F.R. Leavis does not adhere to any prescribed 'Rules' or the 'Principles' coming down from the ancients for judging the value of a literary work. For him the 'Literary work' formulates its own criteria for its evaluation. Its value must be sought in the work itself, in 'the words on the page'. When this is done, balanced juedgement will automatically follow. In this respect the reader's own literary and aesthetic sense has to play a great role. The reader must be trained from the very beginning that he should not be led away by propaganda or mass media. He must apply his own 'sensitive and scrupulous use of intelligence'. Then 'even if he is wrong, he has forwarded the business of criticism - he has exposed himself as openly as possible to correction; for what criticism undertakes is the profitable discussion of literature". F.R. Leavis also believes in intelligent discrimination among good, bad or ordinary authors and their works.
It is not worthwhile evaluating every author as the historians does. he recommends the evaluation of only those authors and their works which qualify for 'the great tradition' in each genre. This view is in conformity with the view of Longinus who recommends that only those works should be studied and evaluated which are 'truly beautiful and sublime' and 'which always please and please all'. He recommends the close study and evaluation of the text for the work itself. The critic must be self-reliant, free from all prejudices and biases in his approach to any individual author. The American critics belonging to the so-called 'School of New Criticism
