321. (William Empson)

William Empson’s brilliance as a reader is more immediate than his brilliance as a critic. The line between the two … More

306. (William Empson)

Though it is probably the third most famous of Empson’s villanelles, “Reflection from Anita Loos” is a fine example of … More

With each return to Empson’s criticism, a new fulcrum point on which it can be turned. The chapter on “Candid … More

William Empson’s Seven Types of Ambiguity is an acknowledged classic of literary criticism, but it is also among the most … More

In the blog posts lately, I’ve discussed literature as happening when an author gets a condition of judgment inside of … More

That great literature balances great forces judiciously, that it calms a turbulence of mind, and that it communicates truths that … More

Empson’s final words on the poem “Bacchus,” a poem about drink, in one of his statements on it: “I think … More

Curiously, coming as late in the book as it does, the chapter on Bentley and Milton in Some Versions of Pastoral … More

William Empson’s poetry has, until very recently, and despite years of trying to read it with some genuine appreciation, been … More

Whatever else its relationship to genre, wit is a particular way of coping with the world’s fragility, its tendency to … More