly, he points out that animals ['sheep and cows' (l. 4)] take the time to 'stand beneath the boughs, / And stare' (ll. 3-4), sharing his guilt solely with the human race, and using language accordingly. Eliot, however, is not as clear in addressing a specific audience - he never makes it clear who 'you and I' (l. 1) really are: it could be either Prufrock and his lady companion, or Eliot and the reader; the language remains ambiguous and, therefore, the 'recognition of his relation to them' is never truly fulfilled."

More papers on "The New Critical Canon":

• Book Review # 89448 : "'The New Crusade'"
• Book Review # 122384 : "The New Buffettology"
• Analytical Essay # 103248 : "Romanticism under Construction"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: