ABSTRACT
Mrs Vendler, in her review of my Essays on Style and Language (Essays in Criticism, xvi (1966), 457-63), is apparently optimistic that 'descriptive linguistics will in the end be of immense use to literary criticism'. If, however, we were to accept her generalizations about the critical attempts of linguists, we would have to doubt whether this prediction can come true ; certainly, it is doubtful that she wishes it. The hostility of Mrs Vendler's voice is depressingly familiar to those of us who have suffered from an unnecessary schism between 'language' and 'literature' which has so long marred English studies. Her tone betrays the fear, common among teachers of literature although perhaps less so among the great critics, that linguists may invade and ravage precious literary territory. I shall reserve my remarks on this opposition of linguists and critics until the end of this paper, commenting at the moment only that Mrs Vendler's open invitation of confrontation in her first paragraph is a damaging strategy.
