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William Empson Biography

Sir William Empson (27 September 1906 – 15 April 1984) was an English literary critic and poet, widely influential for his practice of closely reading literary works, a practice fundamental to New Criticism. His best-known work is his first, Seven Types of Ambiguity, published in 1930.

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William Empson Quotes

Buddhists and Christians contrive to agree about death Making death their ideal basis for different ideals. The Communists however disapprove of death Except when practical.

Buddhist, Buddhists, Christian, Different, Except, Making

Twixt devil and deep sea, man hacks his caves; Birth, death; one, many; what is true, and seems; Earth's vast hot iron, cold space's empty waves.

Cold, Hacks, Men, Sea, Space, Twixt

Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.

Men, Law, Long, Short

Liberal hopefulness Regards death as a mere border to an improving picture.

Border, Borders, Hopefulness, Liberal, Mere, Regard

It seems unpleasantly refined to put things off till someone knows.

Knows, Refined, Seems, Things, Till

Proust has listed a great many reasons why it is impossible to be happy, but, in the course of being happy, one finds it difficult to remember them.

Course, Impossible, Proust, Reason Why, Remember

I think many people (like myself) prefer to read poetry mixed with prose; it gives you more to go by; the conventions of poetry have been getting far off from normal life, so that to have a prose bridge makes reading poetry seem more natural.

Bridges, Conventions, Natural, People, Reading, Thinking

The difficult part of good temper consists in forbearance, and accommodation to the ill-humors of others.

Accommodation, Accommodations, Consists, Difficult, Forbearance, Part

To produce pure proletarian art the artist must be at one with the worker; this is impossible, not for political reasons, but because the artist never is at one with any public.

Art, Political, Impossible, Proletarian

Waiting for the end, boys, waiting for the end. What is there to be or do? What's become of me or you? Are we kind or are we true? Sitting two and two, boys, waiting for the end.

Boys, Two, Waiting, Kind, Sitting

The machinations of ambiguity are among the very roots of poetry.

Among, Art, Machinations, Poetry, Roots

Slowly the poison the whole blood stream fills. It is not the effort nor the failure tires. The waste remains, the waste remains and kills.

Blood, Effort, Poison, Remains, Waste, Whole

Poetry contains nothing haphazard.

Contains, Haphazard, Nothing, Poetry