Which of the following is applicable to ‘new criticism’?
[A] It draws considerably from the works of I.A. Richards and the critical essays of T.S Eliot
[B] Some of its concepts are pre-empted by F.R. Leavis.
[C] It distinguishes between literary and scientific usage of language.
[D] It encourages an extensive exploration of the contextual and autobiographical background.
[E] It vouches for a historical analysis of a text.
Choose the correct answer from the options given below:

The correct option is A, B and C only.

To understand why this option is correct, let us analyze the principles of New Criticism and evaluate each statement step-by-step:

Statement [A]: It draws considerably from the works of I.A. Richards and the critical essays of T.S. Eliot.
This statement is correct. New Criticism, which dominated mid-20th century literary theory, developed its close-reading techniques from the pioneering work of I.A. Richards (particularly his books Principles of Literary Criticism and Practical Criticism) and the critical essays of T.S. Eliot (such as "Tradition and the Individual Talent" and "Hamlet and His Problems"). Eliot's ideas on the impersonality of poetry and the "objective correlative" were central to New Critical thought.

Statement [B]: Some of its concepts are pre-empted by F.R. Leavis.
This statement is correct. F.R. Leavis, an influential British literary critic associated with the journal Scrutiny, advocated for a close, text-based critical analysis of literature that pre-empted and closely mirrored many key analytical methodologies of the American New Critics, focusing on the words on the page rather than external biographical details.

Statement [C]: It distinguishes between literary and scientific usage of language.
This statement is correct. Influenced heavily by I.A. Richards, New Critics distinguished between the emotive or pseudo-statement function of literary language and the referential, denotative, and logical function of scientific language. They argued that literature uses language in a unique, non-referential way to convey complex, organic experiences.

Statement [D]: It encourages an extensive exploration of the contextual and autobiographical background.
This statement is incorrect. In fact, New Criticism is famous for actively rejecting external context, historical background, and the author's biography (known as the "Intentional Fallacy" and "Affective Fallacy"). It argues that the meaning of a text is self-contained within the text itself.

Statement [E]: It vouches for a historical analysis of a text.
This statement is incorrect. Similar to statement [D], New Criticism is fundamentally synchronic rather than diachronic; it views a literary work as an autonomous, self-contained aesthetic object and strongly opposes historical or sociological readings of a text.

Therefore, statements A, B, and C are applicable to New Criticism, making A, B and C only the correct choice.