ABSTRACT
The orientation of critical theories' is the first chapter of The Mirror and the Lamp: romantic theory and the critical tradition (1953)' In his Preface, Professor Abrams explains: 'The title of the book identifies two common and antithetical metaphors of mind, one comparing the mind to a reflector of external objects, the other to a radiant projector which makes a contribution to the objects it perceives. The first of these was characteristic of much of the thinking from Plato to the eighteenth century; the second typifies the prevailing Romantic conception of the poetic mind: The principal subject of Professor Abrams's brilliant study is the supersession of the first attitude by the second, and the ramifications of the latter in aesthetics, poetics, and practical criticism. But his introductory chapter also prOvides a concise history of criticism and a simple diagranIIDatic scheme for discriminating various kinds of critical theory and practice. It thus constitutes the best possible introduction to the study of modem criticism, and for this reason has been placed, out of chronological order, at the beginning of this Reader.
