Social background, literary attitudes and contemporary preoccupations throw interesting sidelights, but do not weigh in with actual literary merit. The ' meaning' of a poem is the total linguistic activity of its words - their organisation, complex integration, levels of usage, tone, ambiguities, etc. Poems are a special use of language. Their emotive expression cannot be fully distinguished from their apparent expression of facts and opinions. Nor is form to be distinguished from content.
Poems have an organic unity, an autonomy that resolves contending aspects.
The New Critics were more writers than philosophers, and the radical criticism of the sixties pounced on the shortcomings. New Criticism was not literary analysis, but often the justification of a small canon of works arbitrarily selected for study and admiration. Critics are not detached reporters, but approach their work with allegiances, preconceptions and cultural heritages. Communities maintain the very concept of literature, and these communities have common expectations. Poems are cultural artifacts, and only make full sense if studied in their social context.