Date of Award

4-1924

Degree Type

Bachelors Essay

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts (BA)

Department

Literatures, Languages, and Cultures

First Advisor

Thomas P. Whelan

Abstract

The farmer on plowing a field for the first time, almost invariably, marks out the course of the first furrow with stakes. That is, he must plant at least three stakes by which he may strike out straightly the first furrow upon which the condition of all the following furrows depend. Now we are not going to plow a new tract of land, because literary criticism has been hashed over again and again, but we do need a little of the farmer's prevision and precaution in entering such a large and diverse field as literary criticism embraces. We too, must plant our stakes to show us where we are going and to guide us to the end we wish to reach. The first thing we must establish, or the first stake we must drive is an adequate definition of literary criticism, next we must explain impressionistic criticism, and finally we must explain the state of the question or just what is meant by the statement "impressionistic criticism is limited". These definitions and explanations not only guide our line of argument but limit it which is just as necessary to any firm conclusion as as the stakes are to the desired result in the plowed field; hence it is necessary that we spend considerable time on explanations and definitions.

Comments

A thesis submitted to fulfill the requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Philosophy

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