Ronald S. Crane's essay is about how the literary scholar should be viewed. There are two different ideas: the historian and the critic. Crane mentions Howard Mumford Jones, placing him at one end of the spectrum. Jones believes that when approaching literature one must focus on the world and how it is changing, recording all events so that those who come after him can understand and make fact-based judgments. At the opposite end of the spectrum, Crane foregrounds John Livingston Lowes, claiming that criticism is the only justification for literature. He doesn't say we should ignore history, but rather we should use it as a tool to understand human emotions and find deeper meaning through literature. In Crane's argument for history, he proposes that we ask what is involved in writing history and apply those findings. to literature, when it is considered an art form. He says that what we get from historical criticism is the same thing we get from any kind of historical study: we want to know how humanity has changed. Even if he believes this is all good, we must see that it is not the only thing, or the best thing, when it comes to literature. In the second section, Crane begins to show his point, that literary criticism is superior to historical criticism. Crane believes that literature is art, so before criticizing it, one must appreciate it. Furthermore, he states that art is to be enjoyed and those who read literary texts should be sensitive to this fact and therefore cannot simply be “learned men”. At the end of his essay, Crane makes it clear that he believes literary criticism is superior to historical criticism. He believes students should read literature, not about it. His "new criticism" is the one that follows pluralism and is a fusion of the two ideas previously exposed. Crane speaks of both literary criticism and historical criticism as a stepping stone to fully understanding literature and believes that in the future we will be able to decide what is true critical fact rather than all these theories. He says we need to revive the classics and when that happens, the “renewed cultivation” of reading and writing will begin. This, according to Crane, is what any worthy piece of literary criticism should be based on. The spectrum of criticism about the author is vast..