What, according to Eliot, are the tools and functions of criticism?
Comparison and analysis are the two chief tools of a critic. However, these are only tools and the critic must use them with care and intelligence. Comparison and analysis can be possible only when the critic knows the facts about the works which are to be compared and analysed. These facts include the technical elements like the structure, content, and theme of the work of art.
According to Eliot, facts cannot corrupt taste, on the contrary, impressionistic criticism like that of Coleridge and Goethe is always misleading. However, the critic should not be the slave of facts. He should not bother about such trivialities as the laundry bills of Shakespeare. Eliot seems to be against the "lemon-squeeze school" of critics who try to squeeze every drop of meaning out of words. A critic should concentrate on the text, compare and analyse, but he should never stop to trivialities or empty hair-splitting.
Read More-
- Plot construction of 'She Stoops to Conquer'
- English Comedy before Goldsmith
- Sentimental Comedy: Reaction of Goldsmith against it
- Character and role of Miss Neville
- Discuss She Stoops to Conquer as a Sentimental Comedy
- Discuss Goldsmith's View of Sentimental Comedy
- Give an estimate of Goldsmith as a dramatist
- Contribution of Goldsmith as a Dramatist
