   ivor armstrong richards (26 february 1893 â 7 september 1979), usually cited as i. a. richards, was an influential english literary critic and rhetorician. he was educated at clifton college and magdalene college, cambridge where his love of english was nurtured by the scholar 'cabby' spence. his books, especially the meaning of meaning, principles of literary criticism, practical criticism, and the philosophy of rhetoric, proved to be founding influences for the new criticism. the concept of 'practical criticism' led in time to the practices of close reading, what is often thought of as the beginning of modern literary criticism. richards is regularly considered one of the founders of the contemporary study of literature in english. ==biographical sketch== ===beginnings=== richards began his career without formal training in literature at all; he studied philosophy ("moral sciences") at cambridge university. this may have led to one of richards' assertions for the shape of literary study in the 20th century â that literary study cannot and should not be undertaken as a specialisation in itself, but instead studied alongside a cognate field (philosophy, psychology, rhetoric, etc.). richards' earliest teaching appointments were in the equivalent of what might be called "adjunct faculty" positions; magdalene college at cambridge would not pay a salary to richards to teach the new and untested field of english literature. instead, richards collected tuition directly from the students as they entered the classroom each week. in 1926 he married dorothy pilley richards, whom he had met on a climbing holiday in wales. ==contributions== richards' life and influence can be divided into periods, which correspond roughly to his intellectual interests. in many of these achievements, richards found a collaborator in c. k. ogden. ===co
1893_births 1979_deaths Alumni_of_Magdalene_College,_Cambridge Communication_scholars English_literary_critics New_Criticism People_educated_at_Clifton_College People_from_Sandbach Rhetoricians Semioticians