cases their readings did seek to demonstrate to perhaps skeptical readers that the work at hand possessed the requisite degree of "complexity" that New Criticism most fundamentally valued. (And in some instances, such as Cleanth Brooks's reading of Wordsworth's Intimations Ode, they also attempted to show that even works less generally esteemed according to New Critical standards could still be worthy of serious attention.) But the New Critics would never have conceded to the notion of "the shifting nature" of value judgments. The point of New Criticism was to establish that it was the critical method applying authentic "literary" criteria to the reading of literary texts. Some readers might find value in such texts for extrinsic reasons--political, historical, cultural--but for the New Critics, readers assessing them through theFormer Texas Gov. Rick Perry became the first GOP candidate in a field of 17 to end his candidacy for the White House Friday.

In a speech to the conservative Eagle Forum, Perry, who has been hamstrung by falling poll numbers and meager fundraising, announced he is suspending his presidential campaign.

“Today I am suspending my campaign for the presidency of the United States,” Perry said. “We have a tremendous field – the best in a generation – so I step aside knowing our party is in good hands, and as long as we listen to the grassroots, the cause of conservatism will be too.”

Perry, whose “oops” moment in a 2011 primary debate transformed him into a nationwide joke, had come along way since being forced to drop out in