I. A. Richards was one of the leaders in the study of semantics. He co-authored The Meaning of Meaning (1923) which drew on psychology, anthropology, and the physical sciences to illuminate the meaning of language. Born in Cheshire, and educated at Oxford, Richards taught at Harvard University. His Principles of Literary Criticism (1924), Science and Poetry (1925) and Practical Criticism (1929) strongly influenced the development of New Criticism.
