William Empson’s poetry has, until very recently, and despite years of trying to read it with some genuine appreciation, been … More
Tag: William Empson
120. (Robert Graves)
Robert Graves’ poetry riddles as other poets of his era do not, and this because his poems set themselves in … More
99. (William Empson)
Whatever else its relationship to genre, wit is a particular way of coping with the world’s fragility, its tendency to … More
89. (Andrew Marvell)
When T.S. Eliot, in his essay on Andrew Marvell, offered his incomparably confusing characterization of “wit,” what was he onto? … More
71. (Wallace Stevens)
William Empson, whose capacity for appreciation was as broad as any critic’s, could find scant space to admire Wallace Stevens. … More
41. (Christopher Smart)
Nowadays, Christopher Smart is best known for his “Jubilate Agno”—“Rejoice in the Lamb.” That poem smacks of the modern, even … More
37. (Henry James)
His sentences are moved to excess with a wariness of waste. The inheritance of scrupulous, new-world economizing is carried over, … More
23. (William Empson)
Of his drafting and redrafting process, he explained: “the careless ease always goes in last.” The ease was his affectation, an affectation … More
Critical Provisions 