New criticism The Flea by John Done
New Criticism is a critical literary theory that flourished from the 1930s to the 1960s. ... By the use of his works "The Formalist Critics" and "The Language of Paradox" I want to explain what New Criticism is and what it does. I will investigate John Donnes poem "The Flea" to show how New Criticism works in practice. In "The Formalist Critics" Brooks explains the basics of the theory of New Criticism and the work of a critic and in "The Paradox of Language" he describes analytical approaches to a work of art. The main intention of New Criticism is to reach a scientific view on language, to show the true meaning of a text, as I will try to do on the example of John Donnes poem. To reach these goals and to seperate the New Criticism from other critical theories as for example the Structuralism it is important to see each text as a central unity - a unique whole, that is not influenced by any outstanding attempts neither by the author nor by the reader (Brooks: The Formalist Critics, 52). ... The aim of New Criticism is to discover the outside truth of a work of art. John Donnes poem "The Flea" is a love poem. ... Donne uses the flea as an analogy for sex . The flea as something minor shall also make the impression of sex as something minor, "A sin, nor shame, nor loss of maidenhead" (Donne: The Flea l6). Discovering this truth about Donnes poem is already an approach to New Criticism. ... The paradoxical situation in John Donnes poem is the attempt to convice a woman to have sex under the analogy of the flea standing for sex. The sucking of blood by the flea is also compared with sex.