In recent years, the application of linguistic theory to literary studies has produced a wealth of exciting new perspectives on literature--precise analytic methods of linguistics have aided in practical criticism, while the theory of language itself has shed new light on literary theory as awhole. Linguistic Criticism is an introduction to the subject by one of its most knowledgeable practitioners. In this work, Roger Fowler clearly and simply discusses a variety of analytic techniques whose relevance for fiction, poetry and drama he demonstrates with reference to a wide variety oftexts.