Abstract This paper describes the work of Cleanth Brooks who was a figure in the founding of the formalist school of "New Criticism". The author of this paper provides several examples of texts that Brooks claimed should be freed from authorial, historical, and socio-political associations, to create a space in which the text is able to speak for itself.
From the Paper "Cleanth Brooks' methodological approach to literary criticism seeks to locate the essential experiential voice of a text through an authentic interaction with the text as experience itself. Brooks was an instrumental figure in the founding of the formalist school of "New Criticism", which called for a freeing of the text from its historical and authorial intentions in order to focus upon the critical indications of the text itself. These indicated vectors of interpretation would be revealed by a close reading of the structural interplay of the textural elements, which could then be used to generate a normative evaluation of the work. Such strategies axiomatically located a meaning that transcended the formal indications of language to express 'concrete universal' truths of the human existential experience. The fact that these 'universals' are assumed on faith problemitizes such a methodology by essentially placing limits upon human comprehension even as it seeks to express that which is beyond it. Brooks, however, held that it was in this space of wonder that literature did its work by interacting with the 'real' world.
Brooks asserts that the study of literary texts must begin with a freeing of the text from its authorial, historical, and socio-political associations, to create a space in which the text is able to speak for itself. It is in this space that the critic performs a close reading of the text, from which the multitudes of associations emerge. The first of his interestingly termed "articles of faith" is "[t]hat literary criticism is a description and evaluation of its object". This assertion was intended to direct the focus of literary study away from the bibliographic and historical approach that dominated the discourse prior to the emergence of Formalism. The meaning and significance of the text was derived from its position in history and the assumed intentions of the author. Brooks was instrumental in the development of a new perspective that posited the text itself as the primary object of critical investigation. While a strict formalist approach would render the textural object wholly disassociated from anything but itself, Brooks' holds the belief that there is a value and meaning in literary objects that can be accessed through a thorough consideration of the structural unity created by the content of a text. From these assumptions, Brooks does not disregard extrinsic evidence, as amply demonstrated in his Historical Evidence and the Reading of Seventeenth-Century Poetry; rather, the text itself must dictate the necessity of such support."
Abstract Cleanth Brooks article makes a lot of claims about the importance of metaphors and irony in literature. He has highlighted the use and importance of irony in a very impressive and literary way. His article "Irony as a Principle of Structure" is an excellent piece that stresses and underlines the importance of irony in poetry.
From the Paper "According to Brooks, this was one way to visualize the impact of the context in regards to the literary techniques. The backbone of his article is the irony used in any literary work. He believes that this is the key technique to make the poetic or any literary piece more impressive but it should be used with great sense. With the help of different examples he also explained the difference that irony can make in the context like sometimes using irony changes the actual theme of the context. Therefore it is very important to be careful while using irony, as it is a very important element."
An analysis of the imagery in T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" and "The Wasteland" from the point of view of how Eliot's images developed as a personal experience.
Abstract This paper offers examples from 'The Waste Land' and 'The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock'. It discusses how the brilliant poetic mind of T. S. Eliot mixes inner and outer experiences to create memorable lines that reverberate in the minds of his listeners. The seeming obscurity of Eliot's imagery is discussed as well as his "magic lantern" processing of images. The critical opinions of Cleanth Brooks help to demonstrate Eliot's creative process.
From the Paper "The poetry of T.S. Eliot is an emphatic example of how "the poet's mind is. . .a receptacle for seizing and storing up numberless feelings, phrases, images, which remain there until all the particles which can unite to form a new compound are present together" (Eliot, "Tradition and the Individual Talent" 8). These words from one of the many essays he wrote on the subject of poetic creation, show how well Eliot knew his own poetic process. Eliot is an extremely self conscious poet, delving into his process more thoroughly than other poets who are less intellectual or introspective. This paper offers examples from "The Waste Land" and "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" of how the cauldron of Eliot's poetic mind mixes inner and outer experiences to create indelible lines that reverberate in the minds of his listeners."
Abstract This paper examines William Wordsworth's "Daffodils" using the interpretive stance of Cleanth Brooks, and concludes with some observations concerning other possible interpretations of the poem relating to Wordsworth's aesthetic and social contexts.
Abstract The purpose of this research is to examine David Hume's treatment of the design argument for the existence of God, contained in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. The plan of the research will be to set forth the essential steps of the argument made by Cleanthes, who in the Dialogues is advocating the design argument, and then to discuss various refutations of the argument made by Philo, with a view toward suggesting which line of argument seems stronger, whether within Hume's text or from the point of view of outside critique of that text.
The argument from design for the existence of God that Cleanthes makes derives from the rational human experience of the found universe.
From the Paper "The purpose of this research is to examine David Hume's treatment of the design argument for the existence of God, contained in Dialogues Concerning Natural Religion. The plan of the research will be to set forth the essential steps of the argument made by Cleanthes, who in the Dialogues is advocating the design argument, and then to discuss various refutations of the argument made by Philo, with a view toward suggesting which line of argument seems stronger, whether within Hume's text or from the point of view of outside critique of that text.
The argument from design for the existence of God that Cleanthes makes derives from the rational human experience of the found universe. The steps of the argument may be summarized:
1. The created/found universe demonstrates order and an "curious adapting [elsewhere adjustment] of means to ends ..."
Abstract This is a teleological argument for God's existence. Cleanthes' argument for the existence of God is based on the assumption that the universe has an ordered arrangement. This is why Cleanthes attempts to present a case for order in the universe. In doing so, he argues for the existence of God. In his view, there is a design in the creation, and he believes that a certain amount of scientific thought was needed to create the universe.
