Examination of New Criticism
Essay Preview: Examination of New Criticism
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Jeremiah GbozahDr. Moussa IssifouENGL 40611 February 2016Frist Critical Response        Created as a way to examine a piece of literature not for its historical and sociological context, New Criticism, formed in the middle of the twentieth century, is rather a way to indulge in the text and find meaning through analysis, explication, and understanding. What this means for contemporary readers is while traditionally we would have had to investigate the author’s intention, background, personal beliefs, records, and etc. to get an understanding of the book’s premise, we should and will not be concerned with those aspects. Instead, the contemporary reader should focus solely on the text, for the writer’s job, if the text was well written, is to say and leave everything there on the page.        The thing of upmost importance to a reader applying the New Criticism technique is a close reading of the text. This allows New Critics to focus on the form of the piece of literature and the literary devices used within the passage rather than succumbing to the he-say-she-say of his or her favorite writer’s personal life. Famous American author and poet T.S. Elliot once wrote on the subject in his 1921 essay, Tradition and the Individual Talent, “Honest criticism and sensitive appreciation is not directed up the poet but upon the poetry. If we attend to the confused cries of the newspaper critics… we shall hear the names of poets in great numbers…”
With this understanding in mind for New Criticism, I’d like to take a look at a track off of one of the most critically acclaimed albums of the previous year, To Pimp a Butterfly by recording artist Kendrick Lamar. Now, instead of dissecting Lamar’s life being raised in Compton, California and wanting to understand a proper background of the album’s name and meaning, a New Critic would either play the album in its entirety and review it line by line by ear or dissect the actual lyrics through some third party lyric website like genius.com. Taking a look at tracks 10, Hood Politics, not only will a New Critic get a proper understanding for the vibe and meaning of the body of work but also, they will gain much insight into themes that affect the culture and country at large.         In Hood Politics, Lamar asserts, “Oh, yeah? Everythin’ is everythin’, it’s scandalous/ Slow motion for tha ambulance, the project filled with cameras/ The LAPD gambilin’, scrambilin’, football numbers slanderin’…” Because Lamar gives us a locality through the use of the police force, one would then think to investigate the current Los Angeles situation with police and their involvement in low income neighborhoods, whether ethically correct or not, but no, New Critics would understand that the author’s done his work enough for us as readers to trust his credibility about the community and its relations to the police force, cameras constantly capturing human life, and ambulances taking longer than expected to reach their destinations. While making the song a commercial hit, Lamar’s main point is to push the politics not of the rap game but of the underrepresented still living in poverty and unjust.