Ivor Armstrong Richards (1893 – 1979) is one
of the pioneering critics of the 20th century who influenced the new critics of
America with his critical output. Among the moderns, Richards is the only
critic who has formulated systematic and complete theory of literary art. He
has contributed to English criticism with his critical documents such as:
1.
'The
Principles of Literary Criticism' (1924)
2.
'Practical
Criticism' (1929)
3.
'The
Philosophy of Rhetoric' (1936)
George
Watson says:
"Richards’
claim to have pioneered Anglo American New Criticism of the thirties and
forties is just unassailable."
THE DISCUSSION
OF MEANING:
Richards’
essay 'Four Kinds of Meaning' included in his book 'Practical Criticism'
published in 1929 inaugurates the often discussed problem of meaning of poetry.
The
concern of meaning in literature is as old as literature itself. Dante explored
the field of meaning in literature and concluded that there are four kinds of
meaning - literal, historical, allegorical and analogical. "How does meaning
come into existence?" - was the most thoughtful, controversial and
contemplated issue among the 20th century critics. To Eliot, the beautiful
fusion of thought and emotion gives birth to meaning in poetry. To Ransom,
feeling and idea are the parents of meaning. Allen Tate spoke about the
production of 'tension' when 'extension' and 'intention' are fused together,
imports meaning to the poetry.
In 'Four Kinds of Meaning' I. A. Richards too
is primarily concerned with meaning. According to him, after the reading of
poetry, the reader may attempt to point some morals or to setup some guiding
threads. But the pointing of morals or the setting up of guiding threads is
first supposed to be disengaged. Because the preliminary task of the reader is
to acquire the meaning of the text. In this respect, Richards writes:
"The
original difficulty of all reading, the problem of 'making out the meaning' is
our obvious starting point."
I. A.
Richards agrees and says that there are some readers who by their natural ability,
acquire the "open sesane" (meaning) of poetry without much labour.
But for the average reader the reading of poetry and acquiring meaning from
that poetry becomes a fruitless trouble most of the time. He says that in all
types of literature, there are several meanings at the same time which come to
our mind. The writer displays these meanings consciously or unconsciously.
Richards compares the writer with a juggler and remarks beautifully:
"Whether
we know or intend it or not, we are all jugglers when we converse, keeping the
billiard ball in the air while we balance the cue on our nose."
Thus,
according to Richards, the way of speaking or the way of writing always conveys
more than one meaning, “a blend, and a combination of several meanings of
different types". Richards comments:
"Language
as it is used in poetry has not one, but several tasks to perform
simultaneously."
So Richards proceeds on to describe the
different functions or levels or kinds of meanings which impart the poetry a
holistic structure. Words, according to him, carry four kinds of meaning, or to
be precise, the total meaning of the word depends upon four factors. They are -
sense, feeling, tone and intention.
1. SENSE:
"We speak to say something and when we listen,
we expect something to be said."
All the items that are talked about, all the
matters or topics that are communicated is the 'sense'. No utterance is without
having a 'sense', the subject matter. Meaning lies in this 'sense' or subject
matter.
2. FEELING:
In
Richards’ words, feeling is "an attitude towards it...some personal
flavour or colouring of feeling." Thus, feeling refers to the reader's
emotions or emotional attitude to the items - will, desire, pleasure,
displeasure, pity, sympathy, admiration, and contempt and so on. When we write
or say something, we always have a feeling about it. Meaning depends on this
emotional attitude of the reader.
3. TONE:
By 'tone',
Richards means the writer's attitude to his readers. The writer chooses his
words and arranges them keeping in his mind, the kind of readers likely to read
his works. Thus, there is an intimate relationship between the author and the
reader. Meaning depends on this 'tone' or the writer's attitude to his readers.
4. INTENTION:
Regarding
'intention', he says that apart from what the writer writes, that is, 'Sense',
the reader's attitude to what the writer writes, that is, 'Feeling', and his
own attitude to the reader, that is, 'Tone', there is the fourth aspect - the
writer's 'Intention'. This aim or intention of the writer may be conveyed
consciously or unconsciously. Meaning depends much on the writer’s intention
too.
All these
four levels of meaning help together strike a unique meaning in the mind of the
reader. If one level is missing or misrepresented, the entire meaning of the
work of art may suffer. The critic is supposed to find out these four meanings
as well as to see which one is emphasized among these four. In this respect,
Richards says:
"It
is clear, then, at times now one, now another of the functions may become
predominant."
According
to Richards, the importance or emphasis of all these four levels - sense,
feeling, tone and intention - may vary from one discourse or poetry to the
other. For example, sense (subject matter) is more important in a scientific
treatise. In a political speech, the speaker is least concerned with the
'sense'; he operates more through the 'tone'.
FUNCTIONS OF
LANGUAGE:
According
to Richards, there are two kinds of functions of language - referential and
emotive. In poetry, emotive function plays major role. It appeals and arouses
the reader's emotions. Multiple readings are necessary to acquire the poetic
meaning. The reader's mood, his attitude and the writer's intention play
important role in imparting meaning in poetry.
WORDS AND
CONTEXT:
Richards
says that words in poetry have an emotive value and figurative language used by
the poet conveys emotions effectively and forcefully. Different poets use the
same words in different contexts which impart different meanings. Words are
symbols or signs and they deliver their full meaning in a particular context.
Richards writes:
"A
context is a set of entities related in a certain way."
The literary critic is expected to understand
and expand the context so that the poem may become understandable and its full
value may be enjoyed by the reader.
RHYME AND METER:
Further, the meaning of words is also determined by rhyme and meter.
Rhyme results from the repetition of particular sounds. Meter is a specialized
form of rhythm. Both rhyme and meter are organic and integral parts of a poem
because they both determine the meaning of the words used by the poets. Moreover,
in poetry the use of metaphor is also important.
"A
metaphor is a shift or carrying over of a word
from its
normal use to a new use."
Metaphor may be of two kinds - sense metaphor
and emotive metaphor.
CONCLUSION:
We may
summarize the whole discussion by saying that I. A. Richards has presented four
levels of meaning - sense, feeling, tone and intention. Meaning depends on
these four aspects. Moreover, words used in different contexts and rhyme and
meter also impart meaning to poetry. I. A. Richards has made literary criticism
factual, scientific and complete by his theory of meaning. He, along with T. S.
Eliot may be considered the founding father of New Criticism.
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