Which of the following assumptions are true in the context of New Criticism?

1. A. It popularised close reading of the text.
2. B. Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, R. P. Blackmur and Kenneth Burke were among its leading critics.
3. C. It was used chiefly for novels and plays.
4. D. It tends to set aside historical, social and political contexts.
5. E. John Crowe Ransom's The New Criticism wholly endorses I. A. Richards, William Empson and T. S. Eliot.

1. A(A), (B) and (C) only
2. B(B), (C) and (D) only
3. C(C), (D) and (E) only
4. D(A), (B) and (D) only

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Correct answer: D. (A), (B) and (D) only

Explanation

New Criticism made close reading of the poem its method and bracketed context (the intentional and affective fallacies). Its home ground was the lyric, not the novel or play, and Ransom's The New Criticism (1941) was critical of Richards, Empson, Eliot and Winters even as it named them.