What is ‘Practical Criticism’?

The correct option is: The close analysis of poems without taking account of any external information.

Explanation:

Practical Criticism is a method of literary study pioneered by the English educator and critic I. A. Richards at the University of Cambridge in the 1920s. The core of this methodology involves providing students with poems that have all identifying details—such as the author's name, the date of publication, and historical context—completely removed.

The primary goal of Practical Criticism is to focus the reader's attention entirely on the words on the page. By performing a close, intensive reading of the text itself, students learn to analyze the internal mechanics of a poem—such as its imagery, tone, meter, and structure—without being influenced by preconceived notions, biographical facts about the poet, or the historical period in which it was written. This approach laid the groundwork for the mid-20th-century movement known as New Criticism, which similarly emphasized the autonomy of the literary text.