Contents: Introduction: the state of criticism today, by M. Bradbury.- Criticism as a humanist discipline, by G. Hough.- Bathering the object: the ontological approach, by W. K. Wimsatt.- Generic criticism: the approach throgh thpe, mode and kind, by a. Rodway. - the criticism of comparison: the approach through comparative literature and interllectural history, by J. Fletcher.- The "unconscious" of literature: the psychoanalytic approach, by N. Holland.- Contemporary cultural studies: an approach to the study of literature and society, by R. Hoggart.- The structure of criticism and the languages of poetry: and approach through language, by R. Fowler.- Criticism as an individual activity: the approach through reading, by I. Gregor