ABSTRACT
A few years ago the authors welcomed to their Department a colleague who had never before taught English literature. As a poet he had practiced it; as a lawyer he had once taught law; and as Assistant Secretary of State he may even have prepared himself to cope with the complexities of academic life. American literature would all be childishness, the innocent wonderment of the schoolroom - according to one of its most perceptive interpreters, D. H. Lawrence - if it did not invite people to look beneath its bland surface and to find a diabolic inner meaning. Needless to say, the lacks would not be considered serious enough to disqualify him from practicing criticism as it is frequently practiced today. Criticism is a child of the time, and it changes as times change. The catchwords of critics have tended to echo the ideals of their respective periods.
