QuickLinks:

College Shield

Famous Alumni

Ivor Armstrong Richards, CH, (1893-1979) was the most influential literary theorist writing in English in 1920s. His impact on the teaching of literature was immense, both through his own writings (mainly The Meaning of Meaning, co-authored with C. K. Ogden (Magdalene 1908), 1923, Principles of Literary Criticism, 1924, Science and Poetry, 1926, and Practical Criticism, 1929) and through his pupils at Cambridge, such as William Empson. Moreover, Richards' discussion of and insistence upon the importance of poetry, by which he often meant literature or, still more generally, 'art', was a controversial but invigorating brief for two generations of writers. Marginalized in literary circles by his work on improvements in language teaching technique, and overshadowed by the post-structuralist movements of the latter half of the century, his importance was for a time obscured, but it is gradually becoming clearer that Richards' attempt to provide a naturalistic account of the values reported by readers of literature is unique in the honesty and thoroughness with which he attempts an integration with the psychological science of his day, and outstanding in the quality of its introspection. As Terry Eagleton has said in his discussion of the recent ten volume edition of his works - I. A. Richards: Selected Works 1919-1938 (Routledge 2001) - Richards was a critical thinker of 'remarkable ambition and originality' whose work bears comparison with the most advanced European and American literary theorists of his day (London Review of Books, 22 May 2002)

I. A. Richards' connection with Magdalene was lifelong. He came up to read history at the College in 1911, changing to Moral Sciences in the following year, and graduating with first class honours in 1915. After considering a career in medicine Richards accepted an invitation to lecture for the newly created English Tripos, where he immediately distinguished himself. In 1922 he was appointed College Lecturer in English and Moral Sciences at Magdalene, becoming a Fellow in 1926. He taught and travelled all over the world, spending prolonged periods in China and Japan, eventually settling in the United States, where he was appointed to a Professorship at Harvard University in 1944. He maintained his connection with Magdalene throughout his career, and returned to Cambridge with his wife Dorothy, one of the most significant female mountaineers of the century and a major benefactor of the College, in 1974.

An extended biography of Richards may be found in the online Literary Encyclopedia:
Further information, including a complete checklist of his writings, an illustrated chronology, and a checklist of criticism concerning his thought can be found at the I. A. Richards Web Resource.