Poetry and Poetics are integrally related. The former is an art based on emotions, whereas the latter is a science evaluating poetry. So long their common mode of treatment has been to excite in the mind the emotions appropriate to the subject-matter. But science and art are not identical. The former uses the “discursive” mode; and the latter the “presentational” mode. While science is “truth,” the art is adjectively “true”, i.e. it does not conflict with the truth. The book Critique of Poetics is an extremely bold and far reaching attempt at a comprehensive theory of poetry. It starts with a Sound-Sense Continuum and ends with Quantum Poetics. The path of evolution is marked by the poetic process, the flow of Rasa, the flight of Pegasus, the dance of Resonons, the doctrine of suggestion, Rx for rhetoric, the logic of signs and symbols, the poetic imagery, the miracle of communication, the concept of criticism, style and stylistics, the law of inspiration and catharsis, the limits of art, the philosophy of beauty, East and West in Poetics, and the theory of literature. And this has been treated in a global perspective, which harmonizes both East and West in Poetics. A balance has also been struck between the two approaches to the study of literature—Extrinsic and Intrinsic. The former is characterized by psychology-society and other arts whereas the latter by style and stylistics, image and metaphor, rhetoric and suggestion, beauty and the like. A new theory of literature has been derived from these. This is born in a continuum of sound and sense, of space and time. It provides an organ of evaluating the past, present and future works of literature. In this context quantum poetics marks the end of the evolutionary process.

Table of Contents:
1. A Sound-sense Continuum; Language and statementÅSphotaÅOrdinary and poetic languageÅEast and WestÅSound and SenseÅDhvaniÅEquation of continuum ÅRasa auchitya Universe; 2. The Poetic Process; Poet, poem and realityÅSubject and objectÅ; Art and experienceÅCondensationÅAtomic theoryÅBilinear transformationÅPoetic process and illumination; 3. The Flow of Rasa; Vakrokti and aucitya-rasa explainedÅ; Bharat and JamesÅVibhÈvaÅanubhÈvaÅ sancÈribhÈvaÅObjective correlative and psychophysicsÅMathematical formulation of rasa; 4. The Flight of Pegasus; The P-phenomenonÅGodÅPoet equationÅ; A triadic relation of poet, reader and universeÅPoetry of tensionÅPsychology of imaginationÅMathematical formulation; 5. The Dance of Resonons; The Freudian modelÅPhase space and brain modelÅThe cortical resonanceÅGenesis of a poemÅResonance frequencyÅPratibhÈ, dhvani and vyanjanÈÅResonon analysed; 6. The Doctrine of Suggestion; Expression and representationÅAbhidhÈ lakshmanÈ and VyanjanÈÅExpression, suppression and impressionÅSuggestion mathematically definedÅ Poetic experienceÅ The context theorem of meaningÅThe triple point in a wordÅThe source of poetry; 7. Rx for Rhetoric; Fancy, imagination and visionÅThe three modes of the mindÅThe dialectics explained ÅThe poetic probabilityÅThe evolution of RhetoricÅFigures of speechÅThe alankÈr of Indian PoeticsÅRasa as a production function; 8. The Logic of Signs and Symbols; Phonemes, morphemes and tagmemesÅThe utterance co-ordinatesÅSigns and symbolsÅ Panini’s symbolsÅCanons of symbolismÅ Mathematics and meta-mathematicsÅThe Sanskrit ‘Om’ÅSign-situation in mathematics; 9. The Poetic Imagery; Image and sensationÅThe brain as a transmitter and a transformerÅThe symbolic process analysedÅThe image-formationÅStrangeness in beautyÅThe abstract and the concreteÅThe poetic patternÅThe myth-making and metaphorÅ Mathematical interpretationsÅThe image itself; 10. The Miracle of Communication; A subject-object relationÅIntensive manifold or in-scapeÅExperience and wordsÅDiction and RhythmÅThe discharge phenomenaÅAn equation of communicationÅThe objective correlative and the Indian NÈtyaàÈstraÅ Expression and transmissionÅMemory as a polyhedronÅThe structure of Chinese charactersÅNo difficulties of communication