Read the following passage and answer the questions that follow:
At school the study of literature can still involve a close reading or ‘practical criticism’ of a novel, play or poem without much or any recourse to external material. Practical criticism is the method of analysing a poem, in isolation from the circumstances of its production, developed by I. A. Richards (1893-1919) in the 1920s. He felt that concentration upon the words on the page’, the technical aspects of the ways verse creates effects, would result in meaningful judgements upon whether a poem was intrinsically ‘good’ or simply reputedly so. The methodology of practical criticism seeks coherence in images, themes and patterns of language. Richards and his colleagues felt that this practice was ‘scientific’ and led to objective value judgements. He was part of a group of lecturers at Cambridge University who played a crucial role in the development of the discipline of English Literature and whose methodology influenced the critical practices of the New Critics, John Crowe Ransom (1888-1974) and Cleanth Brooks (1906-94) and their colleagues in the US. Their ‘scientific’ examination of literature asserted a hierarchy of texts, those that held universal meaning and significance through aesthetic form and those deemed too formulaic to warrant academic scrutiny. The first revered group of texts is often referred to as the literary canon.

“The methodology of practical criticism seeks coherence in images, themes and patterns of language.”
could be the implication of this statement?

The correct option is: Practical criticism prioritises on evaluating texts by adopting a purely literary mode of inquiry bereft of contextualization.

Step-by-step Explanation:

1. Analyze the statement: The statement in question is: “The methodology of practical criticism seeks coherence in images, themes and patterns of language.” This highlights that the focus of practical criticism is entirely on internal literary elements—specifically images, themes, and linguistic patterns found directly within the text.

2. Examine the context from the passage: The passage states that at school, the study of literature involves a reading of a work "without much or any recourse to external material" and defines practical criticism as "the method of analysing a poem, in isolation from the circumstances of its production." It further explains that I. A. Richards advocated for "concentration upon the 'words on the page'" to make value judgements.

3. Synthesize the implication: Because this methodology examines a text in isolation, focusing solely on internal elements (images, themes, and language patterns) and ignoring external factors like the author's biography, historical context, or political environment, it represents a purely literary mode of inquiry. Doing so deliberately strips away external context, which is described as being "bereft of contextualization."

4. Evaluate the options:
- Option 1 (political hermeneutic) and Option 4 (activism-based) contradict the text's assertion that the method is objective, isolated, and "scientific" rather than political or activist.
- Option 2 (pragmatic approach) does not align with the focus on aesthetic form and universal meaning detailed in the passage.
- Option 3 correctly identifies that the method prioritizes evaluating texts through a self-contained literary inquiry (focusing on "words on the page", images, themes, and patterns) without external contextualization.