Theoria - DISA

vogue, based on the antithesis of genius and taste. The new kind
of criticism was concerned, not to tell the author what he should
have done, but to help others to enjoy things that the critic had
enjoyed. The new criticism had the merit of getting close to
literature, instead of remaining in the clouds of general principle ;
but if we take Lamb and Hazlitt as typical of this kind, we must
often feel that, though they may add to our enjoyment of poetry,
they add little to our understanding; their main criticism is to
say " how nice ", or " let me read you this bit".
Side by side with the appreciators, there appeared a much more
valuable kind, the interpreters. Coleridge in England, Goethe
and Schlegel in Germany, regarded one of the main functions of
criticism as discovering the meaning of a great work. They
approached their material with some proper humility, realising
that the meaning does not always lie on the surface, that a great
poet does not always explain everything he means, that there may
be much in his works that he can say only through symbols,
which the critic can help others to see. During the nineteenth
century interpretative criticism increased its scope and power in
Sainte Beuve and Matthew Arnold. The great European tradition
had at last found worthy interpreters.
Criticism did not stand still. In the present generation it has
gained in depth and power by utilising two new disciplines—••
sociology and psychology. The sociological approach is today
superceding the old " Hist. Lit.", by treating literature as part of
general history, instead of a separate compartment. The older
kind of literary history was written as a self-contained causal
sequence largely isolated from other events. According to this
kind of thinking, Denham and Waller wrote in heroic couplets
because literary men were tired of metaphysical conceits ; Gray
and Wordsworth wrote about nature because the '' school of
Pope " had lost vitality; Chateauhriand reacted against Boileau,
Hugo against Voltaire, or what not. Historians of philosophy
used a similar technique, and discussed Hume as if his work were
a lifelong argument with his predecessors. When literature
becomes part of general history, it ceases to be merely another
step in literary fashion, and is regarded- as part of the whole life
process. Donne's lyrics become a part of the conflict between
religion and science, much of Wordsworth is a response to the
industrial revolution, and so on. There is, of course, nothing new
about the idea; what is important is the scope and subtlety of
the analogies that can now be perceived. The scholar must not
merely trace obscure contemporary allusions, but must try to
reconstruct the whole world-picture of the writer, and see the
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