REPRINTS AND NEW EDITIONS

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32661, 17 July 1971, Page 10

REPRINTS AND NEW EDITIONS

Poetries and Sciences. By I. A. Richards. Routledge and Kegan Paul. 121 pp.

Under the less accurate title of “Science and Poetry” this essay was first published in 1926 and, comments the author, “soon after its appearance I took a dislike to it.” Despite this dislike I. A. Richards “tinkered up” a second edition in 1935 and those interested in such critical work can only be pleased that he has again re-edited it for it has been virtually unobtainable since then. Professor Richards has added a commentary of notes on his earlier text and of two very brief essays—" Reorientation” and "How Does a Poem Know When It is Finished.”

Although these inclusions give this edition greater interest and further insight to the avid student of literary criticism they also give the book a somewhat erudite appearance. It would be a great pity if this tended to repel the general reader. The main essay contains much that is worth hearing today on such questions as how the sciences are affecting poetry and whether they will make much of the poetry of the past obsolete. Mr Richards’s thoughts are so clearly and interestingly expressed that one cannot help feeling this book deserves a wider audience than it will, in all probability, attract. Very few readers, will share the authors’ unreasoned dislike for his work.