Not too much new. [Phineas Schlossberg]

New criticism, in of itself, isn't so bad. I like it more in many aspects than the other lenses, but, it doesn't really give me a new way of looking at the book. New criticism seems to be just reading the book as we do normally in class. Some interesting literary elements are noticed, such as the use of color throughout the book, but we had mostly addressed those during classtime before. What I like about new criticism is that it seems more reasonable and in context, other interpretations through different lenses can sometimes be a bit of a stretch. However, it seems that New Criticism is a bit close minded, just like all the other lenses. For example, if there was a clearly allegorical book written by a heavily communist writer, new criticism would ignore that, and look purely at the literal elements, ignoring a lot about the book.

One of my favorite book series, The Sword of Truth, by Terry Goodkind, are often allegorical in nature. I first read the series when I was younger, and read it again more recently, and I noticed many more political allusions, which, in my opinion, greatly added to the books, and I feel like they would be nearly completely ignored by new criticism.
Another thing about new criticism I don't necessarily like is the idea that there is one universal human truth about every reading. I prefer a certain level of subjectivity with reading, and I think that I could interpret a novel in the completely opposite, but just as correct, way as someone else.