00099--Discuss I.E. Richard's concept of poetry and poetic composition.

            I.A. Richards is the most influential literary theorist of the twentieth century.  He is the pioneer of what has come to be known as New Criticism.  He judges every literary and aesthetic activity in the light of the latest discoveries in the field of psychology and working of human mind.  It is in the same light of human psychology and working of human mind that he gives his theory of poetry and poetic composition.  He says that poetry is a 'system of impulses' produced in the mind by some stimulus leading to the production of poetry.  When the stimulus first occurs, it produces a large number of mixed impulses which pull the mind in different directions.  Gradually these impulses organise themselves in a state of poise and get ready to follow a common course.  In this state of mental and emotional poise poetry germinates.  But it should be remembered that by poetry Richards means not only verse but all imaginative literature.  The poet simply records the happy play of impulses on a particular occasion.  The reader of poetry should not seek any thought from a poem; he should only share the experience, the happy play of impulses working in the mind of the poet.  However, much that goes to produce a poem is, of course, unconscious.  It should be remembered, as the modern psychologists say, that the unconscious processes are more important than the conscious ones.  It is these unconscious impulses that lead the poet or any artist to produce a poetical work or any other work of art.