II M.A., & PG TRB Unit-X PRINCIPLES OF LITERARY CRITICISM
CORE VIII-CONTEMPORARY LITERARY CRITICISM
Irony as Principle of Structure: Cleanth Brooks
Cleanth Brooks:
Brooks was an American literary critic and professor. He is best known for his
contributions to New Criticism in the mid-20th century and for revolutionizing the
teaching of poetry in American higher education. His best-known works are: The
Well Wrought Urn: Studies in the Structure of Poetry(1947) and Modern Poetry
and the Tradition (1939).
"Irony as a Principle of Structure" is an essay by Cleanth Brooks. It is part of
Brooks' collection of critical essays that explore the role of irony and other
structural elements in poetry. The essay discusses how irony functions within the
structure of poems and contributes to their overall meaning.
Summary:
Introduction:
In the essay Irony as a Principle of Structure, Cleanth Brooks argues that literature
conveys deep, universal meanings through the use of irony, which the poet builds
into the structure of a poem. Brooks emphasizes that the structure of a poem is key
to expressing its meaning.
Plant Analogy:
Brooks states that poetry has an organic quality which produces ironies and
explains this by means of an analogy. He suggests poetry is like a plant, with a
fixed and definite organization (like roots, stalk, leaf), a structure which is
complete and useful. A poem, like a plant, depends on all its parts for life. The
elements of a poem are connected not like flowers arranged in a bouquet, but like
flowers that are naturally connected to the other parts of a growing plant. The
beauty of the poem comes from how all the parts, like the flowers, leaves, and
roots, work together.
