The World’s Body

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The World’s Body is a 1938 collection of critical essays by poet and critic John Crowe Ransom that helped define the principles of New Criticism in literary theory.

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The World’s Body canonical 1

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Predicate Object
instanceOf essay collection
literary criticism
non-fiction book
academicDiscipline literary studies
philosophy of art
alsoKnownAs The World’s Body: Essays NERFINISHED
author John Crowe Ransom NERFINISHED
authorOccupation literary critic
poet
countryOfOrigin United States of America
surface form: United States
criticalApproach formalism
text-centered analysis
describedAs collection of critical essays
emphasizes tension and irony in poetry
unity of the literary work
genre critical essays
literary criticism
hasForm essay
hasImpactOn university literary curricula in mid-20th century United States
hasPart “Criticism, Inc.” NERFINISHED
“Forms and Citizens” NERFINISHED
“Poetry: A Note in Ontology” NERFINISHED
“The World’s Body” (title essay) NERFINISHED
hasTitle The World’s Body NERFINISHED
influenced New Criticism NERFINISHED
influencedBy John Crowe Ransom’s work as a poet
Southern Agrarian intellectual context
language English
literaryMovementContext American modernism
mainIdea literary works should be treated as autonomous verbal objects
poetry embodies concrete experience rather than abstract statement
movement New Criticism NERFINISHED
notableFor helping define principles of New Criticism
opposes biographical criticism
historical reductionism in literary study
paraphrase as equivalent to poem’s meaning
philosophicalOrientation anti-paraphrase view of poetry
emphasis on organic form
publicationYear 1938
relatedWork I’ll Take My Stand NERFINISHED
The New Criticism NERFINISHED
subject aesthetics
close reading
literary interpretation
literary theory
poetry
timePeriodAddressed modern poetry

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Referenced by (1)

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John Crowe Ransom notableWork The World’s Body