Solution:The New Criticism emphasized Close reading as a way to engage with a text, and paid close attention to the interactions between form and meaning. The important figures of New Critics included Allen Tate, Robert Penn Warren, John Crowe Ransom, Cleanth Brooks, William Empson, and F.R. Leavis. So, I.A. Richards is not a leading figure of New Criticism.
Hence, option (c) is correct.