First published in 1924, this is a masterpiece on literary criticism. I. A. Richards argues that science and literature use two different forms of language: scientific and emotive language.

I A Richards advocates for the new criticism of psychology that makes a literary work complete to the senses and intellect of ordinary readers. He proposed that literary criticism could be precise in communicating clear and valuable meanings, by way of denotation and connotation. Richards defines value from a work as anything that satiates a deep response or desire within an individual.