Which of the following is true in the context of New Criticism?

The correct option is: The distinctive procedure for a New Critic is explication.

Detailed Explanation:
New Criticism is a formalist movement in literary theory that dominated American literary criticism during the middle decades of the twentieth century. The movement advocates for the close, detailed analysis of the text itself, viewing a literary work as an autonomous, self-contained aesthetic object.

The defining methodology of a New Critic is explication (frequently referred to as "close reading"). Explication involves a meticulous, line-by-line examination of the text's formal elements—such as word choice, metaphor, irony, tension, and paradox—to demonstrate how they resolve into a unified meaning. By focusing on explication, New Critics look inward at the structure of the work rather than outward at external factors.

To understand why the other statements are incorrect:
1. Historical Criticism: New Criticism directly opposed historical criticism. New Critics argued that looking at the historical context or the author's biography to interpret a text leads to analytical errors, such as the "intentional fallacy."
2. Subjective Analysis: New Critics did not advocate for subjective analysis. Instead, they sought to establish literary criticism as an objective discipline by focusing on the verifiable, structural features of the text rather than the reader's personal feelings (which they termed the "affective fallacy").
3. Genre Distinction: While New Critics recognized different forms of literature, their primary focus was on the internal mechanics and organic unity of individual texts (especially poetry) rather than the rigid classification or distinction of literary genres.