Who among of the following are known as Cambridge Critics?
A) Arthur-Quiller Couch
B) F.R. Leavis
C) George Saintsbury
D) I.A. Richards
E) William Empson
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:
Correct Answer :
B, D, and E
Solution :
The correct answer is B, D, and E.
Cambridge English Criticism, often referred to as the school of Cambridge Critics, emerged at the University of Cambridge during the 1920s and 1930s. This group revolutionized the study of English literature by shifting the focus from historical and biographical contexts to the close reading of the literary texts themselves.
Let us analyze the individuals mentioned in the question to identify the Cambridge Critics:
1. F.R. Leavis (B): Frank Raymond Leavis was a highly influential British literary critic who taught at Downing College, Cambridge. Along with his wife Q.D. Leavis, he founded the critical journal Scrutiny, which became a primary vehicle for Cambridge Criticism, championing close textual analysis and moral seriousness in literature.
2. I.A. Richards (D): Ivor Armstrong Richards is widely regarded as one of the founders of modern literary criticism and a key figure at Cambridge. His pioneering works, such as Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) and Practical Criticism (1929) based on his lectures at Cambridge, laid the theoretical foundations for close reading and the New Criticism movement.
3. William Empson (E): Empson was a student of I.A. Richards at Cambridge. His landmark book, Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930), written while he was at Cambridge, is a masterpiece of close reading and is considered one of the defining texts of the Cambridge school of criticism.
Conversely, the other figures listed are not classified as Cambridge Critics:
• Arthur Quiller-Couch (A): Although he was the King Edward VII Professor of English Literature at Cambridge and helped establish the English Faculty, his critical approach was more traditional, belles-lettristic, and historical, rather than the analytical "close reading" associated with the Cambridge Critics.
• George Saintsbury (C): Saintsbury was an influential literary historian and critic associated with the University of Edinburgh, known for his historical surveys of literature rather than the Cambridge style of close textual analysis.
Therefore, B (F.R. Leavis), D (I.A. Richards), and E (William Empson) are the literary scholars known as the Cambridge Critics.
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