Question

Whose poem does Cleanth Brooks close-read to arrive at his concept of ``the well-wrought urn''?

• A. William Wordsworth
• B. John Keats
• C. William Blake
• D. Alfred Tennyson

Hint:

New Critics focus on the internal structure of a poem rather than authorial intent or historical context.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understanding the critical concept.
``The well-wrought urn'' is a foundational concept of New Criticism, emphasizing organic unity, paradox, and tension within a poem.
Step 2: Identifying Cleanth Brooks' analysis.
Cleanth Brooks develops this concept through a detailed close reading of John Keats's poem ``Ode on a Grecian Urn''.
Step 3: Linking the metaphor.
The urn in Keats's poem becomes a symbol of poetic form itself—self-contained, complex, and unified—perfectly illustrating Brooks’s theory.
Step 4: Eliminating other poets.
Wordsworth, Blake, and Tennyson are not the poets whose work Brooks primarily analyzes for this concept.
Final Answer: (B) John Keats