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University Microfilms International 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor. Michigan 48106 USA St. John’s Road, Tyler’s Green High Wycombe. Bucks, England HP10 8HR 77-21,389 MCCRAW, Melrose Hale, 1913- A HISTORICODEVELOPMENTAL VIEW OF LITERATURE FROM SIDNEY TO THE NEW CRITICS. The University of Oklahoma, Ph.D., 1977 Literature, modern . Xerox University Microfilms,Ann Arbor, Michigan4 sios 0 1977 MELROSE HALE MCCRAW ALL RIGHTS RESERVED THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA. GRADUATE COLLEGE A HISTORICODEVELOPMENTAL VIEW OF LITERATURE FROM SIDNEY TO THE NEW CRITICS A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE FACULTY in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY MELROSE HALE MCCRAW NORMAN, OKLAHOMA 1977 A HISTORICODEVELOPMENTAL VIEW OF LITERATURE FROM SIDNEY TO THE NEW CRITICS APPROVED BY DISSERTATION COMMITTEE TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOÎJLEDGEMENTS ................................................ ii ABSTRACT ........................................ ±±i Chapter I. AN OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY. .......................... 1 II. THE EVOLUTION OF LITERATURE: FROM ENGLISH NEOCLASSICISM TO THE NEW CRITICISM.......................... 21 III. A REVIEW OF JEAN PIAGET’S THEORIES ON COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT ..................................... 112 IV. A COMPARISON BETWEEN THE COGNITIVE THOUGHT OF THE INDIVIDUAL AND ENGLISH AND ANGLO- AMERICAN LITERARY THOUGHT ................................. 127 V. MOVING FROM PERCEPTION TO THINKING IN LITERATURE: A COGNITIVE APPROACH TO LITERATURE THROUGH PIAGET'S INRC M A T R I X ............................. 177 VI. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND IMPLICATIONS..................... 195 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................ 231 ACKNOTJLEDGEMENTS I wish to express my appreciation, to Dr. Richard P. Williams, Dr. John W. Renner, Dr. Robert F. Bibens, and Dr. Gerald Kidd, all of whom served as members of my committee. Special acknowledgement is extended to both Dr. Richard P. Williams, my advisor and committee chairman, for his continued guidance and advice during my course work at the University of Oklahoma and dur ing the writing of this dissertation, and to Dr. John W. Renner, who, through the generous sharing of his time, expertise, and enthusiasm, stimulated my interest in Jean Piaget and his work as a genetic episte- mologist. To my husband for his patience and understanding go my thanks and gratitude. li ABSTRACT This study, based upon Jean Piaget's historicodevelopinental method of examining knowledge, was concerned with the establishment of parallels between literature as collective social knowledge and the cognitive development of the individual. Changes in the conceptions of literature's nature were isola ted and identified as they developed from the period of English Neo- classicism in the seventeenth century to the period of Romanticism in the nineteenth century to the period of Anglo-American New Criticism in the twentieth century. It was found that in each literary period one particular approach to literature dominated, whereby one element oriented all literary concerns: for the Neoclassical period, the prag matic approach with the audience as central; for the Romantic period, the expressive approach with the ppet as the outstanding element; and for the period of New Criticism, the objective with the work itself dictating all literary assumptions. Application of Fiagetian constructs to the evolution of liter ary concepts established parallels between collective literary thought and individual cognition: first, the static, limited conceptions of the Neoclassicists, who saw literature as a product, an imitation which fur nished instruction and pleasure for the edification of the reader, found parallels with the phenomenistic and egocentric characteristics of the pre—operational child; next, the equilibrated state that the Romantics iii reached in their view of literature as both a product and a process, an organic expression of the poet's mind and feelings, found parallels with the equilibrial properties of field extension, mobility, and stability, properties characteristic of the concrete-operational cognizer; and, last, the speculative instruments of the New Critics, which showed literature as a process, an autonomous organic structure of semantic and syntactic relationships, found parallels with the double reversibility central to the INRC group of four transformations, which Piaget uses as a model to adolescent thought. This study demonstrates that critical concepts at a certain period of literary history show characteristics that are representative of a certain maturity and that this stage of collective thought is analyzable with that found in an individual cognizer at the same stage of maturity. It also shows that this research has implications for both the English curriculum and the study and instruction of literature at high school and college levels. CHAPTER I AN OVERVIEÏ^ OF THE STUDY Introduction and Need for the Study In 373 B.C. Plato denounced poetry. Calling it false, trivial, and useless, he banished the poet from his ideal state- For centuries thereafter men reckoned with this indictment and endeavored to establish literature's value and justify its existence- But today the situation is quite different- Literature no longer needs its champion. On the con trary, it enjoys a place of prominence in twentieth-century culture, se cure as a part of the curriculum of every American boy and girl from the first grade through the twelfth, and for some young people through the early part of college- Curriculum-wise its requirement as subject matter for twelve years more than justifies its value. Nevertheless, there is a problem in terms of the emphasis that literature receives in the class room and the poverty of the pay-off, in terms of the shocking discrepancy between the number of class hours spent in its study and the few students who emerge from a twelve—year exposure as "readers," ones with a real understanding of the art form and a true aesthetic sense, One national study, which investigated English programs in 168 of the "better" high schools across the nation, finding that literature "on an overall average occupied 52-2 percent of the emphasis in instruction," attributes this failure to the "superficial" nature of the instructional methods employed by teachers in these schools- Dr. James R- Squire, Executive Secretary of The National Council of Teachers of English, direc tor of the study, comments : Our real quarrel is with the incessant superficiality of much classroom study of literature— with, if you will, the evasion of literature represented in too many classrooms. Despite a decade of recommendations to the contrary, many teachers continue to teach the dates and places as if these and not the literary works were the essence of our subject; an over—reliance on history and geography, a preoccupation with the Elizabethan stage, a con cern with definition and memory work (the Petrachian [sic] sonnet, the heroic couplet, the accepted definition of figures of speech)— these clutter the minds of too many teachers and students alike. Intelligently used to serve the interest of literary study, they can provide needed tools and understanding. Forced to center stage, they only divert attention. And center stage they too often occupy. Far more frequently than the classroom in which young people were learning to analyze a single text with insight and ability, we found this emphasis on the superficial.^ In view of its findings, this study, headed by Dr. Squire, along with others who have conducted research in the past decade,2 has express ed a need for more effective