author
I. A. (Ivor Armstrong) Richards
1893–1979
A pioneering literary critic and teacher, he helped change the way modern readers approach poetry by emphasizing close, attentive reading. His ideas about language, meaning, and interpretation shaped literary study far beyond his own time.
2 Audiobooks
Principles of literary criticism
by I. A. (Ivor Armstrong) Richards
Science and poetry
by I. A. (Ivor Armstrong) Richards
About the author
Born in Cheshire, England, in 1893, I. A. Richards became one of the most influential literary critics of the twentieth century. Educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, he was known not only as a critic, but also as an educator, poet, and rhetorician.
Richards is especially remembered for helping lay the groundwork for close reading and for the movement later associated with New Criticism. Books such as Principles of Literary Criticism and Practical Criticism changed how poetry was taught, asking readers to pay careful attention to the words on the page and to the ways meaning is shaped by language.
His interests reached beyond literary criticism alone. With C. K. Ogden, he worked on ideas about meaning and communication, and he was also involved in Basic English, a simplified form of English designed for teaching and international use. He died in Cambridge in 1979, leaving behind a body of work that still matters to students of literature, rhetoric, and language.