ABSTRACT
Principle of Literary Criticism is an important contribution to the rehabilitation of English criticism, perhaps, because of its sustained scientific nature, the most important contribution yet made. Mr Richards' theory of psychology has its main application in his analysis of the part played by communication in art. Mr Richards' own reasoning distinguishes two elements in art, namely communication and value. He elucidates the nature of these elements by means of a theory of value and a theory of psychology. The principles thus enunciated are pursued in more particular aspects of literary criticism, always with a clear zest and consequent elucidation. Mr Richards' would avoid the difficulty by a frank acceptance of utilitarian or prudential ethics. His despairs of ethics without examining the possibilities of a reconstruction of that science as vital as the one he would effect in literary criticism, and one that is to be effected largely by the same psychological means.
