Science and Poetry

Richards’ Science and Poetry first appeared in 1926 and was heavily revised in 1935. The text printed here is that of the revised edition; for the text of first publication of 1926 and editorial comment on its composition see Editorial Appendix Three to Volume 3: Selected Worlds of I. A. Richards 1919–1938: Principles of Literary Criticism. In early 1935 Ogden informed Richards that Science and Poetry was out of print, and Kegan Paul would like to reprint it. Richards was reluctant to see it reissued without revision, ¹ but as he wrote to his wife in March, ‘It seems a pity – I could rephrase it and reorient it a little – to let a book which has hitherto acted as my main introducer die!’ ² He worked on the rewriting on and off for the next few months, but in May still found it ‘unsatisfactory in places’, ³ and only finished the work in June. ⁴ Ogden put the revised book into proof with speed, ⁵ from a marked copy of the 1926 edition, ⁶ and by the 23rd of September Richards was able to send a copy to Eliot, ⁷ who replied on the 2 October with a letter discussing pseudo-statement (the relevant part of Eliot’s letter, and Richards’ detailed reply are printed in Selected Letters of I. A. Richards (Clarendon Press: Oxford, 1990), pp. 93–96). ⁸