It should be remembered … that Winters is a poet as well as a critic. His critical theories derive from his experience in writing poetry; his application of these theories to specific poems is marked by a perceptual sensitivity and understanding that can come only from a poet. Basic to all the essays in [The Function of Criticism] is his general theory of poetry—that a poem, the result of an act of contemplation, is a statement about human experience, that this statement should be rationally apprehensible and should communicate emotion appropriate to the rational apprehension of the subject. Closely linked with this theory is his analysis of the fallacy of imitative form—the "procedure by which the poet surrenders the form of his statement to the formlessness of his subject matter", and his distinction between prose and verse—"verse is metric or measured language", the rhythm of which is more effectively expressive of emotion than prose.

The first, longest, and most impressive essay in the book, Problems for the Modern Critic of Literature might have been entitled The Battle of the Genres. The lyric (or short poem) takes on all major contenders and wins…. [For Winters, the short poem is] the only literary form in which the mature and civilized poet can at all times employ the best poetry of which he is capable on subject matter of major importance. And as an illustration of what a modern civilized poet can do in this best of all forms, Winters concludes his essay with a brilliant analysis and explication of Valéry's great poem Ebauche d'un Serpent. (pp. 393-94)

The second essay, The Audible Reading of Poetry, is a plea for the formal or impersonal method of reading poems as opposed to "dramatic" rendition. It contains a fine analysis of English metrics which should be required reading for every young poet learning his technique. If this essay together with the remarks on meter in the article on Hopkins were more widely understood, the examples of shoddy prosody which fill the standard anthologies of contemporary poetry might be eliminated and the teachers of modern poetry courses … might be less frequently embarrassed in attempting to defend their subject before their colleagues.

Winters has much to say about the major faults and the minor virtues of Hopkins and Frost. Hopkins is severely criticized for his prosodic innovations which more often than not lead to unmotivated emotionalism and violence. His theory of inscape is defined as one more example of the romantic expression of the beautiful soul, and his Jesuit admirers are castigated for being closer to Emerson (in their defense of Hopkins) than to Aquinas. Frost is condemned for his relativism, his surrender to impulse, and for his petulant village anarchism. A few beautifully written but minor poems about the transience of the lovely frailties of nature are salvaged from the general wreckage. (pp. 394-95)

It has been almost fifty years since the so-called new poetry movement got under way. When the hurly-burly is done, Winters' criticism (and some of his poems) will remain as solid accomplishment. Those young poets who wish to be ahead of their time are urged to give The Function of Criticism their most serious consideration. (p. 395)