Preface to second edition -- Introduction -- Part One: The Philosophical Inquiry -- 1. The Platonic dilemma -- 2. The Aristotelian solution -- 3. The poet as a moral teacher -- 4. Imitation and instruction -- 5. The vindication of pleasure -- 6. Form and the imagination -- 7. Platonism against Plato -- 8. Science and poetry -- 9. The proper sphere of poetry -- 10. The poet and his medium -- Part Two: Practical Criticism -- Introduction -- 11. The establishment of a critical scene -- 12. Possibilites and limitations of a method -- 13. History, relativism, impressionism -- 14. From appreciation to analysis -- 15. Analysis in action -- Part Three: Literary Criticism and Related Disciplines -- Introduction -- 16. Criticism and scholarship -- 17. Criticism and psychology -- 18. Criticism and sociology -- 19. Criticism, linguistics and anthropology -- 20. Criticism and the cultural context -- Epilogue -- Index