ABSTRACT

The passage of Landor presents to the undergraduates in the University of Cambridge in the Michaelmas term of 1928 in the third series of Richards' 'Practical Criticism' lectures. It must be remembered that any of the readers might discuss at length Landor's merits or defects as a poet, and even the qualities of this passage without ever discovering the discrepancies of their readings. Landor is not thought to be an unusually cryptic poet. The chapter discusses the trace connections between individuals' peculiarities of interpretation in all three sections of the chapter. Each section is evidently susceptible of more varied interpretations when taken by itself than when taken with the rest of the passage. The first difference between good and bad readers can be stated simply in terms of the number of relevant items that they can bring and hold together as co-operating signs.